Michael Baum is the Founder and CEO of FOUNDER.org, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm and startup accelerator. See sector focus and contact routes.
Michael Baum is the Founder and CEO of FOUNDER.org, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm and startup accelerator he launched in 2012 after co-founding and leading Splunk to a successful IPO. His investment thesis targets early-stage and seed ventures, specifically focusing on student entrepreneurs solving large-scale problems at universities globally, with partnerships spanning nearly 50 institutions. FOUNDER.org provides grants and mentoring rather than traditional equity checks, having distributed $1 million in grants to university startups in a single year, including $200,000 to UC Berkeley teams. While the firm does not typically lead venture rounds in the conventional sense, it acts as a primary funder for its program participants through non-dilutive grants. Notable portfolio outcomes include companies founded by students in his program, though specific named company exits beyond Splunk are not explicitly detailed in available sources. Baum’s distinctive point of view emphasizes that entrepreneurs must solve billion-dollar problems to build billion-dollar companies and must tell powerful stories to alter the future. He publicly adv
StartupFundraising tracks this investor record from SEC filings and announced rounds, updating focus, location and portfolio history as new data lands. Use it to gauge fit before an outreach, then widen the search to investors in San Francisco.
Investors like Michael Baum · Full investor directory · Investor access · Company funding database