LiveOak Ventures has always treated talent like oxygen, not ornamentation, a mindset shaped by years operating inside the startup ecosystem rather than around it. Founded in Austin, Texas in January 2012 by Krishna Srinivasan and Venu Shamapant, the firm built its reputation by staying close to the work and closer to the people doing it. Early stage investing, Texas focused, enterprise heavy, and allergic to noise, LiveOak has spent more than a decade proving that durable companies are grown patiently and staffed deliberately.
This week the firm turned that philosophy outward with a portfolio wide hiring signal that feels less like a job post and more like a systems check. LiveOak Ventures published an open call directing engineers, operators, and builders to its centralized job board, where more than 299 active roles now sit across 40 plus portfolio companies. The listings span Austin, remote United States, San Francisco, New York, and international markets including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and India. The board updates daily, which tells you this is not theoretical growth. This is payroll about to happen.
There is wordplay baked into the name for a reason. Oaks grow slow, but they grow deep. With approximately $500 million under management, 83 lifetime investments, and more than 60 active companies, LiveOak has quietly become one of the most concentrated talent engines inside the Texas startup ecosystem. Public wins like DISCO on the NYSE and exits like data.world’s acquisition by ServiceNow anchor the story, but the real signal is underneath. Teams expanding. Managers hiring. Engineers moving from idea to infrastructure.
Krishna Srinivasan, Co Founder and Founding Partner, has said repeatedly that talent is the constraint that matters. Venu Shamapant built his career on operational empathy. Creighton Hicks, Partner, came in from Silicon Valley with a product and security spine that shows up in the kinds of roles being posted. Staff engineers. Principal engineers. Builders trusted with leverage. When a venture firm invests in hiring infrastructure, it is telling founders and candidates the same thing. You are not alone in this.
The initiative also reframes how venture support actually works within the startup ecosystem. Instead of each company shouting into the void, LiveOak aggregates momentum. One board. One doorway. Hundreds of chances to land inside companies that are funded, focused, and actively scaling. It is less spray and pray, more signal amplification.
