Julian Castelli
Operating Partner at Mercia Asset Management PLC
Julian Castelli
Operating Partner at Mercia Asset Management PLC
Park City, Utah
Overview
Work Experience
Chairman of the Board
2023 - Current
As the board chairman and executive coach, I guide the executive team in strategy, growth execution, strategic partnerships, and fundraising. Administrate is the leading Training Management System, helping large enterprises organize, schedule, and scale their training & learning operations.
Board Director
2019
I currently serve as the lead independent board director and executive coach to the CEO and CFO. From inception to the current Series B/C stage, I have served as an executive coach to the founder, and have assisted with Series A and B funding rounds, growth strategy, and organizational design. Redica Systems’ mission is to empower the champions of safety and quality at life sciences companies with actionable data intelligence. We do this through the development of the world's leading quality and regulatory intelligence platform (QRI) for the food and drug industry.
Founder
2018
Seeing an unmet need in the SaaS/marketplace tech space, I launched the annual Ski + Tech Summit in 2018 to provide C-level tech company founders and executives with a supportive community of peers that provides networking, learning, career and professional advice, and support throughout the leadership journey. As part of this venture, I also host the Growth Elevated podcast where we explore founders’ journeys and lessons learned. Growth Elevated is a community of C-level technology company executives who are working every day to make our companies better, drive growth, and deliver results. Growth Elevated provides a space for these executives to give back and help each other through collaboration at events, community forums, and educational initiatives.
Operating Partner
2024
As one of the top venture funds in the UK, Mercia Ventures invests in great entrepreneurs pursuing exciting innovation in technology, SaaS and marketplace businesses. I help Mercia portfolio companies plan and execute their US expansion strategies as an operating partner and board director.
Venture Partner
2019
Representing NCV in the Utah technology market, I help our venture capital investment team identify potential portfolio companies. I also serve as an “on-call” advisor to portfolio company CEOs and executive teams. Next Coast Ventures was born in 2015 with a simple vision to create a different kind of venture capital firm focused on “Next Coast” businesses. We believe venture capital is best performed by a team with experience in entrepreneurship. We know that being an entrepreneur is really difficult — one of the most challenging jobs there is — but also one of the most rewarding. And we are here to help our entrepreneurs in any way we can.
Strategic Advisor
2017
I advise B2B SaaS companies on scaling growth and go-to-market strategies and execution. I help leaders efficiently ramp up marketing, sales, and customer success organizations, introducing best practices in SaaS customer acquisition and operating metrics. I also prepare companies for venture capital and private equity fundraising, including strategy design and execution, company story development, sourcing and engaging investors, and capital structure optimization.
Chief Financial Officer
2022 - 2023
I was recruited by the board as the first new C-level executive to strengthen the existing team and provide growth and change management leadership. As CFO, I created the company's first five-year strategic plan to grow the business from $20M to $100M. I also facilitated the recruitment of a new executive team, led the integration of multiple acquisitions, and built a new finance department to enable the company to scale and meet five-year goals. At Propelus, we empower professionals and their employers, regulators, agencies, and associations. Our modern, dynamic, market-leading technology and vital professional data combined with our privileged partner relationships, unwavering commitment to our values, and value creation – streamlines total professional management.
COO/CFO
2018 - 2022
As a strategic partner to the CEO and founders and a trusted partner to the board, I led growth strategy development, shifting the business model from usage-based projects to multi-year SaaS contracts. This created predictable revenue and dramatically increased customer retention. I also led Series A and A1 financings, transitioned the GTM model to enterprise, and guided the business through COVID-19 market challenges. Voxpopme is the world’s #1 video insight solution. Founded in 2013, Voxpopme helps its customers build great brands, products, and experiences by connecting with consumers through real-time video feedback.
Board Director
2018 - 2022
As lead independent board director and executive coach to the CEO, I helped the company drive multiple years of growth and modify its organizational design accordingly. I also helped the company with its Series A and B fundraising. Stellar is a technology-driven marketplace that allows property managers in the single-family-rental space to schedule and complete maintenance and repair jobs across their portfolio of rental properties more easily and affordably than current market solutions.
Chairman Of The Board (Acquired by Sift)
2017 - 2021
I served as the board chairman and executive coach for the CEO and CFO. Helping the leaders convert the business from professional services to SaaS, we raised multiple funding rounds, built the executive team, and navigated a growth journey from $0 to $8M+ of ARR and eventual successful exit to Sift in 2021. Chargeback was the industry-leading SaaS platform for credit card dispute management. It was acquired by Sift in 2021.