Zak Slayback

Zak Slayback is a Partner at 1517 Fund, an early stage venture capital firm, and is based in New York City, New York. In his current role, he leads pre-seed and seed stage investments across an active portfolio of over 100 companies, recently supporting the firm's $150 million capital raise for its fourth fund in March 2025. Slayback directs capital toward software, artificial intelligence, and education technology startups, with notable investments in companies such as Replicate and Maven. Before transitioning to venture capital, he co-founded the education technology startup eSpark Learning, which was subsequently acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He also authored a 2023 book providing strategic guidance for early stage entrepreneurs operating outside traditional elite networks. Slayback currently focuses on identifying and funding nontraditional founders building enterprise software, developer tools, and consumer technology platforms.