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
The secret of great product managers: Balancing the worlds of ‘techie’ and ‘fuzzy’
Microsoft created the “modern” role of product manager 25 years ago, and the job holds an aura of myth even today. Two-and-a-half decades later, the role of product manager is...
Tale of Two Valleys: LA and the Bay Area from an Investor’s Perspective
Almost 30 years ago, my father decided to uproot the entire family from Taiwan to the United States so that his academically “inconsistent” son could have an education tolerant and...
When Partnering With Giants, the Warning Signs of a Sour Deal
When building a company, acquiring a user or closing a customer one at a time can seem like competing in a marathon while knee deep in mud — making progress...
The Term Sheet Mating Dance
There is no word more sacred and yet over-used than “term sheet” in the entrepreneurial circle. The pursuit of the mythical VC term sheet has blinded entrepreneurs from the real...
The Seed Valley of Death: Caught Between $19B and Series A Crunch
Even before Sequoia Capital made $3.5 billion on a $60 million investment in WhatsApp, the seed- and early-stage funding landscape had already changed significantly. Most major VC firms have significantly...
From Hubris to Confidence
What does Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Larry Page, Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel have in common with me? We’ve all guest lectured at the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders...