Team

Babak Poushanchi

Founder & Managing Partner

Babak Poushanchi is a Founder and Managing Partner of Cota Capital. Prior to founding Cota, Babak was a Co-Founder and Co-Portfolio Manager of Newbrook Capital, a $1+ billion long/short equity fund. Previously, Babak was an Investment Analyst at Karsch Capital, a $2+ billion global long/short equity fund. He was also a Venture Partner at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, a technology-focused accelerator with over 70 portfolio companies, and an Investment Associate at Indosuez Capital, a $3+ billion merchant banking fund, investing in private companies across the capital structure. Babak received a B.A. in Economics at Northwestern University.

Bobby Yazdani

Founder & Partner

Bobby Yazdani is a Founder and Partner of Cota Capital. Bobby works full-time on the development and support of entrepreneurs and is well-known for his active, impactful approach to portfolio company engagement. Drawing from nearly three decades of entrepreneurial experience in Silicon Valley, he mentors, advances and empowers entrepreneurs on their journey to build great companies.

In 1997, Bobby founded Saba, taking the company public in 2000. Today, Saba is the leading provider of Human Capital Development & Management Solutions. Its applications are being used by over 30 million people from 2200 customers across 195 countries and in 37 languages worldwide. While at Saba, he was named a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Prior to Saba, Bobby worked at Oracle in various R&D roles from 1988 to 1997.

Bobby made his first angel investment in 1989 in medical technology company Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI), where, in addition to providing capital, he wrote software to enhance the accuracy of the company’s early neonatal pulse oximeters. He founded his family office, Signatures Capital, in 2006. Through Signatures Capital, Bobby has invested in over 100 private companies in the technology sector, many of which have gone on to successful exits. In 2014, Bobby was ranked #1 out of 2000 angel investors in a report by CB Insights as having the most successful track record for investing in companies that received follow-on funding.

In 2015, Bobby endowed the Signatures Innovation Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley to support data science projects with commercial promise. Bobby is a founding member of the Persian Tech Entrepreneurs network, a National Advisory Board Member of The Reset Foundation, and serves as a Director on multiple company boards. Born in Tehran, Iran, Bobby completed high school in England and received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics at UC Berkeley.

PV Bóccasam

Partner

PV Boccasam joined Cota in 2021 as a Partner on the investment team. Prior to Cota, PV was a General Partner in a $600M Mid-Atlantic early-stage fund investing in industry shaping companies focused on enterprise software. He started his career at Microsoft in the early 1990s and worked on Windows, Exchange and other enterprise platform technologies. PV has been a serial-entrepreneur founding Entevo in 1997, a leader in Enterprise Directory Management exited to BindView/Symantec, Approva in 2002 a leader in GRC, exited to Infor, and ClearStandards in 2007, a leader in Carbon management, exited to SAP. PV has held various roles such as operator, board of directors and turnaround CEO for many portfolio companies since 2012. He was the lead investor and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) and on its compensation committee. PV served a 3-year term on the Board of Visitors at the University of Maryland, Department of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (CMNS) from 2017-2020. He has been a two-time finalist and served as judge of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award Program in Washington DC. He has also served on the Board and as a President of TIE-DC Chapter. He is active in philanthropy in the areas of early childhood education, mentorship, and rural entrepreneurship. PV received a B.S. in Computer Engineering, from University of Poona in India.

Kevin Jacques

Partner

Kevin Jacques joined Cota in 2021 as a Partner. Prior to Cota, Kevin was Vice President and Head of Corporate Ventures at Visa.  During his tenure at Visa, Kevin led the company’s venture investment efforts serving as lead partner on over 25 FinTech transactions. Prior to Visa, Kevin spent seven years at Intuit directing Corporate Development and Investments. At Intuit, Kevin and his team completed over 30 acquisitions, seven divestitures, four direct corporate venture investments, as well as 11 FinTech venture fund investments with total deal value approaching $2B. Prior to Intuit, Kevin spent nearly 12 years as a venture capital partner with Sevin Rosen Funds and Palomar Ventures. Kevin was also the CEO of Globeranger, an RFID middleware provider, and a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. Kevin received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Malka

Partner

Ashkan Marsh

Partner, Director of Research

Ashkan Marsh joined Cota in 2019 as a Principal, where he focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of public investments. Prior to Cota, Ashkan was an Investment Partner at Crimson Investment Partners making private equity investments in founder-led companies to accelerate growth through digital transformation and corporate processes. Prior to CIP, Ashkan was a public equity Investment Analyst at Newbrook Capital, a $1+ billion long/short equity fund. Previously, Ashkan was an Investment Analyst and Investment Associate at Goldman Sachs in private equity at the firm’s Special Situations Group, a $25 billion proprietary investment fund. Ashkan was Founder and CEO of SilverIP Communications, which became the leading gigabit internet service provider in Illinois and exited to private equity. Ashkan received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Pete Williams

Partner, COO & CCO

Pete Williams joined Cota in 2016 as Partner and COO. Prior to Cota, Pete served in a number of executive positions at Saba, including EVP of Corporate Development, General Counsel and CFO. During his tenure, Pete played an instrumental role in Saba’s IPO, acquisition strategy and integration, transition from enterprise software to SaaS, and sale in a go-private transaction. Today, Saba is the leading provider of Human Capital Development & Management Solutions, serving over 30 million people from 2,200 customers across 195 countries and in 37 languages worldwide. Previously, Pete was a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP, a leading international law firm. Pete has extensive experience representing high-tech companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms. In addition to private and public financings and acquisitions, Pete also specializes in technology and content development, licensing and distribution transactions. Pete has BAs in economics and psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a JD, cum laude, from Santa Clara University.

Marcella McColl

Chief Financial Officer

Marcella McColl joined Cota Capital as VP Finance in 2018. Prior to Cota, Marcella was the CFO/CCO at Manifold Partners. She has extensive experience in the alternative investment space and held various senior finance roles including Controller at Hellman and Friedman, American Infrastructure Funds and Carmel Partners. Marcella began her career at KPMG, LLP where she was a manager in the Assurance Practice specializing in investment management and banking. She graduated magna cum laude from Pace University, New York with a BBA in Public Accounting. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California.

Gabi Schindler

Chief Marketing Officer

Gabi Schindler joined Cota Capital as Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. Gabi has led marketing and communications for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. She has launched and marketed iconic B2B and B2C hardware and software products, including Apple’s first notebooks, Newton, a Human Capital Management (HCM) platform, and the industry’s first smartphones. Prior to Cota, Gabi was a Partner and CMO at Sansa Advisors, a leading M&A advisory firm, the CMO of Nexmo, a cloud communications platform company (acquired by Vonage), and CMO of Amobee, a mobile advertising technology company (acquired by SingTel). As CMO of Saba, Gabi helped the company become a leading HCM platform company; and as Senior Vice President for Global Marketing at PalmSource, she launched the first smartphones with Samsung, Sony, Palm, Kyocera, and Handspring, and played an instrumental role in PalmSource’s IPO. As the VP of Marketing at AT&T, Gabi managed att.com and led branding and marketing initiatives to demonstrate the company’s ability to innovate. Gabi was also Apple’s Senior Director of Global Public Relations, responsible for global PR initiatives, product launches, messaging, and employee communications. Gabi graduated magna cum laude from San Jose State University.

Vivienne Chua

VP Finance

Vivienne Chua joined Cota in 2021 as VP of Finance. Vivienne has extensive experience in the alternative investment space, in particular the international aspects of the industry in foreign jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands. Prior to Cota, Vivienne was a Controller at Numerai GP LLC and at Grand Trunk Capital. Vivienne started her career in public accounting in the audit field including seven years in Ernst & Young’s Asset Management practice. Vivienne graduated with a B.A. in Communication Studies with Business Administration Specialization from University of California, Los Angeles and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California.

Mylène Delattre

VP Investor Relations

Mylene Delattre joined Cota Capital as VP Investor Relations in 2020. Prior to Cota, Mylene served as Director, Marketing & Investor Relations at Colchis Capital. At Colchis, she was responsible for leading marketing and investor relations initiatives as well as developing the ESG framework and measurement system for the Firm. Prior to joining Colchis Capital, Mylene spent nearly five years with H/2 Capital Partners where her responsibilities included marketing, investor relations and fundraising. Early in her career, Mylene held various business development roles in New York. She graduated with a B.S. in Economics and a M.S. in Management from Kedge Business School in France. She also received an M.B.A in International Banking from Texas A&M International University.

Faie Dorin

VP Legal

Faie Dorin joined Cota in 2021 as VP of Legal. Prior to Cota, Faie served as Associate General Counsel for GE’s growth and innovation business comprised of GE Ventures, GE Licensing and New Business Creation. GE Ventures invested in and partnered with the entrepreneurial ecosystem across Healthcare, Energy, Software and Advanced Manufacturing, and started, grew, and incubated companies via its New Business Creation unit. Previously, Faie was an attorney at Sidley Austin LLP, a global law firm. Faie received a B.A. from Rice University in English and psychology and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Bryant Rowean

VP Business Development

Bryant Rowean joined Cota in 2021 as Vice President of Business Development. Prior to Cota, Bryant was an Associate at AMD Capital where he supported investment managers with their capital raising initiatives. Prior to AMD, Bryant spent over ten years working at investment banks on their Midwest institutional equity sales desks. Bryant graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Hamilton College and received an M.B.A from DePaul University.   

Joe Blair

Principal

Joe Blair joined Cota Capital in 2019 as a Principal on the investment team, where he focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of venture investments. Prior to Cota, Joe served as Vice President at Obvious Ventures, where he was focused on electric mobility, construction & real estate technology, robotics & automation, insurance technology, and the future of distributed & remote work. He was involved in investments including Lyric, Lilium, Canvas, Hedvig, and Amply Power. Prior to Obvious Ventures, Joe was a Vice President at Chrysalix Venture Capital, a Vancouver-based firm specializing in industrial innovation. Previously, Joe was Founder and CEO of chillbaby, a subscription service providing curated children’s clothing. He also worked in Business Development at FlexEnergy, a startup that develops microturbine systems for distributed power and heat generation, and participated in an engineering leadership development program at Ingersoll Rand. Joe graduated with a B.S. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Patrick Chang

Principal

Patrick Chang joined Cota in 2021, where he focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and supporting early-stage venture opportunities and founders. Prior to Cota, Patrick spent six years at Samsung Next Ventures as Investment Director on the early-stage software investment team, where he sourced and led a number of their key investments. While at Samsung, he also developed the firm’s thematic positioning across the edge computing, OSS, cybersecurity, and blockchain sectors. Patrick has over 16 years of experience investing in enterprise software primarily cybersecurity, infrastructure, and devops, ranging in various stages from seed to growth equity at Foundation Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Investor Growth Capital. Patrick started his career as an Analyst in the TMT group of the Investment Banking Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. 

John Kim

Principal

JongSeong (John) Kim joined Cota Capital in 2020 as a Principal focusing on sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of public investments in the healthcare technology sector. Prior to Cota, John was a Senior Analyst at Copernicus Capital, a healthcare-focused hedge fund in San Francisco, and a Senior Analyst at Glenview Capital, a NYC-based global hedge fund, where he played an integral role in the firm’s healthcare investing efforts across hospitals, CROs, life science tools, medical technology, and consumer healthcare. Previously, John served in the Republic of Korea Army, and was honorably discharged as sergeant. He began his career at Morgan Stanley, where he worked as an investment banking analyst in Hong Kong and New York, focusing his time on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. John graduated cum laude from Columbia University with a B.S. in Operations Research: Engineering Management Systems, and a minor in Economics, and has an M.S. in Management (Sloan Fellow) from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Eric Lee

Principal

Eric Lee joined Cota in 2019 as a Senior Associate on the investment team, where he focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of public investments. Prior to Cota, Eric was an Analyst at Partner Fund Management and an Associate at The Capital Group covering investments in the technology sector. He also held a summer Analyst position at Whale Rock Capital, a technology-focused equity long/short hedge fund. Eric began his career as an Analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. Eric graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Minor in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Diego Oliveira

Principal

Diego Oliveira joined Cota Capital as a Principal in 2021 focusing on the sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of private investments within the enterprise technology sector. Prior to Cota, Diego was a Vice President in the Technology Group of the Investment Banking Division at Credit Suisse. Prior to Credit Suisse, Diego was a General Manager at BR Towers, where he held various financial, commercial, and business intelligence roles. Additionally, Diego was a Strategy and M&A consultant at Telefonica, and a Business Development Analyst at Serveng Group, a Brazilian business conglomerate. Diego graduated with a B.S in Computer Engineering from the State University of Campinas in Brazil and received an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Stewart Pond

Principal

Stewart joined Cota Capital as a principal in 2021 focusing on the sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of private investments within the FinTech sector. Prior to Cota, Stewart was an investor at Capital One Ventures where he led efforts across B2B/B2C FinTech, Enterprise SaaS, Cloud Infrastructure, and Security. Prior to Capital One Ventures, he held investment roles at Hercules Capital, Medley, and Guggenheim Partners. Stewart graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Wake Forest University. He has also earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Eric Yeh

Principal

Eric Yeh joined Cota Capital as a Principal in 2021 focusing on the sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of public investments within the enterprise technology sector. Prior to Cota, Eric was a Partner at 1719 Capital Partners, a TMT-focused hedge fund, where he played an integral role in the firm’s launch and in its technology investment efforts. Previously, Eric was an Investment Analyst at Park Presidio Capital, where he led coverage of the firm’s technology investments. Additionally, Eric was an Analyst at Hitchwood Capital, where he focused on technology investments. Previously, Eric was an Associate at TPG Capital as part of the firm’s TMT group focused on buyouts within the technology sector. Eric began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in New York with Morgan Stanley and with Merrill Lynch, focusing on the media and telecommunications sectors. Eric graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a B.S. in Operations Research and Information Engineering and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Arif Farooqui

Controller

Arif Farooqui joined Cota Capital as Controller in 2020. He brings a wealth of experience from the alternative investment space, with both audit and industry experience in venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, and cryptocurrency funds. Prior to Cota, Arif was a Finance Manager at the venture capital firm, Venrock. Prior to Venrock, Arif served as an Experienced Assurance Manager at BDO (San Francisco) in their Asset Management practice. Arif began his career at EY (Bahrain) where he served as a Manager in the Assurance and Advisory Business Services (AABS) practice with a focus on the financial services industry, and also provided consulting services in the specialized Financial Accounting and Advisory Services (FAAS) practice. Arif is an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Christina Lee

Analyst, Investor Relations

Christina Lee joined Cota Capital as an Investor Relations Analyst in 2021 focusing on investor relations and supporting the development of the firm’s capital initiatives and relationships. Prior to Cota, she was a Senior Accountant at Topgolf working on a number of finance initiatives. Prior to Topgolf, Christina was at Dragoneer Investment Group as a Fund Accountant, in charge of accounting and finance for a number of the firm’s funds. Christina started her career at Rothstein Kass (now part of KPMG LLP) as a Senior Audit Associate, working on various financial audit engagements across a number of clients. Christina graduated Cum Laude from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in B.A. with concentrations in Accounting and Finance. In addition, Christina is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California.

Allison Chapman

Executive Assistant

Allison Chapman joined Cota Capital in 2019 as an Executive Assistant on the Operations team. Prior to Cota, Allison worked as an Executive Assistant at Blockchain Capital and Brunswick Group. Allison graduated with a B.A. in Human Geography and Humanistic Psychology from the University of West Georgia.

Brett Steck

Executive Assistant

Brett Ashley Steck joined Cota Capital in 2021 as an Executive Assistant. Prior to Cota, Brett worked as an Executive Assistant at GI Partners, Pantera Capital, and Institutional Venture Partners. Brett graduated with a B.A. in U.S. Contemporary History from San Francisco State University.

Christina Hu

Team Administrator

Christina Hu joined Cota Capital in 2018 as Team Administrator. She manages the office and serves as an Executive Assistant. Prior to Cota, Christina worked as an Associate at Tiedemann Advisors where she assisted high net worth clients. Christina graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Minor in Education.

Albert Azout

Venture Partner

Prior to joining Cota in 2016, Albert was Senior Director of Product & Applied Engineering at AOL, where he was charged with leading a variety of AOL’s efforts in bidding and optimization. Prior to AOL, Albert was the Founder and CEO of Velos, a machine learning software platform, which Verizon/AOL acquired in March 2015. Prior to Velos, Albert was a Co-Founder of StyleCaster, which was sold to SheKnows Media, backed by leading private equity firm Great Hill Partners, and currently the largest media company in lifestyle category with over 90 million monthly uniques. Albert has invested in and actively advises a variety of companies, with a focus on the disruptive utilization of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in products and services. Albert received a B.A. in Finance & Economics at Babson College.

Dr. Kian Beyzavi

Venture Partner

Dr. Kian Beyzavi is a seasoned advisor and operator in the life sciences industry with over 20 years of experience. After several years at McKinsey & Company advising C-level executives, Kian worked as an investor at Rho Ventures, co-founded and led Cubit software, and held senior leadership positions at medical device and pharma companies such as Medtronic, Abbott, and Novartis. Her recent consulting work is mainly focused on identifying and operationalizing innovation in life sciences, leveraging technologies such as digital health, devices and diagnostics to improve patient outcomes. Her therapeutic area knowledge includes Oncology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular. Kian’s functional expertise spans strategy, new market entry, product development, commercialization, partnerships, and M&A. Kian’s commercial experience includes 14 successful drug/device launches including several blockbusters and many with digital wrap arounds. Her clients span large global biopharma as well as disruptive startups. Kian’s extensive international experience includes successful efforts in the UK, UAE, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Singapore. Dr. Beyzavi holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering/applied physics from Princeton University and is a life member at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an active advisor and mentor at Springboard Enterprises and UCSF Rosenman Institute.

Dr. Sam Heidari

Venture Partner

Dr. Sam Heidari is a seasoned technology executive for both public and private companies. Recently, he was the Chairman of the board and CEO of Quantenna Communications in which he drove the organization in developing the most advanced Wi-Fi hardware and software solutions to date – thereby enabling networking applications previously not thought possible. Dr. Heidari led Quantenna’s successful IPO in 2016 and its subsequent acquisition in 2019. Prior to Quantenna, he served as chief technology officer at Ikanos Communications Inc. He joined Ikanos as one of the original team members and provided meaningful contributions to its IPO. Then, Dr. Heidari rejoined Ikanos in 2006 via the acquisition of Doradus Technologies Inc., where he had served as president and CEO. Dr. Heidari serves on the Global Semiconductor Alliance Board of Directors and has served on the advisory board for both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Departments at the University of Southern California. He is a senior member of IEEE and holds more than 46 U.S. and international patents. Dr. Heidari was named the 2014 Executive of the Year by the Golden Bridge Awards and the 2017 Executive of the Year by UBM. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s degree in science from Northeastern University, all in Electrical Engineering.

Dr. Gary Zweiger

Venture Partner

Dr. Gary Zweiger has spent more than 20 years in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectors, as a Consultant, Adviser, Investor, and Business Development Executive for companies developing innovative technologies, particularly DNA sequencing and other genomics technologies (microarrays, PCR, imaging, etc.), for life science markets, such as molecular diagnostics and other genetic testing. As Co-Founder and Managing Director of BioInfleXion Point Partners LLC, he provided seed capital and management support to many innovative life sciences firms, including Cota portfolio companies: Blueprint Genetics, Mission Bio, and Purigen Biosystems. Prior to that, Dr. Zweiger held business development leadership roles at BioNano Genomics, Agilent Technologies, Applied Biosystems, and Affymetrix. Dr. Zweiger holds 7 U.S. patents and has published numerous scientific papers. He has also written a book about the race to sequence the human genome and digitize biological information, “Transducing the Genome: Information, Anarchy, and Revolution in the Biomedical Sciences”, (McGraw-Hill). He earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Genetics, both from Stanford University.

Simone Brunozzi

Operating Partner

Simone Brunozzi has worked in the IT industry at large companies and startups for more than 20 years, focused for the last ten on Cloud Computing. His most recent experience has been as CEO of Fabrica.city, a software platform to digitize real estate transactions. Simone is a founding partner at Mission and Market (www.m14t.com), a micro VC fund with sixty investments to date. He served as Vice President and CTO at Composure.ai, a container orchestration platform for enterprise IT. Prior to that he worked at VMware as Vice President and Chief Technologist, Hybrid Cloud (vCloud Air) from 2014 to early 2016. From 2008 to 2014 Simone worked at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a Senior Technology Evangelist, heading AWS’ EMEA developer evangelism for two years, APAC for two years, and Americas for the remaining two. He has also founded his own company (Wedoit), and two consulting companies. He was a Professor at Perugia University in Italy from 2004-2006. Simone holds a Bachelor in Computer Science from Università degli Studi di Perugia.

Chad Cohen

Operating Partner

Chad Cohen has served as Adaptive Biotechnologies Chief Financial Officer since August 2015. Prior to joining Adaptive, Chad served as the Chief Financial Officer of Zillow Group, Inc., a public company that operates a real estate marketplace, from March 2011 to August 2015, where he also served as Corporate Controller from June 2006 to March 2011 and Vice President of Finance from September 2010 to March 2011. Prior to joining Zillow, Chad served as Assistant Controller and Financial Integrity Manager at Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. from 2003 to 2006. Additionally, from 1998 to 2002, Chad worked for Ernst & Young LLP in their TCE (Technology, Communications, and Entertainment) assurance groups in both San Jose, CA, and Melbourne, Australia. Prior to becoming Adaptive’s Chief Financial Officer, Chad served on their board of directors from February 2015 to August 2015. Chad previously served on the board of directors as chair of the audit committee of Trupanion, Inc., a public pet insurance company, and Ticketfly Inc.,a private live events company. Chad holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University.

Rich Ellinger

Operating Partner

Rich Ellinger is a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits. Rich co-founded Saba in 1997, and when Saba went public, Rich ran Saba’s 150 person global R&D organization. After Saba, Rich served as COO of Webs, which was acquired by Vistaprint in 2011. Most recently, Rich was Founder and CEO of Wealthminder, a financial technology company that was acquired by AdvisorEngine in 2017. Rich has an M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science as well as a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.

John Jung

Operating Partner

John Jung is a highly experienced C-level executive and strategist in energy, renewables, and smart grid technology, among other sectors. He specializes in scaling high growth, VC-backed companies in B2B industries deploying disruptive technologies, strategies, and business models. From 2009 to 2018, John served as Founder, President, and CEO of Greensmith Energy, a company he built from concept to global leadership in energy storage systems and software platforms. Greensmith deployed over a third of the total US energy storage systems in 2016, including the largest system delivered that year, and was acquired by Wärtsilä in 2017. Through the development and delivery of over 100 systems in 12 countries with a 100% record of safety, Greensmith served utilities, independent power producers, and industrials by leveraging a battery-agnostic platform and AI-based energy software to maximize both technical and financial value for customers and partners. Prior to Greensmith, John built four VC-backed startups including Pantellos Group, an electronic marketplace that served 21 of the 25 largest electric utilities in North America. John is a former strategy practice leader with A.T. Kearney and has held Board Directorships within five organizations including the Energy Storage Association. John has extensive international business experience covering Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, and holds an MBA in Strategy and Finance from Ivey Business School and a Bachelor’s in Pure Science and Economics from the University of Western Ontario. John is currently President of Energy Vault and an Independent Board Director at Elum Energy.

Dr. Hossein Moiin

Operating Partner

A globally recognized industry leader, Dr. Hossein Moiin has been instrumental in shaping the mobile industry for the past two decades and is credited with specification of LTE. Currently, he is working on further definition of 5G and its applications while advising technology companies and investment firms on how they can prepare for and thrive in the 5G era. In addition, Dr Moiin is the founder and CEO of edgelab.ai, a company focused on characterization and certification of 5G components and applications. Prior to his current roles, Hossein held leadership positions in Nokia including chief technology and strategy officer. Before Nokia, Hossein held leadership positions in large organizations across the globe, such as BT in London, T-Mobile in Germany and Sun Microsystems in California. Finally, Hossein has been involved with several startups in Silicon Valley and Europe and has helped many to successful exits. Hossein has an in-depth understanding of Technology and its business context and is a published author and patented scientist. Hossein obtained his B.S, M.S and PhD degrees from University of California and resides in San Francisco now after lengthy spells in Europe and Asia.

Phil Richardson

Operating Partner

Phil Richardson has spent over 20 years catalyzing growth in companies of all scales – from startups to publicly traded companies. Since 2013, Phil has led Lambda Consulting as a Founder & Managing Partner where he deploys his knowledge for building high performance organizations. From 2007-2013, Phil served as Saba Software’s Senior Vice President & General Manager, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). While at Saba, Phil was responsible for reigniting growth within the European operations and subsequently managing its transition to a recurring revenue/SaaS business model. Prior to Saba, Phil served in VP positions for BEA Systems and Entrust, as well as holding a Regional Director position at Open Market, all positions in which he led European, Middle Eastern, and African markets and strategies. Phil received his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester.

Holly Roland

Operating Partner

Roland has fueled business growth for Silicon Valley companies as a strategy, marketing, and product executive for over 20 years. She led global teams at SaaS providers like SAP and Oracle, where she developed strategies in marketing, demand generation, go-to-market, communications, and products that fueled double-digit business growth. Holly has a successful track record in marketing enterprise software solutions for many different categories and buyers, including solutions for finance, analysis and planning, compliance, engineering, support, and marketing departments. She has a proven track record of creating and executing differentiated programs that drive growth and increase brand awareness. Holly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Santa Clara University with a B.Sc. in Business and Economics.

Lily Sarafan

Operating Partner

Lily Sarafan is CEO of Home Care Assistance (HCA), where she has led the company from startup to sector leader with nearly 10,000 employees across North America. HCA is consistently recognized as a best-in-class healthcare company, and Lily as a featured expert on digital health and the future of aging at the White House and global conferences. Lily is also a board member, investor and advisor for innovative companies, serving as a board director at Thumbtack and at Counsyl through its acquisition by Myriad Genetics (MYGN). An active Stanford alum, Lily serves on the Stanford Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Freeman Spogli Institute Council, and the Stanford Undergraduate Education Cabinet. She is also Founding Partner of Project BIG: The Stanford Brain Immune Gut Initiative. Lily’s board service extends to other high-impact nonprofits including the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and the Berkeley Haas Center for Innovation Economies, where she is board chair. An appointee to the California Governor’s Alzheimer’s Task Force, Lily serves in various leadership roles to advance economic development, civic engagement, and precision health. Lily holds an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering and B.S. in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford University, where she was Eben Tisdale Fellow and Class President. She has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Women Health Care Executives Woman of the Year, and a Silicon Valley 40 Under 40. Lily is a Member of Young Presidents’ Organization, a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Mariam Barar

Operating Principal

Mariam Barar has experience providing guidance on strategic and operational planning to Venture and Growth stage companies. Mariam spent her career in management consulting as a Director at KPMG. She has experience leading global transformation programs and developing innovative service offerings for Fortune 500 companies in the Technology sector. Mariam has an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management with an emphasis in Finance and Entrepreneurship. She has a Bachelors in Science in Finance and a Bachelors in Science in Economics from Santa Clara University.

Greg Myers

Operating Partner

Greg has spent over 30 years in enterprise sales and operational leadership in both Fortune 50 and startup entities.  Most recently, Greg was responsible for the entire Microsoft portfolio across the Federal Government as the Vice President of Microsoft Federal for nearly 13 years leading the team to record growth. Greg has experience running both public sector and commercial operations and has been responsible for both products and services revenues at companies ranging from Oracle to BearingPoint to Approva. Greg graduated from the University of Maryland Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Marketing. Greg joins Cota as an Operating Partner where he will leverage his background to help drive impact across Enterprise/SAAS portfolio companies, focusing on scaling go-to-market operations, partnerships, opportunity/talent development, and operational disciplines.