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Kevin O'Connor
Partner at ScOp Venture Capital and seasoned entrepreneur
Kevin O'Connor is a prominent entrepreneur and venture capitalist with over 35 years of experience in the technology industry. He is currently a Partner at ScOp Venture Capital, a firm he founded in Santa Barbara, California.1
Career Highlights
Entrepreneurial Ventures::
- Founder and CEO of DoubleClick, a major internet advertising technology company acquired by Google in 2007 for $3.1 billion.14
- Founder and CEO of Graphiq, a data aggregation and visualization company acquired by Amazon in 2017.14
- Co-founder of Intercomputer Communications Corporation (ICC), which was acquired by DCA in 1992.1
Venture Capital Experience::
- Founder of O'Connor Ventures, providing seed capital to technology companies in Southern California from 2001 to 2021.1
- Currently Managing Partner at ScOp Venture Capital, focusing on scalable opportunities in technology.23
Investment Approach
At ScOp Venture Capital, O'Connor typically invests in:
- Companies with at least $500k in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) or marketplaces with $500k+ in annualized net revenue.3
- Rounds ranging from $500K to $3M, with a sweet spot around $1.3M.2
- Sectors including SaaS, AI, Marketplaces, Enterprise Applications, and SMB Software.2
Background and Education
- Born on April 4, 1961, in Livonia, Michigan.5
- Graduated from the University of Michigan with a BSEE in Electrical Engineering (1979-1983).1
Notable Achievements
- Author of "The Map of Innovation: Creating Something Out of Nothing" (2003).5
- Served on four public company boards and numerous private company boards.4
- Instrumental in the growth and success of companies like Internet Security Systems, which was acquired by IBM for $1.3 billion.4
Kevin O'Connor's extensive experience as both an entrepreneur and investor gives him a unique perspective in the venture capital world, allowing him to provide valuable insights and support to the companies he invests in.
Highlights
I’m often asked for career advice. People think linearly: I get my degree, work for two years, return and get my MBA, etc. I like to challenge people to think non-linearly if they want to be massively successful. Here are the four career tips I give people:
Guava, one of our investments, is a free app aggregating ALL your healthcare data in one place. They pull data from your consumer and commercial devices and over 50,000 healthcare providers (physicians, hospitals, blood labs, etc.). You can have a comprehensive view of all of your health data. They added a cool feature called "Insights" that looks for correlations between factors, like how the number of steps impacts sleep. Check it out:
