I’m an investor at Bain Capital Ventures. My focus is infrastructure software – data center infrastructure (networks, storage, compute), virtualization, cloud, security/compliance, data infrastructure (databases, analytics), and application development.

I’m EECS and physics by background. At MIT I studied in a lab that developed optoelectronics from quantum dots – solar cells, LEDs, lasers. It was geeky, cool stuff, but a decade away from commercial reality. What I do today is help companies create an immediate commercial impact.

Quantum dots: super cool, but decades from commercialization.

How do you commercialize technology? You spend money. Sales & marketing is the most expensive opex line for software companies; post launch, most of your cash will be consumed here. Great companies spend wisely. Wise spend means less dilution for founders, less dilution for employees, and less dilution for the investors…yep, I’m self-serving after all.

Prior to Bain Capital Ventures, I ran demand gen at VMTurbo, a control system for virtual and cloud environments. I’ve also been a consultant at Bain & Company where I worked on growth strategies for large software companies in the Boston area.

It’s great to meet new people. Drop me a note, dfriend@baincapital.com.

David

Why BELAY.IO? In climbing, the ethos is ground-up. You climb a cliff, ground-up, without knowing where you’ll find the the cruxes. First ascentionists (or founders) are unsure if the route is even possible, or if they’ll hit a point where the only way off is to fall. A good belay (or investor) is essential.