Photo of Brian Feinstein, Partner

Brian Feinstein

Partner
San Francisco

Roadmaps

Biography

Brian is a partner in the San Francisco office and he focuses on investments in enterprise software. He is passionate about working with founders who are shaping their industries and often don’t fit the Silicon Valley mold.

Brian has been at Bessemer since 2008 and has invested in 5 companies that have gone public. Brian led the first institutional investments in Procore (IPO), Wildlife Studios, Restaurant365, Enjoei (IPO), and Ada, early-stage investments in Weave, Mambu, TractionGuest, and Clio, and growth-stage investments in nCino (IPO) and Bumble (IPO). Brian also led growth buyouts of LiveAuctioneers and Beyond.

During his time at Bessemer, Brian supported investments in Gainsight, Mindbody (IPO), Playdom and helped found Columbia Lake Partners, a European venture debt fund. Prior to Bessemer, Brian worked in the private equity group at Blackstone and founded an online advertising agency.

Brian graduated from Harvard University and sits on the board of the Heckscher Foundation for Children.

Portfolio Highlights

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Getting to know Brian

 

Black and white photo of mother and child
Brian with his mother

Brian came to the United States at age four after his parents uprooted their lives to go in search of a better future. After they moved, Brian watched his father build a business from scratch, and through that experience, he developed a lifelong respect for founders and their courage.

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nCino CEO Pierre Naudé

As a vertical software investor, Brian values industry expertise more than early hype and looks for scrappy founders who are building enduring businesses. He’s been working with industry-defining software companies for the past 15 years, and learning a lot along the way (you can read about some of the lessons here).

“People say venture capital is a pattern-recognition business, but the biggest opportunities exist where those patterns break.”

Posed group photo of four men shaking hands
Brian with Procore's President-Chief Culture Officer, Steve Zahm, board member Kevin O'Connor, and Founder, CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board, Tooey Courtemanche

When Brian first met Procore’s founder and CEO, Tooey Courtemanche, nothing about him or his business fit the profile of a typical venture capital investment. Based in a town better known for its surfing than its entrepreneurship, Tooey spent a decade struggling to drive adoption of Procore’s product before ultimately building the largest company in construction software.

The Bessemer team had done enough market mapping work to believe that Procore was going to revolutionize construction, so they led Procore’s first institutional round in 2014. With a front-row seat to Procore’s evolution from startup to public company, Brian was able to see everything it took for the company to grow from $5 million to over $1 billion in revenue.

three men posed on stage at conference
Restaurant365 Co-Founders: Morgan Harris, Chief Community Officer, Tony Smith, Chief Executive Officer, and John Moody, Chief Strategist

Brian takes great pride in being his CEOs’ first call and thought partner, and helping them navigate thorny problems and new opportunities. As the largest investor in most of his portfolio companies, Brian feels enormous personal responsibility for guiding CEOs on the path to industry leadership —- whether that be by supporting them in crafting a financial plan, prioritizing the product roadmap, developing a fundraising strategy, or closing an important hire.

 

Portfolio Companies

Indicates Enduring

Fulcrum

Vertical Software Enterprise
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Fulcrum

Fulcrum is an enterprise resource planning software to improve efficiency through workflow optimization, through reporting, scheduling, live production tracking, design and engineering, purchasing, security, and other related services, enabling clients to optimize work and increase efficiency.

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Investors

Brian Feinstein

Founded

2015

Partnered

2021

Roadmaps

Enterprise Vertical Software

Procore

NYSE: PCOR
Vertical Software Enterprise Fintech
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Procore

Procore provides cloud-based construction management software. Procore (PCOR) went public in May 2021.

NYSE: PCOR
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Investors

Brian Feinstein

Founded

2003

Partnered

2014

Roadmaps

Enterprise Fintech Vertical Software

Articles

people celebrating at the NYSE
Breaking new ground to IPO: The Procore Story
 A group of people talking to one another with an earth image behind them
Procore’s Valerie Jackson shares the blueprints for building inclusive companies
 10 Laws overlayed on top of gray clouds
Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud
 Scaling to 100M is the resource for founders during all stages of growth
Scaling to $100 Million
 finger touching screen with company logos
Six product strategies to catalyze your Second Act
 0's 1's and lines overlapping
Ten lessons from a decade of vertical software investing
 headshots of men and women floating on clouds
State of the Cloud 2022
 illustrative graphic of chart $25m to $50m
Scaling GTM from $25 to $50 million ARR
 headshot of man with stacks of money and bank
How CFOs build a Goldilocks “just-right” budget

Weave

NYSE: WEAV
Vertical Software Enterprise Healthcare
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Weave

Weave is a communication company helping practitioners increase and maintain their patient base by building stronger relationships.

Weave became a public company in November 2021.

NYSE: WEAV
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Investors

Brian Feinstein

Founded

2008

Partnered

2017

Roadmaps

Enterprise Healthcare Vertical Software

Articles

0's 1's and lines overlapping
Ten lessons from a decade of vertical software investing
 10 GTM Lesson text written on top of clouds
Scaling to $100 million: Ramping your cloud GTM engine

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