Clayton Bryan

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