Accomplished Tech Investor: Goldman Sachs’ Growth Equity Co-Head Darren Cohen

In this episode we speak with John Clendening, the Founder and CEO of Earned Wealth, a tech-enabled financial services firm focused exclusively on the needs of medical professionals. Because Earned understands the ins and outs of a doctor's career, clients benefit from specially trained fiduciary advisors and technology that plans and adjusts for changes throughout a doctor's working life.  Earned also provides medical practice solutions including tax, accounting, payroll, and retirement plan solutions. John brings over two decades of CEO and President experience in innovative financial services.  He most recently served as CEO of Blucora, a publicly traded technology-driven financial services firm offering tax-smart wealth management outcomes for consumers, where he helped to steer the company into new products and to financial success. John supports Feed the Children. 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 Larry Cheng and Sean Cantwell, Co-founders and Managing Partners at Volition Capital, a Boston-based growth equity firm that invests in founder-owned companies in the software, internet, and consumer sectors. The firm was founded in 2010 and has over $1.7 billion in assets under management. Larry focuses on investment opportunities in transactional internet applications, e-commerce, digital health, and next-generation consumer brands, while Sean focuses primarily on companies in the software and tech-enabled services sectors. In this episode we speak with Larry Cheng and Sean Cantwell, Co-founders and Managing Partners at Volition Capital, a Boston-based growth equity firm that invests in founder-owned companies in the software, internet, and consumer sectors. The firm was founded in 2010 and has over $1.7 billion in assets under management. Larry focuses on investment opportunities in transactional internet applications, e-commerce, digital health, and next-generation consumer brands, while Sean focuses primarily on companies in the software and tech-enabled services sectors. Larry supports Wycliffe Bible Translators. To learn more about this organization click here. Sean supports Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts. 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 Chen Amit, the Co-founder and CEO of Tipalti, the only global payables automation solution to streamline all phases of the accounts payable and payment management workflow in one holistic cloud platform. In 2010, Chen Amit and Orez Zeev created Tipalti to transform global payables with true, end-to-end automation that removes the pains and risks of paying suppliers around the world.  Tipalti has raised over $700 million from notable investors including Durable Capital Partners, G Squared and others. Prior to Tipalti, Chen was CEO of Atrica, a Carrier Ethernet company that Nokia-Siemens acquired. Before Atrica, Chen was co-founder and CEO of Verix, a provider of business intelligence software. 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 Amir Nathoo, the Co-founder and Head of Outschool, a community marketplace of live online classes for kids. In 2015, Amir founded Outschool with Nick Grandy and Mikhail Seregine. The company’s mission is to inspire kids to love learning by providing them with innovative learning opportunities outside of the regular classroom. The classes are offered by independent teachers and take place in small-groups over live video chat with assignments and feedback between the live sessions. Outschool has raised over $240 million from notable investors including Tiger Global, Coatue, Lightspeed and others. Prior to Outschool, Amir was a product lead for Square Payroll and a software developer for IBM. His passion for writing software started at a young age and he strives to find technological and social levers that can drive positive change in the world. 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 Vijay Tella, the Co-founder and CEO of Workato, a platform for intelligent integration and workflow automation. In 2013, Workato was founded by Vijay Tella, Gautham Viswanathan, and Harish Shetty. Their intention was automating workflows through a no-code platform. Prior to Workato, Vijay was CEO of Qik, a consumer video communications company acquired by Skype. Workato has raised over $400 million and is backed by Battery Ventures, Altimeter, Insight Partners, Norwest, 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 Carmine Petrone, a Managing Director at Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors with over $94 billion in assets under management. Carmine joined Advent in 2010 and focuses on making investments in the healthcare and healthcare technology sectors. Prior to Advent, he worked for Thomas H. Lee Partners, where he was a generalist investor with a focus on leveraged buyouts in the financial and business services and healthcare industries. Carmine has also spent time working in the hedge fund industry. He started his career in investment banking with Citigroup Global Markets where he was a member of the Global Health Care team. Carmine was recognized by GrowthCap as a Top 25 Healthcare Investor of 2024. 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 Darren Cohen, the Co-Head and CIO of the Goldman Sachs Growth Equity team, a position he has held since 2018.  Darren manages a $5.2 billion global growth fund and oversees one of the largest dedicated growth equity platforms in the world focused on the Enterprise Software, Financial Technology, and Healthcare Technology sectors.  He manages a talented, diverse team of over 80 investors and collaborates with world-class operating advisors to accelerate value creation across the portfolio. Darren is an accomplished technology investor with a 25+ year career spanning public and private global markets.  His investment journey began with a strong foundation in fundamental research, honed during his tenure as a technology research analyst in Goldman Investment Research and as a buy-side analyst at a global hedge fund. 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 Brian Beutler, the Founder and CEO of Alianza, which delivers the only true cloud-native, carrier-grade communications platform built for service providers. In 2009, after previous years of helping businesses embrace cloud communications, Brian decided to take that same model and help service providers with their next-generation infrastructure. Service Providers that are powered by Alianza are growing faster, drastically simplifying their operations, and delivering better customer experiences. Before Alianza, Brian founded GetFon, which was sold to AT&T/Alestra in 2008. Brian supports Water for South Sudan. 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 Dr. Robert Mittendorff, a General Partner and Head of Healthcare at B Capital, a multi-stage global investment firm with over $6 billion in assets under management. The firm partners with extraordinary entrepreneurs to shape the future through technology by investing out of multiple funds from seed to late-stage venture growth, while focusing primarily in the technology, healthcare and climate sectors. Previously, Robert was at Norwest Venture Partners for nearly a decade as a Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare. He has been involved in investments and associated exits with public equity value or acquisition value that exceeds a total of $10 billion. Robert is a Stanford-trained, board-certified emergency physician who earned his MD from Harvard in the Harvard-MIT program, his MBA from Harvard Business School and his MA in International Affairs from King’s College London. Robert received his undergraduate degree (honors) in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins. 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 the Co-Founder and CEO of Armada, Dan Wright. Armada is the world’s first full-stack edge computing platform, revolutionizing connectivity, compute, and AI solutions. Armada enables companies to rapidly deploy, operate and monitor a complete modular data center to the remote corners of the world. Before Armada, Dan was the CEO of DataRobot and COO of AppDynamics. He is invested in the future of technology as an investor, advisor, and board member for various visionary startups, including Abnormal Security, Avi Networks (acquired by VMware), and Embrace. Dan is a Board Member of JDRF. 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.