Stephen Straus is a serial entrepreneur and former venture capitalist who has started, ran, and successfully sold two companies. He was also a Kauffman Fellow and a general partner at Austin Ventures, at the time the largest venture capital between the two coasts, during the dot-com boom and bust. He is a graduate of Colgate University and received his master of business administration from Harvard Business School.

He is founding chair of Impact Dyslexia, a nonprofit for families focused on creating bold solutions to the dyslexia crisis; serves on the engineering advisory board of The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell College of Engineering; and is a former member of the board of directors of the Sustainable Food Center and the Austin Film Society. He is also currently spearheading The Startup Diversity and Inclusion Pledge and is a partner and mentor at Capital Factory. Straus lives in Austin with his wife, and they have four kids.