Welcome to For Entrepreneurs

For Entrepreneurs is a blog for startups and entrepreneurs, written by David Skok, a five time serial entrepreneur turned VC (now at Matrix. Partners). It aims to address the key issues they will face in getting started, getting funded, and building a successful company. Although applicable to most startups, there is strong focus on SaaS businesses, and building a sales and marketing machine.

New to this site?

You might find the following blog posts and articles a good place to start:

Hi, my name is David Skok. I am a serial entrepreneur turned VC. I have a great passion for helping entrepreneurs and startups. I started my first company a few months after leaving university at the age of 21, and over the next 25 years, founded a total of four companies (Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Software, and SilverStream Software) and did one turnaround (Xionics). I have had my share of ups and downs. I was lucky enough to have three of these companies go public, one was acquired, and one initially succeeded, but then failed when I moved the company to the US. I often remark that I learned more from that one failure than I have from all of my successes.

After 25 years as an entrepreneur, I became a venture capital partner at Matrix Partners, the firm that had backed my last two companies. I had worked with 15 different VC firms, and Matrix had clearly been my best partner, earning my strong loyalty with their support through some very tough times. It was fun to move to the “dark side” and be in a position to help other entrepreneurs. As a VC, I have had the very good fortune to invest alongside some spectacular management teams, including  JBoss, AppIQ, Tabblo, Netezza, Diligent Technologies, and CloudSwitch which have all had successful exits. I currently serve on the boards of HubSpot, Digium (makers of the very popular Asterisk Open Source PBX/telephony software), CloudBees, Enservio, GrabCAD, OpenSpan, and VideoIQ.

I am very passionate about helping other entrepreneurs, having seen how important it is to get that help, encouragement, and support in the early days of creating my own ventures. If you are interested in learning more about what experiences have shaped my thinking, you may enjoy reading the following blog post: What drives great entrepreneurs.

In addition to the articles that I will post, I will also enlist the help of guest bloggers who I believe represent some of the best entrepreneurial and executive minds in the business.

If you would like to receive an email when new articles are published, please leave enter your email address in the form on the right hand side. To contact me, please email me at: dskok (at) matrixpartners.com. I would enjoy hearing from you.

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  • http://twitter.com/analyticsseo Analytics SEO

    We have a small revenue generating business and are just about to consider raising expansion capital. I’ve got to say that your blog is tremendous. When is your book coming out?

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    Thanks for the kind feedback! Sadly no time to write a book.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2GJSMTOENZAJ2374OF6JNAEHOA Nagarajan

    Hi David,

    Yesterday I attended your session at  OSBC 2011. It was definitely one of the most valuable talks I have attended.

    I very much impressed with your thoughts and way you seeing the feature growth in New technology area.

    Thanks
    Naga 

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    Naga, thanks for the kind comments. Glad you enjoyed the session.

  • http://twitter.com/chayz Damilola Jegede

    Hello David, very inspiring. Are you looking to expand your investments beyond the US?

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    We have offices in India and China, but I personally only invest in the US.

    Thanks, David

  • Rich

    David , My brother has an application that I believe the transporataion industry is thriving for. We have meet some major  companies in th petroleum industry that also like the idea for our software application. We meet a software company and they told us $200k min to build and we just can’t come up with that much money so looking for idea’s 

  • Maxwinston88

    Hi David, I had spoke with Anne about a week ago via gmail. I and my partner are essentially trying to establish communication with someone of your position at Matrix Partners. We would like to send a Presentation via gmail. 

    Thanks,Max Winston C.E.O. Chairman and Founder Cinergee Corporation

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    Hi Max, It is a pleasure to meet you virtually. Please feel free to send you presentation to me at this email address: dskok at matrixpartners.com
    Thanks, David

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    Hi Max, It is a pleasure to meet you virtually. Please feel free to send you presentation to me at this email address: dskok at matrixpartners.com
    Thanks, David

  • http://www.energiepraemisse.ch James Ferguson

    Why did I “like” this ? – Though much is intuitive, such as SaaS metrics, enough is not!
    David (benevolently) forces you pivot your startup http://angel.co/kwiq to seek what Mike Maples http://www.maplesinvestments.com/ calls a “thunder lizard”. Our smart-building SaaS deliverable stays the same as we have very early traction but these articles prompted us to find ways to “lighten the Touch” dramatically, just pre-launch. ”Light touch – paper and stand clear” – it says on fireworks ! – Thanks for the heads up.

  • http://www.forentrepreneurs.com David Skok

    James – best of luck with the business. I hope the light-touch sales model works for you.

  • Yesuifen20

    you may enjoy reading the following blog post: What drives great entrepreneurs.

  • Naqsh

    When you are creating new to the world… You know this one you made will be at the top of his segment. But still you find that no one else on this planet is going to approve this.. while you do not need this but still rather boosting yourself they use to say.. its just wasting of time to look your project. they generally interested in the degree you have not the possibilities of your project you made… Its very much frustrating part of an entrepreneur…  

  • Yesuifen20

    I often remark that I learned more from that one failure than I have from all of my successes.

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    Awesome articles!!! I appreciate that’s really good place to start. I like that’s all huge informative post. Added bookmarks though. Thanks!

  • Drew Hunt

    this article is so true and vivid, very informative. But I recently read a great post by Andrew Hunt about the
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    That is so true Admin As an author and business man,I can relate to how you said
    “Welcome to For Entrepreneurs”.
    I hope more people discover your blog because you really know what you’re talking about.

  • http://www.mihranig.com Mihran Papazian

    Hey David, you mentioned having offices in China, is there a way to have an intro somehow? We are a Shenzhen based web startup looking for Series A. Thanks.

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    To make your business work, you’ve got to have the right amount of anything. Then it will. Nice page. Thanks.

  • Jhaynam

    Really like the site. Check out what I’ve got going on over at http://www.entrepreneur-stories.com