Ethan Batraski

Ethan Batraski is a Partner at Venrock, based in Palo Alto, where he partners with early-stage entrepreneurs building breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and frontier systems. His investment focus centers on developer and data infrastructure, open source software, and emerging dual-use technologies, applying a deep expertise in addressing hard engineering challenges.

With over 15 years of experience as a founder, executive, and angel investor, Ethan previously held leadership roles at Facebook, where he led ads, product, and engineering, overseeing a multibillion-dollar revenue line, and at Box as Vice President of Product and Design through its IPO. Before joining Venrock in 2017, he also co-founded a seed fund focused on technical founders solving complex problems, further underscoring his builder-investor perspective.

Ethan began his career as an engineer and product leader, having co-founded and exited startups as a founder and operator. He studied engineering but did not complete a college degree, choosing instead to pursue startup opportunities full-time. At Venrock, Ethan is recognized for his market-centric investment approach and his commitment to helping technical founders bridge the gap to product-market fit in fast-moving technology sectors.