Meet the Team
Watertower Ventures was founded by native Angelinos who are passionate about the city, the creative community and the entrepreneurial DNA that defines Los Angeles.
Sam Englebardt
VENTURE ADVISOR
Sam Englebardt is a media and technology investor and content producer who has created, acquired and/or financed a broad range of traditional and digital businesses and dozens of films and television shows over the past decade.
An active early-stage investor, Englebardt conceived of and implemented the venture capital investment strategy for Demarest Films and Lambert Media Group, managed over 30+ venture investments, with a focus on digital and emerging media. Englebardt was an early investor in Eyefluence, a leading eye-tracking technology company (recently sold to Google) and he remains an active advisor (and was formerly Interim COO and CSO) to The Void, a VR company that combines proprietary hardware with its leading software development team to create untethered and fully immersive out of home virtual experiences. He speaks frequently at conferences and on panels addressing the intersection of media and technology.
Englebardt is also a partner and managing director at Lambert Media Group (LMG), where he’s been responsible for developing new investment opportunities and overseeing a portfolio of investments that includes Rave Motion Pictures (recently sold to Cinemark), Gold Class Cinemas (sold to iPic Theaters), Concord Music Group (sold to Wood Creek Capital), Village Roadshow Pictures and Demarest Films.
Prior to his career in media and technology, Englebardt worked for some of the world’s largest law firms and was a Vice President at Alliance Bernstein, a global asset management company with over $750 Billion under management. A licensed attorney in California, he earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and studied philosophy, political science and economics at Oxford University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, from which he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Englebardt contributes to a number of non-profit, non-governmental organizations and is an active member of the Advisory Council of the International Crisis Group.