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15th percentile
Founder Matrix
Most Complimentary
Credibility
Domain Expertise · 41th percentile
No public signals fed this vector yet. As we add sources (or this founder claims and connects their accounts), it will fill in.
Founder score
- 95%Probability of being accurate (95%)Past technical co-founder of Switchcam, a VC-backed event videography startup.
- 95%Probability of being accurate (95%)Switchcam raised $1.2M in a seed round led by Mark Cuban and 500 Startups.
- 90%Probability of being accurate (90%)Switchcam was acquired by Facebook, with the founders hired directly by Facebook.
- 90%Probability of being accurate (90%)Switchcam had co-founders — Chris Hartley and Bret Welch are both named as founders of the company.
- 88%Probability of being accurate (88%)500 Startups alum — Switchcam participated in the 500 Startups accelerator program.
Investor score
No signal on this dimension.
What you likely need
Chris is a seasoned engineering leader and one-time founder whose Switchcam exit (acquired by Facebook) and 500 Startups background give him credible founder credentials, but he has been in senior IC/management roles at large companies (Instagram, Instacart) for the past decade. If he wants to re-enter the founder path, his deep ads-tech and ML expertise at scale is a strong differentiator. Alternatively, his operator experience positions him well to become an angel investor or advisor in the ad-tech / consumer-video space.
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- positioningExplore founding or co-founding a startup in the ad-tech or retail-media space, where your decade of hands-on experience at Instagram and Instacart gives you rare product-market insight.
- introsFormalise your angel investing activity — your Switchcam exit and operator credibility at Instagram/Instacart make you a compelling check-writer for early-stage ad-tech or video startups.
- introsRe-engage the 500 Startups alumni network to source co-founders or early customers if you decide to start a new company.
- positioningWrite publicly about large-scale ads engineering (ML optimisation, auction design, retail media) to build a thought-leadership profile that attracts co-founders and investors.
- tacticalOpen-source a tool or library from your ads/ML work to establish a GitHub presence and signal active building to the technical community.
- fundraisingIf you start a new company, apply to Y Combinator — your prior 500 Startups experience and Facebook/Instagram/Instacart pedigree make you a strong candidate.
- introsTake on formal advisor roles at early-stage ad-tech or video startups to stay close to the founding ecosystem while in your current senior role.