We are practitioners in our investments, manifesting a boots-on-the-ground, Man-in-the-Arena mentality — we get in the weeds, water, dirt, and snow with our Founders to ensure radical ideas evolve into scalable realities.
Meet the team fighting in the trenches with you.
Michael B. Schwab, founder and managing director of Big Sky Partners, is an active investment professional with more than two decades of hands-on experience in the venture capital space. He’s mentored and invested in early-stage companies through every stage of growth and technology/product development. Since founding Big Sky in 1999, Michael has remained disciplined in his investment approach — embracing radical ideas and funding people (not just the businesses they create).
More recently, as founder and managing director of Big Sky Wave Developments, Michael has partnered with Meriwether Companies to develop Coral Mountain, a next-generation sports and wellness community. Located in Coachella Valley, California, Coral Mountain will feature a Kelly Slater Co. Wave Basin, lodging, a private residential community, and adventure sports and wellness amenities.
Michael also supports Travis Rice and has a stake in the Natural Selection Tour, a new backcountry snowboarding league that features the planet's most challenging naturally enhanced terrain. Natural Selection will soon expand into other sports, redefining action sports as we know them today.
Michael currently serves as a partner at Emergent Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on opportunistic real estate investing in growth markets, as well as a venture partner with Greenhouse Capital Partners, a health and sustainability-focused seed-stage venture fund. Additionally, Michael sits on the board of directors at TAE Technologies.
Brian Spitz focuses on media and web3 investments for Big Sky, leveraging a unique blend of experience as a business operator and digital creative. Brian launched his career as a writer and DGA director in Los Angeles, working on scripted projects with Fox, Disney, Comedy Central, and Sony. His documentary films have premiered at SXSW, won Streamy Awards, and have been purchased by Verizon/Complex, Netflix, and Showtime.
In 2017, after working with top YouTube influencers at Studio71, Brian co-founded a social storytelling technology platform, allowing writers and video creators to publish content, build communities, and monetize their work. The iOS, Android, and web platforms touched millions of users, while the in-app currency generated over 130M transactions before the company’s eventual acquisition in 2021.
Brian is an Advisor at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, a non-profit organization in Menlo Park, California.