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Will Porteous

Will Porteous

General Partner and COO·RRE Ventures

New Orleans, Louisiana

Bio

Professional summary

Will Porteous is a General Partner and COO at RRE Ventures. According to RRE’s official profile, he has spent more than 25 years as an investor and has helped shape the firm’s focus on early-stage companies commercializing technological breakthroughs. The profile highlights his role in the geospatial sector, including serving as Chairman of BlackSky and Lead Director of Spire. RRE lists him as a director of Hyperspectral, Lovelace AI, Nanit, Paperless Post, Pattern, Pilot Fiber, Ursa, and Wave, and as a former director of BuzzFeed. He is also Founder and Chairman of the Dockery Farms Foundation and previously taught venture capital as an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. He holds an MBA from Harvard University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA with Honors from Stanford University.

Investment focus

Stage, sector, and overall fit

Stage

early stageventure

Sector

AIconsumerenterprise SaaSfintechmediaspacegeospatial technology

Thesis

Early-stage companies commercializing technological breakthroughsGeospatial technology and space-related companiesAI, consumer, enterprise/SaaS, fintech, media, and space

Notable companies

Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed

BlackSkySpireHyperspectralLovelace AINanitPaperless PostPilot FiberUrsaWaveBuzzFeedBoom SupersonicYipitData

How to approach

Framing and angles for outreach

Pitch framing

Relevant for early-stage companies commercializing hard technology, geospatial data, space infrastructure, or AI-enabled technical products.

Personalization hooks

  1. 1Reference his long-standing geospatial-sector leadership through BlackSky and Spire.
  2. 2For space or frontier technology companies, connect to RRE portfolio names such as Spire, BlackSky, Boom Supersonic, Lynk, or Ursa.

Background

Career, education, and skills

Career history

  • RRE VenturesGeneral Partner & COO2000–present
  • BlackSky (NYSE)Chairman
  • Spire Global (NYSE)Lead Director
  • Dockery Farms FoundationFounder

Education

  • Harvard Business SchoolMBA
  • London School of EconomicsMSc
  • Stanford UniversityBA with Honors

Skills

geospatial investingspace techventure capitalboard leadershipoperations

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