Ben Patterson's path to venture capital is unusual: before investing, he made music for Universal Records, ran IT and data infrastructure at Stanford and the Stanford Cancer Institute, co-founded a media-tech company, and helped run a 38-employee SaaS startup—experience that shows up in his backing of companies spanning defense, climate science, fintech, and autonomy like Anduril, Twelve, Loom, Luminar, and Remitly. He also advises multiple venture groups at once, including 1517 Fund, the Coors family's 10k Investments, and formerly UP2398 (backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar), while serving as an officer and board member for Old Skool Cafe, a San Francisco nonprofit that trains youth.