Phil Brady

Founding Partner

2015

We launched GoAhead out of a Stanford dorm after professors and mentors told us it would fail. Ten years later, we’ve outlasted the doubters and built a portfolio that includes unicorns, decacorns, centaurs, and whatever mythical creatures that might come next. We’re proving that agile, tech-native VC is the future, and we’re building a fund designed to operate like the startups we back.

Select Early Stage Deals

2015

⚛️ Valar – Nuclear at planetary scale · 🧬 Colossal – De-extinction via CRISPR · 📺 VideoAmp – Software-first ads · 🚁 Flyby – ML drones for the real world · 🛰️ Starpath – Rocket fuel plants for Mars · 💸 Collectly – AI billing for healthcare · ✈️ Poseidon – Ground effect seagliders · 📊 Aviato – Private market data engine · 🧠 Vector – Turning intent into pipeline · 🌐 More: goaheadvc.com/portfolio

Investor

2021

Backed Colossal with conviction in 2021. Proud early partner to the visionary team behind Texas’s first decacorn.

Founder

2013 - 2018

Ghosted by McKinsey, so I founded Copernican: a profitable, Stanford-powered strategy firm for founders and VCs tired of slow, overpriced consultants.

Deal Team

2013 - 2015

Powered a16z’s earliest deal flow as their only student hire at the time. Joined the team during landmark investments in Coinbase, Oculus, Lyft, Slack, and others.

Business Development

2014 - 2015

Early believer in the atoms-not-bits wave. Worked on drone insurance models and BD during Airware’s push into commercial UAVs.

Business Development

2014 - 2015

Worked on BD at Xapo during the early infra phase of Bitcoin, helping the world's most secure custodian while living entirely on BTC and pushing adoption through scrappy remittance pilots, ATMs, and high-visibility stunts like the first UFC Fighter wearing a BTC QR code.

Analyst

2013 - 2014

Analyst

2013 - 2013

Writer & Business Development

2012 - 2013

Analyst

2012 - 2013