We work day in and day out to serve our founders in achieving their vision.
We leverage our personal and professional strengths and experiences to help founders work through their toughest problems and opportunities. We also connect our founders to the best resources and expertise through our network of portfolio companies, investors, executives, and customers. We believe that our commitment to our values drives a relationship of trust and aligns us with the goal of building world-changing companies.
Jeff Maters
Founder & Managing Director
Jeff has been investing in and working with startups since he began his career in 2000. He is a Chicago native who founded Network Ventures in 2016 to help early stage companies tap into resources that were less available to companies outside Silicon Valley. He’s passionate about backing founders who think a bit differently but have a strong customer focus. He loves digging into a business and understanding its true building blocks for scale.
Jeff splits time between Des Moines, Iowa and Chicago and spends most of his free time at his son’s sporting activities. He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan.
Our Values
Think Boldly.
We are willing to make contrarian bets and are comfortable navigating ambiguous and uncertain waters. We believe that the best ideas can come from anywhere and that diversity leads to better business outcomes.
Lead with Empathy.
We approach our relationships with our founders and their teams with empathy and authenticity. We assume positive intent and seek to learn if opinions differ. We’re able to balance confidence with modesty. We prioritize building enduring relationships based on trust, honesty, and authenticity.
Pursue the Truth.
Uncertainty abounds at the early stage of a startup. We know that many decisions will be wrong, but we strive to continuously learn and get better over time. We’re intellectually honest and focus on narrowing down the variables until we know with more certainty. We prioritize long-term success and avoid making decisions for short-term gains.
Activate the Network.
We utilize the collective intelligence of our community to achieve success faster. We are passionate about building a community where founders can connect and exchange learnings.
“Network Ventures’ human-first approach to investing makes them easy to talk to and great to work with. They provide great resources and feedback, and it's clear that they genuinely want to help their portfolio companies.”
– Hope Horner, CEO, Lemonlight