Team
Jon Staenberg
Managing Partner
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Jon Staenberg has worked with venture-backed companies for 20 years in several capacities – as founder, manager and venture capitalist. As an entrepreneur he has established 5 companies, served on the senior management team of several early-stage organizations and provided venture capital funding to more than 100 start-ups. He is one of the most experienced venture capitalists in the Pacific Northwest, having raised three funds totaling over $200 million. Early in his career, Jon established several marketing groups at Microsoft where he worked from 1988 through 1994. He then joined the senior management team of Virtual i-O, a venture-backed startup, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In 2003, he joined Rustic Canyon and now serves as an advisory partner to them. Pursuing his passion for wine, travel and helping to establish and grow great companies, he is now focusing his energies on new startups in the business social media arena. He continues to make venture investments.
Jon graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, where he received his B.S., M.A., and M.B.A. While at Stanford, he started and ran two successful companies.
Jon grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and is a hardcore Nebraska Cornhusker fan. In his spare time he collects sports ticket stubs.
Jon Belzer
Chief Financial Officer
Jon Belzer brings 15 years of accounting, finance and business development experience to Staenberg Ventures. His primary areas of focus have been in the technology and entertainment industries. Jon was with the firm in its early years, from 2000-2002, and rejoined the team in 2007. He serves as CFO and oversees SVP’s accounting, finance, HR and investor relations functions; he is also involved in evaluating and structuring new investments.
Prior to joining SVP for the second time, Jon ran his own consulting practice, in which he provided a range of accounting and finance services to publicly traded and privately held businesses, including serving as interim CFO/controller for several companies, consulting on Sarbanes-Oxley projects, and assisting companies with the implementation of highly technical accounting standards. Previously, Jon served as the Director of Business Development at alliantgroup, LP, where his responsibilities included sales and business development for the national consulting firm which specializes in the R&D tax credit and other government-sponsored tax incentives. From 1999 to 2000, he was the Director of Finance at a Seattle commercial real estate developer Nitze-Stagen. Prior to 1999, Jon was Senior Auditor at KPMG, where he worked principally as an auditor in the firm’s Information, Communications & Entertainment practice.
Jon is also the founder of a consortium of e-commerce websites operating under the parent company eMerchandise Group. Some of the websites include SuperHeroStuff.com, eMerchandise.com, and YouBuyNow.com. Jon remains active in these endeavors.
Jon holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Gonzaga University and a Master of Business Administration from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management (2004), and he is a CPA.