Early Life and Education
Joseph Lonsdale was born in 1982 or 1983 in Fremont, California. He graduated from Stanford University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. At Stanford, he served as the editor-in-chief of The Stanford Review, a student-run newspaper.
Rise to Success
Lonsdale began his career at PayPal and then worked at Clarium Capital, a hedge fund founded by Peter Thiel. In 2003, he co-founded Palantir Technologies with Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings. He left Palantir in 2009. Lonsdale co-founded Addepar, a wealth management technology company, in 2009. He also co-founded venture capital firm Formation 8 in 2011 and 8VC in 2015. He is the managing partner at 8VC, an early-stage venture capital firm, and relocated the firm's headquarters to Austin, Texas, in 2020.
Key Business Strategies
Lonsdale's business strategy revolves around identifying and investing in companies with the potential to disrupt various sectors. Through 8VC, he has focused on early-stage investments in defense tech, life sciences, and other sectors. His investments in Palantir, Addepar, and OpenGov have been key to his wealth. He co-founded OpenGov in 2012, and it was acquired by Cox Enterprises.
Philanthropy
Lonsdale and his wife Tayler founded the non-partisan Cicero Institute in 2018.
