Jon Callaghan
Jon is truly passionate about early stage companies. He has founded three companies of his own, and he has a mighty track record of success in traditional venture capital investing.
Jon founded True because he saw a gap in the market for experienced VC funding for the earliest stage companies. Having spent the majority of his career with these entrepreneurs, he knows what they need most in an investor: an experienced, valuable, and trustworthy partner. True strives to be this partner for every investment.
Jon’s long history with startups began in 1986 when he founded his first company, Mountain Bike Outfitters, Inc. Over the next several years, he would go on to co-found Chemdex Corporation with David Perry, now NexPrise Corporation (NASDAQ: NXPS), and Greenwich LLC, a streaming music company, which was acquired by iCast. Jon’s direct startup experience means he’s seen the world many times from the entrepreneur’s point of view. This is where he’s most at home, and his vision and insight make him the entrepreneur’s confidant.
At Summit Partners, Jon started his venture career as an associate where he focused on growth stage investments in the software industry. Jon also met and worked closely with True co-founder Phil Black at Summit. Jon then joined AOL’s Greenhouse, the venture capital/incubator for AOL. These were the first days of the internet, and AOL was a fascinating place to see the market start.
With the Internet just beginning, Jon jumped in early, joining CMGi’s @Ventures group initially in 1996. @Ventures was the world’s first internet-only venture firm and, at the time, managed a whopping $25 million fund. The internet grew rapidly, and @Ventures grew along with it. By 2001, Jon was a Managing Partner, and the firm managed over $3 billion. His @Ventures deals include Critical Path (NASDAQ “CPTH”), Gamers.com, Hotlinks, Onelist/eGroups (acquired by Yahoo), Promedix (acquired by Ventro – NASDAQ “VNTR”), and MyFamily. com.
Jon’s venture capital career spans 15 years and includes consistent early stage success. Before founding True, Jon was a Managing Director at Globespan, where he served on the boards of Copan Systems, FilmLoop, Glu Mobile (fka Sorrent), Ingrian Networks, Next Medium Networks, Nominum Corp., Plaxo, Sigma Dynamics, and Vazu.
Degrees
BA Government, Dartmouth College
MBA with distinction, Harvard Business School
True Story
The entrepreneurial spark first hit Jon in a bike shop in 1986. He had just discovered the new sport of mountain biking, and he loved it. Most of the bike shops at the time catered to road biking or “roadies.” Mountain bikes were clunky, dirty, and worst of all new. The bike industry didn’t know what to think of this new sport, and many shunned it.
As a result, there were very few options for pioneering mountain bikers. Though still in college at the time, Jon worked various jobs to fund his new hobby, but when he went into most bike shops, he was rebuffed. One day, the owner of a local road shop refused to order a piece of mountain bike equipment because mountain biking wasn’t a “serious” sport. Jon wandered outside, considered the hard-earned cash in his pocket, and figured there must be others like him that enjoyed these off-road bikes. Sure, mountain biking was a new sport, he reasoned, but it was also fun, easy to learn, and it gave people immediate access to the great outdoors.
Jon thought that mountain biking just might catch on, and he saw an opportunity for a bike shop designed solely for mountain bikers. He and his brother Mike quickly set about building such a business. The timing was good, and the two grew the business and successfully sold it eight years later.
This early experience of owning and building a bike business serves as the foundation for Jon’s entrepreneurial zeal, and it fuels his desire to help other entrepreneurs succeed.