Early-Stage venture capital firm Wildcat Venture Partners has launched in Menlo Park, CA.
Led by founding partners Katherine Barr, Bill Ericson, Bruce Cleveland and Bryan Stolle, Wildcat Venture Partners invests in early-stage software companies targeting marketing technology, FinTech, digital health, EdTech, marketplaces, enterprise, consumer and the Internet of Things (IoT) sectors.
The firm aims to support companies by leveraging what it calls “The Traction Gap”, a framework that describes progressive stages of startup maturity, not tied to financing rounds, during the critical go-to-market phase of a company.
Wildcat defines the Traction Gap framework as spanning from a startup’s Initial Product Release (IPR) to Minimum Viable Traction (MVT), a point in a company’s maturity – whether it be a certain level of revenue growth, engagement, downloads, usage or the like – that demonstrates market validation and signals positive growth trajectory (more detail on the framework is available in a white paper titled, “The Traction Gap Framework“).
The firm plans to use the framework as a way to help entrepreneurs better position their companies developing core competencies in product, revenue, team and systems architectures. Consequently, Wildcat plans to roll out dedicated workshops and events for entrepreneurs to learn strategies and tactics to mitigate risk during the go-to-market phase.
According to firm’s web site, the team also includes:
– principals Elizabeth Burstein and Abhas Gupta,
– venture partner Geoffrey Moore,
– Chief Talent Officer Elizabeth Patterson,
– Chief Financial Officer & Operating Partner Brett Teele and
– Senior Advisor Bill Davidow.
FinSMEs
03/06/2016