Pattern Recognition

Pattern Recognition is a journal of thoughts and strategies on venture capital investments. I started this blog over vacation in 2010. At that time there were many resources for entrepreneurs to learn about the venture capital business, so my plan was to instead write about market trends through the eyes of an early stage investor. This has evolved... over time to cover my thoughts on a lot of topics, as well as share some stories from my portfolio companies. I must admit that I also had a second motivation for writing this blog. Back in 2010 I was five years into a new business called Greycroft and many of my close friends had no idea what I was up to. I thought this blog could shed some light on that topic. I am a Partner and Co-Founder of Greycroft LLC. Greycroft is an early stage venture capital fund that is focused on the digital economy. We cover a large number of technology sectors everything from mobile applications to web infrastructure. Prior to Greycroft I was the founder and CEO of StrongData, where I developed smart card technology to cut down on card-not-present fraud. My friend David Berk took over that business after I joined Alan Patricof in 2006. Prior to StrongData I was a venture capitalist with a firm called Boston Millennia Partners. While I was at Boston Millennia I worked mostly on photonics, wireless, and software investments. Over the last few years at Greycroft my investment focus has been centered around advertising technology and marketing software, with a small number of investments in eCommerce, consumer web, and mobile applications. I expect that this mix will evolve over time as markets change. For instance, I am currently much more bullish on mobile than I have been at any time in the last 10 years.Read More