Eddie Lou is an active angel investor in over 60 early-stage tech companies and acts as a mentor, coach, advisor, or board director to many of them. Lou is a board director at The Mom Project, Albert.io, LemonLight, Human Predictions, HiLink, Infi, and Chowbus.
Lou is a co-founder of stealth pet startup. Previously, he was a co-founder of Shiftgig, the mobile app that connects hourly labor with business shifts. Lou grew the company from idea to 200 full-time employees across 13 cities serving 2,000 business clients and 30,000 hourly workers; he raised over $50M of institutional capital during a rapid growth period. Lou is also co-founder and board director of One Goal, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit that improves college acceptance and persistence by empowering urban high school students through a teacher-led 3-year fellowship. In the past few years, One Goal has grown to over 220 staff members and a $30 million annual budget in large part due to the program’s success – 98% of program fellows get accepted to college and 78% are persisting. Since inception, the program has grown from seven students in one school to 20,000 students in 600 schools across 6 cities.
Lou was previously a general partner with OCA Ventures, in Fund I and Fund II, Lou invested in ten portfolio companies in software, consumer internet, and business services. As a board director or observer, Lou worked closely with management teams to scale their business, raise capital, and attract talent.
Lou received his M.B.A. in Finance and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in Saint Louis. He was recognized in 2010 as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 40 Under 40, in 2011 as Chicago United’s Business Leader of Color, and in 2012 as a Forbes Up and Comer, in 2015 as Techweek100, in 2016 as Crain’s Chicago Business’ Tech 50, and in 2016 as E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year Midwest finalist.
