JOHN LILLY

John Lilly stands as a distinguished Venture Partner at Greylock, a leading venture capital firm renowned for backing transformative technology companies. In his pivotal role, Lilly leverages his deep operational expertise and strategic insights to identify and support the next generation of innovators. His investment focus primarily spans cutting-edge areas such as software infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and dynamic consumer technology platforms, where he partners closely with founders to help them build and scale impactful businesses.

Before joining Greylock, Lilly carved out an impressive career marked by significant leadership positions and entrepreneurial success. Most notably, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Mozilla, where he played a crucial role in the global expansion and adoption of the Firefox web browser, championing open-source principles and user empowerment. His tenure at Mozilla solidified his reputation as a leader capable of driving product innovation and fostering large-scale community engagement. Prior to Mozilla, Lilly co-founded and served as VP of Products at Reactivity, an enterprise security company that was successfully acquired by Cisco, further showcasing his acumen in product development and market strategy.

Lilly's unique background as a seasoned operator provides him with an invaluable perspective in the venture capital landscape. He understands the intricacies of building and scaling technology companies from the ground up, offering founders not just capital, but also mentorship rooted in real-world experience. This hands-on approach has contributed to his success in identifying and nurturing companies that have gone on to achieve significant market presence.

Among his notable investments and board roles at Greylock, John Lilly has been instrumental in supporting companies that have redefined their respective industries. He was an early and influential backer of Figma, the collaborative design platform that revolutionized creative workflows. His portfolio also includes significant investments in Discord, the popular communication platform for communities; Roblox, the immersive online entertainment platform; and Coda, a new type of document that blends words, data, and teams. Furthermore, Lilly has supported innovative companies like Substack, Sourcegraph, RunwayML, and Anthropic, demonstrating his keen eye for disruptive technologies across various sectors, from creator tools to advanced AI research. His commitment to fostering innovation and his track record of backing successful ventures make him a highly respected figure in the venture capital ecosystem.