Join us to listen to Michael Tam of Craft Ventures speak about Craft's investment thesis, current investment climate, startup advice and more. Company founders will have the opportunity to ask the investor questions at the end of the webinar.
Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview
Featuring Michael Tam of Craft Ventures
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020
12:00 - 1:15 pm
About Michael TamMichael is a principal at Craft on the investment team, based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Craft, he was an investor at Crosscut, where he led investments and participated on the boards of consumer and enterprise companies. As an operator, Michael managed Uber's business in Southern California markets and launched L., a direct to consumer brand acquired by Procter & Gamble. Michael began his career in venture at Bullpen Capital. Previously, he worked at BofA Merrill Lynch's tech investment banking group and began his career at PwC.
Michael serves on the investment committee of the USC Marshall Fund, which invests in startups in the Southern California tech ecosystem.
Building great companies is a craft that takes skill, tenacity and focus. The craft of entrepreneurship provides the namesake for their firm.
The partners at Craft have all built successful companies as former Founder/CEOs. They know that the entrepreneurial journey is a long and arduous one, because they have lived it themselves. This gives them a deep respect for founders and genuine empathy for their inevitable ups and downs.
Before founding Craft, they also participated in many other entrepreneurial journeys as angel investors. They invested in some of our generation’s most iconic companies including Affirm, Airbnb, Eventbrite, Facebook, Houzz, Slack, SpaceX, Tesla, Trulia, Twilio, Twitter, Uber, and Warby Parker.
About the Organizer of Investor 360
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Our mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of our Firm.
Register here for Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews featuring Michael Tam of Craft Ventures
Join us to listen to Michael Rotgin of Shelter Capital Partners speak about Shelter's investment thesis, current investment climate, startup advice and more. Company founders will have the opportunity to ask the investor questions at the end of the webinar.
Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview
Featuring Michael Rotgin of Shelter Capital
Wednesday, October 21st, 2020
12:00 - 1:15 pm
Michael Rotgin is a Partner at Shelter Capital focusing on venture capital investments.
Prior to joining Shelter Capital, Mr. Rotgin was a principal at Rolling Oaks Capital. Before joining Rolling Oaks, Mr. Rotgin practiced corporate law in New York and Washington, D.C. Michael has worked for several members of Congress, was a staff member to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and served as a team member of the economics cluster for a United States Presidential transition team.
He has served on the boards of directors of, and in advisory roles to, numerous companies, investment firms, and non-profit organizations. In his various capacities, Mr. Rotgin has assisted many developing and established companies in formulating and executing all types of business strategies in the areas of corporate operations, financial planning, executive recruitment, market development, corporate valuations, securing funds, mergers and acquisitions, and public and private offerings.
Mr. Rotgin has been an invited speaker and participant in venture capital industry symposia and has been a judge for university business plan competitions. Mr. Rotgin received a Bachelor of Science in economics with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Arts in history from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.
Shelter Capital Partners is a Southern California based private investment fund, focused on investments in technology and technology-enabled companies at all stages of development, principally in the education, workforce, healthcare and media industries. We also invest in other areas where market or technological changes are creating opportunities for new industry leaders.
About the Organizer of Investor 360
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Our mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of our Firm.
Register here for Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews featuring Michael Rotgin of Shelter Capital
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP client Atomico Ventures announced that it led the $51M investment round to EdTech veteran Knewton. Other investors included GSV Capital, as well as previous backers Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, First Round Capital, FirstMark Capital and Founders Fund, along with debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.
Knewton is an education technology company that personalizes digital courses so every student is engaged and no one slips through the cracks. As students progress through a Knewton-powered course, Knewton figures out what each student knows and how that student learns best, then recommends what to study next. Teachers use Knewton-powered predictive analytics to detect gaps in knowledge and differentiate instruction for each student.
Knewton plans on using the funds to expand its company into a global business, including adding 80-100 new employees to strengthen its existing data science and engineering teams, and moving into a new, larger headquarters in NYC.
To read the full press release on Tech Crunch, click here.
About Atomico Ventures
Atomico is a growth stage international investment firm, focused on helping the world’s most disruptive technology companies scale and reach their full potential globally. Founded by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype, they have become the investor of choice for ambitious entrepreneurs due to their experience of building global companies, unique international network, and ability to help companies operationally, with offices in London, Beijing, São Paulo, Istanbul and Tokyo.
For more information about our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice, contact Scott Alderton at (818) 444-4501 or