Founder, Managing Director
Sean O'Sullivan
founder of @MapInfo, @SOSVvc, @Carma; co-inventor of street mapping on PCs. co-coined term "cloud computing" in 1996. seed & venture capital investor.
founder of @MapInfo, @SOSVvc, @Carma; co-inventor of street mapping on PCs. co-coined term "cloud computing" in 1996. seed & venture capital investor.
There was a problem loading your content.
Education
About
Achievements
invented street mapping on personal computers; co-coined the term "cloud computing"; in 2014 HAX/SOSV was named the best institutional investor in China by TechNode (TechCrunch China); led 3,500 person humanitarian engineering organization in Iraq; helicopter pilot; TV personality/investor on Dragon's Den 2012-2013; trustee Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; supporter of Khan Academy, CoderDojo, Mathletes.
Describe the most impressive thing you've done.
What I'm Looking For
we fund companies with a minimum of 1 technical co-founder and a minimum of 2 founders, with a working prototype in a really innovative and important marketplace. Companies apply through our accelerators (HAX, IndieBio, Chinaccelerator, Food-X, MOX, dLab et al) to get further, faster.
Describe what you're looking for in a company.
Locations
Q&A
What's the most useful business-related book you've ever read?
Made to Stick, Chip & Dan Heath
What's your favorite non-business book?
The Art of War, Sun Zhu
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
If money were not an issue, what would you be doing right now?
Money isn't an issue. I'm doing what I want to be doing.
What words of advice would you give your younger self?
Don't go along with stuff that makes your stomach roil. The experienced people aren't necessarily wiser or more ethical than you. If it seems dumb or wrong, it probably is. Someone can't explain what they do, simply, doesn't know what they're doing.
Which founders or startups do you most admire?
Despite what they say about him, Steve Jobs.
Jesus was pretty cool, too.
And yeah, Sal Khan and Elon Musk.
What's your super power?
I can see the future. [But I just don't know how long away it is].
What's the best way for people to get in touch with you?
if they want to talk, via office hours at http://sean-sosv.youcanbook.me
What words of wisdom do you live by?
Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are.
-- Theodore Roosevelt
What aspects of your work are you most passionate about?
Leaving the earth and humanity a little bit better off than before I came on the scene.
What was the most impactful class you took in school?
Principals of Entrepreneurship. (Although it would have been useless without the 36 engineering classes I'd taken before it... and the co-ops and jobs I'd had first).
What's something you wish you had done years earlier?
developed a sense of humor
What's an obstacle you've overcome?
poverty, war, depression, death of loved ones
What's the most creative thing you've ever done?
What I'm doing now, running SOSV, helping hundreds of startups go further, faster, year after year.
SEE MORE