Stu Smith
Partner
I believe that fear is the enemy of creativity, innovation, and happiness. My biggest successes have come from taking a chance on something that was hard or scary at the time. I love supporting founders who take real risk to build something that will be their life’s work.
John Smothers
Stu is an Investor on Team Scribble. He has spent his career helping people build ambitious things, from managing global music acts, to scaling media companies, to backing the next generation of startup founders.
Before joining Scribble, Stu co-founded and led Coughdrop Capital, a seed fund that invested pre-launch in more than 100 startups including Superhuman, Lattice, Mercury, Varda, and Magic Patterns.
Previously, he was the Co-Founder and COO of Racket, an audio startup backed by Greycroft and Foundation Capital, which grew to more than 100,000 users. Earlier in his career, he held senior operating roles at WarnerMedia, where he led a 55-person digital division, and at Omaze, where he built global partnerships with Disney, HBO, the NBA, adidas, and UNICEF. He also helped scale Teespring’s $50M+ entertainment business and led global partnerships at Songkick.
Stu began his career in the music industry at Red Light Management, which represents artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Chris Stapleton, Sabrina Carpenter, and Mumford & Sons. That early experience—working closely with creative talent—continues to shape his approach to identifying and supporting the best founders. Believe it or not, there are similarities!
Stu studied English Writing and Political Science at DePauw University, where he was a Media Fellow and studied abroad in Botswana. Outside of work, Stu is an avid golfer and Cirrus pilot. He splits his time between San Francisco and Bend, Oregon, where he lives with his son Silas, his partner Max, and their dog Maya.
I believe that fear is the enemy of creativity, innovation, and happiness. My biggest successes have come from taking a chance on something that was hard or scary at the time. I love supporting founders who take real risk to build something that will be their life’s work.
John Smothers
Stu is an Investor on Team Scribble. He has spent his career helping people build ambitious things, from managing global music acts, to scaling media companies, to backing the next generation of startup founders.
Before joining Scribble, Stu co-founded and led Coughdrop Capital, a seed fund that invested pre-launch in more than 100 startups including Superhuman, Lattice, Mercury, Varda, and Magic Patterns.
Previously, he was the Co-Founder and COO of Racket, an audio startup backed by Greycroft and Foundation Capital, which grew to more than 100,000 users. Earlier in his career, he held senior operating roles at WarnerMedia, where he led a 55-person digital division, and at Omaze, where he built global partnerships with Disney, HBO, the NBA, adidas, and UNICEF. He also helped scale Teespring’s $50M+ entertainment business and led global partnerships at Songkick.
Stu began his career in the music industry at Red Light Management, which represents artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Chris Stapleton, Sabrina Carpenter, and Mumford & Sons. That early experience—working closely with creative talent—continues to shape his approach to identifying and supporting the best founders. Believe it or not, there are similarities!
Stu studied English Writing and Political Science at DePauw University, where he was a Media Fellow and studied abroad in Botswana. Outside of work, Stu is an avid golfer and Cirrus pilot. He splits his time between San Francisco and Bend, Oregon, where he lives with his son Silas, his partner Max, and their dog Maya.
Kevin is our operator in residence—an apt title because as Elizabeth’s husband, he’s truly “in residence.” Like our founders, Kevin is focused day-to-day on building a company and product (Novi, the digital currency effort within Facebook). He is an active contributor to Scribble Ventures, especially where his operational, strategic, and product/design/data background can help our portfolio companies.
