Jake Chasan's professional experience spans across technology and finance.
He began building apps for iPhone in 2010 and passed his FINRA Series 7 in 2016, the summer after he graduated from high school. Several of Jake's apps have been best-sellers on the App Store including Swirly, which was named #1 of the Top 10 Things on Wall Street by Business Insider as well as a top 4 lifestyle app on the App Store and Office Trivia Quiz, which was the top-selling trivia app second only to Trivia Crack.
Jake studied Computer Science and Mathematics at Stanford University in parallel with high school and went on to further his studies of Computer Science and Financial Economics at Duke University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude while achieving dual departmental honors. In conjunction with his coursework, he published a thesis as part of his research with the Systems Architecture Integration Laboratory at Duke University and The University of Pennsylvania and held a lecturing role within the team which taught the university's required discrete mathematics course.
Concurrent with his studies at Duke, Jake worked at Cisco Systems in their business evolution and digitization group, where he invented a cost-saving platform for building software applications. This product and related inventions contributed to Jake winning two company-wide distinguished employee awards.
After graduating from Duke a semester early, Jake joined Goldman Sachs as an Investment Banker in New York, where he worked with companies across the Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT) and Consumer, Retail (C&R) sectors. At Goldman Sachs, Jake worked on over $60 billion of transactions across 35+ Initial Public Offerings, 10+ Mergers & Acquisitions, and 40+ Capital Raises, with select transactions including Sweetgreen’s IPO, Bird Scooter’s Acquisition & Public Listing, Ginkgo BioWorks’s Acquisition & Public Listing, Dole Pineapple’s Acquisition & IPO, and F45 Training’s Acquisition & IPO. Jake appeared on hit HBO television show Wahl Street as Mark Wahlberg's investment banker, and was the only investment banker on the show. After Goldman Sachs, Jake joined Sapphire Ventures in San Francisco as an investor focusing on venture capital & growth equity in the software sector, where he helped lead the firm's investment in BioCatch and has been a member of Reltio's board. Jake is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration at Stanford Universtiy's Graduate School of Business.
In 2021, Jake joined the board of Prep for Prep, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enabling education access to students of color. Prior to joining the board Jake mentored several Prep for Prep students at Wharton and Duke.
Jake is the winner of the inaugural U.S. Congressional Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Award, a gold medal recipient of the U.S. Congressional Award, and an Eagle Scout with three palm distinctions. He has been featured in publications such as Business Insider, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, HBO Max, and The Wall Street Journal. He has also spoken at TechCrunch Disrupt.
In his spare time, Jake can be found capturing underwater photos while scuba diving, playing a Steinway piano, or in the glass blowing studio.
B.S. in Computer Science
• Graduated with Departmental Distinction
• Honors Thesis, Advisors Benjamin C. Lee, Bruce Donald
B.S. in Economics & Concentration in Finance
• Graduated with Departmental Distinction
• Honors Thesis, Advisors Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Michelle Connolly
M.B.A. (Master of Business Administraton) Student, Class of '26
Pre-matriculation Studies in Computer Science
Pre-matriculation Studies in Mathematics & Statistics
Investor
• Investments across venture capital and growth equity including BioCatch (VC & LBO Investments) and FloQast (VC)
• Member of the board of directors for portfolio company Reltio
• Evaluate and diligence software companies for new investments. Manage strategic direction of more than a dozen portfolio companies
Investment Banker
• Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT) & Consumer and Retail (C&R) Sector Expertise
• Worked on $60bn+ of transactions: 35+ IPOs, 10+ Mergers & Acquisitions, 40+ Capital Raises
• Featured on HBO as Mark Wahlberg's investment banker and in Business Insider, Yahoo!, and MSN for Technology Innovations
Business Strategist & Software Engineer
• Created software platform to centralize Cisco's sales and partner channels
• Winner of Cisco Innovate Everywhere Award for invention and Winner of Cisco Elevator Pitch Competition
• Champion for Diversity Efforts, Winner of National Minority Supplier Development Council's Team of the Year
Board Member
• Prep for Prep is the foremost leadership development program for students of color enabling access to education
• Collaborate with organization‘s management on strategic transformation plan
• For More Information, See Trustees & Associates Council