Steve Woda’s Blog – Page 17 – … Ecommerce, Internet Security, Economics, and Entrepreneurship

buySAFE update, and my new contact information

On May 1, 2009

Dear Friends,

Please excuse the impersonal nature of this note, but I wanted to make sure that each of you had my new contact information.

After
almost nine years of building buySAFE, I’ve wrapped up my time at the
company that I founded while in grad school at Wharton. I am leaving
buySAFE in very capable hands, with fresh funding, and the brightest
future that the company has ever had. It has been a quite a ride, and
I am pleased with what we accomplished. We made the Internet safer for
tens of millions of shoppers and more profitable for thousands of
ecommerce merchants; we developed new products and technologies now
licensed and utilized by some of the largest safety and security
companies in the world; and we had a lot of fun in the process. Here
is our official announcement… http://www.stevewoda.com/2009/03/thank-you-buysafe.html

It
has been a few weeks since my last day in the office, and the rest of
the buySAFE team has continued and will continue to do great work for
our customers and investors. I am confident that they will perform at
the same high level that buySAFE is known for. If you need to contact
anyone at buySAFE in the future, I suggest you touch base with Jeff
Grass, buySAFE’s CEO, at jgrass@buysafe.com or Tim Woda, buySAFE’s VP
of Biz Dev and Sales, at twoda@buysafe.com. I am quite sure they can
either assist you directly or point you to the person that will.

As
for me, I am stepping back, spreading my wings a bit, and looking for
new challenges. I am thinking about new venture ideas, consulting and
advising for a number of companies, and considering interesting
executive leadership opportunities. Of course, drop me a note if you
think I might be helpful with anything you are working on. I am always
willing to assist if I can.

My buySAFE email address and phone
are no longer actively monitored, so in the future, please use my new
contact information below (You can also download my updated Vcard). I
look forward to catching-up with you soon, and of course, I will keep
you up to date on my future adventures as well.

Best regards,
Steve

****************************
Steven L. Woda
202-321-5482
steve@swoda.com
http://www.stevewoda.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevewoda
http://twitter.com/stevewoda

Download Steve Woda’s VCard

Hot Streaks! How do they happen?

By stevewoda

On April 13, 2009

In Leadership, Steve Woda

I just arrived home from a terrific, extended, overdue vacation on the beach in Florida with my family. I really had a great time as I am sure you can imagine.

While there, I was practicing my putting stroke on the beach-side putting green when I suddenly starting knocking in every putt I looked at. Since I couldn’t seem to miss a putt, I grabbed my video camera to see if I could record a bit of my hot streak, and that is when the following video was taped…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_n1Jbcwspo&w=560&h=340]

Since we are on the subject of hot streaks, I want to recommend a book to you that I read while on vacation. Rosabeth Moss Kantor’s “Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End” is a fabulous read, and it is now one of my personal favorites. The book digs into the subject of how teams, organizations and people get on winning streaks or losing streaks. What separates the two?

My favorite observation from the book, because we all know it is true, is that “failure and success are not episodes, they are trajectories.” Doing the little things well, every day, breeds success. If you think success comes from a lucky lottery ticket, you will be a disappointed person in the long-run. As my childhood basketball idol, Dr. J, once said, “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.”

“Confidence” is an awesome book, and for every current or aspiring leader, it is a must read. Enjoy!

Thank you buySAFE!

By golf

On March 17, 2009

In buySAFE, Core Capital, eBay, eCommerce, Entrepreneurship, Grotech Capital, Steve Woda, Surety Bonds, The Hartford, Trust and Safety, Venture Capital, Web/Tech, Wharton

Today, I am starting a new chapter in my entrepreneurial story. It is with both a bit of sadness and a lot of excitement that I share with you the news that I have left buySAFE to pursue other start-up and entrepreneurial interests. In addition, I have joined buySAFE’s Board of Advisors so that I can continue to assist the company in whatever fashion is necessary. Click here to see buySAFE’s announcement on the buySAFE blog.

After almost nine years of building buySAFE, I am leaving the Company in very capable hands, with fresh funding, and the brightest future that the Company has ever had. It has been a deeply satisfying experience to create something valuable, and I want to sincerely thank our customers, our partners, my colleagues and the many investors who made buySAFE possible. I am obviously looking forward to my next adventure, but I am also very much looking forward to buySAFE’s continued success over the coming months and years.

I founded buySAFE after getting burned in an online transaction on eBay. As a student, I didn’t have any extra money to lose to ecommerce fraudsters, and so I decided that there had to be a better way to buy and sell products online. buySAFE was born!

This adventure started for me while I was earning my MBA at Wharton in 2000, and as with all start-ups, there have been huge successes and great challenges. For me, both have proven to be invaluable learning experiences.

Developing buySAFE’s early business/technology plan, acquiring our major financial institution and strategic partners (including two major strategic partners to be announced in the coming months), and raising our $30 million in venture capital financing were all challenges that I ultimately found to be great learning experiences. Over time, I was able to lead almost every aspect of buySAFE’s business operations, and all of these experiences were amazing for me personally and professionally. I plan to share with you many of the lessons I learned at buySAFE over the coming months.

Perhaps the thing I am most proud of at buySAFE is our team. Early on, I recruited Jeff Grass, Tim Woda, and Hans Dreyer to buySAFE. Today, Jeff is buySAFE’s CEO, Tim is the VP – Sales, and Hans is the VP – Operations. They are the core of our team even to this day. The rest of our team is amazing as well, and it has been a pleasure working with each and every one of them.

I never intended to spend almost a decade working on my Wharton class project, but along the way, buySAFE provided me with an amazing opportunity to make great friends, to learn important new skills, and to see that anything is possible with persistence and creativity. It also taught me that you can’t build a company by yourself.

Although I could never hope to name all of the folks that deserve my thanks, I wish I could. A few folks in particular – my wife, my brother, and buySAFE’s employees, customers, investors, and advisors – have all obviously been invaluable to both me and buySAFE. To all of you, thank you! I sincerely appreciate your investments in time, capital, expertise, and support. There would be no buySAFE without you.

As far as the next chapter in my entrepreneurial story, I am not ready to share the details quite yet, but please stay tuned. I will share my adventures with you here on my blog, so if you are interested, please make sure to subscribe using the form below.

Thank you buySAFE!

“Steve Woda, Founder and Chairman of buySAFE, Pursues New Entrepreneurial Ventures” on the buySAFE blog

“Founder of buySAFE, Steve Woda, Steps Down” on AuctionBytes.com

Zenoss Closes 2008 with 100 New Enterprise Customers & $15M in Financing

By stevewoda

On January 22, 2009

In Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

Zenoss Inc., the leading provider of commercial open source systems and network monitoring, today announced tremendous momentum through the end of 2008. In addition to astounding growth in commercial enterprise sales throughout the year, the company raised an additional $15 million of financing, was recognized with many awards including being named a finalist for a Jolt Award in the Enterprise Tools category and secured twice as many downloads as its nearest competitor in commercial open source IT management for 2008.

Zenoss added 110 new enterprise customers during the year, including Carlson Travel, Tyco Electronics, Cap Gemini, Formica and iStockphoto. Others, such as UTStarcom, Medifast, OpSource, OmniPresence, Broadcom, Johns Hopkins and Rackspace, renewed their annual subscriptions. Zenoss has gained the most traction in financial services, federal government, and among leading managed service providers where Zenoss management solutions are now routinely replacing traditional products from the “Big 4” systems management vendors (IBM, HP, BMC and CA).

As a result of this significant growth, Zenoss secured an additional $4 million in new financing from Silicon Valley Bank in December bringing the total raised to $15 million for the year and over $20 million cumulative. Other funding partners include top-tier venture capital firms Grotech Ventures, Intersouth Partners and Boulder Ventures.

Technorati Tags: Zenoss,Grotech Capital,Venture Capital

1 in 5 young employees want this more than money!

By golf

On January 20, 2009

In Entrepreneurship, Leadership

More money! That is obviously what you expect your employees to want the most, but it turns out that for many young employees, freedom is what matters most to them.

1 in 5 young employees say that the “freedom to use technology how they want while they’re at work” is the number one thing they want out of their jobs.

Sam Narisi wrote a nice article on this recently, and it is an interesting read.

These employees want access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. They want to use the favorite personal devices whether that be Blackberries, iPhones or their own laptops. They want to use the Internet for their personal business.

To be honest, I don’t think this is important only to young employees. I suspect that a large percentage of older employees would echo those thoughts. As you manage your teams, keep these needs in mind. It will inevitably help you lead more effectively if you can offer a work environment that caters to your employees and the things they hold most dear.

Shopping Advisor approved by Mozilla for Firefox

By stevewoda

On January 8, 2009

In buySAFE, Comparison Shopping, eBay, eCommerce, Portable Trust & Reputation Signals, Trust and Safety, Web/Tech

After two months of testing in Mozilla’s developmental sandbox,
Mozilla approved the buySAFE Shopping Advisor for public distribution
via the Firefox Add-on site starting this week.

If you aren’t already using Shopping Advisor with your Firefox
browser, you should install it as an add-on today. You can check it
out on the official Mozilla Firefox Add-on site here… https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9009

I am obviously excited about this big milestone, and as always, I hope you will continue to provide us with your feedback, insights and ideas on
Shopping Advisor over the coming weeks and months.

Have fun, and happy new year!

Steve

JackBe Fueled to Extend Market Leadership; Adds $5 million in Funding

By golf

On December 24, 2008

In Core Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

JackBe, the leading provider of enterprise mashup software, today announced that it has closed a $5 million round of funding and appointed software industry veteran Wayne Jackson as its new Chairman of the Board. The funding and appointment confirm JackBe's industry leadership and ready the company for continued growth and success through 2009 and beyond.

The $5 million funding was secured from existing investors including Harbert Venture Partners, Core Capital Partners, Blue Chip Venture Company, Intel Capital, and Darby Technology Ventures. The investment will be used by JackBe to expand sales, marketing, and partner activities worldwide.

Learn more >> JackBe Fueled to Extend Market Leadership; Adds $5 million in Funding and 25-year Industry Veteran as Chairman of the Board – MarketWatch

JackBe Lands $5 Million, Names Wayne Jackson as Chairman – Silicon Valley Wire

JackBe jacks another round with $5 million – Startup Meme Technology Blog

Technorati Tags: Core Capital,Venture Capital,Pascal Luck,JackBe

Do you get a passing grade?

By stevewoda

On December 20, 2008

In Steve Woda, Twitter

One of my favorite Twitter-related services is TwitterGrader. If your competitive (and who isn't?), TwitterGrader will give you a sense of how you are doing as a member of the Twitter community.

Here is my grade… http://twitter.grader.com/stevewoda

What's your Twitter Grade? 🙂

Dancing with First Round Capital

By golf

On December 19, 2008

In buySAFE, Core Capital, eBay, Entrepreneurship, First Round Capital, Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

First Round Capital’s 2008 Holiday Card (video) proves once again why every early-stage entrepreneur wants to find a way to meet with this terrific investor group. Check it out!

These guys are creative; they have been in the trenches themselves (multiple times!); they have been successful (multiple times!); and most of all, they like working with entrepreneurs because they are entrepreneurs.

I have had the pleasure of working with and knowing lots of technology investors, and along the way, I have learned a thing or two about who you want to try and work with (and what you want to avoid). These guys are good. Period. In addition, their holiday video is brilliant,
low-cost, and fun, and it highlights their strengths in an intangible,
yet powerful manner.

Let me share one quick story that illustrates why I like these guys so much. Although they won’t likely remember it, both Howard Morgan and Josh Kopelman provided me with a helping hand while I was trying to get buySAFE launched back in 2001. I was introduced to Howard via a mutual friend, John Tedesco, and Howard offered to meet with me in NYC and provide me with feedback on my business plan. At the time, the venture was called BondMyAuction. I was not ready for primetime, and yet, Howard spent two hours listening to me and coaching me on how I could improve my plan. Howard also introduced me to Josh Kopelman. At the time, Josh was an executive at eBay because he had recently sold his business, Half.com, to the ecommerce giant. For no reason other than to be helpful to me, Josh also spent almost two hours on the phone giving me feedback and advice on how to proceed.

I will be forever grateful for their assistance since I was no more than an aspiring entrepreneur with a paper napkin business plan. Their help was both gracious and inspiring. In many ways, they (along with a few others like them) gave me the extra motivation and confidence that I needed to stick it out through the inevitable challenges of getting a business launched. Since then, I have tried to return the favor with other aspiring entrepreneurs because of their good example (although I am quite sure that I could never be as helpful as they were for me).

Again, check out First Round Capital’s holiday video, and I think you will agree with me. These guys are authentic, and entrepreneurs clearly have good reason to want to work with them.

Nice job Howard and Josh! For everyone else, enjoy! http://holiday.firstround.com/

Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software

By stevewoda

On December 15, 2008

In Core Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

RoundBox, a provider of mobile broadcast software, announced on Monday that it has raised over $20 million in its third round of venture capital funding, led by Montagu Newhall Associates. Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation, and previous backers Core Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures also participated in the round, which will be used to invest in product development and customer delivery.

Learn more >> Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software – Digital Media Wire

Roundbox Secures Over $20 Million in Series C Financing

Technorati Tags: Core Capital,Roundbox,Venture Capital