Erik Rannala
Co-Founder & Partner
Prior to forming Mucker Capital, Erik was most recently at Harrison Metal Capital, where he helped lead one of the original seed-stage “micro-VC” firms in Silicon Valley.
Before Harrison Metal, Erik served as vice president of global product strategy and development at TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site. Prior to TripAdvisor, Erik held a variety of positions at eBay, including leadership of eBay’s premium features business, which grew during his tenure to over $400 million in revenue, significantly outpacing overall eBay revenue and transaction growth. Previously, Erik held leadership roles at MVP.com and Accenture, where he was a software developer in Accenture’s first practice group dedicated to Internet strategy and development. Erik earlier served at the Domestic Policy Council in the White House.
Erik holds a BS from the University of Delaware and an MBA from Duke University.
Erik can be reached at erik at mucker dot com.
Articles by Erik Rannala
5 Lessons for Startups from Edison’s Invention of the Phonograph
by Erik Rannala Real innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, a lesson that the famed inventor Thomas Edison understood better than most. Throughout his life, Edison revealed that great ideas...
The Cryptic VC’s Guide to Saying “No” on Investments
by William Hsu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Mucker VCs say a lot of cryptic stuff when we pass on an investment – partially because it make us appear smart,...
How Lemming VCs Cause Venture Recessions
Following the inevitable ups and downs of the VC investment cycle, and what founders can do when it all turns cold. The “venture recession” of 2016 is in full swing....
Blue Collar VC
Four years after founding and bootstrapping Mucker Capital, we are pleased to announce the close of a new $45 million fund, Mucker III. This is our third fund, which might...
Are Apps The New Gurus? The Rise Of Self-Help Tech
The way we do everything has been turned upside down: how we read, how we communicate, how we get from point A to point B, how we eat and how...
Learning From The OG iPod
If you want to build a multibillion-dollar consumer IoT company, copy the iPod – the original IoT thingy. Most brilliant “Internet of Things” ideas are quicksand for capital unless you...