Jed Katz

Jed Katz

Jed Katz is the Managing Director of Javelin Venture Partners. One of the pioneers of online commerce, Jed has spent his 20 year career developing, advising & investing in early stage tech ventures.

Others: www.javelinvp.com
San Francisco, California, United States
Accredited investor
Member since January 15, 2010
Quote
I've been a tech entrepreneur and investor my entire career. Javelin Venture Partners is actively investing in series A stage start-ups led by incredibly talented entrepreneurs with capital efficient, scalable business models. Quote_down
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Early stage VC
Typical investment size $1M - $2.5M
Typical investments in a year 8
Investments partners Noah Doyle, Alex Gurevich, Richard Mordini
Categories of interest
Locations of interest
Credentials Accredited Investor
Activity
Investments made Rixty, SmartAsset.com, Engrade, Drop.io, Overstat, Marketfish, Scout Labs, Netpulse, yap.TV, Queplix, BoostCTR, famo.us, oneforty, Altruik, WellnessFX, Sociable, Nexenta Systems, SmartZip, Spikes, Nuvon, Cynergen, Linqia, Omnitrol, XMobb, Powercloud, Emdigo
Education
1992 UCLA , BA , Biz-Econ
1996 UC Berkeley , MBA , Entrepreneurship

I am a(n):

Investor

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Rent Net
My favorite startups:

Too many to name

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The chicken & egg problem is the most frustrating. The constant "juice" is the most rewarding.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Running out of money!

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

When you realize you have a head start in a great category, speed up!
Raise money when you can - bring in more than you think you need.
Hire amazing people, get rid of anyone slowing you down or causing issues.

Full bio

Jed Katz, Managing Director, Javelin Venture Partners

One of the pioneers of Internet commerce, Jed has spent his career developing, advising and investing in early stage technology ventures. Prior to joining Javelin Venture Partners, Jed was a Managing Director of DFJ Gotham Ventures in New York. Prior to DFJ Gotham, Jed was the COO of Yamcon, the developer of the highly acclaimed “SkyScout”, one of the best selling astronomy products of all time. Prior to Yamcon, Jed was the COO and Founder of Rent Net, the Internet’s first rental and relocation guide. Rent Net achieved 95% market penetration, launching disruptive technology solutions that revolutionized the way real estate related advertising was done. It was acquired by Cendant, and three years later, Jed used its infrastructure as the starting point for the formation of Move.com, one of the Internet’s largest real estate sites. Move.com was acquired by Homestore for over $900 million.

Jed holds a B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA and an M.B.A. from The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded the Price Fellowship from the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, of which he is currently on the advisory board. He is currently Javelin’s board member for Boost Media, Famo.us, Linqia, Netpulse, SmartAsset, SmartZip, Thumbtack, Trumaker, and Weddington Way. Jed is also a board member of Connect2Compete, a non-profit dedicated to solving the digital divide.