We are first in.

Managing Partner

Renny works with enterprise technology founders from the earliest days. Prior to First In, he invested in the first financing rounds of more than a dozen companies. A veteran startup founder, he co-founded security company RedOwl Analytics in 2012. RedOwl was acquired by Forcepoint (Raytheon) in 2017. Most recently he was a principal from 2017 – 2020 at an independent investment management firm, Brown Advisory, with more than $75 billion in assets under management.

Renny began his career as a Marine Corps intelligence officer and served in Iraq and East Asia. He went on to work in national security and intelligence policy at RAND from 2007–2009, during which time he researched and analyzed issues pertaining to national security, and briefed his findings to military leaders.

Renny’s work has been profiled in The Washington Post, NPR, and Inc.com. His writing has been featured in the Boston Globe, the Washington Times, and the Harvard Business Review. He is a graduate of Harvard College cum laude and Harvard Business School.

Venture Partner

Ish has been investing in and advising start-ups for over five years. He has invested in initial financing rounds of over a half-dozen companies. His background in sales and go-to-market strategies enables him to help companies with their licensing models, hiring initiatives, sales methodologies, board development and institutional capital raising.

Ish is a sales leader at Zscaler working with a team to support many Fortune 1000 clients in their digital transformation. Prior to Zscaler, he was a sales leader and individual contributor at Splunk, the World’s first data-to-everything platform. He began his career as a Marine Corps infantry officer.

Ish has served on the board of local and national not for profits that support our veterans, military families, and fallen heroes, and for several years was a regular contributor to Huffington Post on matters pertaining to the military. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.

Venture Partner

Josh Lospinoso is a venture partner who sources investment opportunities and provides technical diligence capabilities for First In. Josh is an expert at sourcing technical leaders and mentoring technical founders. He is CEO of Shift5, a company making the world’s fleets smarter and safer. He is an entrepreneur with deep expertise in cybersecurity, data science, and system software engineering. In 2012, he co-founded RedOwl Analytics, an insider threat detection platform acquired by Raytheon/Forcepoint in 2017.

Josh is a US Army veteran, having served 10 years as a cyber officer leading teams within the Department of Defense, Army Cyber Command, and the Cyber National Mission Force.

Josh is the author of C++ Crash Course (No Starch Press, 2019), dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles spanning multiple disciplines, and multiple patents. He is a graduate of US Army Ranger School, and he holds multiple degrees from the United States Military Academy and a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Partner

Ethan Oberman is a partner and has responsibility for investment sourcing as well as strategy and mentorship for portfolio company CEOs.

Ethan founded privacy-driven data storage company SpiderOak in 2007 and served as its CEO through 2015. SpiderOak coined the term ‘zero-knowledge’ as a way to understand the philosophy of privacy and user data. From 2000 – 2004 he led several product launches and held P&L responsibility for a marketing technology company, Omeda.

Ethan is drawn to the energy and passion required to will a new idea into existence. It is what drives him and how he has the biggest impact — guiding, coaching, and rolling up his sleeves with founders to create meaningful companies. He spent his childhood learning the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and technology innovation first-hand, as his father founded and grew a database management company throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

An entrepreneur who is drawn to both the numbers and narratives, from 2016 – 2018 he opened an art house movie cinema / restaurant / bar in New York City called Metrograph. In a few short years Metrograph has become an integral part of the New York film world while also bridging the gap between traditional film and modern distribution channels. Since 2018, he has invested in technology ventures globally.

Ethan believes strongly in giving back and over the years has worked closely with several non-profit groups including Project Inform in San Francisco (fighting HIV & Hepatitis C) and Jewish House in Sydney (working to end homelessness). He is a 1999 graduate of Harvard College.

Venture Partner

Anne Meree Craig is a strategic leader and problem solver. She builds powerful networks and programs, drives impact and creates value. Anne Meree has demonstrated the ability to grow an idea into a thriving enterprise.

At First In, Anne Meree is a venture partner focused on building the First In community, strategy, and marketing. Most recently, she served as co-founder and CEO of The COMMIT Foundation, a veteran service organization ensuring exceptional veterans transition into successful careers post service. From 2012-2021, she scaled COMMIT into a best-in-class organization providing thousands of services annually to men and women transitioning from the military. Anne Meree led a team of 12 full-time staff, raised over $12 million since inception, and established ongoing strategic donors that enable COMMIT’s $4 million annual budget.

Anne Meree holds a BA from Wofford College and an MA from Middlebury. She was working on a doctorate in romance languages when our country was attacked on 9/11. Motivated by her strong sense of mission, Anne Meree moved to Washington, DC and worked special operations, counterterrorism, and foreign policy across the interagency until 2011.

After leaving government in 2010, Anne Meree founded Maxemi LLC, a consulting business focused on relationship navigation, strategy development, and program support. She worked at Berico Technologies, McChrystal Group, Deloitte, General Dynamics, as well as other businesses and family offices. Anne Meree has served on multiple boards including Bunker Labs, Promote Leadership, Infragard, and Things We Read. A life-long learner, Anne Meree has completed several executive education programs including Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Non-Profit Leadership Program. She is a recipient of the National Intelligence Achievement Medal as well as the Medal for Exceptional Public Service from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Venture Partner

Bobby brings deep experience in technology to First In as a Venture Partner. He has worked in operations, product management, and hardware design across government agencies, military units, and commercial companies. He conducts technical diligence and advises portfolio companies on technology and growth opportunities.

Bobby is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Currently he is a second year graduate student at Harvard University pursuing an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School and a Master in Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Venture Partner

Arthur is a senior attorney with Anduril, a venture-backed defense technology company providing the U.S. and its allies advanced AI and autonomous systems. Previously, Arthur was an early employee and executive with FiscalNote, an information services technology company that he helped grow from $0 to over $75mm in revenue.

Arthur began his career in private practice at a major corporate law firm. He then became a United States Marine Corps officer during the Global War on Terror. Arthur served as an infantry officer over three overseas deployments, receiving the Bronze Star with “V” for combat leadership in Afghanistan. Arthur received his A.B. from Harvard University and J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He lives in Carlsbad CA with his wife and children and serves on the Carlsbad Community Foundation and Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation.

Director of Operations

Lizzie is the director of operations at First In and is an investment analyst for the firm. She is responsible for analyzing new investment opportunities and leading operations. She is a sophomore (graduating 2023) computer science major at Middlebury College. She is passionate about the role cybersecurity and data analytics plays in business and her technical acumen is critical to investment diligence.

She has experience working with start-ups and is a founding team member of a disruptive, online retail plant business that markets garden plants at prices just over wholesale. She and her team have expanded the business 10x from year one to year two.

Lizzie is involved in various Middlebury student organizations that focus on investment banking and finance and she is a consultant for Middlebury Consulting Group.

Additionally, Lizzie has played competitive golf all her life. She was a four-year varsity player in high school and helped lead her team to an Illinois State Championship. She is currently a varsity athlete on the Women’s Golf team at Middlebury College.