General Catalyst

General Catalyst Partners is one of the new generation of large venture capital firms in Boston. General Catalyst has a very active early stage investment practice. They’ve seeded and helped start many companies. It fits with the firm’s DNA–the partners are former CEOs. One of the founding partners, David Orfao, was my CEO at Allaire. GC has backed many of my friends’ startups: Backupify, Brightcove, FitNow, Hubspot, Maven, ScanScout, Visible Measures and Yottaa to name a few.

I am not an Entrepreneur-in-Residence who’s trying to start a new company.

My role comes as a result of a partnership discussion between GC and FastIgnite. We were looking for ways to help startups get more help during their formative stages. General Catalyst and I carefully structured the relationship for maximum benefit for entrepreneurs without side effects such as negative signaling. GC’s network and capital are a boost to the work I do through FastIgnite. I can help entrepreneurs get funded by GC but I operate independently from the firm. This allows me to focus on the specific needs of the companies I’m helping, whether this involves GC or not. It also allows me to work with companies who already have relationships with other investors.