Steve Bennet

Summary

Steve Bennet is founder and managing director of Bodega Partners and is an active participant in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem as start-up CFO, Angel Investor, and Professor. Over the past 30 years, he has been CFO, investor, and/or board member of over 150 technology start-ups, primarily in the software, Internet, and mobile sectors. CFO roles include Tripscout, VC Lab, Rollbar, WaterSmart Software (acquired by VertexOne), Xenio Systems, Qvivr, Callisto Media, Revel Systems, iControl Networks (acquired by Comcast), Appstores (acquired by InMobi), Greystripe (acquired by ValueClick), Fliqz (acquired by VBrick Systems), Valchemy (acquired by IBM), GolfWeb (acquired by CBS Sportsline), Orbital Data (acquired by Citrix), TextDigger (acquired by Federated Media), and Pharmacy TV Network (acquired by RMG Networks). Some of these resulted in excellent financial returns to founders and investors, while others did not. Steve has a passion for both entrepreneurship and education. He has taught entrepreneurial finance since 1995 and is currently adjunct faculty at San Jose State University. Previously, he was a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley. His focus is on experiential education and has developed new courses at SJSU, including the Entrepreneurship Lab (ELAB), Venture Lab (VLAB), Startup Founders and Funders, and the Silicon Valley Experience. At SJSU he has also been on the Steering Committee for the Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship, Patent Review Board, Dean’s Advisory Board and Chairman of the Spartan Angel Fund. He has also been a long time member of the UCLA Venture Capital Fund. He is also currently Board Chair at ScholarMatch, a non-profit that provides mentoring and scholarships to first generation low income students. Prior to and concurrent with Bodega, Steve was a Founding Partner at True Global Ventures, Partner at CrossCoin Ventures, Venture Partner at Outlook Ventures, Board Member of Sand Hill Angels, Partner at Menlo Incubator and held various financial and management positions at Bay Logics, Digital Microwave, and Arthur Andersen. Steve earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. He blogs at www.professorvc.com and tweets @ProfessorVC.