As a student at Burroughs, he enjoyed a generalist path, including a passion for science courses, time with friends on the football and baseball teams, and participation in clubs such as Science Olympiad and student government. He continued this generalist path after graduating from Burroughs, studying ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University while holding roles in various clubs, including the university’s rugby team and college ministry. His career has focused on the intersection of health and finance with roles in consulting and investing. 

In his current role, he is a venture capital investor at Seae Ventures, where he backs founders advancing health outcomes and health equity in the U.S. The firm engages with a wide variety of healthcare companies ranging from mental health providers to maternal health solutions. He has fond memories of his time at Burroughs and the unique environment that pushed for excellence while providing the support to try new things. Outside of work, Karlos is an avid birder, cyclist, and tennis player, and he enjoys sharing these passions with local organizations in Chicago. Karlos lives in Chicago with his wife and their retired greyhound, Lea. 

Karlos began his undergraduate studies as a pre-med biology student. After an internship analyzing colorectal cancer screening effectiveness for a large health system, he started down a path working at the intersection of business and healthcare. After undergrad, Karlos began his career in Boston with Trinity, a consulting firm advising clients developing biopharmaceutical products. He quickly focused on rare conditions and areas of high unmet medical need. This work was deeply rewarding, particularly the opportunities to interact with patients and caregivers who directly benefited from biopharmaceutical innovations. As Karlos looked to build closer and longer-term relationships with these companies, he began a shift from consulting to investing. 

During this shift to investing, he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s joint JD/MBA program. As a graduate student, he worked with early-stage investors and grew to like the intersection of early firm building and investing. Karlos took the advice of a mentor who said that if you are interested in early-stage firms, it is good to talk to fund of fund investors who know what it takes to start a new firm, but also know what it takes to build an enduring investment business. Upon finishing graduate school, Karlos joined the investment team for Princeton University’s Endowment (“Princo,” the Princeton University Investment Company). This team managed and invested the university’s endowment through a diversified fund of fund strategy across asset classes and geographies. It was an exciting time to cover developments like SPACs, crypto, and AI, but also a chance to interface with longstanding investment managers with track records spanning the better part of a century. Karlos ultimately wanted to continue this investment work in a healthcare-specific context. To this end, he joined his current firm, Seae Ventures, to focus his investing exclusively on U.S. healthcare startups. 

At Seae, Karlos is part of a small investment team backing founders who are advancing health outcomes and health equity in the U.S. The team has roots at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and they bring these health insurance relationships to bear as they help CEOs scale their healthcare businesses. Karlos works closely with the firm’s portfolio of companies and holds board roles with MD Ally (a telehealth platform providing alternative emergency care for 911 calls), Cayaba Care (doula-centric maternity care), and Health in Her HUE (a platform providing health information and curated community for Black and Brown women). 

At Burroughs, Karlos deeply appreciated the school’s environment that pushed for excellence while encouraging students to try new things. He enjoyed the challenging and sometimes stress-inducing times in Eric Hanson’s (Mathematics) pre-calc class, the relentless summer training sessions with football coaches Mark Nicholas and David Hill, the cathartic hours throwing tea bowls with Andrew Denney (Fine Arts), and many more experiences. To Karlos, Burroughs was a masterclass in embracing challenges while always holding onto a growth mindset.