Karlin Ventures Launches Tech Fellowship Program
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 16, 2015 -- Karlin Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, is launching an elite fellowship program called Karlin Fellows. The fellowship aims to fill the void of mentorship opportunities for the vice president-level managers of LA’s growing startups, who assume increasing responsibilities as their companies scale but have no platform for collaboration or mentorship. The program is open to companies in Karlin’s portfolio as well as others in LA’s tech community.
Through this program, Karlin hopes to provide a platform that will help these leaders grow individually and become the pioneers of LA’s next wave of tech companies. The program will feature four master classes each year, giving groups of 12 to 15 rising industry leaders an opportunity to learn directly from experts on specialized topics in areas such as business development, marketing, engineering, and product management.
“We’re launching Karlin Fellows as a high-quality resource for the rising leaders of LA, who currently have no place to collaborate, brainstorm, and connect over the hard problems they’re facing every day,” says Arteen Arabshahi, senior associate at Karlin Ventures.
Confirmed experts leading the first two sessions include Dan Macklin, co-founder and VP of business development at SoFi and Raja Subramoni, head of product marketing at Sonos. The first session will be held in early summer 2015 in LA. Sponsor partners for Karlin Fellows include City National Bank, Hawke Media, TriNet, and WeWork.
"It is truly an honor to be a part of the inaugural Karlin Fellows Program,” says Sonos’ Raja Subramoni, “this focus on the fostering of core leadership and management traits is a testament to Karlin's continued commitment to the talent-laden, burgeoning, LA tech community."
Karlin Ventures is LA’s leading enterprise fund, with additional specialization in marketplaces and commerce platforms. It invests in late-seed and early Series A rounds. Since its first investment in the summer of 2012, Karlin’s portfolio has grown to 34 companies, with three total exits including Gyft, Tonx, and Wallaby.
“During the past three years, we’ve been steadily building and growing a remarkable portfolio,” says TX Zhuo, managing partner at Karlin Ventures. “But we are proudest of our ability to serve three big needs in the LA community: building connections to later-stage investors, supporting the underserved — but fast-growing — enterprise software sector, and providing bridge capital to companies to enhance their ability to hit milestones for large-growth equity rounds.”
Karlin has hosted several targeted events for the startup communities in San Francisco and LA. In 2014, more than 30 CIOs from companies like Paramount and Equinox, and a dozen enterprise software startups attended Karlin’s CIO Summit. Later in 2015, they will be hosting the second annual LA First Look Retreat, which pairs top Silicon Valley investors, some of the nation’s finest entrepreneurs, and LA’s Series A-and-beyond startups.
Arteen Arabshahi, Karlin Ventures, http://karlinvc.com/fellows, +1 (310)-806-9719, [email protected]
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