John Rodkin

Operating Partner

2022 - Current

I help seed to growth equity companies boost their performance and value. I usually get hired by the investors on the board when they have a solid team in place but need someone experienced with a lot of previous "reps" to fill in some gaps or to help maximize urgent or upcoming value inflection points. I do this on a smoke jumping or longer term basis, whatever makes sense for the given circumstances.

Board Member

2018

Swiftly is the leading transit data platform. I led the seed round at Samsung Next and have stayed on the board as an independent member through their acquisition by JMI Equity.

Board Member

2013

Webtrends is a private web analytics company that was owned by Francisco Partners when I joined the board.

President

2021 - 2022

Hydrolix disrupts the economics of big data and eliminates the tradeoffs among cost, query performance, and storage window. Keep all your data hot, get SSD like performance, and get lightning fast query responses.

Advisor

2018 - 2021

Advisor

2018 - 2021

Cultivate is Leadership Development for the Digital Workforce. They help companies leverage digital behavior to extract important organizational learning and unleash leadership potential. The company began with three EIRs in my group at Samsung Next. We spun out the team and technology in a first for Samsung, and they have now raised venture financing from Bloomberg Beta, Trinity Ventures, SAP.IO, and Silicon Valley Data Capital.

Managing Director - The Fort Innovation Center

2018 - 2020

Managing Director - San Francisco

2015 - 2018

As the head of the San Francisco office, my role at Samsung Next was mixed between product building and venture investing. I sat on the four person US Investment Committee for our $150MM venture fund. I also built Samsung-owned teams and products aiming to eventually grow into large software and services business for Samsung.

Advisor

2011 - 2018

Cedexis offers strategies and solutions for multi-platform content & application delivery to companies focused on maximizing web performance. It was backed by Advanced Technology Ventures and Madrona Venture Group and acquired by Citrix.

Advisor

2011 - 2017

Ravel Law is an innovative legal analytics startup funded by NEA and Northbridge. I was an advisor from its earliest days in my Stanford Law class, through multiple rounds of funding, and until its acquisition by LexisNexis.

Lecturer in Law

2011 - 2017

I co-taught the Venture Capital 1 and 2 courses with Dan Siciliano of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance. VC2 helps law students understand the startup process from an entrepreneur's perspective so that they can either start their own businesses or become more effective advocates for their clients who start businesses. VC2 is an update of the Entrepreneurship in Practice course I created and taught at the University of Chicago for three academic years. VC1 focuses on the VC industry structure, LP/GP relationships, and general foundational items in the venture industry.