Mitchell Kertzman, Managing Director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, discussed Venture Capital post COVID-19. Some highlights from Mitchell’s discussion and his bio are below.
The focus of this month’s CIO Forum was the Venture Capital (VC) environment and operations in an era of COVID and civil unrest. According to Mitchell, VC funds are still making deals. However, most of the deals at his fund, but not all, are with teams that were previously known to the fund. Operations and funding is continuing, albeit remotely. On a positive note, fund runners are spending more time with the individual companies, especially with coaching and moral support to CxO staffs that are stressed by what’s going on in the world. According to Mitchell, the response to the support has been so positive that at least for his fund that will probably continue even after travel restrictions are lifted.- In terms of PPP loans, his fund has made some adjustments to make sure that their portfolio companies are not negatively impacted by the rules that state that if an investment company has significant control over a portfolio company’s decisions that their employee counts need to be aggregated as a single entity. In this case they’ve given up some approval authorities in order to make sure their portfolio companies are compliant and eligible.
- Mitchell was asked about hot geographies to invest and raise in. Since his fund only invests in the US and Canada, his picks were The Bay Area and New York. Currently, Boston, Salt Lake City, Utah, are also strong in Tech companies, with NY also strong in consumer goods. Also notable was Austin.
- Mitchell also spoke about key skill sets for executives looking for new jobs. He stressed agility and resilience. He spoke of being ready to change course as required and being able to endure the pace of the change. According to Mitchell, companies are still looking for CFOs, market specialists, and engineering specialists. In regard to the specialists, their market and engineering skills should overlap with the hiring company’s target market – ie: healthcare or insurance.
Mitchell Kertzman’s Bio
Mitchell Kertzman is a Managing Director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He has over 30 years of experience as a CEO of public and private software companies. Most recently, Mitchell was Chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, a provider of platform software for the delivery of digital services by cable television companies. Before joining Liberate, he was chairman of the board and CEO of Sybase, Inc. Mitchell was founder and CEO of Power soft, which merged with Sybase in February 1995. A former programmer, Mitchell founded Power soft in 1974 as Computer Solutions. He renamed the company and became a member of the Hummer Winblad family in 1991 when Hummer Winblad invested in the company, which became the leading provider of client-server development tools with its flagship product, PowerBuilder. The merger with Sybase in 1995 was, at the time, the most valuable in the history of the software industry. Mitchell served as President of the Massachusetts Software Council from 1994 to 1996 and was 1990 chairman of the American Electronics Association. He is founder and former chairman of the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), a think tank focused on issues related to the standard of living and quality of life of America’s middle class. He served on the New York State Commission on Industrial Competitiveness and chaired its task force on industrial policy. Mitchell was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He currently sits on the Boards of Aspirin, Nod, Blissfully, 6connect and Symbian.
