OpenView’s Operational Forums

October 14, 2009

Openview Partners is an Expansion Stage Venture Capital Firm that focuses on providing expansion capital to software companies who already have a product/service, customers and revenues.

In our discussions with software companies raising venture capital that meet our investment criteria we spend most of our time talking with the founders about execution versus capital. Frankly it is not about the money. The companies we talk to can all get expansion capital.

What really matters is what you do with the capital. How efficiently you leverage the capital to stimulate your growth and maximize the market opportunity in front of you. At OpenView we often say we like to be the first institutional investor in a company and the last. While a software company may have raised some capital already from an Angel group or a Regional Venture Capital firm we are often the first Global Venture Capital firm that provides expansion capital. Because we also are very active as adviser’s (All the partners have heavy operational experience) and provide value added operational services through OpenView Labs we are often able to assist a company in scaling their business so efficiently that they never need to raise another round of capital. This is great for the founders since there is less dilution and good for OpenView because it is easier for us the achieve our investment return objectives for our LP’s if we have only invested 5mm versus 15mm when the company has a successful exit.

One of the examples of how we help is the quarterly forums we hold for our portfolio companies. They are structured around real operational subjects that every expansion stage software company faces on a day to day basis. The link below will take you to the list and agendas of each of the forums we have held since the firm was founded.

http://openviewpartners.com/events/index.html

So as you look for a venture capital partner to help you scale your software company in an effective, efficient meaningful manner check out their operational experience, their value added services and their track record of delivering value across all the operational areas of your business that you need to maximize your success.

All the best!

G

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.