Ilya Fushman

Partner

Ilya Fushman is a partner at Kleiner Perkins. He invests in early and growth stage companies across enterprise software, financial services and consumer software. He has invested in and sits on the boards of companies including Rippling, Motive, Stord, Productboard, Loom, Cameo, and has previously backed companies such as Slack and Intercom. Prior to Kleiner Perkins, he was a general partner at Index Ventures, and previously led Dropbox’s product organization. Ilya holds a PhD in Applied Physics and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a BS in Physics from Caltech.

Investment focus areas

— Enterprise software

— Consumer technology

— Fintech

— AI

Companies Backed

NFT platform delivering unique collections and experiences with iconic brands and legendary names logo
NFT platform delivering unique collections and experiences with iconic brands and legendary names
Since 2022
A customizable amenity platform logo
A customizable amenity platform
Since 2017
Marketplace connecting fans and brands directly with pop culture personalities logo
Marketplace connecting fans and brands directly with pop culture personalities
Since 2019
Technology that measures how people use space logo
Technology that measures how people use space
Since 2019
Link objects to their digital records, securely logo
Link objects to their digital records, securely
Since 2018
Credit-building debit cards for college students logo
Credit-building debit cards for college students
Since 2021
Personalized fitness and wellness coaching logo
Personalized fitness and wellness coaching
Since 2018
Super-powering knowledge work logo
Super-powering knowledge work
Since 2023
AI that automates routine business phone calls logo
AI that automates routine business phone calls
Since 2019
The reader-powered publisher helping discover the next globally successful authors logo
The reader-powered publisher helping discover the next globally successful authors
Since 2019
The training data platform for production AI logo
The training data platform for production AI
Since 2018
All-in-one fleet management system logo
All-in-one fleet management system
Since 2022*
Financial and legal tools for new business owners to grow faster logo
Financial and legal tools for new business owners to grow faster
Since 2018
Expanding human healthspan logo
Expanding human healthspan
Since 2023
The premier cross-border credit bureau logo
The premier cross-border credit bureau
Since 2019
The product management platform logo
The product management platform
Since 2018
The employee system of record logo
The employee system of record
Since 2019
Helping companies streamline compliance and security logo
Helping companies streamline compliance and security
Since 2021
Creating a culture of walking meetings logo
Creating a culture of walking meetings
Since 2020
Cloud logistics logo
Cloud logistics
Since 2019
An accredited learning platform delivering quality education to learners everywhere logo
An accredited learning platform delivering quality education to learners everywhere
Since 2021
A new approach to income and employment verification logo
A new approach to income and employment verification
Since 2021
Virtual employee event platform logo
Virtual employee event platform
Since 2020
The video messaging platform for work logo
The video messaging platform for work
Alumni (Acquired by Atlassian)
Commission-free investing platform logo
Commission-free investing platform
Alumni (HOOD)
Where work happens logo
Where work happens
Alumni (Acquired by Salesforce)
Robotic process automation software logo
Robotic process automation software
Alumni (PATH)
Powering smarter construction finance  logo
Powering smarter construction finance
Prior
Commercial insurance for your business logo
Commercial insurance for your business
Prior (Acquired by Aon)
An employee experience that people love logo
An employee experience that people love
Prior
Modern customer communications platform logo
Modern customer communications platform
Prior
Helping companies create and optimize digital experiences logo
Helping companies create and optimize digital experiences
Prior
Finance, accounting and tax services for startups logo
Finance, accounting and tax services for startups
Prior
Reimagined loan servicing to help borrowers logo
Reimagined loan servicing to help borrowers
Prior

Q&A

I come from an academic family and wanted to become a scientist in order to create things that hadn’t been built before. So I pursued this path and studied physics and electrical engineering at Caltech and then Stanford.nnAt Stanford I was exposed to the magic of Silicon Valley for the first time. I realized that venture and startups presented an alternative path to impacting the world in ways that were similar, and potentially bigger than academic research.nnAfter finishing my PhD, I had the opportunity to be part of Solar Junction, where we built the world’s most efficient solar cell, and eventually landed at Khosla Ventures. There, I learned two things. First, venture was my long-term calling. Second, I had to experience hyper growth myself.nnI was lucky to join Dropbox in 2011, when the company was just over 50 people, and saw it grow to 1,500 people in just over four years. At the end of that journey, I felt like I was ready to come back to venture. I love building, but I love helping others build even more.nnIn 2015, I joined Index Ventures as a General Partner to help build out the San Francisco office. It was a wonderful time, and I had the opportunity to not only help build out the US presence, but also invest in industry-changing companies such as Slack, Intercom, Optimizely, Culture Amp, KeepTruckin, Nova Credit and more.nnI’m now even more excited to continue building at Kleiner Perkins. We live in an age of extreme technological transformation, and I want to be part of shaping the future.n

I was born in Russia (still the USSR then) and immigrated with my family to Israel, then Germany, and eventually settled in the US. My parents took a massive risk, leaving everything behind each time we moved. I had to start fresh four times in the span of a few years—learning a new language, making new friends, and adapting to new situations quickly.nnBuilding companies isn’t dissimilar to taking immigration-scale risks. It’s all about a leap of faith, starting fresh, and the willingness to go all in on your ideas. It’s about betting on people and their ability to adapt. I’ve found that I’m drawn to the kinds of founders who take risks, are adaptive learners, and are hungry to build things that will make a dent in the world. My childhood experiences have given me a deep empathy for this.

When I started at Dropbox, I led the corporate development team. This meant everything from acquisitions to partnerships, and to products related to those. A year in, I transitioned to a product leadership role. I oversaw the team that built and launched Dropbox for Business, the Developer Platform, the core Dropbox product, and some of the early efforts in collaboration.nnThere are many parts of this experience which are transferable to both the venture process and to startups. Companies going through hyper-growth across all industries experience similar challenges: from decision making, to organizational design, to product strategy and development, and more. Seeing and building Dropbox through this time period was the equivalent of a crash course in all of these.nnDropbox is a frontier company. It spans both consumer and enterprise. It’s developed a novel growth model, where viral consumer growth fuels the enterprise business. It’s a company where the product experience is central to success. It’s built one of the largest computing infrastructures in the world. I believe that many other companies will be built in similar ways, not just in technology but in large industries such as finance, transportation, real estate, healthcare and more. This informs a lot of my thinking about investment areas.

Perspectives