The Entrepreneur's Perspective

Selecting a venture capital partner is one of an entrepreneur's most important decisions. As you consider various venture firms, it may be difficult to distinguish the “value-add” hype from the reality.

We have helped entrepreneurs build successful companies for 25 years. We have led and co-led hundreds of investments, varying from very early-stage seed investments to revenue-stage companies, in almost every segment of the technology and life sciences markets.

Atlas Venture has a track record of maximizing value for our investors and the founders and employees of our portfolio companies. We encourage you to talk to the founders and CEOs of our portfolio companies to learn exactly how we helped build the business.

So, what do we bring to the table besides capital?

True Partnership

Atlas Venture believes in a team-based approach. The best companies are built through an amalgamation of skill sets, rolodexes and personalities. During the diligence process your business is assigned a team consisting of Partners and other investment professionals. Our teams forge true partnerships and bonds of trust with our portfolio companies. These “social contracts” become more important than any formal investment agreements.

If we make an investment in your company, a principal team member will join your Board and the rest of the Atlas Venture team will continue to support your business and be available to help on any issue. Each Partner deals with only a manageable number of board positions at one time. This ensures that each portfolio company is working with an accessible and engaged Board member.

Team Building Expertise

Often, our most important contribution is helping you build your team. This could mean helping you find a CEO, VP of Engineering, Sales Director, or all of the above. We have a robust cadre of proven serial executives who regularly join our young portfolio companies as managers, board directors, and active advisors. Additionally, we have strong relationships with the top recruiters and maintain an extensive database of talented executives that is a frequent source for key hires.

Customers

A single high-profile customer or partner in a company’s early stages can be the difference between success and failure. We have access to decision-making executives at all of the major Fortune 500 technology companies like IBM, Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco, and Nokia, and life sciences companies such as Amgen, Genentech, GSK, Medtronic, Novartis, and Pfizer.

Decades of Experience

All of our Partners have helped create successful international businesses and we have a history of successfully expanding companies from one continent to another. Our Partners have served on the Boards of dozens of public and private companies. We know how to build businesses and fully understand the markets we serve. When we partner with the management of our portfolio companies to create a strategy, budget, or hiring plan, our contribution is based on decades of specific industry expertise.

Atlas Venture View

As an international firm with offices in the U.S. and Europe, we have unique areas of expertise beyond those typically found in domestic firms.

First, we are experts at bringing European companies to the U.S. if their market opportunity is significantly larger in America. We have taken European companies such as Business Objects, Globoforce and Kalido and launched U.S. operations, leveraging resources from our Boston office to facilitate the transition. For example, we helped Spotfire establish U.S. operations in Massachusetts and accelerated its entry into the pharmaceutical industry by working closely with our life sciences team to research the market requirements and provide key customer introductions. Read more in the Spotfire Case Study.

Second, we have a global view. Many of us have worked and invested abroad and we build and partner with international teams that are experienced in the increasing globalization of emerging technology and life sciences companies. Today many of our companies are active in Asia and India, and we are using our unique perspective to determine how to approach these markets from both an operational and investment standpoint.

Finally, our combined technology and life sciences practices can exploit select opportunities that bridge the gap between technology and life sciences. For example, Navimedix develops technology that connects physicians and hospitals with their healthcare partners for real-time, interactive communications. Phase Forward, a clinical data management provider, was also the result of the collaboration between our technology and life sciences practices. Read more in the Phase Forward Case Study.

Atlas Venture Investment Philosophy

We are typically the lead investor. We take significant stakes in seed and early-stage businesses with extraordinary talent, visionary leadership, and proprietary assets; and also invest in select late-stage opportunities. A typical investment ranges from $5 million to $25 million over the life of the company.

We focus on markets where we have the experience, knowledge and network to help build a market leader. In our technology practice, our team looks for businesses in components, systems, software, and services. In our life sciences practice our team looks for companies in pharmaceuticals, drug discovery and medical devices.

We develop and investigate investment theses to help us find the best entrepreneurs and the most promising businesses. Our team continuously researches investment spaces by studying underlying regulatory dislocations, economic changes and the shifting needs and desires of end customers.