Jo Tango

Jo Tango helps teach "The Entrepreneurial Manager" (TEM), a required course for all 1,000 first-year students and of which he is co-course head. He also teaches an elective course on Venture Capital and Private Equity to 180 students. He founded early-stage venture capital firm Kepha Partners and has been a VC since 1998.

VC experience: An investor in three exited Unicorns. A founding or first institutional investor in Azuki Systems (Ericsson), Carbon Black (NASDAQ: CBLK; sale to VMware), ExaGrid, Goby (NAVTEQ), Mavrck, Paradigm4, StreamBase Systems (TIBCO), Vertica Systems (Hewlett-Packard), Virtual Iron (Oracle) and VoltDB; other investments include Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ: ASKJ), Digital Market (Agile Software), and NextCard (NASDAQ: NXCD). Previously, at Highland Capital Partners (General Partner).

Other: Bain & Company (case team leader), Wasserstein Perella (M&A), Bain Capital (private equity), Salomon Brothers (equity research).

Education: Yale College (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

Current and prior volunteer work: Harvard Business School Alumni Board (Executive Committee, Lifelong Learning Working Group Co-Chair, Nominations Committee), Harvard Business School class reunions (Co-Chair of 5th, 10th, 15th and 25th), The Roxbury Latin School (Trustee, Parents' Fund Chair, Development Committee Co-Chair), New England Venture Capital Association (Board), NECINA (Board), Boston Archdiocese Clergy Retirement Trust (Investment Committee).

Personal: Jo and his family emigrated from Indonesia with a few suitcases and $1,500. His personal blog is here. Details on his family's angel program to "leverage capitalism for altruism" are here.

Cases and Teaching Materials

• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "The Traits of Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business School Technical Note 823-099, March 2023. View Details
• Rodríguez Arregui, Álvaro, and Jo Tango. "SAFE Notes: An Introduction." Harvard Business School Technical Note 823-026, November 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Altos Ventures (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 823-036, August 2022. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Altos Ventures (A)." Harvard Business School Case 823-035, August 2022. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Broadway Angels (2022)." Harvard Business School Supplement 823-001, August 2022. View Details
• Vrattos, William, Jo Tango, and Alys Ferragamo. "York Capital and Enovix." Harvard Business School Case 223-006, July 2022. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "3G Capital." Harvard Business School Case 823-010, July 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Individual FoodService, Kelso, and Ken Sweder." Harvard Business School Case 822-144, June 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Platinum Capital." Harvard Business School Case 822-134, June 2022. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Founder Collective." Harvard Business School Case 822-129, May 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Pear Venture Capital." Harvard Business School Case 822-097, April 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Aldrich Capital Partners." Harvard Business School Case 822-090, March 2022. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Bessemer Venture Partners: Century Fund." Harvard Business School Case 822-009, July 2021. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "KKR." Harvard Business School Case 822-017, August 2021. (Revised April 2022.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Apax Digital." Harvard Business School Case 822-016, August 2021. View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Kevin D. Johnson: To Be a Venture Capitalist or an Operator?" Harvard Business School Case 822-012, July 2021. View Details
• Lerner, Josh, Jo Tango, and Alys Ferragamo. "Yale Investments Office: November 2020." Harvard Business School Case 821-074, March 2021. View Details
• Tango, Jo. "NextView Ventures." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 821-078, January 2021. (Revised May 2021.) View Details
• Tango, Jo, and Nori Gerardo Lietz. "NextView Ventures." Harvard Business School Case 821-031, August 2020. (Revised May 2021.) View Details

Additional Information

More about Jo

• LinkedIn
• Personal Blog
• Twitter

Areas of Interest

• entrepreneurship
• private equity
• venture capital