# Chase Adam

> Chase Adam co-founded Watsi with Grace Garey in 2012 and helped lead it for eight years. Watsi became the first nonprofit funded by Y Combinator. He now runs Grove, the early-stage founder fellowship at Leaders in Tech, and angel invests alongside Joe Greenstein and Rachel Sheinbein at Very Serious Ventures. Watsi lists him as co-founder and board member emeritus.

- **Role:** Grove fellowship leader at Leaders in Tech; partner at Very Serious Ventures; co-founder and board member emeritus at Watsi
- **Organizations:** Watsi, Grove, Leaders in Tech, Very Serious Ventures, Meso, Peace Corps, Pacific Community Ventures
- **Education:** B.A., Global Socioeconomics and Politics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Co-founded Watsi, the first nonprofit funded by Y Combinator., Helped establish public financial reporting as a feature of Watsi’s donor relationship., Helped lead Watsi for eight years.

## Career timeline

- **2004-2008** — Studied Global Socioeconomics and Politics at UC Santa Barbara.
- **2009-2011** — Served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, working in microfinance and community banking.
- **2012** — Co-founded Watsi with Grace Garey; the platform launched on August 23.
- **2013** — Watsi joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2013 batch as its first nonprofit; announced $1.2 million in philanthropic operating support in July.
- **2014** — Spoke at Startup School New York and was featured in Fast Company’s Most Creative People series.
- **2017** — Named a Mulago Foundation fellow.
- **2020** — Ended his eight-year period helping lead Watsi and moved into a board role.
- **2021** — Began as a partner at Very Serious Ventures, according to his publicly indexed career history.
- **2024** — His publicly indexed career history dates his Grove co-founder role to January.
- **2026** — His personal site describes his current work running Grove and angel investing at Very Serious Ventures; Watsi lists him as board member emeritus.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Watsi, the first nonprofit funded by Y Combinator.
- Helped establish public financial reporting as a feature of Watsi’s donor relationship.
- Helped lead Watsi for eight years.
- Mulago Foundation fellow, 2017.
- Featured in Fast Company’s Most Creative People 2014 series.
- Co-founded Meso, an open-source software startup.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — His personal site lists new essays titled Woo Woo and Life After Death.
- **2026-09** — Published Pitch the Vision Not the Wedge, on communicating a broad ambition while pursuing a focused initial product.
- **2026-08** — Published How to Have Good Ideas, considering collaboration, solitude, and time away from distraction.
- **2026-06** — Published The Work You Don’t See, connecting surfing and cabinet painting to the importance of preparation.

## Links

- Website: https://www.chaseadam.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaseadam17
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/chaseadam17

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chase-adam
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23