SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 12, 2020) — Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that invests exclusively in growing, bootstrapped software companies, has expanded its leadership team with three key hires. Lynn Atkinson joins the firm as Chief Operating Officer, Phil Stern as a Vice President on Mainsail’s Operations Team, and Erica Curello joins as Vice President of Business Development. In addition to these new hires, Mainsail announced that David Farsai has been promoted to Principal, Matt Buckley to Vice President and Tolliver Bell to Senior Associate at the firm.
As COO, Lynn Atkinson will work with Mainsail’s leadership team to optimize internal systems and processes. Specifically, Lynn will work closely with Mainsail’s Operations Team with the goal to maximize the value the firm provides to its portfolio companies. She will also support the firm in other areas, including investor relations and further developing Mainsail’s network of intermediaries, such as investment banks and brokers.
“This new position represents an exciting milestone for Mainsail,” said Managing Partner, Gavin Turner. “For almost 17 years, our firm has been focused on providing the best support possible to founder-led software companies. We’ve reached a scale that requires even greater focus on deploying our resources effectively. We believe Lynn’s experience as an operator will help improve time to value for our portfolio partners and maximize our ability to drive growth for their businesses. Additionally, she will contribute to improving our internal systems to help the firm achieve its goal of delivering maximum value to our portfolio companies and investors.”
Prior to joining Mainsail, Lynn served as COO of a division of State Street. Previously, she worked as an investment banker covering financial sponsors and technology companies, most recently as Executive Director at Morgan Stanley.
Phil Stern joins Mainsail’s Operations Team as a Vice President, leading the firm’s Center of Excellence for Sales. He will be responsible for deploying best practices across the portfolio in a number of areas, including sales leadership, territory and org design, compensations plans, sales enablement, and pipeline management. Mainsail previously recruited Phil to lead the sales team at Zen Planner, a former portfolio company. Under Phil’s leadership, Zen Planner doubled its customer base in the four years of Mainsail’s investment. Prior to Zen Planner, Phil led sales teams at LogMeIn and Forrester Research. Most recently, Phil was the head of payroll sales for Gusto, leading a team of more than 70 sales professionals.
Erica Curello, Vice President of Business Development, will focus on developing relationships with investment banks and brokers. For the past eight years, Erica has covered the broker channel with Marlin Equity, Diversis Capital and Skyview Capital. Most recently, she was Vice President at Skyview Capital.
“Phil is an experienced sales leader with relevant knowledge and domain expertise in Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”),” stated Turner. “Erica’s experience building relationships with targeted investment bankers and brokers will support our firm in continuing to identify fast-growing software companies. The additions of Lynn, Phil and Erica add expertise and capacity at every stage of our process, from identifying fast-growing companies to supporting their growth once we have made an investment. We are excited to have all three join the team.”
David Farsai joined Mainsail as an Associate in 2012 and was most recently a Vice President before his promotion to Principal.
About Mainsail Partners
Mainsail Partners is a San Francisco-based growth equity firm that invests exclusively in fast-growing, bootstrapped software companies. Since 2003, the firm has invested in more than 50 growing companies. Mainsail prioritizes investments in growing B2B software companies with compelling business models and at least $4 million in recurring revenue. The firm’s approach to driving value creation is anchored in a dedicated Operations Team that is purpose-built to help founders scale their businesses and accelerate growth. These women and men include former software company operators who leverage real-world experience, repeatable best practices, and a true partnership ethos to support founders and management teams. For more, visit mainsailpartners.com.