Dane Ross

Dane earned an MBA and a Lebor Entrepreneur Fellowship (Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship) at Harvard Business School, and a BA with Honors in International Business at the University of Minnesota and the DIS Program at Copenhagen University, Denmark. He is bilingual (Danish/English).

Dane is founding Managing General Partner of Belay Equity, which has for the last decade focused on the world’s critical infrastructure and its vulnerability, and which is giving birth to the emerging Resilience Tech and Infrastructure Tech industries. It is these spaces, at the nexus of Security, Defense Tech, Deep Tech, and Cybersecurity, on which Belay Equity focuses. 

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The firm was launched in 2008 and innovated the business model of acquisition of 5-10% of the stock of individual company officers in top tier VC-backed companies utilizing convertible debt so as not to trigger Alternative Minimum Tax, executed in a VC ecosystem-friendly manner without damage to the company's stock option pricing. This provided limited liquidity to enable key management team members to address immediate personal needs and increase their focus, benefiting fellow VC investors as well as entrepreneurs. Belay also assisted companies as third party acquirers of employee shares to more amicably accomplish management reorganizations. 

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Dane has 30 years of venture capital/private equity experience, including 8 years on the Investment Committee and Board of Directors of Elwin Capital Partners, investing in the US, Europe, Israel and Asia, with portfolio companies including Aduva, Dune Networks, and Office Tiger. Dane is also the founder and Chairman of International Management Ventures, through which he has venture partnered with dozens of entrepreneurs and their companies.

Dane Ross is a member of the Kauffman Fellow Charter Class and served his fellowship under mentor Rick Kroon at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette's venture capital affiliate Sprout Group in NYC and on Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park.