Austin Ventures Promotes Mike Dodd and Scott Donaldson

Dodd Continues to Focus on Venture Investments and Donaldson's Focus Will Remain on Platform Acquisitions and Growth Equity


AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - January 10, 2011) - Austin Ventures ("AV"), a venture capital and growth equity firm, announced today the promotion of Mike Dodd to Partner and Scott Donaldson to Principal.

Mike Dodd
"Mike's ongoing contributions to the firm's direction have strengthened our reputation as a trusted partner among entrepreneurs in the venture community," said Chris Pacitti, General Partner, AV. "We look forward to 2011, knowing that his contributions will continue to benefit our investors and portfolio companies."

Mike joined AV in September 2008 and focuses his efforts on early and expansion-stage technology-enabled business and consumer services. Mike is leading several venture investments for AV in diverse sectors such as social media marketing, fitness mapping and analytics, and online education.

Prior to joining AV, Mike was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development with Omniture, Inc., a publicly traded online business optimization software company. While there Mike led the identification, acquisition, and integration efforts around Omniture's acquisition of two domestic and two international companies which totaled approximately $500 million in consideration. Prior to Omniture Mike was Senior Vice President and General Manager at MyFamily.com, a consumer online content subscription business. He was also a Partner with Europatweb, a venture capital firm, and a technology investment banker with Robertson Stephens in San Francisco.

Mike received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in finance from Syracuse University.

Scott Donaldson
"In recognition of Scott's outstanding contributions to AV and our later stage investment initiatives, we are pleased to announce his promotion to the role of Principal," said Joe Aragona, General Partner, AV. "Scott has played a key role in helping to acquire, build, and position valuable portfolio companies in our growth equity practice. As Principal, he will be an integral part of the next generation of AV's leadership."

Scott joined AV in 2007 and focuses on platform acquisitions and growth equity. Scott works closely with and serves as a director on the boards of All Star Directories, Delta Rigging & Tools, ENTACT and Sterling Foods.

Prior to joining AV, Scott was a vice president and founding partner of Silver Oak Services Partners, a private equity investment firm based in Evanston, Illinois. Prior to Silver Oak, he was a private equity associate at Willis Stein & Partners in Chicago and an investment banking analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners in San Francisco.

Scott received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard University. He is also an active participant in the cancer community and currently serves as the founding chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Young Leadership Cancer Council.

About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over twenty-five years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet and information services, software, and Texas special situations, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds, minority recapitalizations, and buyouts of lower middle market growth companies. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit www.austinventures.com for more information.

Contact Information:

For more information contact:
Kim Hughes
Austin Ventures
512.657.7222