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.
New to this site?
You might find the following blog posts and articles a good place to start:
- SaaS Metrics – A Guide to Measuring and Improving What Matters
- Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition
- Lessons Learned – Viral Marketing
- Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior
- Lessons from Leaders: How JBoss did it
- SaaS Economics: The SaaS Cash Flow Trough
- Optimizing your Customer Acquisition Funnel
- Setting the Startup Accelerator Pedal
- Recent Blog Posts
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. For the past nine years I have been investing in software and internet companies. As a VC, I have had the very good fortune to invest alongside some spectacular management teams, including JBoss, who took their Open Source business to a successful exit with its sale to Red Hat, and 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, 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 contact me, please email me at: dskok (at) matrixpartners.com. I would enjoy hearing from you.
