LiveOak Ventures

Tim Heyl is a residential real estate entrepreneur who built and sold several real estate businesses, including Mint Title and a lead conversion call center called Phone Animal. He led his brokerage, The Heyl Group, to be a four-time Inc 5000 company, and founded Homeward, for which he was recognized by Inman News as Innovator of the Year in 2019 and Person of the Year in 2021.

Venu Shamapant co-founded LiveOak Ventures and has invested in early-stage Texas-based companies since 1999. He was previously a General Partner at Austin Ventures and worked at McKinsey & Co. serving enterprise systems and software clients, and began his career as a software developer and engineering lead at Mentor Graphics. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Osmania University.

Creighton Hicks is a Partner at LiveOak Ventures with over a decade of experience investing in and operating early-stage technology companies. He was previously a partner at Dell Technologies Capital in Silicon Valley, where he led early-stage enterprise technology investments, and earlier worked at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, VMware in product marketing, and IBM's Tivoli Software division. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mike Marcantonio is a Partner at LiveOak Ventures who has worked in investing for over a decade. He previously was a Principal at Blue Heron Capital investing in tech-enabled business services and healthcare companies, and earlier held roles at American Capital, Harris Williams, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a BS in Finance and Accounting from James Madison University.

David Stewart is a Venture Partner at LiveOak Ventures, where he helps source and evaluate deals and advises portfolio companies. He has invested in and advised more than 30 software companies, most recently working with Trinity Ventures, and previously served as Chief Business Officer at Turo after it acquired SocialStudio, the company he founded. His earlier product roles include VP of Product at Yammer, Senior Director of Growth at Playdom, and product roles at YouTube and Google; he started at the Boston Consulting Group and holds an MBA and BA from Yale University.

Serial entrepreneur with experience building and selling software companies in telecom, search, and payments. Prior to founding Osano, he built and sold Meta SaaS, an enterprise SaaS optimization platform. He applies entrepreneurial vision and technical expertise to identify opportunities and develop innovative software solutions.

Ben Scott is a co-founder of LiveOak Ventures who joined Austin Ventures as a Venture Partner in 2001 before starting LiveOak. His earlier career included serving as chairman and CEO of IXC Communications, president and CEO of PrimeCo Personal Communications, and COO of Bell Atlantic's U.S. wireless business and CEO of its international wireless business, following 20 years at AT&T where he finished as president and CEO of AT&T Canada. He retired in March 2020.

Julianna Giraldo leads marketing strategy at LiveOak Ventures and provides marketing support to the firm's portfolio companies. She began her career at Dell Technologies through the Marketing Development Program, rotating through Communications and Latin American Channel Marketing before taking on roles in go-to-market strategy and crisis communications. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Economics from Texas Tech University.

Kathryn Moore joined LiveOak Ventures after completing an MBA at the Texas McCombs School of Business, where she was a Venture Fellow and worked with firms including Mainsail Partners and Wex Venture Capital. Prior to business school, she built and scaled sales teams at AI cybersecurity company Darktrace from Series C through post-IPO and was an early employee at Toptal focused on growth and go-to-market strategy. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Linguistics from Princeton University.

Paola Retes is an investor at LiveOak Ventures who joined after earning an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She was previously an early employee and lead associate at Ironspring Ventures, and earlier held operating and investing roles at Holt Ventures, Becton Dickinson, Deloitte, and Matterhorn Capital Management. Her investment experience spans multiple stages and industries with a focus on enterprise software, and she holds a CFA charter.

Founder and CEO of AmplifAI Solutions Inc, an AI-powered performance acceleration platform for enterprise contact centers. Previously served as President and COO of PRC Inc, a business process outsourcing firm with over 10,000 employees and $300M in revenue, working with Diamond Castle, a $4B private equity fund.