Shy of having a crystal ball to predict the future, venture capitalists have to rely on other skills to determine what companies to fund. With a decade of experience, Insight Partners Managing Director Thomas Krane knows how to spot innovative startups that are bringing a significant value-add to the market. Just as importantly, he’s also looking for CEOs that understand the market value and how to make their product profitable. Learn more about the next generation of software VC!
Tune in to learn:
- About How Insight Partners has grown in the last decade (08:43)
- Where the best innovation are in new startups for security, DevOps, or automation (15:09)
- How 10x is the standard improvement rate for NextGen Cybersecurity development (22:06)
- What factor is enabling the break-neck speed of tech innovation (28:22)
- About Thomas’ career hop from the astronomy lab to venture capital (34:14)
- Where Thomas looks to find the next big thing to invest in (39:40)
Mentions:
- “The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make With Cybersecurity—and How to Avoid Them” (article in The Wall Street Journal)
- Why Your Code is My Code with Sonatype’s Derek Weeks (prior podcast episode of IT Visionaries)
About the Guest:
“Thomas is a Managing Director on the investment team and joined the firm in 2012. His focus areas include cybersecurity, DevOps, IT automation and application software. Thomas also works closely with the Insight IGNITE program, leveraging his experiences on the investment team to drive thought leadership for Insight’s network of Global2000 CIOs, CISOs and technology leaders.
Thomas has spearheaded 30+ new standalone investments for Insight, many of which were opportunities that he sourced during his first few years as an analyst at the firm. Five of his investments have gone on to realize an IPO (Tenable, JFrog, Darktrace, 1stdibs, SentinelOne) and four have had successful strategic exits (Thycotic, Nearpod, Cylance, QASymphony).
Thomas studied Astrophysics at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and earned his Masters degree in four years. Thomas was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Venture Capitalist in 2019.
Outside of work, Thomas is known as the bass player for acclaimed NYC cover band The Petty Toms, which plays hits from The Beatles to Bruno Mars.”
IT Visionaries is brought to you by Salesforce Platform. If you love the thought leadership on this podcast, Salesforce has even more meaty IT thoughts to chew on. Take your company to the next level with in-depth research and trends right in your inbox. Subscribe to a newsletter tailored to your role at Salesforce.com/newsletter.
Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.
