David Black
Software guy
David Black
Software guy
Morris County, New Jersey
Overview
Work Experience
Technology Partner
2014 - 2023
Oak HC/FT is the premier Healthcare Information & Services (“HC”) and Financial Services Technology (“FT”) venture growth equity fund, with $5.3 Billion under management. The partners at Oak HC/FT have focused sector expertise, having invested in more than 50 companies over the past decade with 28 realizations, four IPOs and five companies achieving valuations in excess of $1 billion. I was a GP in the fund, with particular concentration on product and technology. I worked with both our Fintech and our healthcare investments. These include the fintech companies Feedzai, Ocrolus, Pagaya, Rapyd and the healthcare companies Devoted Health, VillageMD, Syllable, Notable, Olive UniteUs, Veda and others. I also worked with past investments including Aspire Health, Core Informatics, Fastpay, Maestro Health, OODA, Poynt and Therapy Brands.
Technology Partner
2000 - 2015
I was a GP in this multi-billion dollar fund, with a concentration on technology and product. While I performed due diligence, most of my effort went in to helping our investments increase in value. My activity included: Centric Software, FirstRain, Good Technology, MobiTV, Nexant, SmartDrive, Rearden Commerce, Keep Holdings, Demand Media, Federated Media, Milyoni, Rebelmouse, Sutherland Global Services, Thrillist Media Group, U.S. Auto Parts, YoYi Media, Candescent Health, Freshbooks, Benefitfocus, Independent Living Systems, mlgpro, Castlight Health and XIO Storage. I also worked closely with: athenahealth, Argus Information Systems (acquired by Verisk), PayFlex (acquired by Aetna), Point Carbon (acquired by Thomson Reuters), TxVia (acquired by Google), iCrossing (acquired by Hearst), Talisma (acquired by Moxie Software), Allyes (acquired by Focus Media), Cobalt (acquired by ADP), Fastclick (acquired by ValueClick), aQuantive (acquired by Microsoft), Bleacher Report (acquired by Time Warner), Captura (acquired by Concur), Cobalt (acquired by ADP), Huffington Post (acquired by AOL), G-Market (acquired by E-Bay), CBord (acquired by Roper Industries), ILOG (acquired by IBM), Inktomi (acquired by Yahoo), Knowledge Networks (acquired by GfK), Pivotal, Primus, Digital Media Group (acquired by VisionChina), iCrossing (acquired by Hearst), Netspend. I helped ramp up the India operations of Oak companies to over 20 entities employing over 10,000 people.
Technology Consultant
1992 - 2000
I performed due diligence, assisted portfolio companies, and helped start the India-based operations of this venture capital firm. I worked on and with huge successes, flame-outs and everything in between, in multiple domains. Among the companies were: ILOG (optimizing software, IPO then bought by IBM), Inktomi (dominated internet search before Google), Internap (pioneering internet infrastructure), Cybersafe (computer security), Aavid Termalloy (NASD:AATT) since taken private, and Avenue A (early internet advertising, became AQuantive, then bought by Microsoft)
CTO
1995 - 2000
Paysys was the largest independent supplier of private label and bank credit card processing software prior to its acquisition by First Data. Its products Cardpac, Vision21 and VisionPlus were used for processing more than 150 million accounts worldwide, supporting issuing, acquiring, collections and other functions. CitiBank and GE Capital used them for all processing outside the US, and it was the standard for the finance companies inside the US as well as major retailers and processors. The code lives on at First Data, and now runs over 600 million accounts world-wide. Oak Investment Partners was an investor. One notable accomplishment was getting our more than 7 million lines of code flawlessly past the Y2K hurdle with a fraction of the time and effort spent by anyone else. Among other things, I conceived and designed a meta-data-driven reimplementation of the core card processing functions, including authorization and billing. We reduced millions of lines of COBOL code into extensible tables in which the vast majority of application functionality was expressed, with an abstract declarative interpreter/engine. It ran on a network of simple processors and was tested to be able to handle peak volumes for over ten million accounts, with linear scalability. This code is today running the Apple card
Consultant
1991 - 1995
I performed assignments for eight different VC firms, working on scores of prospective and currrent investments. I had small and large projects for nearly 20 product/service vendors, ranging from giants like IBM to small private companies. I worked as an integral part of several major industry analyst firms, for example creating the content for imaging expert certification and industry-wide workflow product features survey. I published more than a dozen articles in industry journals. I gave talks at more than two dozen conferences. I performed assignments for a number of large end users. One of my larger projects for end users was for Sallie Mae during their effort to apply document imaging and workflow technology to their student loan processing process, involving thousands of employees in six locations handling over 10 million documents per year. The large consulting company on the project used standard methods to achieve a 30% productivity gain. My methods achieved 5X.
VP Software
1987 - 1991
IMNET was one of the first generation of document imaging and workflow management companies, with a unique microfilm scanning jukebox. I re-designed the jukebox and the microfilm scanner. I personally wrote one of the first workflow management programs, and led the creation of one of the early document processing systems.
Programmer, VP Software
1983 - 1987
Enmasse was one of the first multi-microprocessor computer companies. I started by creating their terminal offload processing system, and then modified the source code of the Informix DBMS to enable it to perform SQL queries against COBOL ISAM files. I ended up in charge of all software activities for the company. Our computer and software worked, and was installed successfully at a variety of customer sites. But in the end, Enmasse lost the multi-microprocessor wars to the more focused and better-funded Sequent Computer Systems.
Programmer, VP Software
1981 - 1983
Founded by Murray Ruben, the inventor of the electronic cash register, our job was to build a software platform for running the business of companies that use cash registers. It was a comprehensive programming environment, including language, persistence and UI, along the lines of contemporary efforts such as MUMPS and Pick. When I joined, the system was largely built as a DEC-specific interpreter, and I took on the job of building a code generator and hosting environment for multiple non-DEC targets. I got the job done, but the company foundered and then failed as a business.
Consultant
1976 - 1981
I was a programming gun-for-hire, worked for a variety of companies large and small. My most significant project was creating an estimating and job costing product for the printing industry for one of the major suppliers. The job was done in under six months, using then-new TI 9900 microprocessors with an assembler and broken macro pre-processor. I hired a couple people to help. We had to build a floppy disk file system along the way. The system was centered around seven little declarative interpreters we designed and built, enabling the system to have more functionality than the industry's leading product at a third of the cost. I also renovated a small apartment building, doing lots of the work myself, from sanding floors and sand-blasting brick walls to plumbing and electricity.
Programmer
1972 - 1976
IMLAC was the leading vendor of display computers at the time. It was popular in the ARPA-net community. Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imlac_PDS-1. My first job was to write a FORTRAN compiler and run-time system. In assembler language. With no macros. Using punched paper tape. I got most of it done by myself in six months, and then finished it in another six months with a programmer I hired, Agnes Imregh. We passed all the standard tests for FORTRAN-66. Then, with the assistance of a just-graduated physics major from Yale, I wrote one of the first generation of interactive full-page makeup and type composition systems, comparable to the Raytheon Raycomp system. We had 2 people writing in assembler, they had 30; they didn't stand a chance. But in the end, everyone's hardware was just too expensive and the whole effort was premature; the first products in this category that got traction, such as Aldus Pagemaker, were released years later on much less expensive hardware, courtesy of Mr. Moore and his law.
Programmer
1971 - 1972
RAND was one of the first ARPA net sites that ran something other than a DEC PDP-10 computer as the main host. The PDP-10 was 36 bit ASCII, while RAND's IBM 360 was 32 bit EBCDIC. I got the required security clearances to be able to work at RAND, and spent the summer and part of the next year solving this issue, among others.
Education
AB
1968 - 1972