Christopher Poole, aka Moot, the founder of 4chan and still stealthy Canvas Networks, is now a venture advisor. He just joined Lerer Ventures, the New York City seed fund started by Ken and Ben Lerer. While he is not a formal partner, he will have the ability to greenlight deals. Poole joins other Lerer Ventures advisors Eric Hippeau (CEO of the Huffington Post), and Jonah Peretti (CEO of Buzzfeed and co-founder of the Huiffington Post). Ken Lerer is the chairman of the Huffington Post, while his son, Ben, is the CEO and founder of Thrillist.

Moot is plugged into the hacker culture in New York City, which Lerer Ventures wants to tap into. He will advise the fund and bring it deals, as well as participate in the upside of the fund. So he’s more like an advisor with privileges. “Like everyone else at Lerer,” says Poole, “I’m primarily focussed on building my company, but I view my participation in the fund as a way to stay current as the world changes and invest in my peers who are doing amazing things.”

So what kind of startups will he be looking for? “I think I’d be drawn to a founder whose story somewhat parallels my own—working on cool stuff from a young age and more motivated by an interest in solving hard problems than the prospect of striking it
rich.”

Lerer Ventures, which is run on a day-to-day basis by partner Jordan Cooper, has been on a tear lately. Overthe past twelve months, it has invested in nearly 30 startups, including BankSimple, betaworks, chartbeat, FluidInfo, gdgt, Greplin, GroupMe, Venmo, and Poole’s Canvas Networks. Sounds like they are just getting started.

Crunchbase

• CHRISTOPHER POOLE
• LERER VENTURES

Person: Christopher Poole

Companies: 4chan, Canvas Networks, Lerer Ventures, hackNY

Christopher “moot” Poole is the founder of 4chan—a simple, image-based bulletin board. Since its inception, 4chan has grown from a niche site targeting anime fans, to one of the largest and most influential communities on the ‘Net. Commanding over 9 million users a month, many popular viral videos, phenomena and memes get their start on 4chan. In 2009, moot was selected by TIME Magazine’s editors as one of the “TIME 100”: an annual list of “The World’s Most Influential...

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Financial-organization: Lerer Ventures

Website: lererventures.com

Lerer Ventures is a New York-based, seed stage venture capital fund run by Ken and Ben Lerer. LV invests in founders in the earliest stages of a startup’s life, seeking out those entrepreneurs with product vision, consumer insight, focused execution, and unwavering ambition. Its portfolio includes betaworks, chartbeat, Canvas Networks, BankSimple, gdgt, GroupMe, Greplin, and Venmo.

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