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John Cowgill
Partner at Costanoa Ventures
John Cowgill
John Cowgill is a Partner at Costanoa Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. He evaluates and leads investments in applied machine learning, marketplaces, security, and deep tech.12
Investment Philosophy
Cowgill believes in working closely with founders to identify creative solutions to big problems. He aims to earn the trust of every founder he works with to be their first call, especially when things get tough.1 He is most excited about vertical SaaS companies with applied data/ML components and opportunities to integrate financial services/payments at scale, particularly in real estate, logistics, heavy industry, and security/infrastructure.3
Background
Prior to joining Costanoa in 2016, Cowgill was a consultant at McKinsey, advising consumer and technology companies on strategy and operations. He also worked in business development for Techweek, a nationwide technology conference company.12
Cowgill holds a B.S. in Learning and Organizational Change with a concentration in Marketing and Economics from Northwestern University, graduating summa cum laude.12 He currently serves on the boards of several Costanoa portfolio companies.4
Highlights
✅ $100M in customer contracts signed YTD ✅ Landmark deals with Sierra Nevada Corporation, Earth Fire Alliance, Hydrosat, United States Air Force and more.... ✅ And a $56.7037M Series B (bonus points if you know the reference) closed with amazing partners at Activate Capital, ACME Capital, Radical Ventures, Congruent Ventures, and Space Capital
Congrats to Muon Space on a 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 2024!
This team is just getting started. If you're passionate about about space, climate, securing critical infrastructure, or just working with amazing people, reach out.
Jonny Dyer Paul Day Dan McCleese Reuben Rohrschneider Pascal Stang Gregory Smirin Tracy Morgan Gary Rudolph Cathy Olkin Dallas Masters Raj Atluru Paul Neal Jordan Alex Fayette Rob Toews Joshua Posamentier Chad Anderson
#space #satellites #AI #climate
I got back to work yesterday from my first vacation with my wife and without kids in 3 years. The trip was a blast, but now I’m back and digging deep into my bag of “motivation tricks.” Let's just say, the struggle is real.
How do you motivate yourself to do things you really don’t want to do? Here are my top three hacks:
“𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸” – When you really don’t want to do something, set a timer for a very short period, like 3 minutes, where you do the thing. Even this tiny commitment is usually enough to break the inertia wall. Just like that one drink, it’s never really just one, but at least you started.
"𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" – commit to as many other people as possible that you're going to get the thing you don't want to do done – friends, colleagues, your spouse, your barista. Post in public Slack channels, call your Mom, shout it from the rooftops. The fear of being shamed into action is a powerful motivator.
“𝗣𝗮𝘃𝗹𝗼𝘃’𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗴” – if all else fails, reward yourself with a donut when you get the thing done.
I'm very open for business on other motivation hacks. And if you're reading this, I am absolutely going to get to inbox zero tomorrow and you should call and shame me if I don't.
