BC Business
Kristina Kerr Bergman, Ignition Partners | BCBusiness
Between big data and cloud computing, there’s a tectonic shift occurring in enterprise technology. Opportunities for enterprise-oriented startups are plentiful, and a new generation of venture capitalists is meeting founders and their ideas in this hot market.
Over the past five years, cloud computing and social media—think Dropbox and Twitter—have worked their way into companies large and small, as employee demand and the pressure to innovate have shaken up the enterprise space. It’s investors like Kristina Kerr Bergman, a partner at Bellevue, Wash.-based Ignition Partners, who are driving the future and will be around long enough to see entrepreneurs through their long game. And this is just what she’ll address in a discussion titled “The Next Generation is Changing the Game” as a panel speaker at the upcoming GROW Conference, slated for Aug. 14-16. As this younger workforce cohort has moved up the corporate ladder, they’ve brought the technology they grew up with to work, says Kerr Bergman. She points to three reasons why a new generation is taking over: they’re tech-savvy, strong communicators and natural team players.
Baby boomers tend to focus more on finished products and turn to investors as a formal resource for funding or advice, whereas the next generation wants discussions centered on feedback, refining ideas and the broader market place, according to Kerr Bergman.
“You don’t have to spend so much time on why it works, you just need to explain how it works,” says Kerr Bergman. “We immediately understand the value and the impact technology can have on people’s lives and in their businesses.”
The generational shift cuts across the startup scene: new companies forming in the Valley, Seattle, Vancouver and Portland, led by recent graduates in their mid-to-late 20s, have shifted their focus in the past two years. Sprightly startup founders, traditionally geared towards consumer tech, are shifting their focus to enterprise, in large part due to the consumerization of IT, says Kerr Bergman.
Kerr Bergman joined Ignition Partners as a principal in 2012, where she sources deals with cloud and big data startups and counsels on industry trends. Previously a product manager at Microsoft, she worked six years in the tech giant’s SharePoint business services division coordinating its global marketing campaign. A University of Victoria alum, Kerr Bergman got her start as an entrepreneur launching a drive-in theatre.
Ignition Partners is a venture capital firm with $2 billion in assets under management in the Internet, enterprise and consumer technology space.