Satya Patel is the co-founder and Partner at Homebrew VC, the San Francisco-based seed fund he launched in 2013 alongside Hunter Walk. A dual-degree Wharton graduate, Satya spent formative years building AdSense at Google (2003) and then leading product at Twitter as VP of Product before pivoting to investing. Homebrew has backed some of the most consequential startups of the past decade - Plaid, Chime, Cruise, Anchor, Mercury - and Satya has developed a reputation as a founder-first investor who takes a hands-on, process-driven approach to helping portfolio companies nail their first hire, first product, and first fundraise. In 2021, he co-launched Screendoor, a $50M+ initiative to back underrepresented emerging fund managers. He is known for his blunt, practical writing on venture-generated content and his deep belief that great companies are built by founders who learn to say no.
Susan Wojcicki was one of Silicon Valley's most influential leaders, serving as CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023 and Google's 16th employee. She rented her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, joined Google as its first marketing manager, created AdWords and AdSense, and convinced Google to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion. Under her leadership, YouTube grew to 2 billion logged-in users monthly and paid out over $30 billion to creators. A pioneering advocate for women in technology and paid parental leave, she was named one of Time's 100 most influential people and the most powerful woman on the internet. She passed away in August 2024 at age 56 after a two-year battle with lung cancer.