# Alex Rampell

> Alastair 'Alex' Rampell is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he leads the firm's $1 billion Apps practice with a focus on fintech, payments, and B2B/B2C software. A serial entrepreneur who started selling shareware at age 10, Alex co-founded seven startups before joining a16z in 2015, including TrialPay (acquired by Visa for $116M), FraudEliminator (acquired by McAfee for $75M), Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM co-founded with Max Levchin), and TXN (acquired by Envestnet). His rare combination of operator experience, deep financial services expertise, and fluency in Russian and Japanese makes him one of the most distinctive investors in Silicon Valley.

- **Role:** General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
- **Organizations:** Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Rocket Companies (board), Steadman Philippon Research Institute (board), Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Dean's Advisory Cabinet)
- **From:** Palm Beach, Florida, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School, Phillips Academy (Andover), BA, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Affirm, now a publicly traded BNPL platform (NASDAQ:AFRM), Built and sold TrialPay to Visa (2015) after processing over $300M in cumulative revenue, Led a16z investments in Mercury, Plaid, OpenDoor, and Wise

## Career timeline

- **1991** — Began writing and selling shareware software at age 10
- **1996** — Created AlwaysOnline at age 15, a tool to bypass AOL connection limits; banned by AOL after tens of thousands of downloads
- **1999-2003** — Attended Harvard University; studied Applied Mathematics and Computer Science; played varsity squash
- **2004** — Co-founded DidTheyReadIt email tracking tool with Chris Dixon
- **2004** — Co-founded FraudEliminator, first consumer anti-phishing company; merged with SiteAdvisor
- **2006** — FraudEliminator/SiteAdvisor acquired by McAfee for approximately $75 million
- **2006** — Co-founded TrialPay, transactional advertising and payments platform serving Facebook, Zynga, Gap
- **2012** — Co-founded Affirm with Max Levchin (NASDAQ:AFRM); pioneered buy-now-pay-later
- **2013** — Yub (offline affiliate network, TrialPay spin-out) acquired by Coupons.com
- **2010** — Coined the term 'O2O' (online to offline) commerce
- **2015** — TrialPay acquired by Visa for approximately $116 million
- **2015** — Joined Andreessen Horowitz as General Partner, focusing on fintech
- **2019** — TXN (survey and transactional data company) acquired by Envestnet
- **2024** — Appointed to Rocket Companies (NYSE:RKT) board of directors
- **2024** — Leads a16z's $1 billion Apps practice

## Achievements

- Co-founded Affirm, now a publicly traded BNPL platform (NASDAQ:AFRM)
- Built and sold TrialPay to Visa (2015) after processing over $300M in cumulative revenue
- Led a16z investments in Mercury, Plaid, OpenDoor, and Wise
- Coined the term 'O2O' (online to offline) in 2010
- Earned college tuition selling shareware software through high school
- Board member: Branch, Brightside, Capitolis, Descript, Divvy Homes, Earnin, Flock Homes, FlyHomes, Loft, Point, Propel, Rocket Companies, Sentilink, Super Evil Megacorp, VGS, Wise
- Member of Harvard's Dean's Advisory Cabinet (Paulson School of Engineering)
- Fluent in Russian and Japanese

## Latest updates

- **2024-02** — Appointed to Rocket Companies (NYSE:RKT) board of directors as AI and fintech expert
- **2024-01** — Continues to lead a16z's $1 billion Apps practice with focus on fintech and B2B/B2C software
- **2023-01** — Active board member across Wise, Rocket Companies, Sentilink, Propel, and other portfolio companies

## Links

- Website: http://www.arampell.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arampell
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/arampell
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJMNmKDUkFfDu3tMQrNU6kNLwNveJrR8e

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/alastair-rampell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-09