Who is Neal Dempsey?
Sailed around the world?
Ran major marathons?
Climbed the highest summits?
Check, check, and check.
Who is Neal Dempsey?
Ran major marathons?
Climbed the highest summits?
Check, check, and check.
Who is Neal Dempsey?
Sailed around the world? Ran major marathons? Climbed the highest summits?Check, check, and check.
Neal is a thrill-seeker and a big believer in taking chances, which are mindsets he carries into his investment strategies too. He began his investing career by taking a chance on a young founder who had a compelling story and a commitment to see it through. Although the company was outside of the technology industry, Neal was so impressed with the passion and determination of the founder that he became a personal investor. That company? Starbucks.

Working with this kind of entrepreneur who was undeniably passionate about their vision set the basis for Neal’s investment thesis.
For over 25 years, that kind of dedication and grit have been traits Neal always looks for in the people he works with and invests in. It’s these people—the ones with a clear vision and the tenacity to see it through—who build successful companies.
Since then, he and his partners have achieved over 30 IPOs and over $3 Billion in returns. Having become a Silicon Valley legend for investing in some of the most well-known tech companies of all time, Neal now focuses on seed and angel investing as well as mentoring founders and students. Neal’s ability to drive successful outcomes has landed him on the Forbes Midas List, which lists the top 100 venture capitalists in the world.
Investment Strategy
Mentorship
Active Ally
Giving Back
Beyond volunteering at the University of Washington, he has endowed scholarship funds for students, young assistant professors, and athletes at the University of Washington, Willamette University, and Claremont McKenna College. A lover of the outdoors, Neal serves on the board of ACES, an environmental organization in Aspen, Colorado. He is also an Uplift Family Services board veteran, which recently merged with Pacific Clinics to operate as Pacific Clinics: California’s largest community-based nonprofit provider of high-quality behavioral health care. The two health care providers bring together more than 150 years of experience, and with their team of more than 2,000 employees who speak 22 languages, they are dedicated to offering hope and helping thousands of children and their family members recover from trauma, such as abuse, severe neglect, addiction, and poverty.