REMOVER OF OBSTACLES
Greg Horowitt
Co-Founder & Director; T2 Venture Capital
Greg is the co-founder and Managing Director of T2 Venture Capital, a seed and early stage venture fund and advisory services firm focused on high impact innovation in the technology and healthcare sectors. He has lead T2’s involvement in portfolio companies; Somark Innovations, Biomatrica, Independa, GroundMetrics, and AutoPoint Software (sold to SRS Solutions).
He is also the co-author of the bestselling book, ‘the Rainforest: the Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley’ which examines the dynamics and drivers of innovation ecosystems; drawn from hands-on experience and insights gathered while architecting the innovation ecosystems of more than a dozen countries around the world. He is a co-founder of the Global Innovation Summit, co-founder of the Rainforest Architects Program, and a co-developer of the Rainforest Index. Greg is a Kauffman Fellow, a member of a select program to groom leaders of the venture capital industry. He is an adviser, speaker, and consultant to development organizations including the World Bank, US State Department, OECD, USAID, Aspen Institute, and the National Academies of Science in addition to his work advising governments around the world on topics of economic development, venture capital formation, and innovation policy. He is currently engaged in designing unique, breakthrough models for measuring the health of innovation systems based on dynamic flows of talent, capital, and knowledge.
Mr. Horowitt is also the co-founder of Global CONNECT, a think tank based at the University of California, San Diego, focused on the development and growth of innovation clusters worldwide. Under his leadership, Global CONNECT has grown to encompass one of the world’s largest networks of innovation hubs including more than 40 programs in 20 countries, all focused on accelerating global technology commercialization, and the Global CONNECT Summit, the annual gathering of best practice innovation organizations from around the world. In addition, he is the principal architect of several key innovative business management, leadership development, and entrepreneurship mentorship programs still in use today around the world, including Global Bridge and the Rainforest Architects Program. Mr. Horowitt’s many media references include the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WIRED, Forbes, Fortune, New Scientist, and Entrepreneur Magazine.
Greg was formerly the interim Managing Director of CONNECT, an organization which is generally credited with San Diego’s success as a technology leader and which helped launch over 300 companies that raised over $600 million in early-stage funding and achieved over $12 billion in market capitalization. Greg has personally advised and mentored more than 200 companies.
Prior to CONNECT, Greg’s life was as an entrepreneur and investor, having been involved with a number of Silicon Valley startups and venture capital, including serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Prior to that, he was the President and CEO of the Praetorian Group, a venture-backed software and online media company, and for nearly 20 years before that, he was an executive with a Berkshire Hathaway operating company.
Greg currently serves as a board member of CONNECT and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. He serves as an adviser to the InvestChile (CORFO) and Working Capital (Italy) venture capital investment programs.in addition to being an international mentor for the IBM Global Entrepreneur (SmartCamp) program. He is also an adviser to the UCSD Rady School of Management Venture Fund program and serves on their high tech investment committee.
He has been a reviewer for the NSF and DOE SBIR programs and served as an adviser and mentor to the University of California’s Discovery Fellows Program; and Senior Adviser to the Larta Institute. In addition, he previously served as Chairman of Project Inform, one of the nation’s leading HIV treatment information and advocacy organizations.
Greg is a Regents Scholar who holds a degree with high honors in Biochemistry and minors in Economics and Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego.
