Chris Hollod

Early life

Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics. Hollod grew up in Atlanta and ultimately moved to LA in 2009 to start working for multi-billionaire investor Ron Burkle. Prior to joining A-Grade Investments, Hollod worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity.

Career

Hollod has worked with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle as a Managing Partner at their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments. Hollod also worked for The Yucaipa Companies and oversees Ron Burkle's venture capital investments and has been referred to in the press as "Ron Burkle's right-hand man." In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from several billionaires including David Geffen and Mark Cuban.

In March 2016, Forbes released a comprehensive article on A-Grade Investments entitled "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb." The Forbes article states that the team turned $30m into $250m, representing almost an 8.5x investment multiple.

Hollod is also a Founding Partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach. He has also acted as an angel investor by investing his own money in deals, including the restaurant chain Sweetgreen and aerospace start-up Planet.

Hollod has been involved in more than 100 venture capital deals (Uber, AirBnB, Spotify, and SoundCloud) and was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley).

Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man." He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and LA Times as a venture capital expert and he has also judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles.

In a 2017 interview, when asked about what catches his eye when looking at a start-up, Hollod said, "If it's intuitively disruptive, and I have a visceral response to it, I then extrapolate that and think, how would the people I know react to this business? If someone solves a pain point I experience a couple of times a day or several times a week, that's the kind of business we're looking for. And of course, that entrepreneur has to have the passion to pursue solving that problem."

Hollod sits on the board of directors of life/after/denim, a contemporary menswear and accessories brand backed by Ashton Kutcher, Ron Burkle, and Relativity Media.

Philanthropy

Hollod and his brother started a non-profit wine label, KMH Vineyards, in 2016 in memory of their mother. They launched their first wine, a California Pinot Noir, in 2017 in partnership with Pencils of Promise.

Personal

Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," which will encourage millennials to break free of restrictive conventional wisdom. Hollod formed his own company, Hollod Holdings, to make his personal angel investments.