About
I am a 3X founder, former startup CEO, and early stage VC. I live in Washington D.C. and serve as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Carnegie Mellon school of computer science. I grew up in Norfolk, VA and graduated from the College of William & Mary.
Disclaimer
This is the personal blog of Frank V. Taylor. Statements made here are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my employer.
Furthermore, nothing published on this site should be considered investment advice. The content on this site is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Early stage venture capital is an inherently risky asset class.
Only invest money you are able to lose. Do your own research and consult your partner / attorney / financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Professional Background
My career as an entrepreneur began in 2005 when I launched an online platform for visual artists as a senior in high school. That business grew to mid-five figure revenues in two years before I closed it to focus on my studies at William & Mary.
In 2008 I started experimenting with consumer robotics, and developed a novel digital payments system, before launching an eCommerce business upon graduation in 2010. I bootstrapped that business to profitability with mid-six figure revenues and sold it for 3x EBITDA several years later.
In 2012 I moved to Washington, D.C. and helped launch a hyper local B2B social network for entrepreneurs and investors which scaled to 12,000 members and made a lasting impact on the local ecosystem. A primary goal of the organization was to bridge the gap between private-sector and public-sector innovators in order to lay the foundation for a regional startup ecosystem.
The 1,000 person Collaborate conference we hosted in January, 2015 was significant milestone for the organization with participation from the Obama White House, multiple federal agencies, and hundreds of successful startups including Tesla, Github, and Facebook as well as local early stage startups like Aquicore (acquired, 2022) and FiscalNote (IPO, 2023).
After selling my eCommerce business, I partnered with a talented engineer and early WeWork employee to launch a B2B software startup in 2017. We built a shared space management platform to improve the utility of common area meeting and event space in traditional commercial office buildings.
We experienced early success raising a $500K pre-Seed round, signing major commercial properties as customers, driving 100% YoY revenue growth, and reaching and a low seven-figure run rate in three years.
We hit a wall, however, when the Covid-19 pandemic abruptly shuttered office buildings and canceled all corporate events.
By chasing profitability in advance of our Seed round, I allowed the company to become undercapitalized. As a result, we were poorly positioned to withstand the shock of abrupt, massive revenue loss and forced to shut down.
The wind down of my last startup was painful, but it created an opportunity for me to transition into a new role as an early stage venture capital investor.
As it turns out, investing is a good fit for me. I find it to be incredible fulfilling and intellectual stimulating. I am able to leverage learning from my early career as an entrepreneur, practice skills I gained as a startup ecosystem connector, and spend my time doing what I enjoy most: helping smart people solve hard problems.
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