From Day One, Gil Beyda has been engaged in the field of technology and has been nothing but successful.
He began with a BS in computer science from the California State University at Northridge, and before even completing his degree, he launched his first company in 1982, Mind Games, which designed games for the original Apple II. Shortly after graduating, he continued his studies and earned his MBA at the same university in 1991.
Combining his technology background with the entrepreneurial experience he had under his belt, Beyda went on to found a few more companies. He first started with a software consulting firm with Fortune 100 clients across the globe and then founded Real Media in 1995, the first online ad network and ad server company. It was acquired in 2001 by 24/7 Real Media (now 24/7 Media). Beyda continued to enhance online advertising with the founding of TACODA, the first and largest behavioral targeting ad network, where he was also CTO. This company was acquired in 2007 by AOL for $275 million.
After one successful acquisition after another, Beyda turned to venture capitalism and founded Genacast Ventures in 2008 in partnership with Comcast Ventures, a venture firm with investments as high as $1 million in “technology-centric Internet startups in the northeastern US,” including the well-known Invite Media, which was acquired by Google for $81 million.
Today, Beyda maintains his position as managing partner of Genacast Ventures and continues to invest in innovative technology to solve today’s hard problems.
VC Firm: Founder and Managing Partner at Genacast Ventures (Founded 2008)
Sector Focus: Digital Media, e-Commerce, Enterprise IT, Mobile, Online Advertising, Security, Software as a Service (SaaS), Video
Selected Investments: Invite Media, Divide, Mortar Data, YieldMo, Rocketrip, DoubleVerify, Demdex, PackLate.com, ZeroFOX, LeadiD
Winners:
Demdex (acquired by Adobe for $58 million)
Invite Media (acquired by Google for $81 million)
Boards:
DoubleVerify
Divide
Invite Media
Rocketrip
Demdex
Packlate.com
Mortar Data
LeadiD
YieldMo
Expertise Areas: Startups, Seed Funding, Technology, Internet, Big Data, Mobile
Blogs, Twitter, and Websites:
Twitter
Company Website
LinkedIn
Memorable Quotes:
On discussing the difference in startups on the east and west coasts: “I’ll give a bit of an exaggeration. I think the companies on the west coast honor the engineer. On the east coast, we sort of honor the businesspeople, the MBAs. I think there’s room for both, and I think we need to each learn from the other.”
On if there is a bubble for too much money chasing too few ideas: “There is a bubble, but maybe not where you think it is. I’m of the view that we should fund all of these ideas. Let a thousand flowers bloom. Let them get tested in the market, and let the market decide really which is a good idea or not. But I think where we’re seeing some sort of tension is on the talent side. There’s a fixed amount of talent.”
