Enjoy a Private Lunch with Blake Byers, Jessica Verrilli, Laura Melahn and Michael Margolis, Partners at GV (Google Ventures), at GV Headquarters in San Francisco.
Blake is an engineer, scientist, and entrepreneur who has been working with GV since 2010. As an investor, Blake partners with founders on life-science and digital companies — from drug development and healthcare delivery to financial services and information security. Blake’s life-science investments include Denali, Grail, and ARMO BioSciences, and his digital investments include Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll), Robinhood, Ionic Security, and LendUp. Prior to GV, Blake helped start two companies, led research projects on biomedical engineering and stem cells at Stanford, and was an angel investor. Blake received a Ph.D. and master’s in bioengineering from Stanford University and holds Bachelor of Science degrees in biomedical engineering and economics from Duke University.
Jessica is a builder, investor, and a partner to entrepreneurs. She invests in visionary founders pursuing bold and ambitious new ideas. Most recently, Jessica was VP of Corporate Development & Strategy at Twitter. Through 30+ acquisitions she brought innovative new products, key technology, developer platforms, new businesses, and dozens of executive leaders into the company. She has been in the trenches with founders in the most critical moments in the journey of building a company. Jessica was Twitter’s 34th employee, and over her eight year tenure played a key role in Twitter’s growth from a small startup to a massive global platform and publicly traded company. Jessica is a founding partner of #ANGELS, an investment collective with a portfolio of 60+ companies. Together with her partners she runs the #ANGELS Access program, an events and conversation series, to further their mission of getting more women on the cap tables of successful startups. Jessica graduated from Stanford University, where she was a Mayfield Fellow and on the Division I varsity lacrosse team. She is an ultra-marathon runner, and is on the board of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
Laura joined GV in 2011 and is a partner on the investing team. Previously, she established GV’s marketing function, working with our portfolio on branding and growth. Laura named Calico, Alphabet’s company aiming to slow aging and counteract age-related diseases. Prior to joining GV, Laura was a product marketing manager at Google, where she worked on Search, Maps, Analytics, and the brand. She developed the Street View snowmobile for the 2010 Winter Olympics and helped bring Search Stories to TV. Previously, Laura conducted research at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and in the University of Oxford biochemistry department. Laura received her degree in molecular biology with honors from Princeton University, where she was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. At Princeton she ran track and cross country and was a member of the geographically-challenged surf club.
Since 1990, Michael has helped companies design products based on new insights about their customers. After stints at The Learning Company, Electronic Arts, and America Online, Michael consulted with a wide variety of companies, such as Alcoa, DuPont, Ericsson, Incyte, Palm, Maytag, Unilever, and Sun Microsystems. After the dot-com bust, Michael joined Walmart.com, where he spearheaded user research that helped design and grow many new online and cross-channel businesses. In 2006, Michael started at Google as a staff user experience researcher, where he conducted research for Gmail and Google Talk, led the UX research team for Google Apps, and managed the user experience team in Google’s Seattle and Kirkland offices. In 2010, he was called up to the GV Design Studio. Michael earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in anthropology from Stanford University. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael is living happily ever after in the Seattle area.
Launched as Google Ventures in 2009, GV is the venture capital arm of Alphabet, Inc. They’ve invested in more than 300 companies that push the edge of what’s possible. In the fields of life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, transportation, cyber security, and agriculture, their companies aim to improve lives and change industries. They’ve built a team of world-class engineers, designers, physicians, scientists, marketers, and investors who work together to provide these startups exceptional support on the road to success. They help their companies interface with Google, providing unique access to the world’s best technology and talent.