Adeo Ressi

Adeo Ressi is the founder and CEO of Decile Group and Executive Chairman of Founder Institute. Decile Group is a full-stack venture capital platform for emerging managers worldwide and helped launch nearly 50% of all VC firms in 2023 with the VC Lab accelerator. Founder Institute, a pre-seed accelerator, operates chapters in over 250 cities and supports more than 7,000 portfolio companies. Ressi’s previous startups, including Methodfive, Game Trust, and Total New York, resulted in nearly $2 billion in exits by the age of 30. He has also launched 14 venture capital funds, served on the board of the X Prize Foundation,

Early life and education

Born Adeodato Gregory Ressi di Cervia on April 3, 1972, Ressi is Italian-American, and was raised in New York City's Upper West Side. As a child, he asked his parents to send him to Arcosanti, an experimental town in Arizona, rather than traditional summer camp. He spent four summers in Arcosanti as its youngest working resident. He was often tasked with performing menial jobs His experiences at Arcosanti piqued his interest in environmental issues and influenced his career path to some degree. As an undergraduate, he founded the Social Revolutionary Club He spent four years in college but did not receive his degree, because he wanted to use copies of Green Times as his senior thesis instead of writing a traditional paper. By January 2008, TheFunded had 3,600 members. As of 2014, the institute had expanded to over 80 cities and 40 nations worldwide. Ressi wanted to help entrepreneurs create better businesses, and also wanted to understand the ingredients for a successful entrepreneur. a simple legal framework entrepreneurs can use freely to create relationships with business advisors.

In 2012, in collaboration with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, Ressi and the Founder Institute released "Convertible Equity", a financing vehicle that provides all of the flexibility of convertible debt without hindering a company with loans. Convertible Equity was given by Ressi to attorneys at Y Combinator and was renamed the SAFE Note. In addition, he was interviewed by The New York Times as part of a cover story of the Sunday Business Section of the newspaper.

In 2015, Ressi was featured on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine, and began writing as a Guest Contributor to Forbes Magazine.

In 2020, Ressi launched VC Lab, a free training program for venture capitalists worldwide, as part of the Founder Institute, which was covered in TechCrunch.

In 2021, VC Lab was spun out as an independent company, as part of Decile Group, and Ressi became the CEO of Decile Group and Executive Chairman of Founder Institute. Ressi emphasizes innovation in his work, aiming to transform venture capital into a force for good and to fund impactful companies. Founder Institute targets having 80% of its portfolio companies work on For Progress businesses that address one or more of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. VC Lab created the Mensarius Oath, an ethical code of conduct for investment professionals, and asks every venture firm that it works with to publicly support the Mensarius Oath.

In 2023, Ressi led the development of a large language model for venture capital at Decile Group, called Decile Base.