Mel Strong is a co-founder and partner at Next Ventures. She previously spent 17 years at Nike leading various business units.
What Mel can write
NEXT VENTŪRES writes $500K to $10M checks, larger than 71% of firms in the atlas.
Bars: how many firms report each check band. Highlighted: NEXT VENTŪRES.Career
- Nike
- Next Ventures · General Partner2019-null
- Oura Ring · Interim Chief Marketing Officer
- NEXT VENTŪRES · General PartnerNow
Companies founded
Investments named in public bios
Focus
Education
Also at NEXT VENTŪRES
Partners like Mel
At firms with a similar stage, sector and check size.
Alert me when NEXT VENTŪRES is active
One email when Mel's firm raises a fund, adds a partner or shows new activity.
Send Mode VC your deck
Raising a pre-seed or seed round? We write $1M to $5M first checks and help founders with distribution. A partner reads every deck.
Send your deckQuestions
Who is Mel Strong?
Mel Strong is a co-founder and partner at Next Ventures. She previously spent 17 years at Nike leading various business units.
How much does Mel Strong invest?
Mel Strong invests through NEXT VENTŪRES, which writes checks of $500K to $10M at seed, series a.
How do I pitch Mel Strong?
A warm intro from a founder NEXT VENTŪRES backed works best. A short LinkedIn note with one line on traction is the next best route.
What did Mel Strong do before NEXT VENTŪRES?
Nike; General Partner at Next Ventures; Interim Chief Marketing Officer at Oura Ring.
Last updated 2026-10-15. Is this you? Ask for a correction.