Ivan Kirigin

You absolutely need to hear the story of Ivan Kirigin. This guy’s the real deal in the startup world. He’s been around the block, crushed it at big names like Facebook, Dropbox, Lyft, and even iRobot. Basically, he’s the guy who’s been deep in the trenches of tech, building stuff that actually moves the needle.

So, Ivan starts out with a solid background in software engineering and robotics – got his master’s from Carnegie Mellon, which is no joke. He’s always been into pushing tech boundaries, and he jumped straight into the startup game early on. He co-founded Tipjoy back in YC W08, a social micropayments platform – that was his first taste of building something from scratch, taking a wild idea and making it real. Then he jumped into YesGraph, another startup, showing he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and solve real problems.

After that, he drifted into the big leagues, working at Dropbox as a product manager and growth hacker. Dude helped grow Dropbox 12X in just two years, no bullshit. That’s the kind of scale most founders dream of. Before that, he was at iRobot, doing sensor and image processing – basically, the brains behind some of those crazy robots that can see and make sense of their surroundings. He even did DARPA’s Urban Grand Challenge, which is basically the Olympics for autonomous vehicles. So, this guy’s always been at the forefront of robotics and AI.

But what really sets Ivan apart is his move into investing. He’s now the founder and investor at Tango.vc, a seed fund all about machine learning and robotics. He’s got a sharp eye for early-stage tech, backing the next wave of innovation before it hits the mainstream. And he’s not just throwing money around – he’s super founder-friendly, always looking to support ambitious teams, especially those connected to his roots at Carnegie Mellon and Dropbox.

Based in Redwood City, California, Ivan’s all about community – he’s an early investor in Cruise Automation, and he’s big on nurturing alumni networks from CMU and Dropbox. For him, starting something isn’t just about personal success – it’s about pushing tech forward, empowering the next gen of founders, and building a future where robotics and AI change the game.

Bottom line: Ivan Kirigin’s story is about never settling, always building, and making big moves in tech. From robotics at DARPA to scaling Dropbox, to backing the future of AI and robotics – dude’s a connector of ideas, a builder, and a believer in the power of founders. No Cap, he’s one of those guys who’s shaping what’s next.