Portfolio Companies
Maven Ventures is dedicated to helping talented entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Maven has particular expertise in Social Networking, Social Media, Consumer Internet, Engagement Marketing, and Web 2.0. Our primary role is helping the founders with Business & Product Strategy, Fundraising, Viral Marketing and Customer Acquisition, Business Development & Sales. We generally consult and take board seats in exchange for equity positions, and we sometimes make cash investments in the financing round. Maven gets involved in various stages in a company, from the inception to exit. As former entrepreneurs, we understand the challenges of launching a new enterprise, and have been through the highs and lows of the extreme failures, near misses, and gratefully, big successes.
Uri Raz,
CEO & Co-Founder of Tango & Eric Setton, CTO & Co-Founder of Tango
“From the start, Jim was instrumental in helping us focus our strategy on becoming the leading mobile video call platform. When we first met, we weren't sure what market we were going to attack and we were leaning towards international calling. But Jim convinced us that we had the ability to become the leader in the nascent video call market which he thought was going to be huge. He also pushed us to rebrand from Sgiggle to Tango, a much more consumer-friendly name. His insights and expertise in consumer UI, viral marketing, & the smartphone market are invaluable, as are his incredible senior level contacts in both the industry and the venture capital community. Jim's a critical part of our team and we rely on him for both high level strategy and product details. He's also great to work with--gets along with everyone and is always there to help with anything.”
Guy Goldstein
CEO & Founder of Pageonce
“It's truly been a pleasure working with Jim. He’s played an integral part in shaping Pageonce and helping us grow into the mobile personal finance market leader we are today. Jim brought consumer experience and insight to Pageonce, and helped us successfully raise a significant round of financing at a high valuation. Throughout his time at Pageonce, Jim has helped with business strategy, sales, marketing, product and PR. He has done a terrific job of recruiting and hiring top talent to the team, including his successor, our new COO, the former GM of Yahoo Finance! ”
Vikas Gupta
Co-founder/CEO, Jambool & SocialGold
“Probably the best decision we made in all of 2008 was to bring Jim on board as an adviser. He mentored us through the fund-raising process. He has always been an invaluable, highly dependable resource for us to build our company. Over the past year, Jim has reached out to his network and helped us with a jump start that as a young startup we could have only dreamed about.
Jamie Hall
Co-Founder and CTO of MocoSpace
"As a member of our board, Jim has been an invaluable resource in helping to drive user growth and engagement through his product insights and expertise with viral marketing techniques and their application to social media."
Lucinda Wirth
CEO, birthdayalarm
"Jim has been a true asset for birthdayalarm. He comes with a wealth of relevant knowledge and experience including online advertising, consumer internet and business development. Jim has helped in all aspects, from the revenue strategy to product decisions. He has also made introductions to key business partners and helped negotiate deals."
Adam Platti
former Senior Software Engineer Bebo.com
"Jim is the kind of business guy that engineers really enjoy working with. He's got tons of domain experience, great ideas, lots of enthusiasm, and he genuinely enjoys the challenge of making great products that can be built to scale for millions of users.”
Troy Young
Chief Marketing Officer, VideoEgg
“I interacted with Jim on many occasions while he was at Bebo. He is a sharp business lead with great instincts and a terrific understanding of how to position a start-up for success. Jim always challenged us and made VideoEgg a stronger organization in the process. In fact, he was the inspiration for our overlay video ad offering. Without Jim and our partnership with Bebo, I am not sure we would have progressed as quickly. I would work along side Jim in a heartbeat.”
Kent Lindstrom
Former CEO, Friendster
“Jim was a great Businesss Development and Corporate development leader at Friendster. He was aggressive and focused, and brought us great deals -- both for generating revenue and expanding the reach of our business.”
CEO & Co-Founder of Tango & Eric Setton, CTO & Co-Founder of Tango
“From the start, Jim was instrumental in helping us focus our strategy on becoming the leading mobile video call platform. When we first met, we weren't sure what market we were going to attack and we were leaning towards international calling. But Jim convinced us that we had the ability to become the leader in the nascent video call market which he thought was going to be huge. He also pushed us to rebrand from Sgiggle to Tango, a much more consumer-friendly name. His insights and expertise in consumer UI, viral marketing, & the smartphone market are invaluable, as are his incredible senior level contacts in both the industry and the venture capital community. Jim's a critical part of our team and we rely on him for both high level strategy and product details. He's also great to work with--gets along with everyone and is always there to help with anything.”
Guy Goldstein
CEO & Founder of Pageonce
“It's truly been a pleasure working with Jim. He’s played an integral part in shaping Pageonce and helping us grow into the mobile personal finance market leader we are today. Jim brought consumer experience and insight to Pageonce, and helped us successfully raise a significant round of financing at a high valuation. Throughout his time at Pageonce, Jim has helped with business strategy, sales, marketing, product and PR. He has done a terrific job of recruiting and hiring top talent to the team, including his successor, our new COO, the former GM of Yahoo Finance! ”
Vikas Gupta
Co-founder/CEO, Jambool & SocialGold
“Probably the best decision we made in all of 2008 was to bring Jim on board as an adviser. He mentored us through the fund-raising process. He has always been an invaluable, highly dependable resource for us to build our company. Over the past year, Jim has reached out to his network and helped us with a jump start that as a young startup we could have only dreamed about.
Jamie Hall
Co-Founder and CTO of MocoSpace
"As a member of our board, Jim has been an invaluable resource in helping to drive user growth and engagement through his product insights and expertise with viral marketing techniques and their application to social media."
Lucinda Wirth
CEO, birthdayalarm
"Jim has been a true asset for birthdayalarm. He comes with a wealth of relevant knowledge and experience including online advertising, consumer internet and business development. Jim has helped in all aspects, from the revenue strategy to product decisions. He has also made introductions to key business partners and helped negotiate deals."
Adam Platti
former Senior Software Engineer Bebo.com
"Jim is the kind of business guy that engineers really enjoy working with. He's got tons of domain experience, great ideas, lots of enthusiasm, and he genuinely enjoys the challenge of making great products that can be built to scale for millions of users.”
Troy Young
Chief Marketing Officer, VideoEgg
“I interacted with Jim on many occasions while he was at Bebo. He is a sharp business lead with great instincts and a terrific understanding of how to position a start-up for success. Jim always challenged us and made VideoEgg a stronger organization in the process. In fact, he was the inspiration for our overlay video ad offering. Without Jim and our partnership with Bebo, I am not sure we would have progressed as quickly. I would work along side Jim in a heartbeat.”
Kent Lindstrom
Former CEO, Friendster
“Jim was a great Businesss Development and Corporate development leader at Friendster. He was aggressive and focused, and brought us great deals -- both for generating revenue and expanding the reach of our business.”
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