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      What do you get when you combine decades of operating experience with the minds of venture capitalists?
      Meet the Next Coast Ventures team.

        We really are built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. When we started Next Coast Ventures in 2015 we had one fundamental directive: to build a firm where serving the entrepreneur was the driving force behind everything we did.

        We have challenged ourselves by simply asking “if we were a founder right now, what resources would we want our investors to bring forward to help us build our business?” This question has sharpened our thinking across all aspects of our firm — from our team, resources, approach and even investment philosophy.
      Investing Team
      Operations
      Venture Partners
      Expert Network

    Investment Team

                Mike Smerklo

                Co-Founder and Managing Director

                  Co Founder & Managing Director at Next Coast Ventures | Author of Mr. Monkey and Me, A real survival guide for entrepreneurs | Crowdhealth Board Member | Everly Health Board Member | Street Smarts VR Board Member | Submittable Board Member | BrainCheck Board Member | Former CEO of ServiceSource (SREV) | Former Director of Business Development of Opsware | MBA, Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management | BS, Miami University of Ohio

            Mike Smerklo

            Co-Founder and Managing Director

                Thomas Ball

                Co-Founder and Managing Director

                  Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Next Coast Ventures | On the Board of Aclaimant, UpEquity, Enboarder: Experience-Driven Onboarding, CoPilot, TrustRadius, GOJA, GoodKind Co, KLRU-TV | Former General Partner at Austin Ventures | Former Investor of Outbound Engineer, and Bazaarvoice | Founder of Tahoe Domains, Inc. | Former CEO/Founder of Razorgator/Openfield Technology | Former VP of Business Development at Lifeminders | Former CEO/Founder of eCoupons | Former Principal at Discovery Capital | Former Engagement Manager at Mitchell Madison Group | MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business | BS in Finance from University of Florida.

            Thomas Ball

            Co-Founder and Managing Director

                Adam Rogers

                Partner

                  Former intern, CTO & CEO at Ultimate Software | Partner at Next Coast Ventures investing in & advising early-stage companies

            Adam Rogers

            Partner

                Anthony Walker

                Partner, Next Coast Legacy

                  Experienced institutional investor - Ex Goldman Sachs | Citadel | Millennium Management. Columbia B.A., University of Chicago MBA

            Anthony Walker

            Partner, Next Coast Legacy

                Dustin Sellers

                Partner, Next Coast Legacy

                  Dustin is a partner at Next Coast Legacy.

            Dustin Sellers

            Partner, Next Coast Legacy

                Tatiana Gaspar

                Director, Next Coast Legacy

                  Director at Next Coast Legacy | Former VP at Goldman Sachs | Fundação Estudar Fellow | Women's Search Network Board Member | CAIS Mentoria Advisor | Brown University BA | CFA charterholder

            Tatiana Gaspar

            Director, Next Coast Legacy

                Michael Maloney

                Principal

                  Principal at Next Coast Ventures | Former Investor at The Rockefeller Foundation & Buoyant Ventures and Consultant at Oliver Wyman | MBA, Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management | Masters in AI, Northwestern University - McCormick School of Engineering | BS in Economics & BBA in Finance, University of Texas at Austin

            Michael Maloney

            Principal

                Michael Tian

                Vice President

                  Early stage technology investor | Ex-consultant at Strategy& | UT McCombs B.B.A.

            Michael Tian

            Vice President

    Operations Team

                Kaitlyn DeBernardo

                Partner, COO & Head of Platform

                  Stanford GSB MBA Grad | Early employee at Workrise (formerly RigUp) which raised over $700mm from their Series B to E funding rounds while she was there | Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the equity desk in New York | Stanford Graduate School of Business | Columbia University with a BA in Economics

            Kaitlyn DeBernardo

            Partner, COO & Head of Platform

                Julia Holmes

                Vice President of Finance

                  Vice President of Finance of Next Coast Ventures and Next Coast ETA | Former Assurance Senior Manager at EY LLP | Certified Public Accountant | MS in Accounting and BBA Texas A&M University

            Julia Holmes

            Vice President of Finance

                Laura Schenke

                Facilities and Operations Manager

                  Facilities and Operations Manager at Next Coast Ventures. Former Nationally Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach at Noom | Assistant GM at Big Onion Tavern Group | General Manager & Event Coordinator at VIP Chicago Parties | MS from Concordia University | BS from Eastern Illinois University

            Laura Schenke

            Facilities and Operations Manager

    Venture Partners

                Julie Dodd

                  Operating Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe | Award-Winning COO & CSO | Former COO, CSO and General Manager at Ultimate Software

            Julie Dodd

                Paul Rogers

                  CTO at Equipment Share | Former CTO at RetailMeNot and Namely | Opened Google's Austin office in 2008 | Led the BazaarVoice engineering team during its start-up years

            Paul Rogers

                Brian Sharples

                  Co-founder and CEO of HomeAway | Member Board Of Directors at Avalara | Stanford University Graduate School of Business | Former President and CEO of IntelliQuest Information Group

            Brian Sharples

                Cotter Cunningham

                  Consumer Internet and Marketplace Executive | Founder, Chair and CEO RetailMeNot (NASDAQ:SALE) | COO Bankrate (NASDAQ:RATE)

            Cotter Cunningham

                Julian Castelli

                  Senior Technology + SaaS executive | Serial entrepreneur with proven track record of delivering growth across multiple industries

            Julian Castelli

                Jason Dorsey

                  Gen Z and Millennial Expert | Global Keynote Speaker | 5x Author, 3x Founder | Led 70+ Research Studies | Corp Board Member | New book: Zconomy

            Jason Dorsey

                Scott Miller

                  EIR @ NCV | Co-Founder & VP Product @ TrustRadius | COO @ Vast (acq. Vroom) | Strategic Planning / APAC Ops @ SolarWinds | Austin Ventures | pcOrder / Trilogy Software | MIT BS + M.Eng, CSEE | HBS MBA

            Scott Miller

    Expert Network

      Our founders are granted access to an expert network of 150+ individuals who are currently leading or have successfully led at companies such as the following:

          Kenny Tomlin

          Leo Resig

          John Pleasants

          Joe Ross

          Steve Schaffer

          Jon Loyens

          Paul Stahura

          Paul Rogers

          Adelle Archer

          Jag Bath

          Dustin Wells

          Paul Pellman

          Arlo Gilbert

          Jim Offerdahl

          Lou Agnese

          Reese Ryan

          Nav Sooch

          D'Anne Hiskey

          Scott Harmon

          Paul Hedrick

          Timonthy Oates

          Adam Rogers

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