Shasta Ventures Launches Platform Designed For Early-Stage Startups

March 4, 2020
Written by Kim Zimmermann
Published in News Briefs

Shasta Ventures unveiled a program designed to assist early-stage companies to accelerate growth by applying best practices in sales, marketing and customer success. The Shasta Ignite platform includes a dozen industry expert mentors and teachers, content modules, events and workshops, according to a company announcement.

“Acquiring and retaining customers is the most important undertaking for early-revenue startups,” said Jason Pressman, Managing Director of Shasta Ventures, in a statement. In addition to Shasta, Pressman’s investments include Zuora, Nextdoor and Glint.

Shasta Ignite aims to provide founders with practical advice customized to the specific opportunities and challenges of their firms and markets. “The B2B SaaS Cloud is 20-years-old, and there are well-understood best practices for growing early-revenue companies,” said Shasta Ignite General Manager Michael Lock in a statement. Lock was a founding member of Google Cloud.

According to the announcement, Shasta Ignite includes four components overseen by Lock and managed by Shasta’s investors and partners: 16 half-day workshops covering the complete spectrum of early-revenue challenges; hands-on mentoring and networking for functional executives of Shasta startups; an online forum where founders can ask questions and get answers from Shasta partners and advisors; and a launch assistance program.