Steven Lurie
Founder of Team Builder Ventures
Steven Lurie
Founder of Team Builder Ventures
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
Founder
2013 - Current
Team Builder Ventures is a venture capital fund to help founders build world-class teams. www.teambuilderventures.com We invest in early-stage start-ups. Team building is my passion and I look forward to helping founders. Select investments include Fusion-io (IPO 2011), Zuora (IPO 2018), Platfora (acquired by Workday), Applifier (acquired by Unity Software; IPO 2020), ZipDial (acquired by Twitter), Shopular (acquired by Ebates), AngelList, Formic, AuthMind, Fulfil, Planted Solar, Oligo and Arch Systems. Here is a recent endorsement for Team Builder Ventures from the Founder/CEO of a portfolio company: "Lots of VCs try to pitch you on their "added value", but Steven is one who actually delivers. By focusing exclusively on recruiting and tirelessly working each week to send over qualified candidates, he provides an amazing service for his portfolio companies. Steven helped us fill one of our most critical and challenging roles. Team Builder Ventures gets my highest recommendation." And another endorsement from a founder: "Team Builder Ventures is one of the most differentiated firms we work with in terms of unique value add. Steven went above and beyond for our business, placing three engineers and a Head of Product (over 33% of our team!) that have been essential early team members. Steven is one of the most talented and hard working guys we know in team building. If you want to build a world class team, you should get the team builder on your side."
General Manager, International
2012 - 2013
Member of the Executive Staff of Zynga from pre-IPO through listing as a public company 1st Head of Mobile, then lead several game teams and then Head of International. === Moved back to San Francisco from India to head the International team at Zynga. Thanks to the team in India and my friends there for a great 2 years.
General Manager, Studio I (India)
2010 - 2012
Responsible for scaling a game studio in India. Have grown to several games for which we have full P&L and game strategy and execution ownership. Current games include YoVille, Empires and Allies, Treasure Isle, Vampire Wars and FishVille. Helped scale a team of several hundred people in 2 years and across all functions (engineering, product management, art, QA, marketing, content and more).
General Manager, Mobile
2009 - 2010
General Manger of Zynga's mobile division, which includes development of games for the iPhone and other new digital revenue opportunities
CEO
2008 - 2009
Advice Company has been a leader in providing information and services over the Internet since 1995. Over 10 million people visit the websites annually seeking the sites' information and advice, looking to hire lawyers and experts, to purchase insurance and legal forms. Sites include: • AttorneyPages® (http://AttorneyPages.com): an easy to use consumer oriented national directory of qualified attorneys and law firms that provides marketing and lead generation services. • Expert Pages® (http://ExpertPages.com): the original and leading Internet directory of expert witnesses, which has been repeatedly recognized as "best in class” by other leading legal publishers. • FreeAdvice® (http://www.FreeAdvice.com): the most visited legal and insurance information and advice site for consumers. With extensive information covering over 130 legal and insurance subjects, it has been winning acclaim from national media since 1996.
Entrepreneur in Residence
2007 - 2008
As Entrepreneur in Residence, I: * Source & evaluate new venture deals * Develop ideas and explore the next opportunity for me MHS Capital leads first rounds for bootstrapped companies & sponsors serial entrepreneurs to do tech buyouts. MHS Capital is powered by an investor base of world-class tech entrepreneurs & key executives from leading software & Internet companies Mark Sugarman: Managing Partner & active investor in 13 consumer Internet & enterprise software companies since 1996. Record: 6 exits, 5 active & 2 multi-billion dollar exits, including Edusoft (acq: Houghton Mifflin), Getsmart (acq: Providian/IAC), Nutrisystem (NTRI), Savi Technology (acq: Lockheed Martin), Verticalnet (VERT) & 1stup (acq: CMGI). Prior experience: Internet Capital Group and the VP of M&A and Strategic Partnerships at Verticalnet (reported to the CEO & drove 15 acquisitions & a partnership with Microsoft). Mark has a BA from Stanford. Boards: Fonality, iLike, Positive Energy
Entrepreneur in Residence
2004 - 2007
• Evaluated 3 start-up ideas with primary research and consulted with online marketing portfolio company. • Screened start-ups, including own deal flow, and conducted due diligence on opportunities. Wrote two investment memos. Met Browster via Saints and worked as a VP raising $5.3 million Series A (3 investors). Launched version 2.0.
GM
1999 - 2004
• Recruited and managed the product management team during first years of profitable venture-backed start-up. • Prioritized and specified the features developed by Engineering. Established the standard for creating feature specifications and customer and peer-review input processes. • Developed 40+ specifications resulting in several top-revenue producing features and 6 pending patents (1 granted). • Managed approximately a quarter of Ingenio’s headcount (25) in teams focused on the customers selling advice. o Teams included: Communications, Affiliate Marketing, Play Fair, and Customer Service. Turned around teams with measurable results after management changes. o Example: Customer Service tripled service levels while reducing headcount by 50% in 12 months. Ingenio's solutions include the Pay Per Call Advertising Network, which seamlessly integrates the Web and the phone to help businesses acquire new customers and grow revenue.
Lead Product Manager, Enterprise Server group
1993 - 1999
• 2-time recipient of the highest rating (4.5) at Microsoft. • Shipped 4 first version products & 7 total products • Led team that received the best win/loss record for technical product reviews in server applications • Top 10% ranked presenter at Microsoft sales events. Represented Microsoft as speaker at industry conferences. Marketing • Led public relations team with best technical reviews record in division (32 wins/2 losses for Site Server). Completed 2 Reviewer Guides, 3 press tours with over 75 reviewers, 50 news & 25 analyst meetings • Managed team creating marketing materials for launch & beyond (sales tools, positioning frameworks, demo, Q&A”, product evaluation kits, Web site). • Drove customer research to define design goals for BackOffice Server. Business Development • Devised strategy for & closed over 30 deals with system integrators, ISVs & solution providers