Phin Barnes

Phin Barnes is an Investor at the seed-stage venture capital firm The General Partnership, based in San Francisco, California. Before joining the firm in January 2022, he spent seventeen years as a General Partner at First Round Capital, where he managed a portfolio of over fifty early-stage technology companies. During his tenure, Barnes backed several prominent consumer internet and software enterprises, including early investments in Uber and Stripe. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University and previously worked as an entrepreneur before transitioning into institutional investing. Beyond his direct investment activities, he co-hosts a popular venture capital podcast and recently delivered a keynote address on seed-stage market trends at a major 2025 industry conference. Barnes currently focuses on sourcing and advising seed-stage founders across the software, consumer internet, fintech, and artificial intelligence sectors.