Jason Stoffer

Background

Jason Stoffer is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Maveron, a consumer-focused venture capital firm co-founded in 1998 by Howard Schultz (former Starbucks CEO) and Dan Levitan ¹. Stoffer joined Maveron in 2007 and was promoted to Partner in January 2012 ²³.

Stoffer earned a BA in economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania ⁴. He began his career with a nine-month stint at Deloitte in consulting, then moved west during the dot-com era to work as an analyst at a small VC firm for three years before attending Wharton ⁴.

After business school, Stoffer took an operating role at Career Education Corporation, the parent of the University of Phoenix competitor IADT Online, where he co-founded and led admissions and marketing ¹⁴. He described the business as growing “from zero to over half a billion [dollars] in four or five years” ⁴. He spent nearly three years there in multiple roles, including restructuring a 2,000-person call center and implementing social networking technology ⁴. He has cited this operating experience as critical to his investing: “To properly assess the potential of young companies with incomplete business models, I thought it was really important to be in an operating role within a growth environment” ⁴.

Stoffer is a father of three boys, an avid University of Michigan football fan, and serves on the board of the Seattle Humane Society ¹.

Stated Thesis

Stoffer and Maveron publicly describe their focus as backing founders building “big enduring brands” in the consumer space ⁵. Maveron invests in seed and Series A companies, with initial investments typically ranging from $3 to $10 million ⁶.

Stoffer has outlined three core investment areas ⁴:

1. Web-enabled consumer services — “Transaction-focused Web businesses…e-commerce, marketplaces, and financial services,” with a focus on businesses “where the acquisition cost is less than lifetime value” ⁴.
2. Education — Citing Maveron’s investment in Capella Education (a “$1 billion publicly-traded company”) as their biggest historical success ⁴.
3. Health and wellness — Addressing rising healthcare costs and consumer health needs ⁴.

Within e-commerce, Stoffer describes two investment buckets: multi-brand retail (“the modern-day equivalent of a Nordstrom or a Macy’s“) and proprietary brand building, where he looks for founders “winning through better curation and better personalization” ⁵.

On founder selection, Stoffer has stated: “What we want is someone who is obsessed with the mission of what they’re trying to build” and “In the early days, the economics don’t matter as much as the founder” ⁷.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 20 verified investments attributed to Stoffer personally (from Maveron’s website, Signal NFX, board disclosures, and press coverage):

Sector breakdown: - E-commerce / consumer brands: 8 of 20 (40%) — Everlane, Dolls Kill, Lovevery, Parade, Julep, Rebel, Barkbus, TrueFacet - Education / edtech: 5 of 20 (25%) — General Assembly, Course Hero, Engageli, Lando, Leadership IQ - Health / wellness: 3 of 20 (15%) — Thirty Madison/Keeps, Bend Health, Gallant - Real estate / housing: 1 of 20 (5%) — Common - Payments / fintech: 1 of 20 (5%) — Flywire - Food / grocery: 1 of 20 (5%) — Imperfect Foods - Logistics: 1 of 20 (5%) — Zulily

Stage distribution: Stoffer invests primarily at seed and Series A. His check size range of $500K to $8M with a sweet spot around $4M indicates early-stage focus ⁸.

Geographic patterns: Portfolio companies are spread across the US, with concentrations in New York (Common, General Assembly, Parade, Thirty Madison), San Francisco Bay Area (Everlane, Dolls Kill, Course Hero), and Seattle (Zulily, Lovevery is Boise-based but led from Seattle).

Founder profile patterns: Stoffer’s portfolio skews toward founders with strong consumer brand instincts and repeat entrepreneurs. Brad Hargreaves (Common) previously co-founded General Assembly — a Maveron portfolio company — suggesting Stoffer backs founders he already knows ⁹. Multiple portfolio companies feature female founders or co-founders (Lovevery, Parade, Dolls Kill, Julep, Rebel).

Co-investor patterns: Maveron frequently co-invests with GV (Google Ventures), Reach Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Greycroft, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, particularly in education and consumer brand deals ¹⁰¹¹.

Notable gaps vs. stated thesis: Despite claiming broad consumer focus, Stoffer’s personal portfolio has no pure fintech plays (Flywire is more payments infrastructure for education). The health/wellness bucket is relatively recent (Thirty Madison in 2017, Bend Health later), suggesting an expanding thesis. The education focus is a stronger signal than the stated thesis would suggest, likely driven by his operating background at Career Education Corporation.

Portfolio

Notable exits: Zulily IPO (2013, Maveron held 22% worth ~$1B at peak) ¹²; General Assembly acquired by Adecco for $413M (2018) ²¹; Flywire IPO (2021, NASDAQ: FLYW) ²²; Course Hero became Learneo ¹⁵.

This table represents Stoffer’s directly attributed investments. Maveron’s full portfolio includes 300+ investments across all partners ⁶.

In Their Own Words

On building enduring consumer brands:

“We’re a consumer venture capital fund looking to invest in people who are building big enduring brands.” — Jason Stoffer, 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator, 2018 ⁵

On what he looks for in founders:

“What we want is someone who is obsessed with the mission of what they’re trying to build.” — Jason Stoffer, Monica + Andy interview ⁷

“In the early days, the economics don’t matter as much as the founder.” — Jason Stoffer, Monica + Andy interview ⁷

On consumer differentiation:

“What you really need to think about is how do you stand out in the hearts and minds of end consumers? That’s what we think about every day at Maveron.” — Jason Stoffer, Monica + Andy interview ⁷

On market selection (paraphrasing Warren Buffett):

Stoffer has cited Buffett’s principle that “when a great team meets a mediocre market, only the market maintains its reputation” as central to his investment approach ²³.

On the value of operating experience before investing:

“To properly assess the potential of young companies with incomplete business models, I thought it was really important to be in an operating role within a growth environment.” — Jason Stoffer, Sramana Mitra interview, 2011 ⁴

On e-commerce personalization:

“What we are looking for are folks that are winning through better curation and better personalization.” — Jason Stoffer, 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator, 2018 ⁵

On Engageli’s education platform:

“Dan Avida and his team…are uniquely suited to building a digital education solution that actually feels like a classroom and functions even better than some in-person courses.” — Jason Stoffer, Engageli Series A announcement, May 2021 ¹⁸

What Founders Say

Michael Preysman, founder of Everlane, stated on Maveron’s website: “Jason was one of the first investors to truly understand what we’re building. He has deep experience in consumer brands and has always been a strong supporter of what we’re doing” ¹.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found. Stoffer’s portfolio founders have not been widely quoted in press about their investor relationships. The Everlane quote above appears on Maveron’s own website and should be treated as firm-curated content.

Connections

• Board member, Lovevery — since June 2018 ¹⁰
• Board member, Thirty Madison — since October 2017 ⁸
• Board member, Parade ⁸
• Board member, Imperfect Foods ¹
• Board member, Dolls Kill — since July 2014 ¹⁴
• Board member, Rebel (Rebelstork) — since April 2024 ²⁰
• Board member, Barkbus — since October 2023 ⁸
• Board member, Lando — since March 2023 ⁸
• Board member, Leadership IQ ¹
• Board member, Seattle Humane Society (nonprofit) ¹
• Former Senior Director, Career Education Corporation — co-founded IADT Online ⁴
• Former Associate, Spinnaker Ventures ¹
• Former Analyst, unnamed VC firm (pre-Wharton) ⁴
• Frequent co-investor with: GV, Reach Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (Lovevery); Lerer Hippeau, Greycroft (Parade); Northzone (Thirty Madison); Lowercase Capital, 500 Startups (Common) ^910111617

Sources