Scott Russell

Founder and Managing Director at eCarnegieTech

San Francisco, California, United States

About

Over 30 years of venture capital, technology operating and international experience. Over his career, Scott has successfully helped raise seven venture funds and invest over $2.5BN in technology startups. In 1996, he co-founded SOFTBANK Technology Ventures (aka Mobius). A General Partner & MD, Scott invested in over 40 software, financial services & Internet companies. Notable investments include Supportsoft (NASDAQ: SPRT); E*Loan (EELN); Buy.com (BUYX); Prio (acquired by Infospace); Invesmart (StanCorp Financial); Finaplex (Broadridge); Evant (Manhattan Associates), Personalogic (AOL), Sofi and Redzone Robotics. Scott's other portfolio involvement included E*Trade (NASDAQ: ET), Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), Intertrust (acquired by Sony), Multex (Reuters) & Zip2 (Compaq). In 2002, helped co-found Carnegie Mellon's (CMU) Silicon Valley campus along with Jim Morris (CS Dean), Raj Reddy (CS Dean), Steve Wozniak (Apple founder), Ray Lane (KPCB), Gordon Moore (Intel), Eric Schmidt (Google), Chuck Geschke (Adobe), Gordan Bell (DEC), Andy Bechtolsheim (SunMicro), Ed Frank (Broadcom), David Coulter (CEO Bank of America), Sunil Wadhwani, Drew Perkins, Scott Dietzen (WebLogic), Adam Beguelin (co-founder Truveo) and more. The campus offers PhD & master degrees in software engineering. Scott is an adjunct professor; teaching & mentoring engineers on how to commercialize their intellectual property. In 2004, joined Diamondhead Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm as a General Partner. In 2007, Scott created eCarnegieTech to more formally advise, mentor, incubate, co-found & invest in enterprise software startups. Prior to his career in Venture Capital, Scott spent 14 years managing corporate technology for Swiss Bank, SG Warburg, Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan. Scott has been both a major purchaser of technology as well as the manager of numerous large software development teams. Scott is a member of CMU's School of Computer Science Dean's Advisory Board and an advisor to the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper Business School. Holds a BS in Computer Science from CMU and completed the SG Warburg sponsored Advanced Development Program at the London Business School. Scott has worked and lived in Manhattan, Silicon Valley, Japan, UK, China & Canada. Enjoys cycling, tennis & skiing.

Experience

  • Founder and Managing Director at eCarnegieTech
    Jan 2007 - Dec 2019 · 13 yrs

    Offer Startup Advisory services to enterprise software startups focused on selling to the financial service industry. Areas of expertise include: AI/ML, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Blockchain, BigData Analytics. Provide CEO/Founder with advice on: - Product/Market Fit - Market Discovery/ First Customer - Minimum Viable Product - Recruiting: Advisory Board, Customer Counsel, Strategic Angels, Early stage key executives - Sales/Marketing Strategy - Fund Raising Experience Operating: MD I.T. SBC Warburg, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Venture Capital: Co-founder SOFTBANK Technology Ventures, Diamondhead Ventures Angel Investor/Advisor Investor: E*Trade (IPO), Verisign (IPO) Investor/BOD: Support.com (IPO); Founded by Mark Pincus Investor/BOD: E-Loan(IPO); Founded by Chris Larsen Investor/Advisor: Prosper; founded by Chris Larsen Investor/Advisor: Sofi; founded by Mike Cagney Investor/BOD: Finaplex (sold); founded by Mike Cagney Investor/Advisor: Zip2 (sold to Compaq); founded by Elon Musk Investor/BOD: Buy.com (IPO) Investor/Advisor: Softbank China Venture Capital Investor/Advisor: Silicon Valley Bancshares Fund 1 Investor/Advisor: Technology Partners Fund Investor: Geocities (sold to Yahoo!), Prio (Infospace), Finaplex (Broadridge), Invesmart (StanCorp Financial), Evant (Manhattan Associates), PersonalLogic (AOL), ATG (IPO), Redzone Robotics (sold), Intertrust (Sony), Multex (Reuters), USWeb (IPO), Co-investors: Sequoia, Benchmark, Accel, Menlo, DFJ, Flatiron, Bessemer, General Atlantic, Canaan, RRE, Trinity, Technology Partners, Bowman Capital, InvestorAB, Invesco

  • Carnegie Mellon University (12 yrs 11 mos)
    • Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
      2008 - Nov 2019 · 11 yrs 11 mos

      Advisory Board Member and Startup Advisor/Mentor

    • Adjunct Professor
      Jan 2007 - Dec 2012 · 6 yrs

      Teach Software Engineering & Entrepreneurship Notable student: Momchil Kyurkchiev, CEO & Founder of LeanPlum

    • School of Computer Science; Dean's Advisory Board
      Jan 2007 - Jan 2010 · 3 yrs 1 mo

      Advisory Board Member Helped found Project Olympus with Lenore Blum (CS professor), Luis von Ahn (CEO founder of Duolingo) and others.

  • CEO & Founder at SoftTech Crossover Ventures Corp
    Oct 2018 - Jun 2019 · 9 mos

    Founded a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) to acquire a billion dollar software company and take the target public on NASDAQ. Recruited a first class team of operating executives, venture capitalists and several of my former SOFTBANK partners to help with the effort. Board Members, Advisors and teammates included: Kevin McQuillan, Rob Chaplinsky, Ron Warrington, Peter Lee, Brian Beattie, Rob Theis, Gary Rieschel, Tony Zingale, Chris Cabrera, Bill Burnham, Rex Golding, Mike Cagney, Karl Hutter and Randy Tinsley.

  • Investor/Advisor at SVB Financial Group
    Jan 2000 - Nov 2014 · 14 yrs 11 mos

    SVB Capital Founding Fund; Venture Capital Fund founded by Aaron Gershenberg and Silicon Valley Bank

  • Investor/Advisor at Technology Partners
    Jan 2000 - Nov 2014 · 14 yrs 11 mos

    Venture Capital Fund managed by Ira Ehrenpreis