I work for an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in startups and creators, and given that my tenure in the VC business is largely tied to my ability to find sick people to invest in, I'm using my "about" page as a bat signal for just those people. Please hit "see more" to keep reading.

I'm interested, broadly speaking, in meeting with three types of people:

1) Moderately unhinged founders who are hell-bent on building something big and cool and want to use our money to do it.

2) Moderately unhinged founders who are hell-bent on building something big that the rest of the world finds lame, but, for some reason, they are obsessed with, and wants to use our money to do it.

3) Influential creators who have realized that they'd rather use their platforms to build their own businesses instead of living on brand deals forever. (I used to run ads on my blog, not the highest leverage way to monetize an audience! That's why I'm a VC now).

If this describes you, hit me up. Of course, in the name of transparency, I should probably tell you a bit about myself so you'll know if you even want to meet with me in the first place. (Business, like love, is a two-way street, after all).

A few things about me: I've been blogging on Substack since 2021, writing about everything from personal finance to travel shenanigans when I was 24, and 65,000 people subscribe to my blog now. I even landed a book deal with Penguin from that blog. The topic is life advice for 20-somethings, basically. It comes out in 2026.

I wrote most of that book in a 2-week period (50,000 words in 14 days while locked in a hotel room in the CitizenM in the Bowery). I'm pretty happy with it; the best thing I've ever written. If you're reading this, you should subscribe to my blog. And read my book.

Other prior experiences include working for Robinhood's media startup Sherwood News, managing a newsletter for finance meme page Litquidity, working in corporate finance for UPS, and spending a year living out of a backpack abroad and blogging about the whole thing (never staying in a hostel again, but it was fun).

Anyway now I work for Slow Ventures and want to give money to those of you who are building killer businesses. So, if that's you, let's chat? Shoot me a note at jack@slow.co.

(Also, Linkedin added a "write with AI" button to the about section. There's no way I'd ever write my bio with AI. I have too much hubris).

Jack Raines

Many people have asked me, "Jack, how is a venture capital associate supposed to have differentiated sourcing in 2026 when everyone is using the same AI tracking tools?"

My answer? Find My Friends.

Any time I meet someone who I assign a >1% chance of starting a company (I have a robust mental model trained on the hundreds of pitches I've seen over the last year), I say, "Hahaha, you know what would be funny? If we added each other on Find My Friends so if we're in the same neighborhood, we can grab beers."

But actually, this allows me to track which of these serendipitous contacts are the most "locked in," and, importantly, who seems to be pitching VCs. See, I have overlaid my Find My Friends interface with popular nightlife neighborhoods in NYC and SF, every VC office location in both San Francisco and New York, and the coffee shops most-regularly populated by VCs near Jackson Square.

Any contact that averages more than 3 evenings out in a popular nightlife area (west village, marina district, etc) per month is assigned a red flag (not locked in!), and anyone who appears in the vicinity of VC offices or the South Park Blue Bottle more than 4x in one week receives an automated text from my AI co-pilot that says, "What's up ____, hope all is well! Coffee soon?"

Haters call it an "invasion of privacy." Me? I say I'm just monitoring the situation.

Forward Deployed Personality Hire @ Slow Ventures

Air France = fantastic flight + lounge experience. Easily the best national airline amongst the developing economies.

Similar to Thiel investing in Tolkien names, I'd love to see a trend of companies named after Star Wars references, but using the stupidest names possible.

"Yeah, we're raising $20m to democratize access to energy with my new venture, Jar-Jar Binks."

New blog to kick off 2026: Brief ski trip recap + I'm pretty convinced that self-driving will be so pervasive in 20 years that my kids won't have to drive. What comes next?

Open article: Happy 2026, Let's Get This Bread by youngmoney.co

Jacob Kantor

Education Technology Leader - GTM/Sales - Helping Ed Tech Companies reach more students & connect with district leaders nationwide

If you want to learn more about me, take a look at my recommendations – they come from former co workers, bosses & competitors in the Ed tech space 🤓

I’m Jacob (Chief DODO—the District Office Door Opener) who has spent 18+ years unlocking meaningful collaborations between EdTech innovators and school district leaders. 

Who I help:
I guide EdTech companies—new ventures or established names like Stride K12, aiEDU, Outlier (now Savvas), Gladeo, and more—to break through cold outreach fatigue and connect with decision-makers in a constructive, human-centered way.

What I solve:
Most vendors fall short because they lead with product pitches. I flip that approach—starting with empathy, preparation, and curiosity—to build trust and tailor solutions to district pressures and needs. It’s strategic outreach that becomes authentic partnership.

Why it matters:
I’ve personally delivered about $50M in sales across giants like McGraw Hill, C2 Education, Revolution Prep, Collegewise, Varsity Tutors, and Spark Education—earning a reputation as a top EdTech sales leader. 

Recent wins include:
🔹 National grant partnerships for aiEDU + Google to impact rural students across the US
🔹 Facilitating meetings with 80+ superintendents for Virtu.Academy
🔹 Building GTM strategies for Physics Wallah, TRUCE Software, and more (You can see them all in my profile)

📩 thejacobkantor@gmail.com | 📍 Based in LA | 🤝 Always happy to connect

Venture Partner

Interlock Capital is a community-driven angel syndicate and VC fund.

Conference travel pack list ✈️  DODO stickers 🦤 Portable charger ✅ Gum / beef jerky / protein bars ✅ Lacrosse balls to roll feet out ✅ Cigars ✅  Multiple Shoes to show out 👀 ✅  Water Bottle ✅ Sharpies (IYKYK) ✅ 

Leaving Saturday night for Future of Education Technology Conference to hang with all the cool kids 😎

Really excited for Monday + Tuesday sessions I get to co lead with these superstars 🤩 

💵 Beyond the Sales Pitch: Evaluating EdTech for Efficacy & Equity
 w/ Dr. Sabba Quidwai + Michael Conner, Ed.D. + Steven Iglesias - Monday 12th 1pm 📅 

💵 Strategic Tech Investment for Impact: A District Leadership Roundtable
 w/ Patrick Gittisriboongul + Dr. Sabba Quidwai + Michael Conner, Ed.D. 
 (+ maybe a surprise guest 👀 Robert Dickson) - Monday 12th 3pm 📅 

💵 Building Trust & Transparency in K-12 Tech Partnerships
 w/ Karttikeya Mangalam, Ph.D  + Dr. Sabba Quidwai  + Kurtis Pake + Melissa Vrable - Tuesday 13th 930am 📅 

If you’re around, grab me for a coffee ☕ or a DODO sticker

Chief DODO 🦤 District Office Door Opener | $50M+ in School Sales | District Partnerships & GTM Strategy | CEO, JK K12 |

Shout out to all the dads holding down morning drop-off duties 👊
(And no—this takes nothing away from the moms.)

My wife works out of the house, so mornings are my lane.
Backpacks. Car line. Pep talks.

Today’s highlight: new kicks for the crew 👟
Naturally, they had to be shown off.

Huge appreciation for my wife for holding down the fort while I was at FETC this week.
No scorekeeping. Just teamwork.

Teamwork makes the dream work. 💙

No alternative text description for this image

Woke up to Jennifer Womble sharing 28 photos from this weeks festivities. I got to spend time with so many people I admire and only see over zoom / text messages. 

Thank you all for letting me be weird and snap pics with yall. 🥳😆😂 

This was my first Future of Education Technology Conference 

100% not my last. 🦤🪩

This is where the magic happens. 🪄
It’s not fancy.
It’s not special.
It’s not even inside the house. 😂

I work out of a 10×8 Tuff Shed on the side of my house.

And somehow… this tiny space has powered 18 years of connecting people.

Do I travel to schools? Yes.
Do I speak at conferences and hop on planes? Yes.
Do I grab lunch with school leaders? Yes.
Do I host tequila tastings at my house with work friends, school folks, and childhood buddies? Also yes. 🌮🥃

But this shed?
This is home base.

No filters.
No fancy setup.
Just relationships, conversations, and a whole lot of follow-ups.

This is me.
This is my setup.

What does yours look like?

🦤🦤

Got to welcome Bill Bass to LA. We both serve on an advisory board together. First of many hangs I’m sure. 🫡

Yes I’m wearing a kids Home Depot apron.

Sitting in a session titled : Navigating Policy , Ethics and Implementation of AI 

Matthew Winters    
Patrick Gittisriboongul 
Barbara A. Mullen, Ph.D 
Emma Moss 
Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed. D. 

Jennifer Womble Future of Education Technology Conference

🦤 DODO landed in LA.
Family life in T-minus 1 hour.

When I ordered the stickers, I felt weird.
Awkward.
Did I really need them?
Would anyone want one?
Would anyone actually wear one?

Man… self-doubt and fear are a shitty emotion.

Then something funny happened.

I gave out 200+ stickers.
People asked for them.
People let me put them on their badges.
People came up looking for DODO stickers 

That little voice in my head was wrong.

Thanks for letting me drive-by DODO you.
🦤🤙

This was really cool to see firsthand. I had to snap a pic.  Alana Winnick had her students at Future of Education Technology Conference and was talking to Sam Canning-Kaplan 

She told her students Sam works at the company that makes CHAT GPT and they all had so many questions for him.

This was a fun one. 👀🦤

Patrick Gittisriboongul  calls me one night while walking his dog and says:
“Hey… I’ve got some ideas for OpenAI . Do you know anyone over there?”

I call Wes Kriesel and say,
“Hey—hook me up.”

He connects me to Sam Canning-Kaplan 
 
A few quick back-and-forth messages later → we’re on a call with Patrick talking all things:
	•	AI in districts
	•	Real constraints leaders face
	•	Big ideas that actually work in K-12

Fast forward 🚀
There’s now a cohort of districts across the country that are OpenAI districts, rolling out free premium access to all of their teachers.

And this was the first time we were all in the same room—not a call, not texts, not DMs.

Just people, ideas, and momentum.

This is how a lot of the best work starts:
➡️ one walk
➡️ one question
➡️ one intro
➡️ real impact

(This was all of us first meeting in the expo hall this week at Future of Education Technology Conference ) Thanks Jennifer Womble & Team for creating the space to bring us all together

Thanks Julia Fallon & SETDA for hosting all of us at Future of Education Technology Conference 

Was a blast to meet all of your state leaders. 

🦤🦤

Saturdays are for the boys. 🦤👟🍔

Park first.
Nike outlet next (new school kicks secured).
In-N-Out for lunch (because… obviously).

Most important part?
We gave mom the morning + afternoon off kid duty.

Everyone wins.

Teamwork makes the weekend work. 💛

(Luke taking that first bite of a double double is a funny pic. My massive 4x4 protein style was bomb. Chocolate shakes for the win)

You know what is a lifesaver?  Portable chargers. 
Especially when they are a holiday gift from Matthew Giovanniello  and the Frenalytics team. Thank you 🙏

Excited to be involved. Hit me up if you want to help!

Chief Executive Officer @ InnovateEDU | Education Transformation, Policy

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!

National AI Literacy Day is 10 weeks away, and we’re kicking off our countdown with a series of Office Hour webinars to share why everyone should join the movement to increase AI literacy nationwide! 

Now in its third year, National AI Literacy Day has the opportunity to establish itself as a foundational 21st-century skill. If you’re interested in learning how you can implement an AI Literacy Day event in your community that improves safe and effective AI use, join us on Tuesday, January 20th at 3:30pm CT. 

It's 20 minutes to understand how to be part of this global movement!

During this kickoff webinar, we will: 
Explain what National AI Literacy Day is
Share why organizations all over the nation are getting involved
Share the impact of National AI Literacy Day 
Explain how you can get involved
Review all steps to get started 

We can’t wait to see you there! 

Registration Link: https://lnkd.in/gpKqwxNh

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