Database Reference
In-Depth Information
targeting and better campaigns. It would be very much in line with the way DSPs
[Demand-Side Platforms] and DMPs [Data Management Platforms] work in ad
tech. “Demand-side platforms” allow buyers of digital advertising to manage
multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface, while
“data management platforms” serve as data warehouses. While it's not a per-
fect metaphor it's pretty close. There was always that sense, from my perspec-
tive, that there was this data play, but it's very rare—again, at least in the way we
invest—that there's a large data opportunity up front. Data value emerges from
successful businesses at scale, so that was the hypothesis I had about Buddy.
Gutierrez:
What does your workday look like and how do you measure
success?
Ehrenberg:
I think about this almost every day, as it is an ever-present chal-
lenge of how to best optimize my time. My day is generally comprised of
three elements. There is information ingestion and sharing. There is sitting on
boards and helping portfolio companies. And finally, there is looking at new
deal flow. For the information ingestion and sharing, I do all my reading rela-
tively early in the day. I'm very active onTwitter and I share a lot of information.
Part of that is simply that I like to share. I know some people use my stream
like a newsreader because of the curation that I do with Twitter. My feed and
what I share also reinforces to the world the things that I'm most interested
in and passionate about. I think it's important to share, as entrepreneurs are
looking for the just-right investor to really understand who they are. I put it
all out there so people have a pretty good understanding of my interests and
my vibe. And I'm pretty clear about the things that interest me—whether it's
data, entrepreneurship, financial markets, youth baseball, or the University of
Michigan. It's all out there. So that's the first part of my day and it starts very,
very early in the morning.
Then there's the biggest part, which is I sit on my boards and work to support
our portfolio companies. I'm deeply involved with our companies, especially
the least mature that want the most help, so there is almost always existing
portfolio company that I spend a chunk of my day on. I frequently speak with
potential recruits, assist with business development, discuss and help with
financing strategy, and sometimes just provide a sounding board to our found-
ers. That's the portfolio part of my day.
The third part of my day is looking at new things, whether it's companies that
are coming into our deal funnel or digging deeper into hypotheses about dif-
ferent markets and emerging spaces.
Gutierrez:
How does the time you spend with your companies evolve as
you go through the investment life cycle?
Ehrenberg:
It changes dramatically as a company goes through the
investment lifecycle. This is something that I'm experiencing now as several
of our Fund I companies have recently raised Series C rounds that have taken
