Garrett Gilbertson
About Garrett Gilbertson
Garrett is the founder and Managing Partner of SUM Ventures (SUM.VC), Maverick Investment Properties, and Chairman of the Band of Angels Los Angeles Group. He is an entrepreneur, investor, Afghan War veteran, and former USAF Captain with cross-functional leadership experience managing family offices, angel groups, and venture funds. During his Air Force career, Garrett served as a procurement contracting officer and was responsible for negotiating, awarding, or administering $2.4 billion in government contracts. While deployed in Afghanistan, he was responsible for 439 construction contracts totaling $224M and was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Garrett earned his B.Sc. in Management from the United States Air Force Academy and M.Sc. from Pepperdine University and is a graduate of Harvard's Executive Program in Venture Capital and Private Equity. He received the George Award as the Outstanding Student in Entrepreneurship from the Graziadio School of Business and Management. Garrett was later named a partner of Caltech's Computer and Mathematical Science Department for his work on Serenify. He then led seed-stage investment and incubation for a family office. From 2017-2018, Garrett served as Managing Director of BLD Capital, where he crafted the fund's vision, managed investor relations, sourced opportunities, lead deals, and supported portfolio companies. BLD Capital invested in 12 seed-stage companies. For his efforts, Garrett was featured on the cover of the Orange County Business Journal and invited to speak internationally at the Global Accelerator Conference in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to launching SUM.VC Garrett was an active angel investor through the Band of Angels, Tech Coast Angels, and Pasadena Angels. He also hosts monthly Pitch events in the LA area, where he vets early-stage opportunities. Garrett advises many of his portfolio companies and sits on the Board of Directors for UNest, DressX, Brius, and ClearClub. He has served as an investor and advisor for Brius, DressX, UNest, Irrigreen, Automotus, Verifir, Purlin, and Clear Club. Garrett is passionate about helping startups succeed and is currently seeking new investment opportunities.