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Jon Sakoda

Founder at Decibel Partners

Menlo Park, California

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $1,000,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $10,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $2,500,000.00

Skills

Venture Capital
Entrepreneurship
Private Equity
Investments
Start-ups
Corporate Development
Management
Mergers
SaaS
Strategic Partnerships
Due Diligence
Product Management
Cloud Computing
Analytics
Business Alliances
Go-to-market Strategy
Leadership
Business Development
Enterprise Software
Big Data

Education

Work Experience

  • Founder

    2018

    Decibel is an independent venture capital firm created in partnership with Cisco to push the conventional boundaries of early stage investing. Decibel combines the speed, agility, and independent risk-taking traditionally found in the best venture firms, while offering differentiated access to the scale, entrepreneurial talent, and deep customer relationships found in one of the largest tech companies in the world. This approach is an industry first and provides a unique way for entrepreneurs to get access to unparalleled resources at a time and stage when they need it most.

  • General Partner

    2006 - 2018

    I joined NEA in 2006 and led investments in early stage start-ups in the B2B software and consumer Internet sectors while at the firm. I managed the firm's investments in Aera, BlueJeans Network (acquired by Verizon), ChannelAdvisor (NYSE: ECOM), DataVisor, Elastic (NYSE: ESTC, acquired Swiftype), HackerOne, Hearsay Systems, MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Opower (NYSE: OPWR, acquired by Oracle), ScienceLogic, Snap (NYSE: SNAP), ThirdLove, and Uber (NYSE: UBER).

IMlogic (acquired by Symantec)

2001 - 2006

  • CTO and Co-Founder

    2001 - 2006

    I co-founded the market leader for instant messaging and P2P security and compliance. As CTO, I ran product, marketing, and business development and recruited a world-class executive team. IMlogic was acquired by Symantec in 2006 and was backed by Venrock Associates, General Catalyst, Kodiak Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, and Goldman Sachs.

1999 - 2001

  • Analyst

    1999 - 2001

    I was an analyst in the Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group. I focused on internet, software, and communications investments.