I took the road less traveled —

and how it led me to start my own VC fund

Marlon Nichols, Co-founder & MD @CrossCultureVentures; Portfolio Director at Intel Capital

So after business school I had the opportunity to join the Intel Corporation in their accelerated leadership program. It was a 2 year program made up of 3 rotations where you spend time in 3 different parts of the organization.

I chose that program because it would afford me the opportunity to spend at least 8 months within intel capital…

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in venture capital.

So I did that… and my first 8 months were a success. The folks on the Intel Capital side asked me to stay on- which was at odds with the structure of the program because you’re supposed to move around.

This was a contested debate between myself and the management leadership of the program —

…primarily because this went against what it was “supposed” to be. At the end of the day, what I decided was —

this is my career and I want to be a venture capitalist!

I decided to stay within Intel Capital rather than move

— and completed all three of my rotations within the group. At the end of it — I graduated the program and Intel Capital hired me as an investment director and paid for me to become a Kauffman Fellow.

You know,

all those things together, led to where I am today;

— which is a co-founder and managing partner at Cross Culture Ventures. Frankly,

this is the happiest and most fulfilled I’ve been in my professional career.

And to think, it all came down to answering that one critical question:

Do I follow the path laid before me like the other A.L.P.-ers OR do I change the game and alter this thing so that it fits what I want to do, and helps me go after my ambitions and goals…?

For me, I made the right decision- albeit a very difficult one.

Marlon started his career in the software industry and moved quickly towards his passion — venture capital. The path he took led him to be a senior manager in strategy consulting, a non-profit leader, and COO of a venture fund. After graduate school, Marlon joined Intel Capital as an Associate Director which led to him starting Cross-Culture Ventures. In his work as co-founder, he has dedicated himself to identifying, investing in, and advising early stage high growth companies.

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