Taylor Barada
Venture Partner at SignalFire
Taylor Barada
Venture Partner at SignalFire
Los Altos, California
Overview
Work Experience
Venture Partner
2020 - Current
SignalFire is a ~$1B fund that operates as a technology company comprised of data scientists, engineers and investors trained at Google, Facebook, Slack, General Catalyst, KPCB, and Andreessen Horowitz. We have built first of its kind products and centralized infrastructure to help with recruiting exceptional talent, business development, customer acquisition as well as educational & community events. You can read more about SignalFire at: https://medium.com/signalfire-fund I invest in both seed and growth opportunities across our two funds.
Member of Board of Directors
2013
GoNoodle is a media and technology company with a suite of active engagement products for kids and the adults who love them. Created by social-emotional learning experts, GoNoodle is dedicated to empowering next-generation humans and helping the grown-ups who love them positively charge every day with Good Energy. Used in millions of homes and four-out-of-five U.S. public elementary schools, GoNoodle’s interACTIVE content that can energize, focus, calm, or cheer up. To turn screen time into active time, convert any space to play space, and make every time the best time - there’s a GoNoodle for that - visit www.gonoodle.com to get started. Headquartered everywhere kids are.
VP, Global Head of Corporate Development, Corporate Strategy & Strategic Partnerships
2013 - 2018
Global Head of Corporate Development, Corporate Strategy, and Strategic Partnerships teams--group is tasked with driving growth and new markets in close partnership with all of Adobe's businesses through acquisitions, post-merger integration, investments, strategy, and strategic partnerships (including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, and other Major Agencies, Media, and Technology Companies). Our teams partner closely with Adobe Labs to help launch new products, businesses, and drive innovation.
VP of Business
2011 - 2013
Connecting the world through games--a great adventure with a great team.
Vice President, Corporate Development
2010 - 2011
Head of Global Corporate Development team--responsible for acquisitions, divestitures, post-merger integration, and other strategic relationships and investments
Senior Director, Corporate Development
2009 - 2010
Strategic analysis/execution of acquisitions, divestitures, investments and other strategic relationships • Evaluate new market entry opportunities to drive cross-business corporate priorities • Partner with product and regional leadership to identify opportunities where M&A can accelerate product roadmaps • Deals included Zimbra divestiture to VMware and acquisitions of Citizen Sports and Dapper
Advisor
2009 - 2009
VoxPop is a hot pop culture gaming/publisher services company backed by TrueVentures. VoxPop converts publisher’s existing content into engaging and highly sponsorable games quickly (1-2 days) and inexpensively. As advertisers are looking for more interactive/premium/custom online experiences, VoxPop’s turnkey solution allows publishers to respond to most RFPs with a semi-custom game to help win more ad buys (and larger ones). They work with top tier publishers in Entertainment, News, Movies, TV, Technology, and Sports including EW.com, Maxim, CNN, Hollywood.com, CNet, and CBSSports.com. • Partnered with Founders on strategic positioning, business model evaluation, and series B funding strategy--company successfully raised $1.5M in May 2009
Executive in Residence
2008 - 2009
Rosewood is a San Francisco-based private equity firm that has over 20 years of history focused exclusively on making growth equity investments in the consumer sector. (Under Armour, JambaJuice, Noah's Bagels, Alternative Apparel, Rent.com) Brought in to help develop an investment thesis, build a network, launch a sourcing strategy, and identify focus areas for a more organized investment program in Direct to Consumer/next gen e-commerce.
Consultant
2005 - 2008
Bain is a leading strategy consulting firm with 3000+ consultants around the world. Joined as summer associate in June 2005, rejoined in August 2006. Engaged in assignments providing advice for private equity and technology clients across a number of different sectors and areas including: -consumer internet/online media, internet and mobile services, semiconductors -market diligence, sales force/marketing redesign, restructuring and operations management
Area Vice President, Corporate Development
2001 - 2003
Peregrine was a public software company focused on IT service and asset managment which went public in April 1997 with ~$25M in rev., then experienced rapid growth before a difficult restructuring that ultimately led to a successful sale to HP with $200M+ in rev. Led Corporate Development team with corporate responsibility for mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, investments, and post-merger integration Completed four acquisitions and ten divestitures during tumultuous time on over $1B worth of deals
Director of Special Projects, Office of the CEO
2000 - 2001
Special assistant to the CEO working with operational leaders on various strategic and operations projects
Director, Product Marketing & Business Development
1999 - 2000
Co-founded business unit after developing business development/M&A strategy to create new product line -Created business plan and built 8 person product marketing team that grew product line revenue from $0-10M -Led product marketing group through full product line launch with major product releases for three products -Responsible for all business unit BD activity including strategic alliances and OEM agreements
Corporate Development Analyst
1998 - 1999
Responsible for market and product diligence, financial modeling and analysis, post-merger integration planning, and venture investments.
Associate Product Manager
1997 - 1998
Product manager with responsibility for server management product -Successfully partnered with engineering to rework the product roadmap and migrate UNIX based product to internet
Market Research Analyst
1996 - 1997
Market analyst in 10 person marketing team -Responsible for competitive research -Assisted on IPO roadshow preparation -Developed and ran multi-city seminar series with $200k budget in both US and then in Europe
Goalkeeper
1994 - 1996
Professional goalkeeper in England, Holland, and US -only American in division in England & Holland