Team Biographies
Hamilton Helmer, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer
Hamilton Helmer is the Co-Founder, Co-CIO, and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Hamilton began his career at Bain & Company and served as a practicing business strategist at Deep Strategy (Formerly Helmer & Associates) before founding Strategy Capital. Hamilton holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and a B.A. in economics from Williams College. He also taught Business Strategy in the Economics Department of Stanford University for a decade and is the author of the book “7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy.”
John Rutherford, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
John Rutherford is the Co-Founder and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Prior to co-founding Strategy Capital, John co-founded both Parthenon Capital and The Parthenon Group, where he also served as chairman. John began his career at Bain & Company. He holds a B.E. degree from the University of Canterbury, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Connecticut, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Bill Mitchell, Co-Chief Investment Officer
Bill Mitchell is Co-CIO and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Bill was a General Partner of Mitchell Portfolio Management and published monthly Spinoff & Reorg Profiles for nine years. Bill began his career at Apple and founded an investment research software company. He received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, as well as a B.A. in physics from Reed College and a B.S. in engineering and applied science from Caltech.
Mike Albert, Chief Financial Officer
Mike Albert is Chief Financial Officer of Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Mike was Chief Financial Officer at Taal Capital and held roles with Bain Capital and KPMG. Mike received his B.S. in Accounting from The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was a certified public accountant in Massachusetts.
William Faulkner, Principal
William Faulkner is a Principal on the investment team at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, William was on the private equity team at General Atlantic, focusing on private growth investments in the internet and software space and worked for Cruise Automation, a driverless car company. William received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business as well as his B.A. from Stanford University.
Chenyi Shi, Principal
Chenyi Shi is a Principal on the Investment team at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Chenyi was an investor at AI Fund and served as an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Technology Group. Chenyi received her M.S. in Management Science and Engineering and B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.
Samantha Hawkins, Director of Operations
Sam Hawkins is Director of Operations of Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Sam was at Point 72 Asset Management and in operations at Endurant Capital. Sam is a Chartered Financial Analyst and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Finance from San Jose State University.
Advisory Board
Adam D'Angelo, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quora
Adam D’Angelo is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quora. Quora serves over 400 million monthly unique visitors from around the world, with a library covering millions of topics. The company recently launched Poe, an AI chat platform. Prior to founding Quora in 2009, Adam served as Chief Technology Officer at Facebook. He is also a board member for OpenAI and Asana. Adam holds a B.S. degree in computer science from the California Institute of Technology.
Amjad Masad, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Replit
Amjad Masad is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Replit, the world's leading online programming environment and community. Previously, Amjad served as a Founding Engineer at Codecademy before working as a Software Engineer at Facebook, overseeing the JavaScript infrastructure team and building some of the world's most popular open-source developer tools. He holds a B.S. degree in computer science.
Anu Hariharan, Founder and Managing Partner of Avra
Anu Hariharan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Avra, helping exceptional founders scale enduring businesses. She was previously the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Y Combinator's Continuity Fund, where she led later-stage investments in Brex, Convoy, Faire, Gusto, Whatnot, Instacart, Monzo and Rappi. Anu serves on the boards of Brex, Whatnot, Monzo, Zepto and Avis. Previously, Anu was an Investment Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she worked with companies such as Airbnb, Instacart, Medium, OfferUp and Udacity, a principal in BCG’s private equity practice and a senior software engineer at Qualcomm. Anu holds a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from The Wharton School.
David Rosenthal , Co-Founder and Co-Host of the Acquired podcast
David Rosenthal is the Co-Founder and Co-Host of the Acquired podcast, the #1 ranked technology podcast worldwide. Acquired shares long-form stories of great companies ranging from LVMH to Nvidia to the NFL, with over 300,000 global subscribers. David is also an active investor in companies of all stages. He holds an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Mark Baumgartner, Chief Investment Officer at UFICO
Mark Baumgartner is the Chief Investment Officer at The University of Florida Investment Corporation. Before joining UFICO, Mark was Chief Investment Officer at Dalio Family Office, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Institute for Advanced Study. Mark is a member of the Board of Directors for Scientific Technologies Ltd and The Investment Fund for Foundations. He is also a Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee for the YMCA Retirement Fund. Mark holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and a certificate in public policy from Princeton University.
Max Rhodes, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Faire
Max Rhodes is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Faire, the largest wholesale marketplace serving over 700,000 retailers worldwide. Prior to Faire, Max was an early product lead at Square, where he worked on Cash App and was a founding member of Square Capital. Max holds a B.A. degree in history from Yale.
Ned Augenblick, Associate Professor at UC Berkeley
Ned Augenblick is an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley in the Economic Analysis and Policy group at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. His research uses theoretical, experimental and empirical methods to understand issues at the border of economics and psychology. Ned is also the Co-Founder of Berkeley Data Ventures, a consulting firm focused on data analytics and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Ned holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford.
S. Alexander Jacobson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 137 Ventures
S. Alexander Jacobson is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 137 Ventures, a leading provider of customized liquidity solutions to founders, investors and early employees of growth-stage private technology companies. He is also a founding investor of ImmuneBridge and a founding advisor to Armada. Alex previously founded Shop.com, Virtual Office and Interband. He served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Founders Fund, where he led the diligence process for investments in SpaceX. Alex holds a B.S. degree in cognitive science from Brown University.
Team Biographies
Advisory Board
Hamilton Helmer, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer
Hamilton Helmer is the Co-Founder, Co-CIO, and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Hamilton began his career at Bain & Company and served as a practicing business strategist at Deep Strategy (Formerly Helmer & Associates) before founding Strategy Capital. Hamilton holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and a B.A. in economics from Williams College. He also taught Business Strategy in the Economics Department of Stanford University for a decade and is the author of the book “7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy.”
John Rutherford, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
John Rutherford is the Co-Founder and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Prior to co-founding Strategy Capital, John co-founded both Parthenon Capital and The Parthenon Group, where he also served as chairman. John began his career at Bain & Company. He holds a B.E. degree from the University of Canterbury, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Connecticut, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Bill Mitchell, Co-Chief Investment Officer
Bill Mitchell is Co-CIO and a Partner at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Bill was a General Partner of Mitchell Portfolio Management and published monthly Spinoff & Reorg Profiles for nine years. Bill began his career at Apple and founded an investment research software company. He received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, as well as a B.A. in physics from Reed College and a B.S. in engineering and applied science from Caltech.
Mike Albert, Chief Financial Officer
Mike Albert is Chief Financial Officer of Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Mike was Chief Financial Officer at Taal Capital and held roles with Bain Capital and KPMG. Mike received his B.S. in Accounting from The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was a certified public accountant in Massachusetts.
William Faulkner, Principal
William Faulkner is a Principal on the investment team at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, William was on the private equity team at General Atlantic, focusing on private growth investments in the internet and software space and worked for Cruise Automation, a driverless car company. William received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business as well as his B.A. from Stanford University.
Chenyi Shi, Principal
Chenyi Shi is a Principal on the Investment team at Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Chenyi was an investor at AI Fund and served as an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Technology Group. Chenyi received her M.S. in Management Science and Engineering and B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.
Samantha Hawkins, Director of Operations
Sam Hawkins is Director of Operations of Strategy Capital. Prior to joining the Firm, Sam was at Point 72 Asset Management and in operations at Endurant Capital. Sam is a Chartered Financial Analyst and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Finance from San Jose State University.
Adam D'Angelo, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quora
Adam D’Angelo is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quora. Quora serves over 400 million monthly unique visitors from around the world, with a library covering millions of topics. The company recently launched Poe, an AI chat platform. Prior to founding Quora in 2009, Adam served as Chief Technology Officer at Facebook. He is also a board member for OpenAI and Asana. Adam holds a B.S. degree in computer science from the California Institute of Technology.
Amjad Masad, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Replit
Amjad Masad is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Replit, the world's leading online programming environment and community. Previously, Amjad served as a Founding Engineer at Codecademy before working as a Software Engineer at Facebook, overseeing the JavaScript infrastructure team and building some of the world's most popular open-source developer tools. He holds a B.S. degree in computer science.
Anu Hariharan, Founder and Managing Partner of Avra
Anu Hariharan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Avra, helping exceptional founders scale enduring businesses. She was previously the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Y Combinator's Continuity Fund, where she led later-stage investments in Brex, Convoy, Faire, Gusto, Whatnot, Instacart, Monzo and Rappi. Anu serves on the boards of Brex, Whatnot, Monzo, Zepto and Avis. Previously, Anu was an Investment Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she worked with companies such as Airbnb, Instacart, Medium, OfferUp and Udacity, a principal in BCG’s private equity practice and a senior software engineer at Qualcomm. Anu holds a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from The Wharton School.
David Rosenthal , Co-Founder and Co-Host of the Acquired podcast
David Rosenthal is the Co-Founder and Co-Host of the Acquired podcast, the #1 ranked technology podcast worldwide. Acquired shares long-form stories of great companies ranging from LVMH to Nvidia to the NFL, with over 300,000 global subscribers. David is also an active investor in companies of all stages. He holds an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Mark Baumgartner, Chief Investment Officer at UFICO
Mark Baumgartner is the Chief Investment Officer at The University of Florida Investment Corporation. Before joining UFICO, Mark was Chief Investment Officer at Dalio Family Office, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Institute for Advanced Study. Mark is a member of the Board of Directors for Scientific Technologies Ltd and The Investment Fund for Foundations. He is also a Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee for the YMCA Retirement Fund. Mark holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and a certificate in public policy from Princeton University.
Max Rhodes, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Faire
Max Rhodes is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Faire, the largest wholesale marketplace serving over 700,000 retailers worldwide. Prior to Faire, Max was an early product lead at Square, where he worked on Cash App and was a founding member of Square Capital. Max holds a B.A. degree in history from Yale.
Ned Augenblick, Associate Professor at UC Berkeley
Ned Augenblick is an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley in the Economic Analysis and Policy group at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. His research uses theoretical, experimental and empirical methods to understand issues at the border of economics and psychology. Ned is also the Co-Founder of Berkeley Data Ventures, a consulting firm focused on data analytics and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Ned holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford.
S. Alexander Jacobson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 137 Ventures
S. Alexander Jacobson is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 137 Ventures, a leading provider of customized liquidity solutions to founders, investors and early employees of growth-stage private technology companies. He is also a founding investor of ImmuneBridge and a founding advisor to Armada. Alex previously founded Shop.com, Virtual Office and Interband. He served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Founders Fund, where he led the diligence process for investments in SpaceX. Alex holds a B.S. degree in cognitive science from Brown University.
Our Team
Connected by a Common Investment Language
Every member of our investment team has many years of experience with the 7 Powers analytical approach, both as long-time students of the framework and as contributors to Strategy Capital’s unpublished private store of competitive insight. We continually refine this approach, informed both by our investments and by our frequent interactions with tech founders.
Our back-office consists of experienced finance and operation professionals, reinforced by a deep bench of well-regarded outsourced services.
Our Values
Collegial, Methodological, Decisive
A shared language for strategy
As 7 Powers enthusiasts, we share not only a common mental model, but also a common language for competitive analysis. This yields efficient interaction within our field of expertise.
Methodical pattern recognition
We assess and regularly reassess our portfolio positions through a hypothesis-test loop, buttressed by rigorous internal debate.
Collegial, collaborative culture
We are operationally simple, with a lean team and a flat organizational structure consisting of senior professionals committed to our approach to ensure open collaboration, respect for all opinions, and fruitful debate at all levels.
Commitment
Durable competitive advantage, when correctly identified, often erodes only slowly. Though we reassess positions frequently, we typically change them gradually, often holding portfolio positions for many years.
Our Approach
“
Much of the present value in an emerging business is derived from far future cash flows — if any. We believe the 7 Powers model gives us differential insight into those future cash flows.
– Bill Mitchell, Partner and Managing Director