who we are
The Pathbreaker team has helped build, fund, and acquire category-defining companies solving critical global problems.
Pathbreaker’s Investors & Advisors have been building product and structuring deals at iconic technology companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Uber, Apple, Stripe, Linkedin, Square, Twitter, Softbank Robotics, McDonald’s, Twitch, Snap, Oculus, and Doordash. They are eager to support the founders with whom we work.
Pathbreaker is led by Ryan Gembala,
Founder & Managing Partner
Ryan’s passion is to build novel products that impact generations. His experience spans the startup lifecycle — co-founding & operating, investing from pre-seed to growth stages, and acquiring venture-backed companies. In 2023, Ryan was named a Top 100 Seed Investor by Business Insider.
Prior to starting Pathbreaker, Ryan was a deal lead on the corporate development team at Facebook where he worked with product and engineering leadership to landscape technology ecosystems and execute acquisitions. Acquisitions worked on include Oculus, PrivateCore, LiveRail, Teehan Lax, and NimbleVR. At Facebook he focused on emerging technologies across AI, Computer Vision, Virtual Reality, Security, and Product Design.
Before Facebook, Ryan was an investor and operator at Azure Capital, an early stage venture firm with $750M+ under management where he focused on consumer and enterprise problems. Ryan operated, worked with, and/or invested in companies such as TripIt (acquired by Concur for $120M), Cooking.com (acquired by Target), Get Satisfaction (acquired by Sprinklr), Telly as VP of Business Development & Partnerships, and Convercent as VP of Business Development & Partnerships.
Ryan began his career as a social entrepreneur — bootstrapping and co-founding H.E.R.O. for Children, a non-profit focused on emotional health and quality of life support for children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. H.E.R.O. recently celebrated 19 years of service, and Ryan continues to serve on the board.
Ryan earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he began seed investing with Hyde Park Angels and won the Global Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). He graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors from the University of Georgia with a B.B.A. from the Terry College of Business. He and his wife live in the San Francisco Bay Area with their three children.