Alder Growth Partners (AGP) is excited to support Pivot Freight via a small seed investment. Per their website: Pivot Freight provides mid-market companies with a centralized platform for shipping LTL freight. They help reduce costs through increased efficiency, carrier augmentation and statistical data analysis – all delivered automatically and dynamically. Steve Semelsberger, Founder of AGP, got to know the Pivot Freight founding team during their participation in the Techstars Austin 2014 accelerator program (Steve is a Techstars mentor). He was impressed by the founders from the beginning. The team's hiring of exceptional CEO Rob Taylor, announced today, and oversubscribed seed funding round, further demonstrate their potential. AGP is honored to be a small part of the Pivot Freight start-up journey.
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As the year draws to a close, I wanted to personally say thank you to each and every one of the myriad of Alder Growth Partners' friends. What started early in the year as an experiment has grown to feel like a movement. And we wouldn't be anywhere without your input, votes of confidence, challenges and ultimate support. It's truly humbling to think of the 26 organizations that have given us a chance to provide capital, consulting and/or advisory services in 2014. Each of you placed a bet on our burgeoning concept and suite of services. And we're forever grateful for your early, first year work with us. We can't thank you enough! Looking ahead to 2015, we see continued growth -- both for us and for you -- on the horizon. Our frameworks continue to improve through real-world implementations. Our approaches deepen through the wisdom of passing time. Further, our perspectives on what to avoid broaden as we constantly learn what doesn't work via rapid, iterative efforts at innovation. With a relatively healthy macro environment and strong optimism in key technology sectors, 2015 is a great time to pursue additional growth -- both for your team as well as your business. And we're looking forward to providing a bit of leveraged assistance along the way! Thanks, Steve Semelsberger Founder Alder Growth Partners 12/1/14, Austin, TX. Today, Alder Growth Partners announced that it has participated in the seed round of Experiment Engine. Experiment Engine provides a SaaS conversion optimization platform powered by human expertise. “Via mentorship time during the Techstars program, I got to know Experiment Engine Cofounders Claire Vo and EJ Lawless well,” stated Steve Semelsberger, Founder of Alder Growth Partners. “From the onset, I’ve been consistently impressed with their expertise and execution. And I am a big believer in the market they’re addressing. Overall, I’m thrilled to continue to support them.” “Steve Semelsberger of Alder Growth Partners has been closely involved in Experiment Engine’s journey from the beginning of the Techstars program,” said Claire Vo, Cofounder & CEO of Experiment Engine. “He’s rolled up his sleeves and helped us with multiple strategic and tactical growth levers.” Other participants in the $1M seed round for Experiment Engine include Mercury Fund and Founders Collective. To learn more about Experiment Engine, please view their Techstars presentation (introduced by Steve Semelsberger) and visit their website. Alder Growth Partners is a virtual, distributed network of experts. With deep skills covering product, markets, sales, corp. dev., engineering, SEM, and more, our collection of industry leaders is equipped to help you grow. We've recently expanded our network to 14 individual practitioners and recommended, complementary firms. If you haven't checked us out lately, you can learn more about the team here. And if you'd like to explore joining the AGP network, please contact us. Today, Apptive announced that Steve Semelsberger, Founder of Alder Growth Partners, has joined their board of directors. Apptive provides a platform to enable easy mobile apps for e-commerce providers. Here's Steve's quote: "I've known and worked with members of the Apptive founding team for more than seven years," said Semelsberger. "Along with deep fondness and respect for their innovation and execution, I love Apptive's current focus on e-commerce. I'm honored to join the board and excited to help with various growth initiatives." The press release, along with more information on Apptive, is available on their website. Joust is an addictive and innovative social competition platform. Embedded into sites like ESPN's X Games, and offered via a standalone digital experience, Joust connects users with content and their friends through fun challenges, contests, polls, surveys, predictions and competitions about virtually anything. For example, checkout the Winter X Games on-air video highlight reel. Very cool to hear athletes and ESPN personalities getting in to Joust. We're proud and honored to have made an investment in Joust. A key aspect of our investment thesis is the Joust team, including revenue & market guru Amos Schwartzfarb (BlackLocus, Business.com, Yahoo!, etc.) and established entrepreneur Tim Gray (IdeaLab, WeddingChannel, etc.). Amos, Tim and their organization are smart, experienced, and dialed-in. They think really big, plus they are pragmatic, understanding key levers to utilize at different growth stages. And they're good guys who are a ton of fun to work with to boot. Further, based on growth trajectories that we've seen at companies like Pluck and CoveritLive, we're believers in the power of embedded, branded media experiences and the acceleration potential of social, especially in high-passion segments like sports. While there are many ways for folks to challenge one another and/or participate more closely in events that they care about, we think that Joust has breakout potential. Thanks to Tim, Amos and the team for the opportunity to offer a small bit of capital and relational fuel to Joust! June 12, 2014, Austin, TX, USA. Today, we are unveiling Alder Growth Partners. "AGP" provides advisory services, seed capital and boutique consulting to tech-centric businesses of all sizes. Simply put, we help other companies get bigger.
At launch, we're thrilled by, and appreciative of, our amazing group of clients (including Spiceworks, the Linux Foundation and OutboundEngine) and portfolio investment companies (including Banter, Circle Media and Testlio). Further, we are actively expanding in all areas -- new clients, direct investments and extended partners -- both in Austin and where we have presence and/or experience (like San Francisco, Colorado, New York and London). If you're inclined, we'd very much appreciate it if you'd follow us on LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and/or follow us on Twitter. If you're at all curious about our name, please check out our post. And please Contact Us if you have any questions or feedback. We'd love to hear from you. Given that Alder isn't a common name in the United States, where a good deal of our initial client base is, many might wonder why we chose it. And what does "Growth Partners" mean? First, a bit of a primer on Alder. The Alder tree is a member of the birch family. It's often a symbol of strength, invigoration, protection, support and empowerment. The Alder was sacred to the Druids. In the Welch legend, Bran carried Alder branches. Alder wood, when cut, can turn from white to red. Given the beauty of its tone and appearance, it is one of the woods used to make Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars. The Alder tree is resilient to water and grows well near streams and in marshes. Most of the pilings that provide foundational support to structures in Venice are made from Alder. Alder has a symbiotic relationship with Frankia alni, a nitrogen-fixing bacterium. Based on the relationship, Alder is a pioneer tree, improving soil conditions and providing additional nitrogen for other species to follow. Given the mission of Alder Growth Partners of helping companies get bigger, Alder felt like the perfect name. It's strength, versatility, beauty and pioneering capabilities all felt like great proxies for our quest. So, then what about the Growth Partners piece? Well, we focus maniacally on key growth metrics for businesses, including revenue, bookings, renewals/churn, LTV and CAC. We're not pencil pushers nor process-for-process-sake folks. We exist to help companies expand. Also, we're both a partnership as well as a partnering organization; in other words, our crew collaborates with our clients to produce results. And like the Alder-Frankia relationship (bear with us as hopefully we're not stretching this stuff too far), our approaches are symbiotic. One other point of clarification: in certain financial sectors a "growth-stage" company can have a very specific meaning. We're not that literal. We understand that growth is pivotal at all stages of a business (which is why you see us working with companies of 4 to firms of 4,000+ employees). Through the site, you'll see us use the name "AGP" as short hand. And props to the NetMen agency out of Buenos Aires, Argentina for the design of our logo. We hope that you like the name and design. And we hope you've had fun learning at least a few new facts about Alder wood. Thanks for letting us indulge our tree-head tendencies here. And we very much appreciate your support as we strive to use the inspirational aspects of the Alder tree to build our company. |
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