Brett Jackson
Partner
Brett Jackson is an entrepreneur and investor with more than two decades of experience building, operating, and investing in companies. His career spans consumer brands, enterprise software and AI, aerospace, and defense. He has invested in more than 100 startups as a venture capitalist, made almost as many angel investments, and is a limited partner in more than 30 early-stage venture capital funds. His angel investment and LP portfolio has generated a 6.8x net TVPI and 3.2x DPI over nearly 20 years.
Brett co-founded V1VC in 2015, building an early-stage venture firm based in Boulder and San Francisco. Across three fund vintages, his investments include Talos, Astranis, Loft Orbital, Kepler, Zed, Automox, Fi, Sunday, Honeydew, Stream, Amperon, Builder.io, Cara, Choice Digital, American Supercritical, and Allbirds. These companies span developer tools, AI, financial infrastructure, satellite communications and infrastructure, energy, cybersecurity, robotics, and consumer products.
Today, Brett’s investment focus centers on AI-native software and deep technology, including agents, developer infrastructure, aerospace, energy, robotics, and advanced manufacturing. He is particularly drawn to founders with the technical depth and ambition to pursue problems that others consider too difficult, strange, or too early. Through V1VC, he partners with founders at the earliest stages, bringing the perspective of both an operator and an investor.
Alongside his venture investing, Brett was a member of the founding team at AVX Aircraft and has served on its board for more than 18 years. AVX has worked with the U.S. Army, Navy, DARPA, Department of Energy, and NASA across advanced aerospace and defense programs. His involvement has provided extensive experience commercializing complex technologies, working with government customers, walking the halls of Congress, and navigating the capital and strategic decisions involved in building an aerospace and defense business.
Earlier in his career, Brett was one of the first ten employees at Crocs, which grew from 10 employees in a cramped office to 7,000 global employees in five years and went public at a $1.6 billion valuation, later reaching a $6.8 billion market cap in year five before the 2008 financial crisis. He also founded and served as CEO of Generation Think Tank, a digital marketing company that helped clients and political candidates reach and engage millennial consumers and voters online. These experiences shaped his understanding of how companies build audiences, acquire customers, and scale across different markets.
Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Brett continues to mostly call Boulder home and spends significant time in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, trail running, skiing, reading, cooking, and traveling, particularly with his two children, Wilkes and Lily.
