Podcast appearances and mentions of michael skok

Episode 326 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Dries Buytaert, Founder and Project Lead of Drupal and Co-Founder, CTO, and Chief Strategy Officer of Acquia. Many of the most successful companies in tech were created by founders who built something that was to fill their own need. This was certainly the case for Dries, who back in 2000, started an internal online message board for his friends from his dorm room in Belgium which turned into Drupal. Fast forward to today, Drupal powers 2% of all websites in the world and over 10,000 people contribute to the Drupal open source project every year. In addition to running one of the most successful open source projects, Dries went on to build Acquia, along with his Co-Founder & the company's first CEO, Jay Batson and early investor - Michael Skok. Acquia's innovative business model has been a blueprint for other open source companies. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The details of the Drupal community and what are the right ingredients for building a successful community. * Dries' background story growing up in Belgium, how he developed a passion for technology, and the full story of how Drupal came to fruition. * Drupal's growth and momentum, plus a great story of how the community stepped in to help fund this open source initiative. * The early days of Acquia in terms of figuring out the business model and then scaling the company under Tom Erickson's leadership. * The current state of the state of Acquia as a Digital Experience Platform. * Why entrepreneurship is 80% sales and marketing, even as an engineer. * And so much more.

Michael Skok currently acts as a Founding Partner at Underscore VC. A serial entrepreneur turned investor, he also engages in mentoring, coaching and learning through numerous channels, specifically as an ‘Entrepreneur in Residence' at Harvard Business School and through his Startup Secrets work. Throughout Michael's life, he has engaged in numerous experiences and worked with a variety of startups. Michael's main field of focus lies on breakthrough technologies and disruptive business models such as Saas, Cloud, Open Source and Blockchain. Throughout this interview, we will explore these amazing experiences and see what the youth can take away from them.

Guest Michael Skok started his first software business as a teenager, spent 21 years as an entrepreneur and then the past 15 years as a venture investor. The Underscore VC cofounder has founded, worked with and invested in startups, and created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of value. Along the way, he also mentored and taught for 4 years at Harvard University, and created the Startup Secrets series. As an entrepreneur and an investor, Skok has focused on breakthrough technologies and disruptive business models including Open Source, Cloud, IoT, and emerging domains such as Blockchain, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. He has served on or is active on many private and public boards such as Acquia, Demandware (now a Salesforce company), Mautic, Salsify and Zaius. He has also participated in leadership roles in many industry groups such as the Software Publishers Association where he was Chairman for many years in Europe. In 2015, Skok co-founded Underscore VC, which has built a reputation as an active investor aligning talent from its Underscore Core Community with startups. Discover more Boston Speaks Up at Boston Business Journal's BostInno: www.americaninno.com/boston/boston-speaks-up/

Michael Skok is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School and co-founder of Underscore VC. At the Innovation Roundtable® Summit 2016, he sat down with us to discuss entrepreneurial processes within established firms, collaborating with startups, and corporate venturing.

This week on DisrupTV, we interviewed Michael Skok, Founding Partner & Co-Founder at Underscore VC, Richard Dulude, Principal & Investment Manager at Underscore VC, Karla Friede, CEO & CO-Founder at Nvoicepay, Heather Clancy, Editorial Director at GreenBiz Group, and Christopher Lochhead, Host at Legends & Losers Podcast. DisrupTV is a weekly Web series with hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar. The show airs live at 11:00 a.m. PT/ 2:00 p.m. ET every Friday. Brought to you by Constellation Executive Network: constellationr.com/CEN.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

The Startup Secrets lecture series is available with accompanying videos at www.startupsecrets.com. The lectures were delivered at Harvard University's iLab by Michael Skok, a renowned and successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist. In the series, Michael expounds on critical elements of a sound startup, from thinking through the problem, to sales/marketing/branding, building a company culture and hiring A+ talent.

Michael Skok is a Founding Partner @ Underscore VC. Michael started his first software business as a teenager, spent 21 years as an entrepreneur where he founded and recruited teams that attracted over $100m in private equity for investments in multiple software companies. Over the last 13 years as a venture investor. Along the way, he also mentored and taught for 4 years at Harvard as an EIR at Harvard Business School, and spent a year interviewing entrepreneurs on a “listening tour” before founding _Underscore.VC. Michael also started the most incredible education series, 'Startup Secrets', in collaboration with Harvard iLab, check it out here.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Michael made his way into the wonderful world of VC with Underscore? 2.) From Michael's listening tour, what did he discover that entrepreneurs wanted in an investor? 3.) How did Michael present the innovative model of Underscore to prospective LPs? What was their response? What did Michael look for in the LPs he selected? 4.) What does Michael mean when he says you have to create minimum viable segments? 5.) How does Michael view market creation? What his framework for this? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Michael’s Fave Book: Daemon Michael's Fave Blog: Mattermark Michael’s Most Recent Investment: Mautic As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Michael on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.ukand enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also atcooleygo.com.

Michael Skok (ex-North Bridge Venture Partners) and John Pearce (former CEO of Demandware)join me to talk about their new firm, _Underscore.VC https://underscore.vc/about Follow Underscore: twitter.com/underscoreVC Follow Tech In Boston: twitter.com/techinboston

Brook Colangelo is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Michael Skok has been a Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners since 2002.