We understand founders can be frustrated. We know they’re uneasy. They’re overwhelmed and often overworked. We know what keeps them up at night and what uncertainty consumes them.
We know because the same issues plagued us. We have worked 17 hours / 6 days a week. We weren’t sure if we would meet payroll, whether we would have layoffs, or if some large company would put us out of business. We have woken in a cold sweat. We have participated in global change. We know how to lose as a team and win as a family.
The average total amount of VC investment came in at more than $20 billion per quarter last year; that’s over 10% growth from 2016. And with all that cash comes pressure but no playbook. The influx of cash highlights the need for a trusted partner to scale and avoid risks. Incubators, accelerators, studios, and consultants have grown as part of the ecosystem but don’t necessarily address the full growth cycle.
To fill this guidance gap we’ve assembled a team of trusted builders and mentors who have deep-rooted insights in both success and failure to show serial entrepreneurs paths to success.
Today we’re excited to formally introduce Oceans — a mentorship engine that partners with talented entrepreneurs who want experienced, hands-on resources to solve core challenges that will enable their companies to make an enduring impact. We’re a founder’s most trusted partner and an investor’s best insurance policy.
We build. We scale. We mentor.
We’re founders who have created, builders who have constructed, and partners who know the startup journey. Our purpose is to show founders how to address hazards head-on, drive unprecedented growth, engage in meaningful dialogue with board members, and — most importantly — scale successfully.
We’re going to leverage our combined histories, complementary skills, and universal passion for success and deliver access to our network of global leaders to provide insights straight to founders. We work cross-functionally to show exactly how to make the smartest decisions when it comes to building organizations that address market opportunities from the ground up.
Individuals play, teams win
We’re partnering because it’s a ton more fun winning with people you admire. The best teams hold collective accountability toward desired outcomes, and we’ve learned that focusing on what’s next is more important than what we’ve done in the past. In building our launch team, we’ve added Sara Barek and Brian Lew as managing partners — each bringing a unique set of skills and life experiences. With more than 100 years of combined experience, our team of five has built some of the most impactful companies and facilitated multiple successful exits. We’ve also powered through countless missteps. Essentially, we’ve failed so you don’t have to. We have strong New York roots, having built offices here for Apple and Facebook along with the headquarters for Foursquare, combined with experience at Time Warner and Thomson Reuters. This presence will allow us to work side-by-side with East Coast startups as we help them navigate the next phase of growth.
We grade ourselves on Impact
We aim to be the most trusted and valued partners to our founders and we support investors’ most important portfolio companies. We grind, we source, we build relationships, and we’re excited to roll up our sleeves; this is going to be exhausting and beyond rewarding. We look forward to building Oceans to assist incredible founders and investors in the development of the next class of great companies.
Sincerely,
Steven Rosenblatt, Joshua Rahn, and Glenn Handler