Meet Steve
Hey!
I’ve spent my entire career in Automotive & Mobility, and now have the honor of working with some of the best minds in the industry. Our job is to identify truly talented entrepreneurs trying to solve the industry’s biggest problems. If you’re an entrepreneur, investor or industry participant, we want to hear from you.
Early Foundations
Seeing the Global Auto Industry Up Close
My career started at Manheim, working across international markets from Dubai to Istanbul to Beijing. Those years gave me early visibility into how technology, supply chains, and consumer behavior were beginning to reshape automotive — long before the transformation became mainstream.
Operator Years
Scaling, Acquiring, and Transforming
I went on to senior roles at AutoTrader and TrueCar, where I helped lead strategy, expand new business lines, and guide more than $1B in acquisitions across some of the most influential automotive technology companies.
Those experiences provided a front-row seat to how digital retailing, marketplaces, data, and OEM strategy were being rebuilt in real time.
Founder to Investor
Moving Earlier in the Value Chain
After launching several AutoTech startups myself, I shifted to working directly with founders solving the hardest, most overlooked problems in mobility. It became clear the industry needed a fund purpose-built for this category — one fluent in its technical depth, regulatory constraints, infrastructure challenges, and global interdependencies.
Automotive Ventures
Built for What’s Next
I founded Automotive Ventures to meet that need. Today, I invest at the earliest stages in companies redefining how people and goods move — autonomy, electrification, logistics, robotics, industrial mobility, cybersecurity, marketplaces, and the systems that connect them.
My lens is thesis-driven, founder-first, and shaped by decades of pattern recognition, operational depth, and proximity to the shifts reshaping global mobility.
The Work That Matters To Me
I built Automotive Ventures to give founders and LPs an edge through:
Clearer Signal
Earlier Insight
Faster Acceleration
Understanding of Industry Integration
My Investment Approach
A framework that consistently produces results.
1. Pipeline
We aim to see every early-stage mobility deal — fueled by publishing, speaking, brand reach, industry events, and a constant flow of founder referrals.
2. Portfolio
We back high-potential teams early and stay close as they navigate product validation, customer acquisition, and subsequent rounds. Our job is to accelerate momentum and remove friction.
3. LPs
Our LPs are more than capital providers. They bring distribution, enterprise access, operational expertise, and real-world perspective — advantages that compound across the portfolio.
4. Brand
Books, keynotes, the Intel Report, LinkedIn publishing, and now the Greenfield Podcast create visibility and trust across the ecosystem — driving deal flow, customer introductions, and category authority.
