NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bolster, a new marketplace for on-demand executive talent, announced its launch today to match experienced executives with companies for interim, fractional, advisory, project-based or board roles. The company’s investors include High Alpha, Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company SVB Financial Group, Union Square Ventures and Costanoa Ventures.
Bolster is led by co-founder and chief executive Matt Blumberg. Blumberg was the co-founder and CEO of Return Path, the global leader in email deliverability and intelligence that was acquired by Validity in 2019, and is the author of Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Scaling up Your Business, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2013 and updated in 2020. Blumberg is joined by an experienced team of seven co-founders and former Return Path leaders.
“We are excited to create a new business to focus on the unique needs that CEOs face in rapidly scaling up and diversifying their leadership teams and boards,” said Blumberg. “Our team worked on a number of these issues over the last 20 years and believe that we have a unique perspective on how to help other companies think differently about accessing executive talent. We are thrilled to partner with High Alpha, the leading venture studio in creating B2B software companies, SVB, the bank of the world’s most innovative companies and their investors and our team’s long-time investors at Union Square Ventures and Costanoa Venture Capital to bring this business to life.”
Scott Dorsey, High Alpha Managing Partner, said, “The gig economy has created an unprecedented opportunity for millions of workers and this powerhouse trend has now reached the C-Suite. Seasoned tech executives can really help start-ups and scale-ups get to the next level and build more diverse teams and Boards of Directors. High Alpha is thrilled to be working with Matt and his talented team at Bolster, our partners at SVB and a terrific group of investors to bring these important capabilities to market.”
The Bolster platform matches startup and scaleup companies with top executive talent and enables investors to seamlessly connect their talent networks to the CEOs of their portfolio companies. Bolster also provides software and services to help CEOs assess and benchmark their leadership teams and board, and helps flexible executives build and manage their consulting practice. Bolster has run a private beta with more than twenty select startup clients, 200 executives and ten leading venture capital and private equity investors since the spring of 2020 and is currently accepting new beta member and client applications. Additional functionality and value will be added to the marketplace in the coming months. Bolster’s growing list of customers includes notable brands like Gainsight, DonorsChoose, Quizlet and Pantheon.
“Finding top talent is a key priority and need among SVB’s technology and life science clients, as well as VC partners identifying talent for portfolio companies,” said Melody Dippold, Managing Director and Head of Innovation at SVB. “We are thrilled to partner with Bolster and High Alpha to build a marketplace that addresses this need. Bolster provides a robust platform for companies and investors to identify experienced executives.”
To learn more about Bolster and apply to join its talent network, visit bolster.com.
About Bolster
Bolster, technically headquartered in New York City but currently based in the cloud, is an on-demand executive talent marketplace that helps accelerate companies’ growth by connecting them with experienced, highly vetted executives for interim, fractional, advisory, project-based or board roles. Bolster also provides on-demand executives with software and services to help them manage their careers as independent consultants and provides startup and scaleup CEOs with software and content to help them assess, benchmark and diversify their leadership teams and boards. For more information, visit bolster.com.
