Sean Foote

Sean Foote has been a venture capitalist investing in early stage companies since 1998. He was most recently a Managing Director at Labrador Ventures, investors in more than 100 technology companies including Hotmail and Pandora. Before venture investing, Sean was a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group, working in a wide range of industries such as telecom, computers, healthcare, banking, and automotive on topics ranging from strategic alliances to Internet strategies. Sean also worked as a systems engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories, developing artificial intelligence systems for testing the most complicated telecommunications networks. Philanthropically interested in education, social investment and microfinance, Sean is founder of Community Promise, an educational focused nonprofit. He is on the boards of directors of Freedom From Hunger and Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, and is the co-founder of Toniic, an angel investor group for impact investors, and Village Capital, a combination of YPO style entrepreneur support and business plan competition style equity investment. Sean is also on the Center for Financial Inclusion Faculty Council and the Frontier Investments Advisory Council. Sean is on the Professional Faculty of the University of California's Haas School of Business. He teaches Venture Capital and Private Equity as well as the Ashoka Innovation award winning Microfinance Simulcast, which is broadcast in real time to more than 75 business schools around the country. He has also taught classes on entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan's Business School, University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Sean received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri Rolla (1988), and his MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business (1993), where he received the Shermett Award granted to the top 3% of students. He has been on the US National Amateur Triathlon Team and is a singer songwriter.