Sam O’Donnell

Biography

Sam O'Donnell is an Investor at Forerunner Ventures, where she works closely with the firm's managing partners to source, evaluate, and back the founders building for the modern consumer. Her focus sits at the intersection of consumer behavior and AI — the products where the human relationship is the point, and where emotional resonance, trust, and identity decide what endures.

Sam came to investing through community building. Before Forerunner, she led ecosystem programs at First Round Capital, rooted in the belief that venture is, at its core, a people-powered business. That conviction still shapes how she works: she's happiest in the room early, connecting founders to the operators, customers, and co-investors who can move a company forward, and staying a genuine thought partner long before — and well after — a check is written. At Forerunner she also builds the connective tissue of the firm's network, including Humans in the Loop, its gathering for the consumer AI community.

Sam studied technology's effect on gender and media at New York University and is based in San Francisco. She's especially drawn to founders who think hard about what their technology asks of the people who rely on it and treat that responsibility as a design input, not an afterthought.