Career
Patricof worked from the ground up and eventually was assigned the management of the Gottesman pulp and paper fortune. Tired of the irrational volatility of the stock market, he focused his efforts on the new private companies in the portfolio. In 1967, he invested in New York magazine, a new publication, where he served as the founding chairman of the board. The magazine was a success and his efforts elevated his business profile. In 1969, he was able to raise $2.5 million and founded one of the first venture capital firms, Patricof Company Ventures. In 1977, he founded the private equity firm Apax Partners. Patricof is an active investor: he always takes a seat on the company's board and is very vocal with his views.
By the mid-1990s Apax had become one of the larger private equity firms globally. In 2001, Patricof stepped back from day-to-day management of Apax Partners, Inc., the US arm of the firm to return to his original focus on making venture capital investments in small early-stage companies. In 2006, Patricof left Apax to form Greycroft Partners which focuses on small early-stage venture capital investments.
As an early investor in venture capital and has been involved in the development of numerous major companies including America Online, Office Depot, Cadence Design Systems, Apple Computer and FORE Systems. He was a founder and chairman of the board of New York magazine, which later acquired the Village Voice and New West magazine. Patricof also acquired style magazine Details in 1987. He has also been involved with Cellular Communications, Inc., NTL, and Audible.
Over the course of his 40-year career in private equity, Patricof has been instrumental in growing the venture capital field from a base of high net-worth individuals to its position today with broad institutional backing, as well as playing a key role in the essential legislative initiatives that have guided its evolution.
Read more about this topic: Alan Patricof
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