Jon Bradford

Jon Bradford is a Co-founder & Managing Partner of Dynamo Ventures. Prior to Dynamo, Jon has a varied career as both an entrepreneur and investor.

Jon is one of the most experienced early stage investors in Europe having made over 100 investments and launched the first accelerator bootcamp outside of the US in 2009, that subsequently merged with Techstars to become their first international programme.  He co-founded Startup Wise Guys in Estonia and Eleven Ventures in Bulgaria. Alongside this, he helped to launched a further nine accelerators from Montreal to Moscow earning him the title “Godfather of European Accelerators”.

Jon was also the co-founder of F6S, the world’s largest social network for entrepreneurs with over 1M users and a co-founder of Tech.eu.  Alongside this, Jon helped co-found Ormeau Baths, a co-workspace in Belfast and is also on the advisory board of the Bradfield Centre in Cambridge.

What's one opportunity area in supply chain or mobility that most excites you?

The convergence of supply chain and fintech.  I strongly believe that the movement of boxes and money are conjoined twins; as boxes move in one direction, money flows in the opposite direction.  There are many lessons to be learned from the emergence of fintech over the last 10 years and how they can be applied to supply chain.  As startups increase visibility, transparency and provence around supply chain, there will be huge opportunities for smarter trade finance with greater granularity at a shipment level.

Who is the most influential person in your life?

Among the most influential people I’ve had the good fortune to be introduced to was David Cohen, one of the founders of Techstars. Long before accelerators were popular, David helped me launch the first accelerator programme outside of the US. More importantly he taught me the value of #givefirst.

With his generosity of spirit and desire to help entrepreneurs, David Cohen along with Brad Feld, David Brown and Jared Polis inexorably changed both my life and those of the entrepreneurs who participated in the accelerator programmes and venture funds I subsequently ran. Little did David know that by his generous example of #givefirst, he was setting the foundations for Techstars’ overseas expansion: as fate would have it, three years later I helped open Techstars London, their first international programme.

Detail your most important daily habit/ritual

I picked up running several years ago and have found that it improves the clarity of my thinking (in addition to the health benefits). I usually try to do this right out of bed- my favorite ritual is putting on my running shoes. Follow me on Strava!