WOODSIDE CAPITAL PARTNERS - Key Persons
Alex joined Woodside Capital Partners in March 2022. As an Analyst for WCP, Alex is responsible for supporting a variety of M&A, capital raising, and private equity transactions for emerging growth companies across all areas of the firm's expertise.
Alex helps the firm's bankers on projects including financial modeling and analysis, company valuation, corporate and industry research, due diligence, preparation of marketing materials, and identification of corporate and financial buyers and investors.
Prior to joining WCP, Alex was an analyst at a fund focused on investing in disruptive innovation, including artificial intelligence, DNA sequencing, and blockchain technology. Additionally, he's worked as a management consultant, supporting many of the leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, where he focused on therapeutic pricing. Alex is passionate about the disruptive potential for deep learning applications across industries.
Alex holds a BBA from Loyola Marymount University, with a focus in Finance, as well as a Data Science bootcamp certification through Flatiron.
Andrew advises Industrial, Power & Transport technology companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. He brings 25 years of experience in industrial automation, sustainable energy and transport. Prior to joining WCP, Andrew spent 12 years as a Group Vice President at ABB where he became an expert in M&A, start-up investing, industrial IoT, strategy development & implementation and digital transformation. Most recently he was Head of Corporate Development at ABB Power Grids where he played a leading role in the division's $11Bn sale to Hitachi.
Prior to ABB, Andrew was a Principal Consultant for 7 years, responsible for deploying high-technology solutions into a broad variety of industries. Before returning to Switzerland to establish WCP's Zurich office, Andrew was based in the heart of the Silicon Valley for 3 years. He is well connected to the start-up Venture Capital & Accelerator eco-system and is currently mentoring and advising a number of start-ups. He earned an MBA from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and a Master's in Engineering from the University of Oxford.
George provides strategic advice to private and public companies within the hardware, software, and service domains. He has over 30 years of operating experience and advises semiconductor, embedded software, batteries, energy storage, and renewable energy companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions.
Prior to Woodside Capital Partners, George served in general management, sales, and marketing roles at public and private companies including AppliedMicro (AMCC, now MACOM), RMI (now Broadcom), VLSI Technology, and more recently as a mentor/advisor at 500 Global and Silicon Catalyst. George has been based in Silicon Valley for most of his career and has executed M&A transactions as a deal lead for public, private, domestic, and international entities.
George earned an MBA at Wharton and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree at Georgia Tech. He is also a founding member of Sand Hill Angels, a leading angel investment group in Silicon Valley where he has served as a board member and leader over the years.
Jon advises AI and Cloud Infrastructure & Software companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. He brings a rare combination of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial and executive experience, coupled with successfully spearheading the exits of multiple startups he was running. These include LiftIgniter, acquired by Maven.io, Badgeville, acquired by SAP/CallidusCloud, CloudUp Networks, acquired by CipherCloud, and XDN acquired by Fortinet. Prior to joining WCP, Jon was a successful serial CEO and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley during his 25+ year career. He has managed companies in AI, cloud infrastructure software, security, and marketing cloud SaaS products.
Early in his career he spent over 5 years working in Japan in various roles at Toshiba and in management consulting, and he later worked at Internet infrastructure bellwethers including 3Com and NetScreen/Juniper. Jon is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Jordi is a Managing Director at WCP specializing in Enterprise Software with an emphasis on business productivity improvement, collaboration platforms and the Future of Work. Bringing 16 years of strategy management consulting experience and over 20 years in venture building, Jordi is a mentor and advisor to European and Asian technology companies wishing to operate in Silicon Valley/California. These startups aim to integrate with Silicon Valley entities through partnerships, roll-up or M&A strategies. Jordi has advised international companies in AI/ML, eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Marketplaces, and Digital Training among other sectors.
Prior to joining Woodside Capital Partners, Jordi had his own practice of tech venture building and fractional CFO for several early-stage startups wishing to enter the Silicon Valley ecosystem.
Currently based in California, Jordi has also lived and worked in Europe, Canada and Asia. He earned a dual Bachelor and MBA degrees from ESADE School of Business in Barcelona and a Master in International Management from Thunderbird School of Business (ASU) in Arizona.
Katie Elizabeth brings over 10 years of strategic marketing experience. She primarily focuses on raising brand awareness, lead generation and customer acquisition.
Prior to joining Woodside Capital, Katie was the Founder and Co-Chair of TiE-X, an accelerator for early stage entrepreneurs. Previously, she was the Chief Strategy Officer of Top Scholar, an online education platform, and the Chief Marketing Officer of TripLingo, a mobile app based language translation platform.
Katie received a BA degree in History from The University of the South, Sewanee, In her spare time, she is a Contributor for Forbes.
Kelly Porter advises software and internet services companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. He has participated in dozens of transactions, including financings, acquisitions and IPO's. He is also the organizer of MASiV: The M&A Silicon Valley Gathering, the most exclusive conference of top corporate development executives from the largest internet, software, mobile, technology and entertainment companies, held every January. Kelly is also the producer of the hit YouTube series: "The Two-Minute M&A Advisor".
Prior to Woodside Capital Partners, Kelly was Managing Partner of a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, ZAP Ventures, where he invested in 22 companies. Prior to ZAP Ventures, he held positions as Chairman and CEO of CatchTV, an interactive TV software firm (acquired by Liberty Media/ACTV); Executive Vice President of InterActive Corp/HSN-Home Shopping Network; Vice President of Fox Cable Networks in Los Angeles; Media Planner at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising; and Director of Business Development at Seltel, an TV station ad sales network.
Kelly is a native of Palo Alto, CA, earned a Masters as a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and earned a Bachelor's degree from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Board of Councilors of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and is former Co-Chairman of Silicon Valley Social Ventures / SV2. He is a Fellow in Class 33 of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley.
Krish is an analyst at Woodside Capital Partners where he is responsible for supporting a variety of M&A and private equity transactions for emerging growth technology companies. He helps the firm's bankers on projects such as financial modeling and analysis, company valuation, corporate and industry research, due diligence and identification of corporate and financial buyers and investors.
Prior to joining WCP, Krish was a Strategy Analyst at Deloitte Consulting, working primarily with businesses in the Financial Services industry. He has experience in go-to-market and expansion strategy, building financial models, conducting market assessments, product benchmarking and digital transformations. He was also the only Analyst selected to be part of the core corporate strategy team driving Deloitte Consulting's global software assets strategy.
Krish received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai. During his time at University, he co-founded and led the 180 Degrees Consulting initiative on campus. Today, 180 Degrees Consulting is the largest student led social-impact consulting organization globally. He was also a part of the Student Council, University soccer team and the Corporate Relations Committee.
Mark advises Cloud Infrastructure and Software companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. Before joining WCP, he served as the Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances for British Telecommunications plc. where he was responsible for an excess of $2.3 Billion of incremental revenue over 5 years across a wide product category including: SaaS, IaaS, hybrid/edge Clouds, big data, payments, sales & marketing tools, social, AI, retail loyalty & retention, VR & AR, collaboration, and telco (especially software-defined networks, orchestration, IoT, 5G, and edge compute).
Mark also brings wide sector expertise and experience from serving in numerous Strategic Alliances consultant roles for large enterprises across Retail, CPQ, Financial Services, AgTech, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Pharma verticals.
Maxwell is an analyst at Woodside Capital Partners, where he is responsible for supporting a variety of M&A, capital raising, and private equity transactions for emerging growth companies across all areas of the firm's expertise.
Maxwell helps the firm's bankers on projects including financial modeling and analysis, company valuation, corporate and industry research, due diligence, preparation of marketing materials, and identification of corporate and financial buyers and investors.
Before starting as an analyst at Woodside Capital Partners, Maxwell supported a variety of investment & corporate development initiatives for The Times Group of India (aka The Times Group), India's largest media conglomerate, in their Silicon Valley office. On behalf of The Times Group, Maxwell had the opportunity to source and co-lead three separate early-stage investments, was co-lead for their Partnerships initiative, spearheaded the launch of their internship program, and was given an award for excellence by senior Times Group management in 2021.
Maxwell received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Menlo College, Silicon Valley's private business school.
Mukesh Ahuja provides strategic advice to private and public companies within the software and internet services domains. He brings over twenty years of knowledge gained as an engineer and entrepreneur in the software/internet industry, his focus on Smart Infrastructure, and experience in business development, M&A, and seed investments to his work for Woodside Capital Partners clients.
Prior to WCP, Mukesh was a partner at Tazan International where he consulted for corporate clients and technology startups on M&A, corporate investments and partnerships. In 2018, Mukesh co-founded Nexxus Ventures, a seed stage fund which made investments in seven companies in technology, clean tech and health tech.
Mukesh was founder and CEO of Asia-Links, an Internet Portal for Asia business information and services. Asia-Links grew to become one of the top-3 web sites with marquee customers including Citibank, Sprint, Nikkei Group, NTT Communications, Sanyo, Japan Airlines. The company raised $6.5 million in funding from angel and corporate investors including Sanyo, Nichimen Corporation, and Calico Commerce. Mukesh was also an early employee of two venture-funded startups - MINO Wireless (Mobile VoIP) and Skyroam (Virtual SIM).
From 2005 to 2018, Mukesh performed business and corporate development for several technology startups. He was responsible for the acquisition of SpeeDev by Kovair Software and the acquisition of Lirik, a Salesforce services company by Tecnos, a public IT services company from Japan.
Mukesh was President of the 7000-member MIT Club of Northern California and was awarded an Alumni Leadership Award for contributions to Entrepreneurship programs. Mukesh started his career in the AI Technology Center at Digital Equipment Corporation in Massachusetts and Tokyo. Mukesh graduated with a B. Tech. in Civil Engineering from IIT-Mumbai and received an MS in Engineering from MIT.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Yubico Inc.'S Chief Strategy Officer
Nishant advises Cloud and Cybersecurity companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. He is a seasoned investment banker, entrepreneur and technology executive, bringing over two decades of industry expertise and leadership.
Prior to joining WCP, Nishant served as an investor and board member to over 10 emerging growth companies, several of which achieved successful liquidity events. One of the companies, InMage Systems, is a Woodside Capital Partners M&A success story.
As Yubico Inc.'s Chief Strategy Officer, Nishant drove the first institutional investment from Sherpalo Ventures (Ram Shriram). Nishant led corporate development at Brocade where he also founded the Brocade Venture Fund. In addition to evaluating hundreds of start-ups annually, he served on the Board of Directors at InMage and Connectem, leading to their successful acquisitions by Microsoft and Brocade, respectively. While at Actiance, Nishant led product and corporate development, selling the company's cybersecurity portfolio to Checkpoint. Most recently, he led the sale of Brightgate, Inc. as their Vice President of Corporate Development.
Nishant started his career at Cisco, leading product management for the Cisco PIX and Cisco ASA security appliances, both billion-dollar product lines.
Nishant earned an MBA from The Wharton School; an M.S. in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado; and a B.S., Electronics, and Telecommunications from the University of Mumbai. He understands what it takes to create successful outcomes and leverages his deep expertise to help WCP's clients win.
Robert Luo provides strategic advice to private and public companies within the ecommerce, travel, real estate, and fintech domains. He formulates breakthrough strategies and business model insights from over 25 years of experience in technology and supply chain. Robert also brings domain expertise in online marketplaces, property tech, and marketing tech. As a proven entrepreneur and change agent, he has helped companies rethink strategies, pivot to more promising markets, as well as multiply revenue without additional spend.
Robert started his first company with 15 employees when he was 19 and while a full-time student at USC. Robert then continued that upward trajectory and spent 20+ years in Asia and Europe managing and heading - at the C-level - the operations of multinational unicorn startups and public companies including General Electric, eBay, Expedia, Booking Holdings, and pre-IPO companies. He more than tripled the cross-border revenue for eBay in Southeast Asia, doubled revenue for Expedia Taiwan, 10X the affiliate revenue for Booking Holding subsidiary to USD 600M, and doubled the website conversion rate for the "Amazon.com of Indonesia", which resulted in USD 1 Billion in yearly transaction volume.
Robert earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Cornell University.
Ron has 25+ years of investment banking experience, primarily advising technology companies on mergers and acquisitions and private placements. Ron has closed 60+ transactions with a total value in excess of $1 billion.
Prior to joining Woodside Capital, Ron was a Senior Director of Newforth Partners, a boutique technology-focused M&A advisory firm. Before Newforth, Ron was a Director in the Equity Private Placements Group of Credit Suisse First Boston's Technology Group. Before CSFB, Ron worked with Houlihan Lokey, Venturi & Company, and Frost & Berman in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ron began his banking career at Smith Barney in its Corporate Finance department first in New York, then in London and San Francisco. In addition, Ron worked as a strategy consultant for Bain and Company, and in finance and operations with NuMarket Communications, a private cable and television services provider.
Ron's clients have included Sparkrock, Marketly, Hustle, KRT Marketing, Smaato, 3scale, Spirit Navigation, Spotzot, Sense Networks, Infrascale, iSystems, Geary LSF, Oerlikon, Technicolor, Eagleware, Vodium, Vivendi-Universal, OpSource, Zhone Technologies, China Netcom, Eachnet, Kestrel Solutions, Sanctum, Interwoven, Lucent Digital Radio, Sculptured Software, and AIFS.
Ron has a BA degree in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard's Graduate School of Business.
Royce is an analyst at Woodside Capital Partners, where he is responsible for supporting a variety of M&A, capital raising, and private equity transactions for emerging growth companies across all areas of the firm's expertise.
Royce helps the firm's bankers on projects including financial modeling and analysis, company valuation, corporate and industry research, due diligence, preparation of marketing materials, and identification of corporate and financial buyers and investors.
Before starting as an analyst at Woodside Capital Partners, Royce was an Investment Analyst at a corporate venture capital firm - Fosun RZ Capital. He helped the investment team to identify investment targets, source early-stage technology deals, and evaluate investment opportunities in enterprise tech.
Royce received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Stanford University and a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship from Lund University in Sweden.
Rudy Burger - CEO, Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- MANAGING PARTNER
- Managing Partner & Managing Director, Speaks at the Embedded Vision Alliance Vision Industry and Technology Forum
Rudy is a leading expert on M&A transactions within the technology sector. As the founder of Woodside Capital, he focuses on computer vision and imaging companies across multiple industry sectors.
Prior to Woodside Capital Partners, Rudy was the founding CEO of the MIT Media Lab Europe, a joint venture between MIT and the Irish government. Over the past 25 years, he founded five technology companies in the U.S., ran a European public company, and served as a senior executive for two global 500 companies. He is an effective, results-oriented professional with a proven track record in strategic planning, change management, and corporate development.
Rudy has a BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Computer Vision from Cambridge University, UK.
Ryan advises Software and Ecommerce companies on M&A and strategic financing transactions. He brings over 10 years of successful investment banking experience, including over 50 capital raise and M&A engagements, to the firm's clients. With extensive transaction experience in software, internet, e-commerce, and technology-enabled services, Ryan is able to provide best-in-class insights and advice to each company he engages with. Notable transactions he has participated in include the sale of Silexica to Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), the sale of LogoMix to Deluxe (NYSE: DLX), the sale of Rental History Reports to MRI Software, and the recapitalization of Wham-O.
Prior to joining WCP, Ryan led the Western region for Neptune Financial (NepFin), a venture-backed and tech-enabled investment platform. Before joining Neptune Financial, Ryan spent seven years as an investment banker, most recently with Vista Point Advisors where he focused on advising software, internet, and tech-enabled services companies on M&A and capital raises. Earlier in his career, Ryan was based in London as an analyst with Deutsche Bank. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pittsburgh.
Sam is a Vice President at Woodside Capital Partners. He brings a diverse skill set developed from experience working in management consulting, investment banking, and the Fintech industry. Most recently, Sam worked as a management consultant advising businesses on IT strategy and operations, where he developed and executed on initiatives related to digital transformation, organization design, strategic planning, resource allocation, and IT spend optimization.
Sam graduated with a B.A. in Global Studies from University of California, Los Angeles and an MSc in International Management with a specialization in Finance from Trinity College, Dublin.
Shing Pan provides strategic advice to private and public companies within the Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience, Visual Computing, and Computer Simulation domains. She brings over 20 years of C-Suite experience, leading strategic growth/innovation initiatives, corporate development, venture financing, and marketing to WCP's clients. Leveraging her extensive industry and domain knowledge and deep understanding of competitive landscapes, Shing helps companies strategically position for, optimize and execute successful mergers and acquisitions.
Throughout her career, Shing has served as Co-founder, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Product Marketing, and Vice President of Business and Corporate Development for many companies, from cutting-edge high-tech startups to large corporations. Shing was the co-founder of ModViz, an innovator in graphic virtualization, which NVIDIA acquired. She was also instrumental in several other successful acquisitions by Altair Engineering and Varian Medical Systems (now Siemens Healthineers). Shing has served on for-profit and nonprofit boards as both executive board member and independent director. She is a strong promoter of ESG and Diversity and Inclusion and actively mentors women in technology and business.
Shing earned her MBA from Cornell University, an M.S. Engineering from Northern Illinois University, received her Board Certification from Harvard Business School and Corporate Finance, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency Certificates from Wharton Business School. She lives in San Francisco and travels globally.
Shusaku Sumida joined WCP in 2010 and is FINRA-licensed and registered, Series 79 & 63.
He has over 30 years of global experience in engineering, sales & marketing, operation, strategic planning, and management in the Semiconductor industry, including experience in Japan, Hong Kong, and the USA.
He founded Oki's Hong Kong operation, founded Silicon Dynamics, a Networking LSI development group under Oki Semiconductor, and ran Oki Semiconductor USA, a $300M operation which included sales, marketing, design center, and R&D.
He served as a Technology Advisory Board member of the Pittsburg Digital Greenhouse (2001-2005) and also participated in the founding of the startups of Silicon Clocks, Passif Semiconductor, and eStat.
He is a visiting lecturer on Growth Strategy of Startups at BBT Kenichi Ohmae School of Business and is an advisory board member of Nagoya University's DII DR Program.
He received a BE in Material Science from Kyoto University in Japan.