Demand Satisfaction!

Anybody who has raised money knows that it’s nothing like going to the bank for a loan. It’s a lot more like a job search. Or dating. Both sides in this courtship–entrepreneurs and investors–are looking for a combination of attributes in the other that they sometimes aren’t aware of until they’re right in front of it. We’re looking for love matches, if you will.

We found that even though the process took longer than we hoped we received a tremendous amount of useful feedback along the way, much of which was critical in helping us evolve our product and business model.

It’s this consultative process that allowed us to get to know the investors we’re so proud to announce today. Each one of them has a unique perspective on how to build a business, develop a community, perfect a product, and connect with customers. Here’s what I’m talking about:

• First Round Capital: As one of the first investors we spoke with, we were able to cultivate a real collaborative relationship with Rob Hayes long before they ever put a term sheet in front of us. Backed by the tremendous experience and street smarts of Josh Kopelman and the rest of the First Round Team (who have been behind such hits as Half.com, VideoEgg, 1800FREE411, PowerSet, and Aggregate Knowledge), Rob is going to be a killer partner for us with his steely business acumen and executional focus.
• O’Reilly Alphatech Ventures (OATV): We’re huge O’Reilly fans. Tim has a far-reaching vision of where technology is going, and has fostered a powerful network of big thinkers and doers. Over the past few months we’ve seen how Bryce Roberts and Mark Jacobsen at OATV are a natural extension of this network. Bryce, who just joined our board with Rob, is already proving to be a potent business catalyst.
• Jeff Clavier: Jeff has built a reputation as a Web 2.0 “kingmaker” with his investments in firms like Truveo, Kaboodle, MyBlogLog, Kongregate and Dogster. Seeing him at work putting together deals and being a true “connector” we can see why his companies’ success is no fluke.
• Mike Brown: As a VC youngin’ Mike Brown looks at opportunties a bit differently than his seniors, and that’s why we think he so often gets things earlier than most. For instance, he convinced his old VC firm, the enterprise-focused Partech International, to invest in the smash hit widget company, RockYou. Now, as an angel, he is working with Satisfaction to find scrappy ways to build the business.
• Adaptive Path: As the elite user experience design consultancy co-founded by Satisfaction’s own Lane Becker, Adaptive Path was an early believer in our mission to transform customer service. They are incredibly insightful, and understand the startup product design issues thanks to their experience in launching MeasureMap (sold to Google last year).
• Jason Schultz: He was the first investor in, very early indeed, and deserves a ton of credit for his chutzpah. More importantly, as a staff lawyer for the EFF he’s a leading legal expert in online intellectual property law. He even testifies in front of congress! Based on his experience in defending the rights of individuals online, he understands how power is shifting outside of organizations into the hands of empowered creators/users/customers.
• Mom: Finally, my mom insisted on investing despite my protestations that it’s one of those “risky startups”, bless her. She’s been amazing, too, suggesting some very clever business ideas along the way. Full of surprises, that girl.

We’re going to need all the help we can get, so we’re very happy to have such a group as this behind us. Thanks all!