The Outlook Ventures team has earned a reputation in the software industry for providing exceptional support to entrepreneurs. Of course, we provide capital and fill board roles, but we also actively assist day-to-day in enhancing business strategies, expanding strong management teams and providing introductions to key customers, strategic partners and subsequent funding sources.

The Outlook Venture team has worked closely with over 100 early-stage companies and includes a functional breadth unique among venture capital firms. Having played leadership roles in the founding of successful ventures such as Yahoo!, Onsale (now Amazon), Scopus (now Siebel) and Net Channel (now AOL TV) and held executive positions at major corporations such as IBM, AT&T, Apple Computer, Viacom, and SBC/Pacific Bell, the team brings exceptionally strong strategic and operational capabilities to its portfolio.

Randy Haykin Managing Director

Randy Haykin is a well-known angel and venture investor residing in the Silicon Valley. He has been a Managing Director at Outlook for the past ten years, after co-founding the firm in 1996. He led the firm's early involvement at Overture, and has represented Outlook on the Boards of Digital Chocolate, Reply.com, Reconnex, Loyalty Lab, Bridgestream (acquired by Oracle), NetBrowser Communications, nSite Software, Impulse Network (acquired by Inktomi N: IKTM), eTeamz (merged with Active Networks), Voquette (merged with Semagix), Qbiquity (acquired by Collabrys) and, Logilent (merged with Toolwire, Inc).

Prior to Outlook, Haykin held various senior sales and marketing positions in the high technology arena over the past 19 years with high-profile companies such as Yahoo!, Viacom, Paramount, BBN, IBM, and Apple Computer.

Haykin served as the founding Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Yahoo!, where he was responsible for building the company's marketing team, establishing agency relationships and generating initial business model and advertising sales for Yahoo. Haykin served as interim VP Marketing at NetChannel, which was successfully acquired by America Online in 1998. He has also served as part of the core team that launched America Online's Greenhouse, a successful venture incubator.

In his five years at Apple Computer, Haykin was responsible for creating and launching the Apple Multimedia Program for developers as well as a line of retail multimedia and CD-ROM products. He was also responsible for the division's strategic relations, including the creation of the "New Media Center" program for higher education, with ten other manufacturers and publishers. As the Director of Operations and Business Development at Viacom/Paramount's West Coast operations (the "Media Kitchen"), Haykin was in charge of online services and interactive team-building, corporate strategy and marketing.

Haykin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Studies from Brown University, magna cum laude, and an MBA from Harvard's Graduate School of Business. He is the author of "Demystifying Multimedia" (Random House, 1993). Randy enjoys "soccer-parenting", playing the guitar and family outings with his wife, Patty and three daughters, Elise, Julianna and Kayla. He is on the Governing Board of Opportunity International, a non-profit that provides micro-loans for 3rd World countries and the Board of the American Cancer Society.

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Carl Nichols Managing Director

Carl Nichols co-founded Outlook in 1996 and has more than 20 years of experience in the software, computer, telecommunications and consumer products industries. Nichols has held senior executive positions in the strategic planning, business development, operations management, market development and finance departments of several major companies.

Prior to Outlook, Nichols headed strategic and financial planning at SBC/Pacific Bell, an $8 billion telecommunications and Internet service provider, where he was responsible for identifying new growth opportunities and business lines, developing strategic partnerships and optimizing the company's investments. Before joining SBC/Pacific Bell, Nichols was Vice President of Strategic Business Management at Scrivner, Inc., a $6 billion packaged goods distributor. He led the company's business development efforts, including market expansions, new concept developments, domestic and international alliances and operating improvements.

Prior to Scrivner, Nichols spent six years as a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where he provided marketing, technology and operating guidance for his Fortune 500 clients, which included computer manufacturers, broadband service providers, retailers and financial institutions. Prior to Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Nichols served at AT&T's Information Systems International business where he developed marketing plans for the company's entry into Europe and led systems development at Spectrum Development.

Nichols has represented Outlook on the Board of portfolio companies such as ClairMail, Lasso Logic (acquired by SonicWALL N: SNWL), Epicentric (acquired by Vignette N: VIGN), MarketHome (acquired by ClickAction N: CLAC), Arthas (acquired by Yahoo N: YHOO), Toolwire, Vantos and Kinecta (acquired by Stellent N: STEL).

Nichols received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science magna cum laude from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard's Graduate School of Business. He enjoys skiing, scuba diving and sailing.

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Margot Giusti Finance/Administration

Margot Giusti brings over 25 years of financial management experience, primarily in the investment management industry. She is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of San Francisco. She has been active in the venture capital industry for the past eight years.

Prior to working in the venture capital industry, Giusti spent 17 years serving in various positions ranging from Controller to Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer for Metric Realty and its predecessor, Fox & Carskadon Financial Corporation, leading national real estate investment companies. Prior to that Giusti spent five years on the audit staff of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells.

Giusti is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Peninsula VCBC ("Venture Capital Bean Counters") Organization.

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For more information about Outlook Ventures: info@outlookventures.com.