Celebrating Our Strong Roots: Chuck Templeton

I’ve started writing about how our Limited Partners (LPs) shape and influence us. They inform our sense of purpose, support us, and inspire us.

Today I’d like to write about Chuck Templeton — another LP that we’re proud to have on our team.

Chuck is a relentless entrepreneur. Since founding OpenTable, Chuck has focused his ambition on working to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. He shares our belief that mission and profits are not mutually exclusive.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview where Chuck talks about the startup scene in Chicago and the companies that excite him:

Via

And he’s been a willing mentor by serving on the boards of a number of Collaborative Fund portfolio companies, including TaskRabbit and Getable.

Beyond that, he’s used his influence and his network to help impact entrepreneurs succeed. Impact Engine, an accelerator program co-founded by Chuck, helps young businesses that address today’s most pressing societal and environmental challenges — ranging from climate change and poverty to education and public health. Their startups are tackling some of the world’s most challenging, but critical, problems.

On a personal level, it continues to drive me crazy that Chuck can run further and faster than I can. One of his goals for 2014 is to run a 50k, a 50 mile, a 100k and a 100 mile! Mind-blowing.

We’re very fortunate to have Chuck working with us. He brings a passion and perspective that is as rare as it is valuable.