By: Chris Fralic

With their direct listing on the NYSE, today Roblox becomes $RBLX. It’s a day that’s both well-earned and a long-time coming. After more than 13 years of knowing and partnering with David Baszucki and the entire Roblox team, I’ve seen the incredible amount of work they’ve put into building this company firsthand.

To mark the occasion, I thought I’d expand on the handful of memories and reflections I shared about Roblox’s journey (and First Round’s front-row seats) over on Twitter this morning.

Investors, take a second look. Founders, keep iterating.

This has become one of my favorite stories to tell. Many investors will tell you…

By: Hayley Barna

More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic first started, healthcare sits at the very top of the list of transformed industries. The field is reorienting after a telehealth surge, embracing new digital relationships between providers and patients, and recognizing the gaps in technology infrastructure needed for this new paradigm. There are a record number of early-stage founders focused on healthcare, excited to tackle the challenges and opportunities in reimagining the patient and provider experience.

At First Round, we see a bright and hopeful healthcare future through the lens of over 30 healthcare companies in our community…

By: Brett Berson

In recent years, as more and more startup leaders and founders got into the check-writing game, we spotted a few gaps. Angel investing is something of a mysterious art. It can be intimidating, and seemingly tough to break into. What’s more, is that it can be a lonely endeavor — one where you don’t have any partners to look at opportunities with or mentors to run your thinking by.

When we launched the first-ever Angel Track over three years ago, we had a lofty goal to fuse together the magic of community, knowledge sharing and opportunity to…

First Round’s Fast Track admittedly started as a bit of a fuzzy experiment. Back in 2016, we felt there was space to build a mentorship experience that could unlock insights, deepen relationships and advance careers — but only if it was structured well and avoided the issues that often plague mentorship relationships. We started small, pairing an intimate group of 20 early-stage founders with some of the most talented operators we knew, with a mission to bring more rigor to the mentorship process — from the frequency of meeting, to the content, to measuring effectiveness.

Fast forward to late November…

Here at First Round, we’re always on the lookout for new ways to demystify the company-building process and share knowledge more widely — whether through interviews on the Review, new products like Discovery Assist that are custom-tailored to support founders, or curated learning programs like our recent inaugural Founding Designer Track and fan-favorite Angel Track.

The thread that ties each of these together is our fundamental belief that you learn the most from a mix of peers who are currently walking a similar path, and leaders who are a couple steps ahead and can help you find your footing. …

A couple weeks ago we wrapped up our first-ever Founding Designer Track — a new community for those considering joining a startup as its first design hire. We are incredibly thankful to the coaches who lent their time and joined us as speakers, sharing valuable insights across a series of sessions, from choosing the right startup to join and establishing design as a critical function of the business and growing your team. To get an in-depth look at many of the key takeaways from this first-of-its-kind program, check out our new article on the Review.

As for the folks who…

By: Phin Barnes

During my time at First Round I have learned an incredible amount, and now, after a lot of reflection, it’s time to take that learning and commence my next chapter. Choosing to leave was a difficult decision, and like any commencement, this is bitter-sweet. I will always look back at my time at First Round with gratitude and carry the friendships I formed forward into what I do next.

Making choices that optimize for learning has always led to my best work and choosing to join First Round was no exception. Over the last decade, I have…

By Ben Cmejla

Back in June, we welcomed 19 emerging angel investors to our 8th cohort of Angel Track. Over 9 weeks, they learn from top startup investors, build relationships, and level up as sources of advice and capital for founders. This cohort is joining a community that’s now 120 members strong, made up of some of the highest caliber operators and founders in tech who collectively have backed hundreds of founders, often co-investing with each other and with First Round.

Meet our Summer 2020 Cohort

We are already several sessions into this summer’s program and are blown away by the range of expertise, experiences…