About Saad Khan

I’m a Silicon Valley-based VC (a full list of my professional and personal affiliations follows below) interested in design and the art of innovation. From R&D to entrepreneurship, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, I’ve always looked to the edge of technology and creativity to find inspiration.

I grew up between Pakistan and the Bay Area, attended an American high school in Karachi, did theater and soccer tournaments in cities like Kathmandu, Delhi, and Islamabad.

After moving to the Bay Area I launched my first company while still a student at Stanford.  My experience with that endeavor led me to the Walt Disney Company, where I launched Walt’s Internet strategy across their media properties.  Afterward I moved to IBM alphaWorks, one of the first corporate crowd-sourcing initiatives for IBM research.

My passion for creating things led me to spend  years building companies, advising entrepreneurs, and investing in Silicon Valley startups at Garage Technology Ventures, where I worked with early stage entrepreneurs across the Garage portfolio including Pandora, cFares, and TripleHop (ORCL). I led Garage’s software and media investments, and spun-out (and subsequently sold) the Garage advisory business.

Whenever I’m considering an investment, I ask ‘Does this team make me want to quit my job and change the world?’ If the answer is yes, then I know I’m on the right path.

Outside of my life as a VC, I also co-founded the Film Angels, an angel network for indie film where recent presenters have included Carlos Santana, Steve Wozniak, and many Academy award winning actors, directors and producers.

My CMEA investments and board seats include:

Pixazza – www.pixazza.com (publisher monetization platform)

Jobvite – www.jobvite.com (social recruiting platform)

Blekko – www.blekko.com (bad ass search guys)

Evolution Robotics – www.evolutionrobotics.com (robotics gurus, makers of Mint, the Swiffer hardwood floor cleaning robot)

Personal affiliations:

Co-founder Film Angels (www.filmangels.org)  (Silicon Valley based angel network for indie film)

Advisory Board: Lending Club – www.lendingclub.com (social lending platform; aka peer-to-peer lending)

Charter Member of TIE (www.tie.org) (non-profit entrepreneurship organization)

Guest lecturer / judge at Haas School of Business at Berkeley, Anderson School at UCLA, and advisor to the d.School at Stanford (currently advising a class in the spring of 2010)