As we have moved to virtual vendor briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short segments (with permission from vendors), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
I have had two Workday Ventures portfolio companies present as part of this series. I have two more scheduled. So, I invited Leighanne Levensaler, Co-Head of WD Ventures (she is also EVP of Corporate Strategy at Workday) to present on the complete portfolio in the fund of $250 million with 24 active investments.
She does a very nice job in under 20 minutes walking through the portfolio (most aligned with Workday's hcm, financial and supply chain focus). She also explains the fund's investment philosophy and approach and the benefits it brings both to portfolio companies and to Workday customers.
The fund is only 3 years old and has already had 6 exits. You get the sense of a nurturing environment for startups with its strong management team with plenty of previous operational Workday experience and with the access it provides to the Workday customer base and its product organization.
I have never been a big fan of vendors who brag about ecosystems with hundreds and thousands of partners or startups. I like to tell them show me your 50-100 best successes. I like the gradual, yet influential, pace at which WD Ventures is growing.
