Where Are They Now: Atlas VCs Reemerge
Earlier this year, Atlas Venture thinned its personnel roster after raising far less than it had hoped for its eighth fund ($293m compared to $500m target). Four partners either left or were demoted, while some younger staffers began to consider other options. So where are the departed?
Martin Gibson: A London-based partner who focused on IT investments for Atlas, Gibson just recently reemerged as a venture partner with Accel Partners. Not bad timing, given that the firm’s London office today is celebrating its agreement to sell Playfish to EA for up to $400 million.
Gibson’s Atlas portfolio companies had included DisplayLink, Phyworks and Zinwave. He also worked closely with Azea Networks, Icera Semiconductor, Orthogon Systems, RadioScape, Ubiquisys and xelerated. He does not yet appear to have done an Accel investment.
Ahmet Ozalp: A Boston-based partner who focused on IT investments, Ozalp in June was named CEO of Telenity, a provider of converged services platforms and applications for communications networks. Ozalp still retains a pair of Atlas-era boards: Extend Media and MyVu. (seems his official bio on the Telenity site is out of date)
Eric Hjerpe: A Boston-based partner focused on IT investing, Hjerpe was originally demoted to venture partner before leaving the firm entirely in April. He soon signed on as the second fulltime investing partner with Kepha Partners, joining firm founder Jo Tango.
While with Atlas, Hjerpe worked on such deals as Active Endpoints, Fireclick (sold to Digital River), Globoforce, OpenRatings (sold to Dun & Bradstreet), OwnerIQ, Performix Technologies (sold to Nice), SimpleTuition, SupplyWorks (acquired by Intuitive), TrueAdvantage (acquired by InsideView) and
Virtual Logix.
Peter Shannon: A Boston-based principal focused on the cleantech space, Shannon was not part of the original cuts, but recently left to join Firelake Capital.
Barry Fidelman: A Boston-based partner focused on the IT space, Fidelman assumed a venture partner role as part of the “restructuring.” He’s the most senior of the group, having joined Atlas in 1988 after spending time in executive positons with such companies as Data General, Apollo Computer and Alliant Computer.
Fidelman remains with Atlas, and does not appear to have taken another fulltime or part-time job. His current board seats are Arbor Networks and Isilon.
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Atlas Watcher said on November 10, 2009
You have only part of the story. The Atlas Fund VII proposectus from 2005 lists the “senior team” of twelve as Jeff Andrews, Peter Barrett, Joel Besse, Axel Bichara, Alexander Bruehl, Jeff Fagnan, Barry Fidelman, Jean Formela, Eric Hjerpe, Gerard Montanus, Graham O’Keeffe, and Christopher Spray.
Four years later, only five of twelve, Barrett, Bichara, Fagnan, Formela, and O’Keeffe, are investing at Atlas. Andrews has become a Venture Partner, Besse left to start his own fund, Bruehl started an advisory business, Hjerpe left to go to Kepha, and Fidelman/Montanus/Spray are effectively retired.
If you look at the more junior GPs from that fund, a majority also have left (Gibson and DeRycker to Accel, Gazecki to entrepreneurship and Pospisil to his own fund). Operations Partners have not been much better (MacKenzie left to Polaris and recently left there, Henry retired, Lew and Morse moved on).
Atlas is like any of the many venture firms in early stage venture that scaled too quickly in the late nineties into the early 2000s – they will try to downsize to survive, but may not have the LP support for yet another experiment.
Atlas Europe Alum said on November 11, 2009
It is amazing that this fund is still around and on its 8th edition. What are the LPs thinking? Is there no diligence being done? To top it off, with that kind of turnover, you have to feel the worst for the portfolio companies. Why would any entrepreneur want to pitch these guys?
The life sciences team is the better half. Seems like all the guys that left were tech investors.
Atlas Venture Europe Alum said on November 11, 2009
Atlas is a sophisticated venture investor and trained its people well and its no wonder that they found success in their next venture. Turnover is indeed meaningful but not unusual in the venture industry as firms both rightsize as well as go through generational transition.
Richard Moross said on November 11, 2009
As an entrepreneur, and Atlas portfolio company CEO, please allow me to provide an additional perspective.
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I’m not really qualified to comment on the significance of the comings and goings, what I hope I can make very clear though, is the quality of the Atlas team I work with on a daily basis. Christopher Spray, who sits on the MOO board, and indeed everyone I have worked with since Atlas invested in 2006 have been excellent. Â We’ve had fantastic support, great advice and just the right level of strategic and tactical input: pushing us to deliver, but never over the edge.
I’m not claiming that we’re the best (or whatever), business out there, or the hottest ticket to mega multiples, only time will tell, but what I do know is that outside of anonymous, negative hyperbole, I can personally vouch for what really matters to me: good people, sage advice and the remit to deliver what my team and I promise, all of which Atlas have demonstrated in abundance.
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On paper I’m sure there are other, bigger funds: sustaining broader teams, more lavish offices and so on. But as a CEO you end up working with one or two people from a firm: it’s about the quality of these people and the strength of your relationship that really matters. Â Atlas have worked hard to get to know me, my team and my business. They’ve been patient and ambitious in equal measure, always focussed on our big goals and sympathetic to the reality that the path is never quite as clear as when you look back on it. They’ve always delivered what they’ve promised, they give great, consistent advice and they’ve never missed a board meeting.
It’s two MOO thumbs up from me.
Alex Chesterman said on November 11, 2009
I would echo many of Richard’s comments. Atlas is still very much delivering on what matters from an entrepreneur’s perspective. True enough, they may have scaled too fast in late 90s/early 00s but that is not a club short on members and they are still here to tell the tale! Their input is highly valued by us and their support has been unwaivering and a key ingredient in our successes to date. Fred Destin who sits on our board has been actively involved in helping shape our strategy and we have a very healthly relationship with an investor who ‘gets it’ and is a genuine partner in building our business.