David Brown

David Brown is the Founding Managing Partner of Impellent Ventures, a preseed / seed stage venture
capital firm based in UNY that invests nationally. In addition to capital, the firm focuses on connecting
startups with the nation’s best founders, mentors, and downstream capital resources.

Brown has been a community builder, startup investor and operator, and mentor for over a decade. He
has supported hundreds of companies, held events for over 14,000 tech leaders per annum, and has
applied venture principles to both for profit and nonprofit entities (including some for profits that
remained forever non profitable!). Brown’s work has been affiliated with programs such as Techstars,
MassChallenge, Harvard iLab, and Babson College and has been covered in many national publications.
Brown is a boomerang to Rochester from Boston, where he held roles as the Vice President of
Innovation Leadership for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Director of Partnerships at
ZappRx, a healthcare IT startup that has raised $41M before sale, and as the Executive Director of
Technology Underwriting Greater Good (TUGG), the philanthropic arm of Boston’s technology startup
ecosystem.  He is also a Venture Partner and Limited Partner in several prominent national venture
funds, and the cofounder of the Finger Lakes Summit.

Brown graduated with a BA in psychology and leadership studies, from Williams College. He also holds
an MBA in entrepreneurship, summa cum laude, from Babson College.

In his spare time, aside from chasing around his two young boys, he sits on numerous nonprofit boards
and economic development counsels and is an avid skier and golfer.