Oceans

Steven Rosenblatt

Co-Founder & General Partner

With more than 20 years of experience scaling startups and building technology companies in the digital and mobile ecosystem, Steven Rosenblatt co-founded Oceans, a new kind of venture capital firm, in 2018 where he currently serves as General Partner.

Steven has been passionate about building early stage companies and has finally fulfilled his life long goal of starting his own company.  Prior to Oceans, Steven was President of Foursquare. During his six-year tenure at the location intelligence company, he was responsible for transitioning the company from a purely consumer-facing location platform into an enterprise business, building a multi-product strategy and growing revenue by more than 70x. This entailed overseeing all aspects of strategy and implementation of the company’s revenue streams along with overseeing its biggest customers. During his time, Foursquare won numerous awards, including being named in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list as one of the most disruptive tech companies in the world, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America, and won Ad Age’s Best Places to work. Steven worked closely with his investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, DFJ, and Spark Capital, and has spoken at nearly 100 events.

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Notable Investments

Button, Remix Media, Play

Questions & Answers

Origin Story: In a couple sentences, how would you describe your path to becoming an investor?

Spent 20 years in tech at the forefront of technology trends building companies here in NYC.  Over the last 12 years, helped build Quattro Wireless (acquired by Apple) and led the transformation of Foursquare from consumer app to enterprise data company.  After raising hundreds of millions, having some of the best investors as on our board, mentoring and advising founders, i felt there was a new model that needed to develop for the next generation of founders.

Investment Approach: What are the key factors you consider when evaluating a founding team?

Self-Awareness, Insight, Passion, and ability to educate me

What's your style and approach when it comes to working with founders post-investment? What are the characteristics of founders you've worked well with?

Founders who are not afraid to ask for help, not afraid to admit they don't know something or aren't good at something.  The only way to be successful is to tackle things head on.

If I'm coming to pitch to you or your firm, what's the one piece of advice you'd give me?

Inspire and educate us, tell me why this is the thing you want to spend the next 10 years doing and talk about the vision of what this can become once you solve some of the initial problems.

How would you describe your own personal mission and values, and how do they impact the way you invest?

I love to mentor and work with founders where i know if they are successful, it will have a meaningful impact on their lives along with their employees.  If they can impact the world while doing so, even better.

What do you like best about investing in NYC, and what’s your outlook on the future of NYC tech?

NYC has always had a more collaborative and diverse way of thinking.  I strongly believe that tech will be at the center of the post Covid comeback story of NYC b/c NYC will always be at the center of all industries along with culture and the arts.