Jon Callaghan
Managing Partner at True Ventures
Palo Alto, California
Overview
Work Experience
Founder, Managing Partner
2006 - Current
Founder of True Ventures in 2005. We closed our first institutional fund in 2006 of $165 million, and our second fund of $210 million in 2008. Our investors are long term, institutional investors. Our mission at True is to make an entrepreneur's dreams come true. We want to be the first investor with great entrepreneurs. We think first, second, third about working with great people, because we believe that the entrepreneur has the power to change the world. This means the experience, vision, passion and creativity of the Founders are what we spend most of our time evaluating. We get excited by ambition and raw talent, and we like to back teams that have worked together in the past. We invest between $250K-$2.5mm in the initial round. 60% of the time we fund entrepreneurs at inception. Everyone on our team has been a Founder, so we take an aggressively pro-Founder view of the world. This means our deals are simple and clean, are fairly priced, and designed to align with a Founder from day one. We recognize that success is rarely a straight line, and we have a tremendous tolerance for risk. If you're looking to play it safe, we're not the firm for you. We believe that small initial dollars can unleash creativity, and are funds are designed to invest significant dollars at higher prices with success and growth.
True Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups.
Investor, Board Member
2023
Early investor and Board Member with the brilliant creator and leader Julie Bornstein. This phenomenal dream team is redefining fashion e-commerce in the AI age with style, clarity, and the power of AI. #repeatTrueFounder
Investor, Board Member
2022
Investor and Board Member with the indomitable and brilliant John Foley and his team. I love being a part of this team! #trueRepeatFounder
Investor, Board Member
2019
Investor and Board Member with the brilliant Tod Sacerdoti and team. #repeatTrueFounder
The integration platform built for developers
Raised $20,120,000.00 from Felicis, CRV, Verdure Capital Management, WiL (World Innovation Lab), 8-Bit Capital and True Ventures.
Investor, Board Member
2017
Investor and Board Member of this leading enterprise agentic platform.
Investor, Board Member
2013
Investor and Board Member since inception with the brilliant Amy Errett and team. Madison Reed has redefined what it means to be a customer focused beauty brand with the highest quality products meeting our customers online, in our Hair Color Bars, or through our many partners nationwide. An incredible privilege to watch this team act with integrity and grace pursuing their mission.
Madison Reed is a beauty company that offers hair coloring products online.
Raised $273,711,245.00 from Runway Growth Capital.
Angel Investor
2011
Sully is brilliant. Such a joy to see him and the Stio team redefine the outdoor lifestyle apparel.
Investor, Board Member
2009
Seed investor and Board Member at this leading payments and bill pay provider. Brilliant team. There is no better.
PayNearMe provides a web and mobile-based cash payments platform designed to facilitate online purchases and bill payments.
Raised $118,199,988.00 from H. Barton Asset Management, True Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation, August Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Verdure Capital Management and DNS Capital.
Board Member
2015 - 2024
I served an incredible ten years on the board starting with the brilliant Founding team, the exceptionally gifted executives, inspiring instructors and all of the team members that make Peloton so special to millions worldwide. This was such an honor to serve our riders and members living the fitness and wellness life. And the learnings (!). Hardware still the triple black diamond, as is large scale membership, subscription, medial, and and and. And this was FUN!
Peloton is an interactive fitness platform reinventing fitness with live and on-demand boutique studio classes.
Raised $2,169,707,000.00 from TCV.
Venture Capital Investor
2018 - 2024
Honored for True to be investors here and watch the brilliant Jon Neman and team build such a meaningful company and brand in food and wellness.
Sweetgreen is a fast casual restaurant chain that serves simple, seasonal, and healthy salads, and grain bowls.
Raised $478,595,000.00 from D1 Capital Partners and Lone Pine Capital.