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| Growth Equity for SaaS |
Flagship Team
The Flagship team has over 65
years of collective experience in founding, investing in and
actively helping to build successful emerging growth companies.
Our partners' private equity and operating experience ranges from
large blue-chip enterprises such as J.D. Edwards, Lockheed Martin,
Smith Barney and Dun & Bradstreet to start-ups and includes several
pioneering on-demand companies. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we
understand what it means to pursue a vision with passion and what it
takes to turn that vision into reality.
Flagship's exclusive focus on Software-as-a-Service and its
far-reaching network of IT thought leaders, technologists, operating
executives and investors enables it to provide valuable assistance
to companies in which it invests in addition to the important
capital that it provides. Our formal
Advisory Board of
standout SaaS and IT industry leaders is a further resource for both
Flagship and our portfolio companies.
David Straden - Partner
Dave is the founder and
Managing Partner of Flagship Partners. He has been investing in and
helping to shape successful growth companies for over twenty years
across a range of industries from media to technology-enabled
business services.
Mr. Straden has also led a number of corporate turnarounds as CEO,
worked in corporate strategy for an large international conglomerate
and provided M&A advice and managed IPOs as an investment banker for
Smith Barney. He has served on many Boards and presently is a
Director of Avenue Right.
Dave is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School (MBA), the London School of Economics (MSc) and Northwestern
University (BA).
Dave can be reached at dave@flagshippartners.com
Jeff Hagins - Partner
Jeff is a Partner of Flagship Partners and one of the pioneers of
the SaaS industry. He has more than twenty-five years of
experience in product marketing, product management, software
development, technical operations, service delivery and software
quality. Jeff was the Chief Technology Officer of SMBLive, Apptix and TeleComputing, three pioneering SaaS firms and CTO and
CIO of Dynix. Prior to these positions, He was Director of
OneWorld Software Engineering for J.D. Edwards, where he also helped
launch their ASP initiative, as well as a Technical Director and
Program Manager for Lockheed Martin.
In addition to his extensive operating experience in the SaaS and
software industries, Jeff has advised several leading technology
companies including Microsoft, British Telecom, CSC, Telecom New
Zealand, Cable & Wireless, NTT, MCI, Bell Canada, Savvis and many
others on overall go-to-market strategy and execution, product &
marketing strategy, channel development, service design &
architecture, service optimization and OSS/BSS integration.
Jeff has been on the forefront of the development of the SaaS and
ASP industries as a Director or Advisory Board member of the ASP
Industry Consortium (ASPIC), Computing Technology Industry
Association (COMPTIA), Microsoft Developer Advisory Council and the
Gerson Lehman Group. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University
(BS).
Jeff can be reached at jeff@flagshippartners.com
Scott Halstead - Partner
Scott is a Partner of
Flagship Partners and has 20 years of experience building high
growth technology-enabled business services companies, most recently
in the employee benefits and financial services and payments
sector. During Scott’s tenure as CEO of WageWorks, the company
twice rated among the top 30 in Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500
fastest growing private companies.
Scott has served in a variety of roles including CEO, COO, General
Manager and CFO. While at WageWorks, the company grew from a
revenue base of $6 million to more than $85 million in three years,
primarily through organic growth. He led the introduction of a new
asset-based pricing model—the first of its type in a twenty-five
year old industry. His focus on growth and profitability as CEO of
WageWorks and COO of eBenX, led both organizations from the red to
the black for the first time in their respective histories.
Scott has extensive experience financing growth-oriented
businesses. He has been involved in raising more than $185 million
in public and private equity and debt, included a successful IPO
while serving as CFO of eBenX. During his career, he has also
completed a number of acquisitions including four during his time as
CEO of WageWorks. Scott is a graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (MBA) and Northwestern University
(BA).
Scott can be reached at
scott@flagshippartners.com