Ken Howery
Ken Howery is a highly accomplished venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of PayPal, the pioneer in the online payments industry, where he served as the company's first Chief Financial Officer. At PayPal, he developed a product that accelerated much of the viral growth on eBay, helped raise over US$ 200 million in private financing, worked on the company's public offerings and assisted in the company's US$ 1.5 billion sale to eBay. He also served as the Co-Founder and Partner at Founders Fund, the venture capital firm known for its magnificent bets on some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Over the past two decades, Howery has emerged as one of the most prolific venture capitalists and influential figures in Silicon Valley. He was also a partner with Peter Thiel in his private venture investing, helping in diligence deals, including the Series A investment in Facebook. After 25 years in Silicon Valley‘s inner circle, Howery surprised many in 2019 by accepting former President Donal Trump‘s nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden.
Ken Howery Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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U.S. Ambassador to Sweden
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Co-Founder and Partner
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Director of Corporate Development
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Co-Founder and Founding Chief Financial Officer
Academic History
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B.A., Economics
He served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Sweden from 2019 to 2021.
He was responsible for strengthening security and defense cooperation with Sweden to counter the challenges posed by non-democratic regimes, deepening economic ties that provide prosperity to both countries.
He also focused on promoting technology and entrepreneurship opportunities, and building upon these pillars to connect people from both countries through artistic, cultural, and scientific programs and exchanges.
He has led or co-led investments in a number of companies including Facebook, Quantcast, Geni and ZocDoc.
As the co-founder of Founders Fund, he‘s backed industry-shaking startups like Facebook, SpaceX, Spotify, and Airbnb.
Howery was instrumental in growing Founders Fund from a small $50 million fund to a powerhouse with over $3 billion under management by the time he moved on in 2019.
As the first CFO and a PayPal Mafia member , he played an instrumental role in the payment platform‘s meteoric rise, IPO, and $1.5B acquisition by eBay.
Under his financial stewardship, the company navigated the dot-com crash and post-9/11 uncertainty to become a fintech phenom.
Howery managed the company‘s blockbuster 2002 IPO and acquisition by eBay just months later for $1.5 billion.
At the time of the sale, PayPal was processing over $10 billion in annualized payment volume for 20 million users across 38 countries.
TECH INVESTMENTS
Howery helped Thiel source Facebook, which the firm invested in before any other outside investor in one of the greatest VC bets ever.
Not only has he founded a handful of companies, but he’s also been part of the driving force behind some of America’s big businesses like PayPal and eBay.
He is a founding advisor to Kiva.org, served on the board of The Explorers Club, was a former member of the Council of Competitiveness, and is an Eagle Scout.
EARLY CAREER
He has lectured on entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School and Stanford University.
He helped students at University of California, Berkeley and UT Austin's McCombs School of Business to develop business models.
He was a keynote speaker at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference.
His work has been recognized widely by the press, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, and Fortune.
RECOGNITIONS
2010 Venture Capital Journal's Top 10 Venture Capitalists Under 36
2013 Worth Magazine's Top 10 Venture Capitalists
2012 - 2017 World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader