Evangelos Simoudis
Managing Director at Trident Capital focusing on investments in Internet and software businesses.
Prior to entering venture capital, Evangelos had more than 20 years experience in high-technology industries, in executive roles spanning operations, marketing, sales and engineering.
Evangelos earned a PhD in computer science from Brandeis University and a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech.
Insight as a Service (Part 2)
Over a year ago, I introduced the concept of Insight as a Service and described some of the issues that will need to be addressed for such services to be possible. Insight as a Service refers to action-oriented, analytic-driven solutions that operate on data generated by SaaS applications, proprietary corporate data, as well as syndicated [...]
CES 2012 Report
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year attracted 153k attendees (10% increase over last year), with 34K attendees being international. This was another event that showcased the continuing evolution of consumer electronic devices rather than anything revolutionary. Mobility and internet connectivity dominated the exhibits. My focus continues to be on the implications of these themes on our SaaS, adtech, mobility and big data strategies. Google’s influence was felt strongly this year both because of Motorola’s presence but also because of the incorporation of Android in many mobile devices and TVs, and so was Apple’s based on the number of iOS…
Areas of Investment Interest for 2012
Happy New Year! After a nice break, as I head back to the office I thought I’d provide you with my views regarding the overall environment we expect to face in 2012, as well as the areas we will be looking to invest within a two of our focus sectors: adtech/Internet and SaaS. Data (big [...]
The Value of Advisory Boards to Trident Capital’s Investments
Last summer I had written about how our firm is organized around four core investment areas (Adtech/Internet, SaaS/cloud, security, and healthcare IT). Each of these areas has a dedicated investment team that is able to invest on both early and late stage opportunities, as well as its own advisory board. An investment team meets with [...]
3Q11 Was a Solid Quarter for our SaaS Portfolio
Against a continued volatile world economic environment that was dominated by the European debt crisis, and the persistent 9% unemployment here at home, SaaS companies had a very good quarter. We were particularly concerned this quarter because around July we started to read about the deteriorating sentiment and buying behavior among consumers and small businesses. [...]
Presentation on Big Data Analytics and Watson at IBM’s Information on Demand Conference
Last week, I spoke at IBM’s Information on Demand conference about big data and Watson. I also moderated a panel discussion on the initial applications being developed using the technology developed for Watson. Below is the annotated and properly hyperlinked text of my presentation. Data is emerging as an extremely valuable asset; some even characterize [...]
Common Worries Among Corporations and Governments
Corporations and governments are starting to worry about a common set of related issues. During the last two months I was fortunate to participate in several conversations with top corporate executives and foreign government officials all of whom are visiting Silicon Valley with increasing frequency. The conversations covered topics ranging from innovation and the rapid [...]
Analyzing the Success of Our Portfolio Companies
Most fundraising presentation we see include two pieces of information: the company’s position relative to its competition, hopefully through rankings created by industry analyst groups, e.g., Gartner’s Magic Quadrant or Forrester’s Wave, and the list of awards and recognitions the company has received, e.g., the Inc. 500 award. During an initial presentation these two pieces [...]
Commentary on Pacific Crest’s SaaS Surveys and other Relevant Thoughts
A few days ago I participated in Pacific Crest’s workshop for private SaaS companies. This workshop is being held every year as part of Pacific Crest’s technology conference. In addition to the spirited discussion among SaaS company executives and investors, during the workshop Pacific Crest’s Brendan Barnicle and David Spitz presented the results of two [...]
Strong Results during 2Q11 for our SaaS Portfolio
Despite the macro trends that continue to be challenging for the US economy, concerns about Europe and Greece’s impact on the continent’s economy, and the continued impasse for an agreement that will raise the US debt ceiling, SaaS companies have been reporting strong performance results for 2Q11. I got a good feeling for the quarter [...]
