Josh Kopelman

Current

Member, Board of Directors at Main Line Health
Chairman, Board of Directors at 1-800-FREE411 (Jingle Networks, Inc.)
Founder and Managing Partner at First Round Capital

Co-founder and Trustee at Kopelman Foundation

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Past

Member, Board of Directors at StumbleUpon
Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Comcast Interactive Capital
Member, Board of Directors at Innovation Philadelphia

Managing Director at Midas Capital
Founding Chairman, Board of Directors at TurnTide
President, Half.com -- an eBay Company at eBay, Inc.
Founder and President, Half.com at Half.com
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President at Infonautics Corporation

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5 more...

Education

Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

Recommended

10 people have recommended Josh

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Venture Capital & Private Equity

Websites

Josh Kopelman’s Summary

Josh is currently Managing Director of First Round Capital, a seed stage technology venture fund. Josh has been an active leader in the Internet industry since its commercialization.

In 1992, while he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Josh co-founded Infonautics Corporation – an Internet information company. In 1996, Infonautics went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Josh founded Half.com in July of 1999, and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in July 2000 -- and Josh remained with eBay for three years, running the Half.com business unit.

In January 2004 Josh helped to found TurnTide, an anti-spam company that has created the world's first anti-spam router. TurnTide was acquired by Symantec just six months later.

Josh also has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and advisor to Comcast Interactive Capital - a $350 million venture capital fund affiliated with Comcast Corporation.

Josh is an inventor on eight U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh has also been recognized as one of the “10 Most Influential People in Philadelphia Technology” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the “76 Smartest Philadelphians” by Philadelphia Magazine and as one of forty individuals under the age of forty who have made the biggest impact on the Philadelphia region by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

In 2001 Josh and his wife created the Kopelman Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on angel philanthropy to provide “start-up” grants to social entrepreneurs. Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Josh Kopelman’s Specialties:

Consumer Marketing, Venture Creation, IPO process, M&A Process, Entrepreneurship...

Josh Kopelman’s Experience

Member, Board of Directors

Main Line Health

(Non-Profit; 5001-10,000 employees; Hospital & Health Care industry)

2006 — Present (3 years )

Main Line Health is suburban Philadelphia's most comprehensive healthcare resource, operating four of the region's most-respected hospitals.
Chairman, Board of Directors

1-800-FREE411 (Jingle Networks, Inc.)

(Privately Held; Information Services industry)

September 2005 — Present (4 years 3 months)
Founder and Managing Partner

First Round Capital

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

October 2004 — Present (5 years 2 months)

First Round Capital is an early stage venture capital firm. We are seed-stage investors, often providing a company’s first outside capital, and aren’t afraid of investing in pre-revenue companies. We understand the challenges of launching a new enterprise, having founded/funded over 25 companies in the last few years.
Co-founder and Trustee

Kopelman Foundation

(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

November 2001 — Present (8 years 1 month)

The Kopelman Foundation provides financial support to qualified not-for-profit organizations for selective projects matching the criteria outlined at http://www.kopelman.org
Member, Board of Directors

StumbleUpon

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

2006 — 2007 (1 year )
Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Comcast Interactive Capital

(Public Company; 11-50 employees; cmcsk; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

February 2004 — January 2006 (2 years )
Member, Board of Directors

Innovation Philadelphia

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Public Policy industry)

January 2001 — December 2005 (5 years )
Managing Director

Midas Capital

(Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

2000 — December 2005 (5 years )

Midas Capital was founded to manage my personal private equity investments.
Visit http://www.midascapital.com to see portfolio.
Founding Chairman, Board of Directors

TurnTide

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

February 2004 — July 2004 (6 months)

TurnTide™ is the world's first anti-spam router. It works by disrupting the economic model of spammers and literally reaches across the Internet and keeps spam from leaving the spammer's servers. The company was acquired by Symantec in July of 2004.
President, Half.com -- an eBay Company

eBay, Inc.

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; ebay; Internet industry)

June 2000 — April 2003 (2 years 11 months)

Ran the Half.com business unit for eBay.
Founder and President, Half.com

Half.com

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

June 1999 — June 2000 (1 year 1 month)

Founded Half.com, a leading person-to-person marketplace for books, music, movies and games. Sold business to eBay in 2000. Continued to run business unit until 2003.
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President

Infonautics Corporation

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; INFO; Internet industry)

June 1991 — June 1999 (8 years 1 month)