Page History

In 1987 Eric Young co-founded Canaan Partners, an industryearly-leading early stage venture capital
capital investment firm, in 1987. Since then, he has led investments in numerous
successful startup companies, including: Argon Networks, Capstone Turbine,
Copper Mountain Networks, Cortina Systems, Diffusion Software, Ebates, Enpirion,
Frame Technology, International Network Services, Kalpana, Nellcor, Octel
Communications, ONI Systems, SandForce, Spectrian and Visigenic Software. An
advocate for advances in cybersecurity, Eric now serves as a director of firms such
as Lancope, Verance and Xirrus. He also serves on the Steering Committee for Sinet,
the cybersecurity industry thought leadership group. Before starting Canaan, Eric
was a SVP at GE Venture Capital. Earlier, Eric held several sales, marketing and
operations management positions within various GE industrial product businesses.
firm. Canaan has since raised $5 billion in capital and led investments in over 475
startups – the firm is one of the few in the industry that specializes in both technology
and healthcare industries. Eric led Canaan’s investments in companies such
as Copper Mountain Networks, ONI Systems, Sandforce, Ebates and Lancope. He
joined Canaan from GE Venture Capital, where he was an SVP and held a number
of leadership positions in two other GE operating businesses. An enthusiast for 
entrepreneurship, Eric serves as an advisor to several Cornell-affiliated organizations,
including Entrepreneurship at Cornell, Praxis Center for Venture Development,
Cornell Silicon Valley, Red Bear Angels, Thayer Ventures, CoVenture and BR Venture
Fund. He helped shape the Commercialization Fellows program in the College of
Engineering, and has served as an adjunct instructor in the NSF’s I-Corps program
for technology commercialization. Eric also advises aspiring entrepreneurs through
skill development organizations such as Scout and Mosaic, located at Northeastern
University. Eric earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University
and an M.B.A.
MBA from Northwestern University. An advocate of promoting entrepreneurship within
the Cornell community, he has served as a member of the Advisory Council of
Entrepreneurship at Cornell and the Advisory Board to Cornell Silicon Valley for
many years.

2765 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650 854-8092
eyoung@canaan.com