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David Cowan, founder of Pale Blue Dot Films, creates stories that emotionally impact audiences, compelling them to reflect on their assumptions and change how they view the world. Through his films and other work, David aspires to promote a healthy secular society.
He is taking the industry by storm as the producer of the highly acclaimed feature documentary "Afghan Dreamers." The film recently premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh and received the award for Best Human Rights Film. At the film's USA debut at Woodstock Film Festival, "Afghan Dreamers" was awarded Honorable Mention for Best Documentary. The film is also set to show at the Woodstock Film Festival, GlobeDocs Film Festival and Heartland International Film Festival.
"Afghan Dreamers" is the true story of an all-female robotics team who became national heroes as they represented Afghanistan in global competitions. Defying religious prohibitions against girls' education, the girls were ultimately forced to flee the Taliban. Working with US Special Forces and the Pale Blue Dot Film team, David organized and chartered flights to evacuate the girls, their families, and hundreds of other imperiled Afghans during the 2021 Taliban takeover. To help resettle the displaced families, David partnered with the Secular Rescue team at Center For Inquiry to create AfghanRescueFund.org
David executive produced another documentary, "The Blech Effect," which focused on former "King of Biotech" investor David Blech and his struggles with bipolar disorder. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime and iTunes.
Prior, David executive produced two mockumentary webisode series entitled "Bubble Proof" and "The Bubble Report" that poke fun at Silicon Valley culture. David also co-wrote and co-starred in these series, which can be viewed at Bubbleproof.tv.
By day, David is a leading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley focused on "deep tech" startups. He's been listed 14 times on the Midas List by Forbes, which annually publishes the top 100 venture capitalists, and is in the Midas Hall of Fame. He is a managing partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the country. David led early venture rounds in LinkedIn, Twitch, Lifelock, Rocket Lab, Rigetti Computing, Zapier, Claroty, and dozens of other startups that went public. David also co-founded VeriSign and two other cybersecurity companies.
David's background in entertainment includes 12 years as a performing lead of the men's a capella group Voices in Harmony. In 2016 David wrote and directed a musical in San Jose entitled "Lies in the Attic." David also performed cameo roles in the films "Femto Management" and "CI."
David pays it forward through scientific philanthropy. He serves on the boards of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Center for Inquiry, which promotes science and secular values.
He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science as well as his MBA from Harvard University. David is an avid tennis player and enjoys spending time with his three children at his Northern California home. He is also a dad to his two rescue cats, Zuko and Vincent Tolstoy.
