Scott Birnbaum founded his own software company while in college, building cloud-based collaboration tools for Intel and law enforcement with a board that included the former deputy director of the NSA, then took an unusual path into venture capital through running a startup for seven years, law school, big-firm M&A work, and corporate strategy at CBS. He anchors his investment approach in a philosophical framework about the breakdown of the traditional employer-worker social contract, focusing on the Future of Work theme by backing SaaS products that let solo professionals and small teams operate with the sophistication once reserved for large corporations, while frequently using Plato's Allegory of the Cave to describe generational shifts in how people approach work and life. Scott Birnbaum founded his own software company while in college, building cloud-based collaboration tools for Intel and law enforcement with a board that included the former deputy director of the NSA, then took an unusual path into venture capital through running a startup for seven years, law school, big-firm M&A work, and corporate strategy at CBS. He anchors his investment approach in a philosophical framework about the breakdown of the traditional employer-worker social contract, focusing on the Future of Work theme by backing SaaS products that let solo professionals and small teams operate with the sophistication once reserved for large corporations, while frequently using Plato's Allegory of t