Colby Goff

Many Hats

at UP Partners / Rustic Canyon Group

Over the past few decades I’ve worn various hats as part of the founding teams of companies in the technology, restaurant and real estate industries. My early career was focused on real estate private equity finance and early-stage technology investing (eCompanies). Subsequently I helped launch technology companies including Boingo Wireless (NASDAQ IPO), Curby (sold to Curbstand) and CloudKitchens as well as the restaurant group, the Rustic Canyon Family of Restaurants. I love the experience of combining art and science to help create new companies with strong vision that improve the world in a meaningful way. I’m an active early stage investor as well as a venture partner with UP Partners in Santa Monica. I’m excited to be a part of the Mucker ecosystem.

California

AI & Data Science, Consumer FinTech, CyberSecurity, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer), FinTech Enterprise, HR Tech, SaaS & B2B Marketplace

enterprise salesfinancial modeling / FP&AGTM strategystart-ups

Articles by Colby Goff

How Shaun Merritt Vibe-Coded Karrot.ai As A Solo Builder

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Shaun Merritt, cofounder and CTO of Karrot.ai, a LinkedIn ABM tool. Shaun was kind enough to share a comprehensive breakdown of how...

7 Steps to Build a Product That Sells Itself

Learn the 7 steps to product-led growth (PLG) to build a product that sells itself. Drive activation, boost conversions, and scale efficiently with Wes Bush from ProductLed....

The Founder’s Mental Health Playbook: What I Learned After Nearly Burning Out

A hard-won guide to staying mentally healthy while building a startup I founded Stitcher, the podcast platform, in 2007 and ran it for seven years until we sold in 2014....

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Early Stage Companies

In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...

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

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,...