John Occhipinti

Director

John is the Founder of Wheelhouse Partners. John is a second-generation venture capitalist who grew up in Silicon Valley. Prior to Wheelhouse, John was a Partner at Relay Ventures, an early-stage venture fund exclusively focused on mobile software. Before Relay, John was Managing Director at the Woodside Fund, an early-stage technology fund founded in 1983. John has over 20 years of experience in venture and enterprise software technology, marketing, and sales.

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John serves as the Chairman for the Early Stage Venture Capital Alliance (ESVCA), a federation of 160 early stage Venture Partners that meet and share best practices and discuss industry challenges. Before his investment career, John was an early executive at Netscape Communications. John’s team built the company’s first $50 million in revenue, helping launch Netscape through its IPO. John holds an M.B.A. from the Walter Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. John is based in Menlo Park, CA.