Joe Montana earned the nickname “Joe Cool” for his poise as quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. With four Super Bowl victories, three Super Bowl MVP awards, and two league MVP titles to his name, he has parlayed his success on the football field into a successful career as a venture capitalist.
Early Life
Joseph Clifford Montana was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 1956. He is the only child of Theresa Montana and Joe Montana Sr., who raised their son in the nearby town of Monongahela.
Montana grew up idolizing NFL quarterback and fellow Western Pennsylvania native Terry Hanratty. Introduced to sports by his father, Montana excelled early on, throwing three perfect games in Little League and becoming a three-sport athlete in high school.
College Career
Montana was offered a basketball scholarship to North Carolina State University. Following Hanratty’s footsteps, however, he elected to play football at Notre Dame.
His time there saw him fall to seventh on the quarterback depth chart, but he became the starter after coming off the bench to lead a comeback victory over Purdue University in the third game of his junior season. It would be one of five fourth-quarter comebacks that he would helm as quarterback of the Fighting Irish.
In his junior season, Montana led Notre Dame to victory in the 1977 NCAA national championship. He continued his successful senior year, culminating in another triumph for the Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl.
NFL Career
Montana was drafted in the third round of the 1979 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He served as a backup for 1 1/2 seasons before 49ers head coach Bill Walsh made him the starting quarterback in 1980.
In 1981, Montana made the Pro Bowl in his first full season as a starter while leading the 49ers to the playoffs. He and San Francisco advanced to the Super Bowl after Montana connected with Dwight Clark on a six-yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds remaining in the NFC championship game—a play that became known as “The Catch.” The 49ers went on to win the Super Bowl, and Montana took home MVP honors.
The quarterback repeated the feat in the 1984 season, winning both his second Super Bowl and second Super Bowl MVP. After San Francisco selected wide receiver Jerry Rice in the 1985 NFL draft, Montana and Rice would build a reputation over six seasons as one of the NFL’s most legendary passing tandems.
In the 1989 season, Montana and the 49ers reached a third Super Bowl, which San Francisco won after Montana executed yet another fourth-quarter drive. It would be one of 31 fourth-quarter comebacks that he would tally over his NFL career, earning him the nicknames “the Comeback Kid” and, in recognition of his poise under pressure, “Joe Cool.”
Montana won his first league MVP in 1989 while leading San Francisco to its second consecutive Super Bowl win. His second league MVP came in 1990, a year that saw the 49ers reach the NFC championship game.
Montana missed the vast majority of the next two seasons with an elbow injury. Traded to Kansas City in 1993, he guided the Chiefs to a pair of playoff appearances before retiring in 1995. Considered one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Business Career
In 1999, Ronnie Lott and Harris Barton, both former teammates of Montana from the 49ers, established an investment fund dedicated to investing in funds managed by firms such as Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. Lott and Barton raised $400 million before asking Montana to join them in 2003.
Montana—who admits that he didn’t take much of an interest in business during his playing career, despite his proximity to Silicon Valley—agreed. The firm changed its name to HRJ, and during Montana’s tenure, its assets under management rose to more than $900 million.
Montana left HRJ in 2004 to spend more time with his two sons. In his absence, HRJ floundered, nearly becoming insolvent during the 2008 recession before a Swiss firm purchased its assets in 2009. Meanwhile, Montana co-founded Modern Bank, a commercial bank based in New York City, and served as a board member from 2005 to 2010.
Turning to Angel Investing
Montana had become friends with venture capitalist and philanthropist Ron Conway during his time in San Francisco. When the pair reconnected, Conway took Montana under his wing, allowing the former quarterback to shadow him as he worked at his SV Angel venture fund and attended startup events.
At one of these events, Conway presented Montana with an investment opportunity. Describing the decision as “the biggest pressure moment,” Montana agreed to take part and handed over the biggest personal check he had ever written. The investment opportunity was Pinterest, a website that achieved substantial success (going public in 2010 and recently boasting a market capitalization of over $17 billion), resulting in a substantial return on investment for the former quarterback.
Establishing Liquid 2 Ventures
Around this time, Montana also invested in other tech firms, including Dropbox, CoreOS, and the sports app GameOn. With the former quarterback’s portfolio growing, Conway suggested that he form his own venture capital fund.
In 2015, Montana did just that, launching Liquid 2 Ventures with tech founders Michael Ma and Mike Miller. Focused on pre-seed and seed-stage startups, the firm has completed three fundraising rounds, the most recent of which closed at $80 million. Among its notable investments are Geometric Intelligence, which was acquired by Uber, and GitLab and Rappi, both of which have been valued at more than $1 billion.
With Montana leading as a managing director, Liquid 2 Ventures has invested in 25 startups valued at more than $1 billion. As of December 2022, it maintains a portfolio of over 50 companies. Montana attributes the success of his firm to its diverse staff, and he credits his former coach Bill Walsh with teaching him how to build a great team. Along with Ma and Miller, Liquid 2 Venture’s leadership team includes his son, Nate.
As reported by Forbes in 2020, Montana is the seventh-most active celebrity investor. He’s taken so well to venture capital that he says it’s a more lucrative profession than playing football was in his day.