Jamie Marshall

Her profile on Food On Demand states that she grew up in Rhode IslandRhode IslandRhode Island (officially the State of Rhode Island) is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Ocean; its capital and largest city is Providence. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,097,379.Open the full entry; The Brown Daily Herald writes that she grew up in Providence.⁠[1][2]

She recalls that she had always phoned her food orders in ahead and that waiting in line made no sense to her: “I had grown up calling in every order,” and “Waiting in line didn’t make sense for me. I used every order-ahead platform and thought this was the future.” She has also said that she had always been a huge fan of ordering ahead and saving time and knew she was interested in entrepreneurship: “Startups have always been on my mind.”⁠[3][4]

Her founder profile at Y Combinator lists Moses Brown School, Yale University and the London School of Economics and Political ScienceLondon School of Economics and Political ScienceThe London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist social science university in central London, founded in 1895 by members of the Fabian Society. It is known for research in economics, politics and social policy, and its alumni and staff include many Nobel laureates and national leaders.Open the full entry under “Alumnus of,” without degrees or years; the same page lists CoachUp as a previous employer, without a role or dates.⁠[5]

She studied at Yale University, where Yale Alumni Magazine lists her in the Class of 2019 (’19). She says she was a neuroscience major on the pre-med track and took one or two computer science classes; TechCrunchTechCrunchTechCrunch is an American technology news outlet founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington and Keith Teare and headquartered in San Francisco; it mainly covers technology companies, startups, and venture capital, and hosts events such as TechCrunch Disrupt. Its ownership passed successively through AOL, Verizon, and Yahoo, and in 2025 Regent announced its acquisition.Open the full entry and The Brown Daily Herald both describe her as a neuroscience student, and her Food On Demand profile states that she studied pre-med and neuroscience at Yale.⁠[6][4][3][2][1]

She recalls that while doing research at Yale over the summer she saw a flyer reading “Get discounts with your friends at my favorite smoothie place”; finding out that another Yale student was behind it, she sent Kevin Tan a Facebook message offering to help in any way. The two met at Book Trader Cafe at Yale, hit it off and brainstormed many ideas. Her Food On Demand profile states that during her sophomore year at Yale she and her co-founder Kevin Tan teamed up to build Snackpass.⁠[4][1]

Accounts of the founding date differ. Kevin Tan says in the Dorm Room Fund interview that he started Snackpass in his last couple of months at Yale, right before finals, that the product was first called Happy Hour and was a website where students could get discounts by logging in with a yale.edu email, and that it launched in the fall of 2016 with some of Snackpass’s core components. The Brown Daily Herald writes that Snackpass was launched in spring 2017 by her, Kevin Tan of Yale and Jonathan Cameron of Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversityOhio State University (officially The Ohio State University) is a university in Columbus, Ohio, United States, established by the state legislature in 1870.Open the full entry, and that the idea was Kevin Tan’s and he codes the back end; Yale Alumni Magazine writes that the app launched in June (2017). TechCrunch writes that Jonathan Cameron, a serial entrepreneur who had built his own order-ahead app called Happy Hour, rounded out the founding team. Y Combinator’s company page and Restaurant Business both give 2017 as the founding year, and Restaurant Business states that the company was founded by her and Kevin Tan and launched first on the campus of Yale University.⁠[4][2][6][3][7][8]

Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry’s later investment note states that the founders built Snackpass in their dorm rooms, that it rolled out in 2017, and that it grew from its home market at Yale University. General CatalystGeneral CatalystGeneral Catalyst (GC) is an investment firm founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Francisco, United States, created by Joel Cutler, David Fialkow and Bill Fitzgerald, that backs companies from the seed stage through growth.Open the full entry writes that it met Kevin Tan and her in 2017, when they launched Snackpass at Yale as undergraduates, and made its initial investment in the pre-seed round through its Rough Draft Ventures program. Contrary Research’s report states that as demand at Yale grew, Kevin Tan, she and Jonathan Cameron personally helped restaurants wash blenders and hand out orders.⁠[9][10][11]

Kevin Tan recalls that their first application to Dorm Room Fund was rejected and a second one six months later was accepted, and that apart from a tiny loan from his brother, Snackpass’s first investment came from Dorm Room Fund. She says the team saved the Dorm Room Fund money and used it to launch Snackpass at Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by Rhode Island's colonial legislature in 1764, it is known for its undergraduate Open Curriculum, which has no common required core. Christina H. Paxson, president since July 2012, announced on August 3, 2026, that the 2026–27 academic year would be her last in office. As of October 1, 2026, the search for Brown's 20th president remained underway.Open the full entry, its second campus.⁠[4]

An article of October 17, 2017 by Yale’s Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking (Tsai CITY) describes Snackpass as founded by two Yale College students, Kevin Tan and her, and states that more than 4,000 of Yale’s 5,453 undergraduates were using the app, that 50 New Haven restaurants had joined, that it had 6,000 users in all and more than $100,000 in sales a month, and that the team had hired 12 interns and had 60 ambassadors, was piloting at Dartmouth and planned to expand to Providence. The two founders were taking part in Tsai CITY’s Accelerator program; Tsai CITY’s project page lists Snackpass as an Accelerator team of the 2017–2018 academic year, with her, Kevin Tan and Jonathan Cameron as its members.⁠[12][13]

Yale Alumni Magazine’s January/February 2018 issue states that by early December Snackpass had more than 7,000 users, that an Android version was about to launch (it had been available only on iPhones), and that users could order from more than 60 New Haven restaurants, pay in the app and skip the line; Kevin Tan and she said an order was coming through every two minutes. The article states that she, Kevin Tan and co-founder Jonathan Cameron were running the business from campus with a pack of interns and a few dozen student “ambassadors,” and that businesses paid Snackpass a monthly subscription fee and a commission on sales.⁠[6]

She said the feedback from restaurants had been good and that the app was more effective than a lot of more expensive marketing techniques: “Students like bringing business to mom-and-pops,” she said. “And the businesses can experiment with deep discounts on slow days.” The article states that Snackpass was then expanding to Brown University and next to Boston.⁠[6]

She recalls that she ended up leaving around the fall of her junior year to build Snackpass: “Classes definitely took a backseat.” The team, she says, treated restaurants as its office: “We like to say that the restaurant is our office.” Kevin Tan would code at different restaurants while she ran operations from the next table over. In the same interview Kevin Tan says it would be cool to say he had dropped out and become a Thiel Fellow like her, but that he finished school and so was ineligible for the Thiel FellowshipThiel FellowshipThe Thiel Fellowship is a two-year grant program started by investor Peter Thiel and run by the Thiel Foundation that funds young people who skip or stop out of college to build new things instead. The program has been criticized by figures in education for encouraging young people to leave college.Open the full entry.⁠[4]

Y Combinator’s company page lists Snackpass in its Winter 2018 batch, and her founder profile is marked “W18.” Tsai CITY’s Miller Prize page lists Snackpass as the 2018 recipient; the prize, part of Startup Yale, a collaboration of several Yale entities, awards $25,000 to a student-led venture working on innovative technology or tech-enabled solutions. Her Food On Demand profile also states that she received the Startup Yale Miller Prize.⁠[7][5][14][1]

The Brown Daily Herald writes that Snackpass arrived in Providence on January 24 to help people order food from Thayer Street restaurants, among them East Side Pockets, Vivi Bubble Tea and Pokeworks (the article’s web address is dated February 2018). It describes her as one of Snackpass’s founders and a Yale student; she said the company chose Brown University because “it’s a great place, [has] a very walkable campus and is a similar size to Yale.” She said Snackpass saves users time by letting them order ahead and skip lines and saves them money through student discounts, and that after ordering, users receive a “bonus stamp” they can send to a friend.⁠[2]

She said Snackpass is a pickup app, not a delivery app, which sets it apart, and explained that while delivery companies such as UberEats can take up to 30% commission on each transaction, Snackpass’s is so small by comparison that “it’s a welcome commission.” Kevin Tan said at the time that Snackpass had made over 600,000 sales in less than a year, that 80% of Yale undergraduates were active users, and that it had about 800 users in Providence from Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College and local high schools. The article states that the app was launched with little to no external funding and marketed through flyers and conversations; she and Kevin Tan named Boston as the next market, with the long-term goal of reaching “the whole world.”⁠[2]

On July 10, 2019, the Thiel Foundation named the 22 members of the 2019 class of Thiel Fellows; she is item 10 on the list, with Providence, Rhode Island / Berkeley, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry given as her location, Snackpass as her project and “Consumer, Software” as its category, described as follows: “Snackpass is an app that lets college students order takeout, earn rewards, and share discounts with friends.” The announcement states that during the two-year program fellows receive $100,000 and mentorship from the Thiel Foundation’s network of technology founders, investors and scientists. The Thiel Fellowship’s website states that the program was founded by Peter ThielPeter ThielPeter Thiel is an American entrepreneur and investor, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, and the first outside investor in Facebook. He is a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund and founded the Thiel Fellowship, which funds young people to leave college and build new things; his public skepticism of higher education, his support for Trump in 2016, and his funding of litigation against Gawker Media have drawn controversy.Open the full entry in 2011.⁠[15][15][16]

TechCrunch’s December 2019 article calls her a “Thiel Fellow”; Y Combinator’s company page and her founder profile also carry the label “Thiel Fellow,” and Fast Casual’s July 2020 article also calls her a Thiel Fellow; her Food On Demand profile describes her as one of 20 participants in the Thiel Fellowship.⁠[3][7][5][17][1]

A Tsai CITY article of December 4, 2019 states that ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry’s 2020 “30 Under 30” list includes founding members of the team behind Snackpass, described as a 2017 Tsai CITY Accelerator team and the winner of the 2018 Miller Prize. Her Food On Demand profile states that she was selected and featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and Y Combinator’s pages carry the label “Forbes 30u30.”⁠[18][1][5]

On December 19, 2019, TechCrunch published an article on Snackpass’s $21 million Series A, led by Andreessen Horowitz partner Andrew ChenAndrew ChenAndrew Chen is a venture capitalist and writer who has been a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz since 2018 and leads a16z speedrun, its program for very early startups; he previously led rider growth at Uber, has long written about startups and growth, and is the author of The Cold Start Problem.Open the full entry and joined by Y Combinator, General Catalyst, Inspired Capital and First Round CapitalFirst Round CapitalVenture capital firm.Open the full entry, along with angels including the musician Nas, the NFLNFLThe NFL (National Football League) is a U.S. professional American football league of 32 clubs. Founded in 1920 as the APFA and renamed in 1922, it is organized into the AFC and NFC, with the season culminating in the Super Bowl.Open the full entry star Larry Fitzgerald and the talent agent Michael OvitzMichael OvitzMichael Ovitz is an American Hollywood agent and businessman, a co-founder of the talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which he chaired from 1975 to 1995, and was once regarded as one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood. He briefly served as President of The Walt Disney Company from 1995 to 1996, and his severance gave rise to shareholder litigation lasting nearly a decade; he later headed Artists Management Group and turned to technology investing and advisory work.Open the full entry; the round built on a $2.7 million seed, and the money was to go toward hiring, with the aim of reaching 100 campuses in two years. The article states that she became Snackpass’s chief operating officer (COO) and states that two years after launch Snackpass was on 11 college campuses across the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry, often reaching 75% of a school’s students within six months. A photo caption lists the founders, from left, as Jamie Marshall, Kevin Tan and Jonathan Cameron.⁠[3]

The same day Andrew Chen published an investment note on the Andreessen Horowitz website announcing its participation in Snackpass’s Series A and naming the co-founders Kevin Tan, Jamie Marshall and Jonathan Cameron; it states that Snackpass had grown from Yale to dozens of campuses nationwide, often reaching 75% adoption in a student body within a few months, and calls the founders, who started the company in college, “the authentic voices of the customer.”⁠[9]

On January 23, 2020, The Dartmouth published an article on Snackpass’s marketing on campus (the article says it was introduced at Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private institution of higher education in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded by Eleazar Wheelock, it received a royal charter on December 13, 1769. The 1819 Supreme Court ruling in Dartmouth College v. Woodward preserved its private status. Alongside undergraduate liberal arts education, Dartmouth includes the Geisel, Thayer, Tuck and Guarini schools. It enrolled 7,273 students in fall 2025 and held a $9 billion endowment at June 30, 2025. Sian Leah Beilock, in office since June 2023, remained president as of October 2026.Open the full entry in April) and noted that its privacy policy said it might collect browsing information and share personal information with third parties with users’ consent. She, as co-founder, replied: “Just to be clear, we’re not sharing any customer data with anyone,” and “We take customer data very seriously and are not sharing that with anyone.” She said its promotions, such as free food for referring friends and a point toward a free meal with each purchase, give students significant discounts and help restaurants during slow hours, and that she expected them to continue: “At our other campuses where we’ve been around a lot longer, we pretty much have some deals going on every week.”⁠[19]

On July 24, 2020, Fast Casual published an article on Snackpass’s launch of Digital Menus, which let customers view menus and order without downloading an app by scanning QR codes placed outside restaurants and at tables inside, aimed at restaurants reopening after closures due to COVID-19. The article identifies her as Snackpass’s co-founder and COO and quotes her statement in the release: “What we’ve seen is that restaurants who are able to adapt quickly are able to survive in the long run,” and “Future generations are going to wonder why we ever waited in line for our food”. It states that since launching in late spring, Snackpass had signed up hundreds of restaurants to Digital Menus, mainly in college markets and in many new cities around the country; that Snackpass was expanding beyond college towns, with a restaurant and consumer base in Los Angeles and Philadelphia; and that it was focusing on increasing its presence in college towns, with a goal of reaching 100 college campuses.⁠[17]

In June 2021 Snackpass raised a $70 million Series B led by Craft Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz participating again, along with the Jonas Brothers, Golden State WarriorsGolden State WarriorsThe Golden State Warriors are an NBA basketball team based in San Francisco, playing at Chase Center. The franchise began as the Philadelphia Warriors in 1946.Open the full entry player Draymond Green and Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann. Restaurant Business writes that the company, founded by her and Kevin Tan in 2017, had expanded to more than a dozen schools with more than 500,000 users, charged restaurants a per-order fee as low as 7%, and planned to enter cities where many new graduates settle, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin, TexasTexasTexas is a U.S. state in the south-central United States, with its capital at Austin and its largest city Houston. It was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 29,145,505 residents.Open the full entry. General Catalyst announced its participation in the round on June 23, 2021, closing its note with thanks to Kevin, Jamie and the Snackpass team. Dorm Room Fund writes that Snackpass took in $70 million at a $400 million valuation; Contrary Research gives the valuation of the round as over $400 million.⁠[8][10][4][11]

An interview published by Dorm Room Fund on September 30, 2021 identifies her as Snackpass’s COO and states that Snackpass had more than 500,000 users and had raised $92 million. In it she says that many people at the time thought Snackpass was “a Yale thing” with a home-turf advantage, and that its success at Brown University, its second campus, proved them wrong; the team used the product every day and built it for themselves and their friends: “We were constantly in user interviews by default.” She added that the team would be visiting the different hubs and was getting ready to launch in New York.⁠[4]

Her profile on Food On Demand describes her as Snackpass’s co-founder and COO, overseeing all of its business functions, including operations, strategy, go-to-market and growth, and states that Snackpass had expanded from Yale to college campuses and cities across the country.⁠[1]

As of November 2026, Y Combinator’s founder profile lists her as “Founder at Snackpass,” and its company page lists her as “Cofounder/COO” and gives Snackpass’s founding year as 2017, a team size of 38, San Francisco as its location and its status as “Active.” Snackpass’s website now describes the company as a creator marketing platform for local brands and also has a section for ordering and point-of-sale services.⁠[5][7][20]

Her Food On Demand profile states that in her spare time she is an angel investor who supports other founders and operators, and that she enjoys surfing, playing tennis, golf and the violin.⁠[1]

Snackpass: Official website: https://www.snackpass.co/ (opens in a new window).⁠[20]

Thiel Fellowship: Official website: https://thielfellowship.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-marshall-b291a2120/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]