Sean Foote
CEO of Fifty Five Financial
Sean Foote
CEO of Fifty Five Financial
San Francisco Bay Area
Overview
Work Experience
Co-Founder
2018 - Current
Later stage venture capital. My partner and I donate half our carry to the causes that matter to our LImited Partners. That Investor Advised Philanthropy(TM) improves the fund performance by improving access to competitive financings in high growth companies.
CEO
2021
Priceline-like buying service for automobiles, powered by AI-based low cost used vehicle acquisition. Raised $30m in equity and debt. Grew to $150m annualized ARR. Sold November 2023
Founder, Company Operator, Managing Director
2013
• Joining the management team of companies to improve outcomes for technology venture capital firm. • Management efforts include resource allocation, sales, biz dev, strategy, hiring, team management, and exits • See Live Reach Media, below • Portfolio of cloud computing, IoT, mobile adtech, algorithms that look like magic. www.cocreationcapital.com
Professional Faculty
2001
• Top-ranked, oversubscribed business school course in Venture Capital and Private Equity. Builds communication skill. • Teaching is a passion, a strong hobby. I don't typically lead conversations with "I'm a professor". Consumes a Sunday and Wednesday evening in the fall semester only.
Investment Committee
2015
International Fintech investments including IndiaMart, Creditas, Coins.ph, and more. Evaluate, counsel, and approve investments.
Head of Data Science
2016 - 2021
Manage data analysts and programmers solving hard problems in traffic and people analysis in public spaces. These are super interesting problems to solve: inconsistent and partial data, rotating IDs, and geographic uncertainty. Data and analytics messiness at its finest.
Managing Director
1998 - 2013
• Interim CEO at 100-person portfolio company • Managed Labrador III, IV, and V - two of three Labrador funds top quartile. 3 IPOs in fund V • Hired CEOs, VPs, staff at more than 20 companies. Advised companies through Boards of Directors • Managed operations - quarterly reports, financial reporting (with CFO), and deal tracking • Raised capital from individuals, endowments, and foundations About Labrador Ventures • 25 year old early stage technology venture capital firm. • Investors in over 50 companies including Pandora (NYSE: P), Hotmail (sold to MSFT), Rocketfuel (Nasdaq: FUEL), and more.
Associate
1998 - 1999
• Corporate Venture Capital arm of Scripps, Inc, owners of television, newspaper, and syndication properties. • Sourced investments from a network of bankers, entrepreneurs, and other contacts. • Evaluated companies and identified opportunities. • Structured terms, negotiated and closed investments in six companies. • Provided ongoing guidance through Boards of Directors. • Top quartile performance.
Principal
1993 - 1998
• Led teams from 3 to 100 people across the firm and its clients. • Hired new consultants through hundreds of interviews per year. • Sold and structured engagements • Engagements in acquisitions, business planning, reengineering, product development, and strategy for telecom, tech, health care, banking and automotive industries.
Member of Technical Staff
1988 - 1991
• Youngest member of team working with "Special Service Circuits" - now known as "the internet" • Created requirements for artificial intelligence testing and automation of network. • Performed every part of development process. Architected solutions, coded in C+, performed QA and system test. Deployed and operated systems in multiple telecom companies. • Invented patentable methodology for circuit data correlation