Podcast

1131: The Former Founder of Two Startups Turned Investor

Costanoa Ventures back tenacious and thoughtful founders. The company has helped hundreds of startups go to market, achieve product-market-fit, and become successful. They focus on early-stage companies because it’s where they have the most impact. They invest mostly in SaaS infrastructure and marketplaces because we believe they change how business gets done.

The firm’s investments include companies such as Alation, Demandbase, Directly, Kenna Security, Return Path, Roadster, and Quizlet. Mark Selcow is a partner at the early-stage investor in enterprise software and invests in companies like LivelyHSA, Quizlet and Skedulo.

Prior to joining Costanoa, Mark was a serial entrepreneur and operator, who led organizations in the enterprise software and consumer Internet sectors. He co-founded and served as President of two companies– Merced Systems and BabyCenter. BabyCenter was sold to Johnson and Johnson in 2001 and Merced Systems was sold to NICE Systems in 2012.

As a former founder of two startups and now investor, I invited him onto the podcast to learn how raising VC money previously as a founder has impacted his investment style and process and why he invests in enterprise technology versus consumer.

We also discuss the interesting industries and trends he’s tracking today and explore areas where technology is helping workers become better and more adaptive performers. We also talk about how and why technology is reinventing the financial and insurance markets.

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