ZO

Zack Onisko

Investing in buying wonderful businesses. Ex-CEO at Dribbble and Creative Market.

Alamo, California

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $1,000,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $2,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $1,000,000.00

Work Experience

  • Managing Director

    2024

    Enduring Ventures is a permanent equity holding company— we operate more like a family office than a typical private equity firm. We buy great companies with the goal of owning and growing them forever, focusing on values-driven leadership and long-term success. I lead our tech-focused, lower-middle-market M&A practice. Businesses in this space don’t often attract private equity buyers, struggle to hit IPO-level growth, and face fewer exit options. This creates great opportunities for us to partner with strong management teams and build long-term sustainable growth. We are a team of entrepreneurs turned investors and approach every potential deal founder-first. We can help founders/ management find creative exit solutions to recapture economic incentives in the businesses they started or operate. –– Do you know a founder in need of a creative exit? Earn a handsome finder’s fee (up to $250k) if we end up acquiring a business that you refer through our Scout Program: https://www.enduring.ventures/scout

2017 - 2024

  • Chief Executive Officer

    2017 - 2024

    We’re the world’s destination for design – where every year hundreds of millions of people use Dribbble brands to bring their creative ideas to life. Since I've become CEO of Dribbble… • Revenue is up 35x (Bootstrapped) • EBITDA is up 100x • Team has grown from 8 to 100+ (a fully remote team across the globe for over a decade) • User base is up from 500k to 20M (and now growing hundreds of thousands of newly registered users a month) • We’ve made 6 acquisitions (Previously sold Creative Market to Autodesk in 2014. Bought it back as a subsidiary of Dribbble in 2020). • We’ve had 5 consecutive years on the Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Company in America list (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) • We’ve built a really fun place to work. I’m passionate about work culture, building a world-class team, and having fun. 4.5 star Glassdoor review.

2020 - 2023

  • Chief Executive Officer

    2020 - 2023

    • Sourced, led due diligence, and closed the acquisition of Creative Market after they spun out of Autodesk. • Led the integration and turnaround of the business from burning -$3M annually to growing to $7M in EBITDA in just 3 years. • Led the acquisitions of Fontspring and FontSquirrel in 2022, integrating the team and business into Creative Market.

2015 - 2017

  • Vice President of Growth

    2015 - 2017

    Led a large growth team consisting of product managers, engineers, designers, marketers, and analysts focused on product and marketing initiatives to scale traffic, candidate and client acquisition, various engagement metrics, and ultimately revenue.

  • Vice President of Product (Interim)

    2016 - 2016

2014 - 2015

  • Head of Growth & Marketing; Marketplaces

    2014 - 2015

    Following the Autodesk acquisition of Creative Market, I led growth and marketing for Creative Market inside Autodesk's Consumer Group.

2012 - 2015

  • Chief Growth Officer

    2012 - 2015

    I joined the team weeks after launch as the first non-founding executive owning all things growth and marketing. In that time we grew monthly revenue from $25k to $1.7mm. Creative Market was acquired by Autodesk, February 2013.

2008 - 2013

  • Head of Growth, Founding Team Member

    2008 - 2013

    I was a founding team member of BranchOut, a recruitment network with over a billion professional connections. I led the team responsible for growing the user base 500% in less than 90 days, from 5mm to 25mm users. BranchOut raised $49 million in funding from Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Mayfield and more than a dozen of the best investors in Silicon Valley. BranchOut was acquired by 1-Page (ASX: 1PG) in 2014.

2008 - 2010

  • Head of Product, Founding Team Member

    2008 - 2010

    I was a founding team member and led product management and product design at SuperFan, a profitable social entertainment business that developed social games and Facebook apps. Our happy clients included CBS, MTV, Universal Music, Warner Music, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Weezer, etc. SuperFan pivoted to become BranchOut.

  • Product Manager

    2005 - 2008

    Tickle operated as a profitable company with almost $40 million of revenue. In 2002, the Company experienced tremendous growth and won the "Rising Star" Webby Award as the fastest growing website on the Internet and soon entered the Media Metrix top 20 websites in the world with 200 million registered members. Tickle was successfully acquired by Monster Worldwide for over $100 million.

  • Product Designer

    2003 - 2008

1999 - 2003

  • Designer

    1999 - 2003