Profile

Jason Pressman

Jason Pressman focuses on investment opportunities in the technology-enabled services and software sectors for Shasta Ventures. Prior to joining Shasta Ventures, he was an early employee at Walmart.com, a venture-backed start-up where he was vice president of strategy, business development and operations. In that role, Jason helped build the business into one of the leading commerce sites on the web.

Jason’s current areas of active interest include advertising platforms and technology, cloud computing, online consumer services and SaaS.

Prior to Walmart.com, Jason worked at Alex. Brown in investment banking where he advised venture-backed start-ups on financings and merger and acquisitions.

Jason earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Maryland.

When I meet with entrepreneurs for the first time I want to hear about how they think about the challenges they’re facing or are going to face, not to see if they know the answers—no one has the right answers at this stage of the game—but to see how they think about things and if they’re iterative.  I like to back people who iterate relentlessly.  I also seek to understand a team’s passion for their customers as I believe that maniacal customer focus is core to successful businesses. 

In terms of working with companies, I view myself as a service provider to the entrepreneur and I love having the opportunity to help them solve problems in real time. The CEOs of companies I’m involved with call me at all times of the day to talk about all sorts of things including strategic issues, recruiting matters, business development and sometimes, just to vent.  I like helping evaluate what’s not working and how you can improve it and make it better and genuinely being a thought partner.

For me this job is about working hard for the companies in our portfolio—whether it’s my investment or one of my partner’s—and being collaborative in that process.

On a personal note, I can’t think of a better way to spend my free time than scuba diving with sharks. They are some of the most incredible and most misunderstood animals in the world. Given that, it might not surprise you that I have 700 gallons of saltwater fish tanks in my house that I designed and helped build.

Title

  • Managing Director

Expertise

  • Consumer Services
  • Ecommerce
  • Software

Contact Info

"THIS JOB IS ABOUT WORKING HARD FOR OUR PORTFOLIO COMPANIES."

Current Investments

Selected Prior Investments


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