Kevin Rose

Current Company

Digg & True Ventures — Founder

The Face of Web 2.0

Kevin Rose founded Digg in 2004 at age 27, creating one of the first social news platforms where users — rather than editors — decided which stories reached the front page. Digg became one of the most visited websites on the internet, and Rose appeared on the cover of BusinessWeek under the headline about a new generation of internet entrepreneurs bringing user-generated content to the mainstream.

Digg's rise and fall became one of the most studied case studies in tech history. A controversial 2010 redesign alienated the platform's core users, and the site's traffic collapsed almost overnight as users migrated to Reddit. Digg's assets were eventually sold for a fraction of their peak value — a cautionary tale about the fragility of community-driven platforms and the danger of redesigning what works.

From Founder to Investor

After Digg, Kevin Rose pivoted to investing, joining Google Ventures as a partner and later moving to True Ventures, where he has backed early-stage consumer technology companies. He also founded several smaller startups, including Revision3 (a web video network acquired by Discovery) and various projects in wellness and blockchain.

Rose's career arc — from celebrated founder to cautionary tale to seasoned investor — reflects the volatility of consumer internet entrepreneurship. His experience building and losing a major platform gives him a unique perspective as a venture investor, and his story remains one of the most honest narratives about the highs and lows of startup life in Silicon Valley.