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Clayton Bryan

Clayton Bryan

Partner at 500 Global — Head of Global Accelerator Fund

San Francisco, California
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Joined January 2025
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Network

3.7K connections
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500 Global Venture Capitalists
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Summary

Early-stage investor and accelerator operator: Clayton has built his career around running and improving accelerator programs and deploying early-stage capital globally. At 500 Global he leads the flagship accelerator and the Global Accelerator Fund, which focuses on sourcing, structuring, and supporting seed-stage investments across sectors like AI, health, commerce, and fintech. 500+2
Committed to increasing access for underrepresented founders: Clayton co-founded Transparent Collective to prepare and connect minority founders with investors and mentors. That work — plus programming and public speaking on inclusion — is a through-line in his career from NewMe to Transparent Collective to his work at 500 Global. transparentcollective+1
Operator background in community, product, and growth: Before VC and accelerator leadership, Clayton worked in product/community roles (Yahoo, Howcast, Payvment) and growth/corporate development at consumer/startup products — experience he applies when advising marketplace and consumer founders. techcrunch+1
Board & advisory leadership in ecosystem organizations: Beyond investing, Clayton holds governance and advisory roles (NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, ICA Fund), connecting university entrepreneurship programming and nonprofit venture efforts with practitioner experience. nyu+1

Work

Education

Projects

Writing

500 Global interview: Clayton Bryan on doubling down on founders

January 1, 2023

Longer Q&A-style interview on 500 Global's site describing his background, investment focus, and approach to accelerator programming and founder support.

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Articles and posts by Clayton Bryan (TechCrunch author page)

Collection of commentary and posts on startup investing, accelerator strategy, and founder advice published under his author profile at TechCrunch.

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Notes

TPTristan Pollocksaid
CBClayton Bryan
is someone they consider especially well-connected and respected in their industry.

Nov 26, 2025

TPTristan Pollocksaid
CBClayton Bryan
represents what makes the 500 Global alumni network special or high-caliber.

Nov 21, 2025