Brian O’Malley

General Partner, Forerunner Ventures

Brian O’Malley is a General Partner at Forerunner Ventures. He was most recently a Partner on Accel Partners’ early stage team. Previously Brian led Battery’s Seed & Early Stage practices, while focusing on investments in eCommerce, online marketplaces and internet applications. During his tenure at Battery, he has invested in Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ: BV), Brightedge, Coupa, Duetto, H.BLOOM, Insitu (acquired by Boeing), J. Hilburn, Joor, HotelTonight, Loosecubes, Peerflix (acquired by Live Universe), Serena & Lily, Skullcandy (NASDAQ: SKUL), Sociable Labs, Sosh, Sprig, TradeKing, Viddy (acquired by Fullscreen Media) and World Golf Tour. He prides himself on hustling to find unique companies and new markets before other investors recognize the opportunity. Prior to Battery, Brian spent several years at Bowstreet, Inc. (acquired by NYSE: IBM), as Director of West Coast Technical Sales and earlier as the company’s Technical Evangelist preaching the future of web service-based APIs. Earlier in his career, Brian assisted founding teams at Matrics, Inc. (acquired by NYSE: MOT) and Compoze Software (acquired by NASDAQ: ORCL) with go-to-market strategy and initial fundraising activities. He started his career as a web developer for Motorola Computer Group while only a sophomore in college. Brian has guest lectured on entrepreneurship at several top universities, including Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Stanford, UVA and Penn. He graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a Dual Concentration in Entrepreneurial Finance and Management. Brian has been named to Forbes’ Midas List VC Draft: Hot Prospects, as well as to AlwaysOn’s Power Players in Mobile and Power Players in The Cloud lists.

Articles by Brian O’Malley

Startup Guide to AI Visibility Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Startup Guide to AI Visibility: Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Introduction Today, users aren’t just searching on Google. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI systems for advice. AI visibility is the new frontier of brand awareness....

Practical Uses of AI Automation for Startup Operations

Practical Uses of AI & Automation for Startup Operations

In a recent Mucker Growth Series session, we invited Rock Vitale, Founder & CEO of Easie, to share how he’s helped early-stage teams move from manual, fragmented workflows to streamlined,...

New York Tech Week Mucker Sessions Recap

2025 New York Tech Week Recap Of Mucker Sessions

Last week during New York Tech Week 2025, we joined more than 1,000 events hosted by founders, investors, and VCs. This post is a full Mucker recap of the three...

Build a Customer Support Function for Startups Using AI Alex Velinov

How to Build a Customer Support Function for Startups Using AI Tools with Alex Velinov

Delivering high-quality customer support can be one of the most resource-draining parts of a startup. The good news: we’re at a turning point where founders can use AI tools to...

Zero → 100: The Exact Steps We Took to Close Our First 100 Paying Customers

Zero → 100: The Exact Steps We Took to Close Our First 100 Paying Customers

Going from zero customers to 100 in just four months sounds impossible—unless you’re a founder willing to roll up your sleeves and hustle relentlessly. I’m Gaurav Bhattacharya, co-founder of Jeeva.ai,...

Sales Discovery & Qualification for Startups Richard Harris

Unblocking Startup Growth: Best Practices for Sales Discovery & Qualification with Richard Harris

Startups are in a constant race against time and resources, navigating complex sales environments with lean teams and limited margins for error. In a recent session from the Mucker Growth...

Scroll to Top