# Russ Pillar

> Russ Pillar is a seed investor backing eSports and Internet. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Nov 2019
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russpillar

Russ Pillar is a seed investor focused on eSports and Internet. Russ is an Operating Partner at Raine. He spent the last two decades reinventing a host of well-known consumer brands, enabling them to leverage digital media to connect in more and deeper ways with consumers. Russ recently led the purchase and turn-around of the Los Angeles Marathon where, under his stewardship, the race enjoyed record-settinglevels of runner registration and sponsor support. Previously, Russ served both as Viacom and CBS's chief digital media strategy, development, and execution executive, as President of the Viacom Digital Media Group and President and Chief Executive Officer of the CBS Internet Group. Prior to CBS, he ran a $350 million (revenue) portfolio of Virgin-branded businesses as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Richard Branson's Virgin Entertainment Group. He also led the leveraged buyout, turn-around, and initial public offering of pioneer online service provider Prodigy Internet as well as the turn-around of Precision Systems, a Paul Allen/Wired World company.A Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Russ currently serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit organizations Running USA (the running industry's flagship national organization) and Heal the Bay (the noted Southern California-based national environmental organization).Russ graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude from Brown University, where he played on the school's championship rugby team, coached the Brown women's rugby team, and was a National Finalist in the Rhodes Scholarship Competition.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Russ Pillar: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/russ-pillar?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| eSports | 1 | 100% |
| Internet | 1 | 100% |
| Online Games | 1 | 100% |
| Digital Media | 1 | 100% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ProGuides | ProGuides was founded with one mission: to help gamers take their play to a new level. Members access premium courses and on demand game coaching. ProGuides makes it possible for anyone to learn from and play with the best. ProGuides currently has 60+ courses (1000+ lessons) featuring 20+ of the best eSports pros from Fortnite, League of Legends,Hearthstone, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Magic the Gathering: Arena, and Overwatch. | $5.5M | Seed | Nov 12, 2019 | https://www.proguides.com/ |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Amplify.LA](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/amplify-la) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [GFR Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gfr-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [M13](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/m13) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Peak State Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/peak-state-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Quest Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/quest-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Russ Pillar invest in?

Russ Pillar invests primarily in eSports, Internet and Online Games startups, most often at Seed stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Russ Pillar?

Public channels for Russ Pillar include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did Russ Pillar last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Russ Pillar closed in Nov 2019. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co