Stephan Cizmar

Blackhorn Ventures, Partner

Linkedin

Career Highlights

• Hiring and developing several operators who later became founders and/or leaders at other companies

• Co-Founding Lang and Ocelot

• Yext IPO

• Shutting down a company I founded (one of the best things that happened to me)

Failures

• Firing my first head of sales before he had a chance to fully ramp

• Staying too long at a company that had a toxic culture and not speaking up enough as a senior leader to try and change it while I was there

Current Focus

• Continuously working to be a resource to founders that I back and earning the right to be the first call when things go wrong and things go right

• Keeping sharp on the latest operating trends and tools that current companies are deploying

• Leading with empathy and a prepared mind

Hobbies

Cooking (especially French cuisine), Running/personal fitness, Live music, Art, Gardening, New York Sports

Talk to me about

• Developer tools

• Logistics and Supply Chain

• Fundraising pre-seed through Series A

• Maintaining mental health while operating in a startup environment

I want to talk to you about

• How to be an effective board member and lead/develop founders from the board level

• Balancing demands between LPs, founders, and firm dynamics

• Learning how to be more present and balance life and work