SteveAfter growing up in the Bronx and Lido Beach, NY, and going to two frigid northeastern colleges, I got the “tech bug” and moved to the SF Bay Area in 1993. Since then, I’ve enjoyed a long career in investment banking, venture capital, and angel investing.

Before my current role as an angel investor, I was a Managing General Partner with Walden Venture Capital from 1997 until mid-2008. At Walden, I was responsible for building the firm’s digital media and technology practice. During that period, I led successful investments and exits in many companies, such as AdKnowledge (acquired by CMGI for $250 million), BlueLithium (acquired by Yahoo! for $300 million), Cybertrust, (acquired by Verizon for $450 million) and DigitalThink (DTHK, which attained a market capitalization in excess of $2 billion before selling to Convergys). Walden was also the first institutional investor in Pandora, a revolutionary music service used by more than 70 million listeners each month; Pandora went public in 2011 and enjoys a multi-billion dollar valuation. All told, I was responsible for raising two funds from both institutional and strategic investors totaling more than $300 million.

I joined Walden from Alex. Brown & Sons, where I worked for seven years as a Managing Director and founder of Alex. Brown’s New Media Group. At Alex. Brown, I was directly involved in financing and sponsoring a wide range of media technology companies. In addition to leading America Online’s IPO, Alex. Brown handled the public offerings and private placements of Apollo Group (University of Phoenix), BBN, Broderbund Software, CBT Systems/SmartForce, Creative Technology, Electronic Arts, GartnerGroup, Gemstar International, InfoSeek, Lycos, Macromedia, and Sylvan Learning Systems, among others. In both 1995 and 1996, I was selected by The Wall Street Journal as an All-Star software analyst and stock picker, ranking #1 in 1995 (with a 90%+ return) and #5 in 1996 (with a 130% return).

From 1985 through 1990, I was an IBM marketing representative, selling the complete line of IBM hardware, software, and services to major Wall Street accounts. These accounts generated yearly revenue of $100 million, and I led and coordinated teams of up to 40 people providing 24×7 support.

On the personal side, I graduated cum laude with a BS in Applied Math from Union College in 1983 and received my MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College in 1985. I live in Hillsborough with my wife, Tracy, and my three children – Alexis, Barrett, and Zachary.

During the past two winters, I have taught a class at Stanford entitled The Financial Underpinnings of a Startup, which gives aspiring entrepreneurs the tools to model their startups.