After Blockbuster Year, Thrive’s Kushner Says He Still Has ‘a Lot to Prove’

Thrive Capital, once a scrappy young fund, has evolved into a formidable competitor to established venture capital firms, thanks to lucrative stakes in Instagram, Stripe and Slack. Yet the New York firm founded by Joshua Kushner 12 years ago still carries remnants of its newcomer status.

That may explain why Thrive’s band of 30-somethings decided to bring in a new partner with decades of experience with entrepreneurs: Nitin Nohria, the 59-year-old former dean of the Harvard Business School. He is providing “strategic direction” to the VC firm under the new title of executive chairman and will lead deals and mentor Thrive’s investors, the firm said Friday.

“We will always feel like we have a lot to prove,” Kushner said in a rare interview with Nohria.