Seth Rosen

Venture Partner

2021 - Current

After initially connecting with WTI as the CEO of one of their portfolio companies, I had the opportunity to join this private investment firm as a venture partner representing the Boston market. Founded in 1980, WTI pioneered the concept of venture debt to fill a capital need in the market. We understand and embrace the inherent risks associated with lending to early- and mid-stage technology businesses. Four decades later, our goal remains unchanged - to help visionary entrepreneurs transform their businesses, realize their full potential, and hopefully change the world. We've invested over $6B in companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as over 1,300 more at all phases of growth. Our approach is a good fit for businesses that either: ► Have already raised VC funding and would like more runway to achieve milestones or drive growth ► Are currently raising VC and would like to minimize dilution by raising both debt and equity simultaneously, which I've personally done with WTI

Founder & CEO

2015

In 2015, I purchased back the assets of the business in partnership with WTI, and relaunched the site to become the world's largest online custom jeweler. Because CustomMade already had tens of thousands of customers, we took over managing the jewelry design and manufacturing, and built an entire software system and business infrastructure for a fully online direct-to-consumer business. Today, we custom design thousands of pieces for over 50K customers per year and we're still growing rapidly.

Co-Founder, President & Board Chairman

2009 - 2015

I co-founded CustomMade Ventures Corp. to buy CustomMade.com with my longtime friend and business partner, Mike Salguero. At the time, the website was a subscription-model business selling marketing services for a membership fee, but we transitioned it into an e-commerce business that facilitated transactions between makers/artisans and consumers who wanted custom-designed furniture, jewelry, housewares, etc. The marketplace attracted over 10M visitors annually and over 21K makers across the US and Canada. We raised more than $30M and were backed by top-tier VCs, including a lead investment from Google Ventures (the venture capital arm of Google, Inc.), as well as Atlas Venture, First Round Capital, and Schooner Capital. The business was featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Business Journal, Forbes Magazine, Maxim Magazine, Bloomberg, CNN Money, Fox News, Fox Business, Shape Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others. In 2015, CustomMade Ventures entered into a definitive agreement with Wayfair (NYSE: W) to hire CustomMade’s employee base, after which the company's assets were sold.

Owner

2012

As a gemstone collector who wanted to learn more about gemology, I'd been a member of the International Gem Society since 2007. When the IGS owner announced his retirement in 2012, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to both steward the property as a collector and grow it as an entrepreneur. Since the acquisition, my wife Lisa and I have scaled the site from attracting just 180K annual visitors to over 25M today. We also grew membership from a few hundred members to 15K members and became the world's largest gemology site.

Owner

2016

Adding to our International Gem Society portfolio, my wife and I acquired Ganoksin.com, a technical resource website for jewelers originally launched in 1995. Since acquiring it in 2016, we have grown the site 7x to become the world's largest resource for professional jewelry makers, attracting over 3M visitors per year and a membership network of 25K worldwide. Ganoksin is also home to "The Orchid Forums," the largest, oldest, and most active online forum related to jewelry manufacturing and jewelry making. Ganoksin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Gem Society, LLC.

Faculty Member – CPE Program (Capital Markets Class)

2008 - 2009

I taught the Capital Markets class in Boston University's CPE program. Broadly, I covered the structure and function of the entire debt and equity capital marketplace. Specifically, I covered topics related to asset-based lending including structured financial products, securitization, CMBS, RMBS, and CDOs in substantial depth. This experience taught me that; (a) I love to teach, and (b) teaching is not a passive endeavor. Despite being asked to take over the class permanently in the coming years, I decided this was something better pursued later in life.

Vice President & Shareholder

2004 - 2009

After working in real estate full time while in college, I joined the major New England commercial real estate investment firm Meredith & Grew as a member of their debt and equity capital markets group. During this time, I focused on structured real estate finance and securitized lending, and placed over $750M in transactions. I became a shareholder at age 26 - one of the two youngest partners in the 120-year history of the firm. Meredith & Grew sold to First Service Corporation (NASDAQ: FSV) in 2008. I was deeply privileged to be part of the firm during its final years as a private partnership. I left the firm shortly after the sale was consummated.

Manager

2001 - 2004