My name is David Skok, and I am a serial entrepreneur turned VC.
I have a great passion for helping entrepreneurs and startups.
I started my first company a few months after leaving university at the age of 21, and over the next 25 years, founded a total of four companies (Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Software, and SilverStream Software) and did one turnaround (Xionics). I have had my share of ups and downs. I was lucky enough to have three of these companies go public, one was acquired, and one initially succeeded, but then failed when I moved the company to the US. I often remark that I learned more from that one failure than I have from all of my successes.
Having seen how important it is to get help and support in the early days of creating my own
ventures, I am very passionate about helping entrepreneurs.
After 25 years as an entrepreneur, I became a venture capital partner at Matrix Partners, the firm that had backed my last two companies. I had worked with 15 different VC firms, and Matrix had clearly been my best partner, earning my strong loyalty with their support through some very tough times.
At Matrix we aim to be true partners. Our founders ultimately have to run their companies and make the tough calls. We’re there to support and do everything in our power to help them succeed.
As a VC investing in software and internet companies, I have had the very good fortune to invest alongside some spectacular management teams, including HubSpot, JBoss (acquired by Red Hat), AppIQ, Tabblo, Netezza, Diligent Technologies, CloudSwitch, TribeHR, GrabCAD, OpenSpan and Enservio which have all had successful exits. I currently serve on the boards of Apollo GraphQL, Atomist, CloudBees, Namely, and Salsify.
The articles I write for this site are another tool I enjoy providing entrepreneurs to help them start their companies. If you are looking for a great place to start, I would recommend the following page: Zero to 100, where you will find a collection of short videos and associated slide decks covering the most important startup lessons that I have learned over the years. You might also find the list of articles below useful . If you would like to contact me, please email me at: dskok (at) matrixpartners.com. I would enjoy hearing from you.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy. If you find value here, I’d appreciate you sharing with other entrepreneurs.
