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MATCH

The founder journey can be a lonely one. Partner with people who get it—the highs, lows, pivots, pitfalls, and the thrill of pursuing a bolder vision.

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Co-Founder & Managing Director, Corazon Capital

Sam Yagan serves as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Corazon Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. He recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of ShopRunner, Inc., an ecommerce enablement platform; in 2020, he led the sale of ShopRunner to FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX). Prior to ShopRunner, Sam served as Vice-Chairman of Match Group (Nasdaq: MTCH), a position he assumed after leading the company as Chief Executive Officer through a period of explosive growth that culminated in its IPO in 2015. Sam chairs the Boards of SpotHero and Voltage Park and recently served as a lead director of Grindr, Inc., guiding the company through its IPO in 2022. Sam’s prior entrepreneurial ventures in the consumer internet sector include SparkNotes (founded in 1999), still the dominant brand of study guides, and eDonkey (founded in 2002), once the largest peer-to-peer file-sharing network in the world. He sold SparkNotes to iTurf, Inc. and then to Barnes & Noble, Inc., where he served as Vice-President and Publisher and oversaw the expansion of the digitally native brand into an expansive multi-platform media business. He also co-founded OkCupid, which he led as its CEO through its sale to Match Group in 2011. Under his leadership, Match Group incubated and launched Tinder, one of the most successful native mobile apps of all time. Outside of work, Sam devotes himself to mentoring technology entrepreneurs and civic leaders. In 2009, he co-founded Excelerate Labs (now TechStars Chicago), a leading start-up accelerator, and served as its first Chief Executive Officer. Sam sits on the board of several private companies, including Brilliant Worldwide.. He also advises several venture capital funds, including Hyde Park Venture Partners and the FireStarter Fund, which he co-founded. He has served on Target Corp’s Digital Advisory Council, the Stanford Graduate School of Business Management Board, the board of Chamberlain Group, and as an advisor to Procter & Gamble. He also sits on the boards of nonprofits Start Early and the Rush University Medical Center. Sam has earned recognition on TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Fortune Magazine‘s “40 Under 40,” Crain’s Chicago "Tech 50" and “40 Under 40", Billboard Magazine’s ”30 Under 30,” D Magazine’s “Dallas 500” and ranked #19 on Silicon Alley Insider’s “Most Inspiring and Influential People.” He has received the Chicago Innovation Awards’ “Visionary of the Year Award,” IMSA’s “Distinguished Leadership Award,” the DCIA’s “Pioneer’s Award,” and admission to Chicago Innovation’s Hall of Fame. Sam has testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and has spoken at the CATO Institute, Digital Hollywood, IRCE, the Federal Trade Commission, and numerous other industry events. Sam has a BA with honors in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he earned distinction as a Siebel Scholar, an Arjay Miller Scholar, and the Henry Ford Scholar, the award granted to each class’s valedictorian. Sam lives in Chicago with his wife, Jessica, and three kids, Maggie, Jack, and Max.

Co-Founder

Steve co-founded Corazon Capital and acts as one of its Managing Directors. He was a Board Member of Techstars Chicago and co-managed the program in 2013 and 2014. Steve was Chief Operating Officer of Tap.Me, which was sold to MediaMath in 2012. Previously, Steve was a General Partner with Norwest Equity Partners. Over his 9 years with the firm, Steve invested $280 million of equity in 13 management buyouts and growth capital investments across a variety of industries. His platform companies completed 9 add-on acquisitions. Steve served on 8 boards and led the sale of several companies to strategic and financial buyers. Steve is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management where he also received his MBA. Steve has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.Steve co-founded Corazon Capital and acts as one of its Managing Directors. He was a Board Member of Techstars Chicago and co-managed the program in 2013 and 2014. Steve was Chief Operating Officer of Tap.Me, which was sold to MediaMath in 2012. Previously, Steve was a General Partner with Norwest Equity Partners. Over his 9 years with the firm, Steve invested $280 million of equity in 13 management buyouts and growth capital investments across a variety of industries. His platform companies completed 9 add-on acquisitions. Steve served on 8 boards and led the sale of several companies to strategic and financial buyers. Steve is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management where he also received his MBA. Steve has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

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Partner

Phil Schwarz is a Partner at Corazon Capital, having previously served as a Principal for the firm since 2016. From 2014 to 2016, Phil served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Tinder, the world’s leading dating business. He oversaw the company’s brand, growth, and user retention efforts worldwide, driving a period of explosive user growth and global expansion, including serving as a member of the executive team that launched Tinder’s revenue products, up to and beyond Match Group’s IPO in late 2015. Phil’s prior roles include Vice President of Growth Initiatives at Match Group, which he held in 2014, as well as Executive Director at Kaplan and Kaplan Ventures (then part of the Washington Post Company), which he held from 2010 to 2014. He co-founded the Kaplan/Techstars EdTech Accelerator, whose graduates have raised more than $250 million in funding. At Kaplan, Phil also invested in early-stage EdTech companies, served on boards of directors for Kaplan Ventures’ portfolio companies, and executed a series of corporate acquisitions. Earlier in his career, Phil served as an Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank from 2008 to 2010, advising companies on public offerings and buy- and sell-side M&A. Before that, he led numerous technology product development efforts for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Vitria Technology, and BP Amoco, and served as a Management Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Phil holds an MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he guest lectures on Start-up Marketing, and a BBA., cum laude, from Ohio University’s College of Business.

Co-Founder & Managing Director, Corazon Capital

Alison Stillman, CFA, joined Corazon Capital Group in 2024 as [TITLE], where she focuses on early-stage investments. In this role, Alison partners closely with founders who aim to create lasting, positive change through their companies. Before joining Corazon Capital Group, she served as a General Partner at Serena Ventures, overseeing portfolio management and sourcing new investments. She began her journey with Serena Ventures in 2018 where she proactively sourced, screened and won early-stage investments in fintech, health & wellness, and consumer. Alison’s work at Serena Ventures focused on investing and supporting companies with diverse leadership, that solve problems that disproportionately affect women and people of color, and who generally make everyday lives of everyday people better. Previously, Alison worked at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Multi- Asset Solutions and led the development of the firm’s $1 billion US Alternative Beta offering. In that role, she launched seven new products. She was the President of the Harvard Business School’s Business in Sports and helped start a mentorship program which connected professional athletes to MBA student mentors. From there, she began her venture career with Carmelo Anthony’s tech firm, Melo7 Tech Partners, LLC. Alison graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, with a Bachelor of Science in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Operations & Information Management and a minor in Psychology. She is a CFA charterholder and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. She currently resides in the Bay Area with her husband and daughter, her dog Zoe, and is a lover of nachos and the Denver Broncos.

Head of Finance and Chief Compliance Officer

Tendai Brais joined Corazon Capital in 2021 as the Head of Finance and Chief Compliance Officer. She is a Certified Public Account (CPA) licensed in Illinois who started her career in the public accounting sector in 2009. She spent time primarily at both Deloitte & Touche LLP, as an auditor in the asset management group, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, as a Senior Associate with their financial instruments valuation specialist team, in Chicago. In 2018, Tendai transitioned to the private equity investment sector by joining PPM America, Inc. and worked as a Senior Accountant for their private equity investment team. Her quest to make a meaningful impact through her work led her to Corazon Capital, in the venture capital space. Tendai obtained Bachelor’s degrees in both Finance and Accounting from the University of Evansville, and went on to obtain an MBA from the University of Indianapolis. As a means of expanding her capacity and knowledge in impact investing, Tendai obtained a graduate certificate in Impact Investing and Social Enterprise Management from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Tendai currently lives in the Chicagoland area, with her husband and two kids. She enjoys reading, and running both non-competitively and competitively by competing in half marathons.

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Principal

Greg Johnston serves as a Principal at Corazon Capital, focused on early-stage investing across both consumer and B2B. Greg joined Corazon Capital in 2016 at the outset of the second fund. He has invested in and worked with companies ranging from pre-seed through IPO. Prior to joining Corazon Capital, Greg was a growth-stage investor at LLR Partners, a private equity firm, where he focused on defense and security technologies. He began his career in M&A advisory at Sagent Advisors (now DC Advisory), an independent investment bank. Greg received his MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has double majors from Duke University in Economics and Art History

Principal

Smriti Jayaraman joined Corazon Capital in 2022 after spending over a decade investing in and advising leading technology companies across the country. Prior to joining Corazon, Smriti was a founding Principal at Kraft-Heinz backed Evolv Ventures, and a Vice President at Guild Capital. In these roles she focused heavily on Seed and Series A investments in areas core to Corazon Capital's mandate, including tech enabled consumer products and services, retail enablement and marketplaces. Smriti spent her early career at Bain & Company where she advised Fortune 100 Tech, Media, and Mobile companies and leading Private Equity firms in M&A, consumer insights, product innovation, and strategic transformation. Smriti holds a BA in Political Science with honors and a BS in Business Administration from the University of California Berkeley, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, she is a hands-on foodie and avid cinema and theater fan. Smriti lives in Chicago with her husband and three kids.

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Vice President

Sean joined Corazon Capital in 2024 after over a decade of investing and operating roles in the venture space. Sean began his career as a founding team member of The Fresh Factory, a company that accelerates the growth of disruptive food and beverage brands that is now publicly listed. After that, Sean served as an investor on the founding team of GreatPoint Ventures, an early-stage investor in San Francisco. While there Sean worked on investments across food, healthcare, and artificial intelligence. Sean subsequently held a number of operating roles at portfolio companies including serving as Chief of Staff and Head of Business Development at Farmer’s Fridge for 4+ years where he helped the company to scale nationwide. Sean received his BA from Georgetown University with a Certificate from The School of Foreign Service, and a MA from Columbia University.

Senior Associate

Josh Graves joined Corazon Capital as a Senior Associate in 2022. Before joining Corazon, Josh worked part time for KB Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage sports tech, digital health, gaming, and media companies, as well as New Stack Ventures, an early-stage firm investing across industries. Prior to early-stage investing, Josh spent 6 years building and bringing to market new products for PlaySight (acquired by Slinger), an Israeli tech startup at the intersection of IoT and digital media. As the first American employee, he opened and managed the company’s North American market, working across sales, client service, partnerships, and product to scale revenue and expand the technology into new verticals. Earlier in his career, Josh worked as an associate at eBay, and before that, pursued a career as a professional tennis player. Josh holds an MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Economics from Northwestern University, where he was Captain of the Varsity Tennis Team. Josh currently lives in Chicago, where he loves to play tennis and walk along the lake (regardless of weather conditions!), and to support his hometown Milwaukee Bucks and Green Bay Packers, even from enemy territory.

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Senior Associate

Zhou Zang is a Senior Associate at Corazon Capital, where she focuses on investments in early-stage companies spanning health and wellness, consumer-facing tech, and urban tech. Prior to joining Corazon Capital in 2019, she was a strategy consultant at L.E.K. Consulting, where Zhou focused on growth strategy and M&A due diligence projects for corporate and private equity clients across retail & consumer, healthcare, and technology sectors. Zhou’s early-stage investment career began when she supported a friend’s startup by participating in its angel round using her first bonus paycheck. Her love for early-stage investing is driven by a genuine passion for working side-by-side with visionary, tenacious founders to make a difference and shape a better future. Zhou received her MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has double majors from The University of Chicago in Economics and Geography. In addition, she was a Metcalf Fellow at the UChicago Urban Network, an urban sustainability summer fellow at Paulson Institute, and a member of the Health Policy Scholar program. Zhou currently lives in Los Angeles. She loves browsing art and architecture, playing ping pong and tennis, and practicing yoga.

Founding Venture Partner

Zach Kaplan is a founding Venture Partner at Corazon Capital. In his day job, he’s the founder and CEO at Inventables™, a company bringing manufacturing technology into the hands of millions of people. Inventables sells carving machines and supplies while also providing SaaS software called Easel for custom manufacturers to make products including signs, cabinets, and furniture. Kaplan has spoken on product development and innovation at conferences across the country, including the Technology Entertainment and Design Conference (TED), South by Southwest, and MakerCon. Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, TIME, and NPR have covered his work. In 2006, Zach was honored by Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry as a Modern Leonardo da Vinci. Zach co-founded ORD Camp in 2009, was designated as Techstars Chicago Mentor-of-the-Year in 2013, and named Crain’s Chicago Business 40 under 40 in 2014. As a founder and now as an investor in early-stage technology companies, Zach’s startup experience allows him to help entrepreneurs at every step of the journey. At Corazon Capital, he led investments in Mantle, Carro, and Amper. Zach earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in Mechanical Engineering.

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Head of Operations

Carrie Beach joined Corazon Capital in 2021 as the Head of Operations. She first crossed paths with Sam and Phil during their Match Group days and continued to work closely with Sam at both ShopRunner and now Corazon Capital. She strives each day to help create the best VC firm to work at in Chicago. Carrie discovered her strengths in logistical planning while studying stage management and theater arts in college. Her passion for giving a voice to the underrepresented folks inside and outside of the workplace was sparked from years in education policy research that focused on underserved populations in rural communities. Carrie obtained her Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Communication Arts and Psychology from Austin College and went on to get her Master of Arts in Teaching, also from Austin College. She currently lives with her husband, Garrick, and two dogs, Izzy and Theo, in Chicago.