Charlie Olson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pando, a San Francisco-based fintech platform that lets high-potential professionals — founders, athletes, and ambitious earners — pool their career income risk. Launched in 2017 after Charlie and co-founder Eric Lax graduated from Stanford GSB, Pando has grown to serve 900+ clients in pools expected to collectively earn over $11 billion. The company has raised $13.8M total funding including an $8M Series A led by Core Innovation Capital in 2020. Charlie was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2019 and previously worked in private equity and policy. Pando's model — participants contribute 1-8% of earnings above a ~$1M hurdle rate to a shared pool — draws on ideas from income-sharing agreements and mutual insurance, reimagined for the winner-take-all talent economy.
Founders, Inc. (f.inc) is a 42,000 sq ft campus, community, and first-check fund at Fort Mason in San Francisco — built for the wildly ambitious founders solving hard problems at the edge of what's possible. Not a traditional VC and not a time-boxed accelerator, it combines pre-seed investment (up to $250K), a dedicated workspace with hardware labs and media studios, daily meals, and an indefinite community of 80+ builders. Founded in 2020 by serial builder Furqan Rydhan, it has backed 100+ companies across AI, AR/VR, Web3, and hardware — including thirdweb, buildspace, LiveKit, and Sync Labs. Featured in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.