John Shumate
About John Shumate
John is Founder & CEO of Venture First, a venture-focused financial services group providing deal structuring, M&A and capital raise advice, fractional CFO services, and an array of equity and derivative valuation. He is General Partner in Whiskey Capital Finance Co., a debt fund lending to the craft American whiskey market; Strike Ventures, a tech- and data-focused venture capital fund; as well as a variety of niche funds, investments, and special purpose vehicles delivering asymmetric returns. John has served as an advisor to and a board member of several non-profit groups, including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, the National Stem Cell Foundation, the Speed Art Museum, and St. Francis School. An actively treated cancer patient for more than 12 years, he has received 18 different lymphoma-related treatment regimens, making him the most heavily treated Hodgkin's on record. As a result, John has developed close institutional healthcare relationships at key centers of excellence such as Dana Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, Sylvester, and James Graham Brown. John splits time between Boston and Louisville and enjoys spending time with his wife, Sarah; his mother, Joyce; his dog, Charles Barkley; and his loyal core of friends. John attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Management.