To say that Bo Peabody is a successful would be an understatement.
Throughout his career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Peabody has been involved in the founding of an impressive number of successful startups.
It all started in his college dorm room at Williams College, where he would graduate with his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. It was there that he came up with the idea for and founded Tripod, Inc., one of the first social networks. He then sold it to Lycos, and made a fortune on Lycos stock.
Peabody would move on to co-found Everyday Health in 1998, Village Ventures in 1999, VoodooVox in 2000, Healthguru Media in 2004 and UplayMe in 2006.
Peabody is extremely knowledgeable about consumer-related businesses, and has made many investments in companies such as the Tech Media Network, Quirky, Pump Audio and DigiSynd. He also co-owns the Mezze Restaurant Group, a hospitality group consisting of two award-winning restaurants.
He has received several prestigious honors and awards throughout the years, has been featured in major business and consumer publications and is presently a Trustee of the Academy at Charlemont.
Peabody is also an accomplished author, having written “Lucky Or Smart?” for aspiring entrepreneurs.
He currently resides in New York City and is a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners and the Co-founder of Village Ventures.
VC Firm:
Greycroft Partners– Venture Partner
Village Ventures – Co-founder, Managing General Partner
Companies:
Tripod, Inc. – Founder, CEO
Everyday Health (Streetmail) – Co-founder, Chairman
VoodooVox – Co-founder
Healthguru Media – Co-founder, Chairman
UplayMe – Co-founder
Mezze Restaurant Group – Co-owner
Lycos, Inc. – Vice President of Network Strategy
Sector Focus:
Finance, Private Equity, Real estate, Hospitality
Selected Investments:
Tech Media Network
Quirky
Pump Audio
DigiSynd
Stylecaster
Babble
Mixaloo
WochIt
BetterCloud
Sulia
Parent Media
Board member:
StyleCaster (fka: Makeover Solutions, Inc.)
Tech Media Network (fka: Top Ten Reviews, Inc.)
Parent Media
SimpleReach
Wochit
Sulia
Expertise areas:
Financial services, private equity, real estate, hospitality, media, investments, startups, corporate finance, business development, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, venture capital.
Websites & Social Media:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Company website
Memorable Quotes:
On what kind of advice to give to entrepreneurs pitching investors about their business models: “Entrepreneurship is like a video game…you need to know what the levels are and then reach each one before going on to the next.”
On which particular business model he prefers to invest in: “At Village Ventures, we prefer to invest in business models that are tackling mature markets. We’d rather bet on our ability to back the right team that can knock off existing competition than bet on our ability to see around corners. For instance, this is why we invest in vertical publishers in the interactive media space, rather than social media companies.”
On whether he was smart or lucky: “I was smart enough to realize I was getting lucky.”
