Steve Brown Email & Phone Number

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Portola Valley Partners (PVP) is a firm that builds and grows startup companies, hands-on, in partnership with coachable founders delivering stronger, faster growth and higher value exits. PVP and company founders build growth through our unique investment-centered processes tailored to companies’ specific needs, as founders evolve through their growth continuum, moving into Seed and through Series A Stages. We deliver Equity and Non-Dilutive Capital Investment, Sales Growth (GTM), Product Refinement, Human Resource Direction, Infrastructure Construction and Merger & Acquisition execution supporting our companies into and through Exit. Based in the Silicon Valley, our rock star team has decades of operating and investment history a network of Limited Partners (LPs) including Angels, Family Offices, Lenders and other Venture Firms (GPs) and opportunities to support and invest in our companies. With Portola Valley Partners support, no matter the unique prescription, our portfolio companies can reduce risk while obtaining stronger, faster growth and higher value exits.

Mountain View, Ca, Us

1Flourish Capital comprises a team of servant leaders with extensive entrepreneurial, business management, and investment experience. They believe that long-term business success is more likely when company cultures exhibit enduring values like teamwork, service, transparency, integrity, and humility.They seek, invest in, and support entrepreneurs who recognize the importance of principled leadership and culture as integral to the development of high performance companies.As investors, they provide support and guidance to our portfolio companies. If needed, they can be available to play more active roles. Their support efforts include fundraising, financial management, marketing and sales, business development, and corporate culture development. They offer training, support, and mentoring aimed at helping companies build high-performance cultures that promote teamwork and human flourishing. They’ve seen that companies that develop a principled culture from the genesis of the business through its various stages of growth increases the potential for extraordinary financial performance.

Seattle, Washington, Us

Morrisville, Nc, Us

Our team was a startup and carve-out in the Data Center Group, with a mission to incorporate software with hardware, from basic attach to advanced, engineering solutions that included consultative professional services. Integrated my DevOps Solutions Practice and sales team into the Software BU. In the first two years, we generated a significant contribution to the company's top and bottom-line revenue (software margin boost).I led and managed the consultation, design and sales drive of several of our software-engineered solutions through company and channel partners. Additionally, I was one of a couple individuals managing the internal operations of the team, delivery and business growth. Partnered with 30+ software companies, delivering integrated offerings to customers on an international-scale. The Global Software Team also made strategic investments into and acquisitions of software companies - Corporate Venture and M&A.

Morrisville, Nc, Us

Competition and customer demands in the “Applications Economy” force businesses to re-invent and innovate how they produce and deliver products, company-wide. We helped companies define and navigate their software development transformations, improving and accelerating product delivery. I led the DevOps Center of Competency, DevOps Practice, design and delivery our solutions and professional services for businesses and organizations. Collaborating with our sales teams and partners, I identified and interviewed prospects, led opportunity development, project sales and closure.Lenovo delivered game changing, IT Automation, DevOps solutions and "Acceleration" professional services. The solutions leveraged industry-leading software and hardware platforms and tools. Our services evaluated and measured development performance SLDC and inter-departmental constraints, providing recommendations and guidance. Post-analysis, hands-on we helped companies improve their steps, processes, flow and performance, with interdepartmental support. Some of our partners included, DevOps Research & Assessment (DORA), Red Hat, SUSE, Nutanix, xOps, Plutora, CloudBees, OpenSource software companies and several well-known industry experts and practitioners.

San Diego, California, Us

TIG is an international IT Solutions and Cloud Services Solution Provider. We designed and implemented DevOps, Mobility, Security, Analytics, IoT and database solutions integrating proprietary and Open Source software applications together in common IT infrastructures.I rebuilt and led the Northern California sales and engineering team establishing a new, sustainable multi-million dollar, profitable business with Enterprise/SMB commercial & SLED customers. Primary commercial vertical markets include: Entertainment, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing. Co-founded the DevOps Practice for TIG.We operated a consultative and relationship-sales methodology through which we established successful, long-term client-vendor relationships and delivering tremendous value to our customers and their organizations.Our partners include: Nutanix Acropolis OS, Citrix, Unitrends, Lenovo, VMware, Dell, AWS, MSFT Azure, Docker and Open Source companies. A Northern California Nutanix "Focus Partner" 2013-2016 and Top 10 National ("Elite" & "ACP" Consulting Partner), A Top 20 VMware partner and #6 Partner for Dell North America.

Santa Clara, Ca, Us

Founded in 2002, Rev2 Technologies was an next-generation IT provider offering advanced and mission-critical IT solutions to commercial organizations throughout the United States. Our practice areas and solutions specialties included enterprise software application virtualization, Windows and Linux enterprise solutions for data and information storage and disaster recovery. We primarily served customers in health care, manufacturing, technology, transportation and entertainment vertical markets. I founded and funded the company. Built, grew and managed all sales, partnerships, and marketing. The Company was extremely profitable with average annual product margins of 24% and services higher. We partnered with Dell in 2004 and became a member of inaugural Dell Partner Advisory Council, influencing Dell's path into the channel ultimately helping to shape the PartnerDirect program. In 2010, we merged the Company with a service provider to bring a full-suite of solutions and integration and managed services to customers.

Stratify developed and sold unstructured data enterprise software. I was responsible for OEM software licensing and distribution into Fortune 1000 businesses. The contracts closed in one year generated millions in gross sales. The Company was acquired by Iron Mountain Inc. in 2007 and then sold to Autonomy and eventually merged into HP.

GetMedia was the first to develop an e-commerce system that presented music played live by radio stations, making it available for purchase via CD-ROM or digital download directly through an embedded java application on a station's Web site (or by phone). Importantly, record labels were able to control sales and credit the artists.I was the 7th employee and responsible for building and leading the sales organization, signing radio stations and music labels into partnerships for product sales/distribution. We signed more than 500 stations and 3 major record labels: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Warner Music Group as well as several independent labels. We also entered in a strategic relationship with MSFT, wherein our app was embedded into the Media Player. My position also included management and expansion of the distribution and supply chain partnerships. The Company was sold in 2001 to Intellectual Ventures.

CU-SeeMe Networks (formerly White Pine Software) was the pioneer and the leading provider of commercial internet videoconferencing solutions. CU-SeeMe software on the client and server sides were one of the first platforms that proved that IP networks could be effectively used for real-time communication and collaboration.Led the company's software licensing group and channel partner sales and distribution. I built and managed the Company's channel program and sales team, successfully recruited and provisioned 23 video and telecommunications partners, while overseeing millions in sales revenue. I was also responsible for partnerships and drafted and closed OEM software product licensing contracts with leading telecommunications firms, CLECs and internet service providers that produced well for the Company for several years. CU-SeeMe was acquired by First Virtual Communications. First Virtual was then acquired by RadVision.

Founded in 1994, CyberCash, Inc. was the pioneer of commercial digital currency, electronic commerce software and transaction services. The Company was acquired by VeriSign in 2001 and then PayPal/eBay in 2005. The Company was the first high-profile IPO issued after Netscape.I was an integral part of the founding sales and marketing team that helped to establish the company as the leading e-commerce transaction software manufacturer and e-commerce transaction processor between 1994 and 1999. I established partnerships with Yahoo!, Softbank, Ziff Davis, Best Internet (Verio) and PSINet for the distribution of the Company's "Wallet" software, enabling millions of the earliest secure commercial transactions through the Web / IP networks. These strategic partnerships generated millions of dollars in transaction service charges over a multi-year period. In my spare time, I launched the first Web-based "Instant-Win" Sweepstakes.VeriSign acquired CyberCash in 2001. VeriSign sold its payment services business to PayPal in 2004.

CyberSource was an emerging leader and pioneer in e-commerce; however, the Company began selling software through the Web as Software.Net. Software.Net was the first company to commercially sell consumer software via the World Wide Web. I advised the CEO and CTO on the construction of digital advertising, especially through the emerging web-banner standards, pioneered by Rick Boyce of HotWired Inc.Brought several large commercial retail and endpoint software manufacturers into paid advertising "sponsorships" in integrated campaigns to promote the sales and digital distribution of their software. Software.Net eventually became Beyond.com and split from CyberSource. CyberSource was acquired by Visa in 2010 for $2B.

Re-built and grew the circulation sales operation, department of Morph's Outpost, a multi-media developer magazine, while simultaneously building and launching the circulation sales department of Blaster Magazine, a digital youth "Screenager" magazine, funded by Creative Labs Founder/CEO.

Us

Member of the start-up team that successfully created and operated The Red Herring Magazine, the first technology financial media magazine for many years considered the "Bible of Silicon Valley Finance". I established the subscriber circulation and newsstand distribution sales programs in the United States which included a base of well-known technology, entertainment and finance executives. During my tenure the circulation department supplied nearly 40% of the Company's revenue and included more than 30,000 subscribers (first 18 months in production) and held an annual price of $180 per year (cover price $13.50).Alex Vieux of DASAR, purchased The Red Herring in 2002. The Company was sold to an undisclosed investment firm and continues to operate independently.

Athens, Ga, Us

Began as an advertising sales representative for one year as a full-time student at UGA. I was promoted to Sales Manager overseeing the hiring, management and sales development of 13 sales representatives while still as a full-time student. Organized the SuperJam concert series with The Georgia Theater including artists - Widespread Panic, Dreams So Real, Allgood (famous southern bands)During the recession of 1991-1993 we broke all sales records from the the previous 101 years of the newspapers existence.

Athens, Ga, Us

Sold print advertising space to businesses and public organizations in the Athens regional area, leading customers in creative and design, while enrolled full-time at the University of Georgia. Awarded top sales position 2H 1991 for highest production and most new customers.