SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 12, 2019) — Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that invests exclusively in growing, bootstrapped software companies, announced today that it has expanded its investment team with five new hires. Katherine Claire “KC” Kanoff and Jason Thorn join the firm as Vice Presidents, and Parker Draughon, Max Thompson and Cally Tullo join as Associates.
“We are excited to add this group of talented individuals to the Mainsail team to further our ability to partner with exceptional founder-led software companies,” said Gavin Turner, Managing Partner at Mainsail. “Each of these new team members brings unique experience and perspective to Mainsail but they share the same values which define the culture of our firm.”
Mainsail has invested in nearly 50 bootstrapped companies in its 16-year history. The firm’s strategy to partner with software company founders and provide operational support to help these companies grow is bolstered by an experienced operations team that works closely with the portfolio company leadership teams.
As Vice Presidents, Kanoff and Thorn will work to identify and execute investments in software companies, as well as actively support portfolio companies once an investment is made. Kanoff joins Mainsail after earning her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Before that, she worked for Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm in Los Angeles, California, and at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking and middle market leveraged finance groups where she advised and assisted companies with M&A and financing.
Prior to joining Mainsail Partners, Thorn was an Assistant Vice President with The Riverside Company in Cleveland, OH, where he executed and supported investments in middle market companies and was an active Board Director of Omnigo Software, CertaSite, LILLEbaby and The Marena Group. Thorn also worked at Cyprium Partners, a private equity firm, and in investment banking at Raymond James and Wells Fargo’s Technology Group.
New Associates Draughon, Thompson and Tullo will focus on identifying prospective companies and building relationships with founders to support new portfolio investments. Draughon was most recently an Investment Banker at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Thompson was previously an Investment Banker at Barclays in New York City, and Tullo was on the Equity Research Sales team at Citibank.
Mainsail’s last three investments include Fullbay, a provider of business management software for Heavy-Duty Truck (HDT) repair shops, The Aspire Software Company, a software provider for landscaping, snow & ice, and construction companies, and FairWarning, a privacy software company that provides solutions to protect data in electronic health records (EHRs), Salesforce and hundreds of other cloud-based applications. For a full list of Mainsail’s portfolio companies, please visit: www.mainsailpartners.com.
About Mainsail Partners
Mainsail Partners is a San Francisco-based growth equity firm that invests in bootstrapped software companies. For 16 years, the firm has partnered with exceptional founders and entrepreneurs across many end-markets. Mainsail has a team of experienced operating professionals to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses and accelerate growth.