Powering Specialty Lending: Octane’s Jason Guss

In this episode we speak with Satoshi Harris-Koizumi, Partner at Battery Ventures, a global, tech-focused investment firm with a track record spanning early, growth-equity, and buyout investments. Now investing from its 14th flagship fund, Battery Ventures XIV, and companion fund Select Fund II, together capitalized at a combined $3.8 billion, the firm has raised more than $13 billion since inception.  Its core focus areas are application software, infrastructure software, consumer, and industrial tech and life science tools.   Toshi, based in New York, leads later-stage and majority investments in software companies reshaping industries like hospitality, manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain, among others. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode, we speak with Jason Guss, Co-Founder and CEO of Octane, a financing platform assisting fast and confident powersports purchases by making financing as easy as cash and creating access through fair credit products. Under Jason’s leadership, Octane has raised both debt and equity amounting to approximately  $2.6 billion.  Prior to Octane, Jason worked at Capital One in Corporate Strategy.  Since 2014, Octane has partnered with dozens of manufacturers and thousands of powersports dealerships to help drive more sales with their platform. They are backed by Valar Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, IA Ventures, DreamIt Ventures, FinTech Collective, Third Prime Ventures and Citi Ventures. Jason supports Baby2Baby. To learn more about this organization click here. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Jon Seeber, General Partner of Updata Partners, a leading technology-focused growth equity firm based in Washington, D.C. Led by an investment team averaging more than 25 years of technology experience, and who began their software careers working in operating companies, Updata invests in high-growth B2B software and software-driven businesses where the combination of capital and operating experience will help accelerate success. Updata has partnered with more than 75 entrepreneurs to date, and has raised more than $1.5 billion in committed capital. Jon has been a member of Updata’s investment team since 2006. He has more than 20 years of experience as an operator and investor in the software industry. Jon supports Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. To learn more about this organization click here. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Mark Dzialga, the Founder and Managing Partner of Brighton Park Capital, a growth equity investment firm focused on entrepreneur-led, growth-stage software, healthcare, and tech-enabled services companies. Brighton Park Capital invests in companies that provide highly innovative solutions in partnership with great management teams. The firm brings purpose-built, value-add capabilities that match the unique requirements of each of its companies to build market leading products and to execute the needed strategies to create important global companies. Prior to starting Brighton Park Capital, Mark was a Managing Director at General Atlantic for more than 20 years. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Savneet Singh, the President and CEO of PAR Technology, a global leader in restaurant technology. Since taking the helm, he has led PAR’s transformation from near bankruptcy to a market cap of over $2.5 billion.  Building on over 40 years of experience, PAR is recognized as one of the largest suppliers of point of sale systems in the United States, EMEA and APAC regions.   Previously, Savneet co-founded GBI, a financial software platform for trading and storing physical precious metals, and worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Savneet supports SHDF.  To learn more about this organization click here. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Kerstin Dittmar, the Founder, Chief Investment Officer, and Managing Partner of L2 Point, a private investment firm focused on structured equity investments in growth companies across the technology and technology-enabled, consumer, healthcare, and media sectors. Her creative structuring across the capital structure has made her a sought-after partner to growth companies looking for an alternative cost of capital product that minimizes the dilution of equity and the operational constraints of debt.  Kerstin began her career with Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group.  She later went on to TPG Sixth Street Partners where she last served as a Principal. Kerstin was a 2024 GrowthCap Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investor awardee. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Zia Uddin, President of Monroe Capital, a premier asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, alternative credit, structured credit, real estate and equity.   Since 2004, the firm has been successfully providing capital solutions to clients in the U.S. and Canada.  As of January 1, 2025, Monroe had $20.3 billion in committed and managed capital. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and maintains 11 offices throughout the United States, Asia and Australia. Zia has over 30 years of management consulting, corporate finance, private equity, turnaround and investing experience. As President, Zia focuses on Monroe’s day-to-day and strategic long-term growth initiatives.  He also assists in both Monroe Capital’s software, technology-enabled and business services lending, as well as the Firms Independent Sponsor activities. Zia's experience includes past and present roles as a Board member of various public and private companies. He joined the firm in 2007 and is a member of Monroe’s Investment Committee. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode we speak with Ran Ding, General Partner at Norwest, a global venture and growth equity investment firm managing more than $15.5 billion in capital. Since its inception, the firm has invested in more than 700 companies and currently partners with more than 250 companies in its venture and growth equity portfolio. Ran joined Norwest in 2011. As a General Partner and Co-Head of the Growth Equity team, Ran focuses on growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including technology, business services, and consumer. His most recent investments include Banyan Software, Datacor, Elite Business Ventures and SpryPoint. Ran is a two-time awardee of GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, as well as GrowthCap’s Top Software Investors. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to follow.

In this episode, we speak with Sean Duffy, the Co-Founder and CEO of Omada Health, a virtual-first healthcare provider that nurtures lifelong health, one day at a time. Since 2011, Sean and his team’s mission has been to inspire and enable people everywhere to live free of chronic disease. They do this by building digital health programs that are evidence-based, performance-priced, and designed to delight their users. Omada is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, Fidelity, Wellington Management, and other notable investors. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode click to follow.

In this episode, we speak with Satyen Sangani, the Co-Founder and CEO of Alation, an enterprise software company, whose data catalog serves enterprises in organizing and consolidating their data. Nearly 600 global enterprises — including 40% of the Fortune 100 — rely on Alation to realize value from every data and AI initiative. Alation is backed by Thoma Bravo, Riverwood Capital, Salesforce Ventures and other notable investors. Since 2012, Satyen and his team have been passionate about helping enterprises create thriving data cultures where anyone can find, understand, and trust data. Prior to founding Alation, Satyen spent a decade at Oracle where he managed the financial services warehousing and performance management business. I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode click to follow.