Although Crosscut was launched in 2008, the principals (Brian Garrett and Rick Smith) have nearly 40 years of combined experience investing in and advising businesses. We have worked together since 2001. We have managed funds that combined had over $1 billion under management.

We have an unsurpassed network and reputation within the Southern California venture community, built upon many years of successful investing and mentoring. What we have seen over the last several years is an underserved market for local venture money and a severe void of capital available for start-ups in their earliest, and neediest, phases of development.

At the same time, we have seen a post-bubble resurgence in opportunities in digital media, with over 20 significant and sizable companies started in Southern California, including MySpace, Overture, Jamdat, PriceGrabber, LowerMyBills, Shopzilla, Doubeclick, eHarmony and Rent.com.

These companies and the entrepreneurs behind them have established Southern California as the hub of digital media and the epicenter for new opportunities arising from the convergence of technology, media and entertainment.

Our goal is simple: Crosscut wants to be THE funding source that supports and drives this region and its continued innovation.

Rick Smith

Rick Smith

Rick Smith is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures. He has been involved in private equity for over two decades. Prior to co-founding Crosscut, Rick was a managing director at an early-stage venture capital firm based in Santa Monica, California. He joined the firm when it had only one $80 million fund under management, and played an active role in raising and managing two additional funds capitalized at a total of more than $400 million.

Prior to that, he was a managing director at SunAmerica, Inc., where he participated in the acquisitions of a handful of companies that significantly increased the asset base of the company before it was sold for $19 billion. He also co-founded SunAmerica Ventures, a $750 million fund focused on both direct investments and investments in other venture funds.

Rick has led the investments in several companies that have been sold or gone public since he started investing in venture capital in 1997, including:

In addition to the investments noted above, Rick was the lead investor and/or sat on the boards of directors of the following companies: docstoc.com, Fulcrum Microsystems, Virtela and WiQuest.

Rick graduated from Harvard Law School, where he received his J.D., and from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he received his B.S. in Finance.

Brian Garrett

Brian Garrett

Brian Garrett is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures. For his entire career, Brian has been involved in building and funding early-stage technology and media companies.

Brian is very active in the local start-up community and currently sits on the Boards of GumGum and Verve Wireless. He is also an advisory board member for the following digital media companies: Jacked, Zannel and ICN.tv.

Prior to co-founding Crosscut, Brian was a Partner at one of the largest Southern California-based venture funds. He joined there in 2001 and played an active role in managing and investing three funds over six years totaling more than $500 million. He was the sponsor and/or an active board member of nine Palomar portfolio companies, including successes such as DataAllegro (data warehouse appliance company sold to Microsoft in 2008), Entone (video on demand server company sold to Harmonic in 2006) and Lombardi (stand-alone leader in the business process management software market). He also led or co-led investments in several companies that have shown tremendous growth, including Skyetek (RFID reader technology) and Zannel (mobile Instant Media Messaging Platform).

Prior to Palomar, Brian was the Director of Business Development at Niku Corporation. Niku developed Professional Service Automation software for Global 2000 companies. He led business development efforts for iNiku.com, an online workplace for independent professionals. Niku subsequently went public and then was acquired by Computer Associates in 2006.

Prior to Niku, Brian was with a boutique strategy consulting firm called R.B. Webber & Company. He worked with many leading early-stage technology companies including CommerceOne, Inktomi, Sagent, Aurum and Broadbase. In this capacity, he provided strategic advisory services including business plan writing, market entry strategy, and primary market and pricing research. The firm also began formally investing in many of the early-stage companies with which it worked and this was his first exposure to and involvement in venture capital investing. He has continued to refine the skill of evaluating new business opportunities since 1995.

Brian received his MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and he graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering.

The Advisors

The Advisors

Sharing our vision for being a driving force behind the Southern California digital media ecosystem, several prominent SoCal executives and entrepreneurs have partnered with Crosscut with both their time and their money. These individuals are advisors to the Fund and bring us unparalleled experience across all areas of digital media. They extend our reach for deal flow, our knowledge in due diligence and we are proud to have them as part of the Crosscut team.

Brett Brewer

Adam Goldenberg

Michael Jones

Ted Meisel

Jeremy Wenokur