
Dan has been a B2B/B2C software entrepreneur since 1997 and a public securities investor since 1991. Prior to being Managing Partner & Founder at early growth VC firm Santa Barbara Venture Partners (and before it a Venture Partner at OCV Partners and NGEN Partners), Dan led customer acquisition for Google, GoToMeeting, Picasa, and FastSpring. In 2005, Dan co-founded FastSpring, a platform providing e-commerce store management and payments for 3,000+ software vendors worldwide such as Adobe, Rovio, and Supercell. As CEO, Dan bootstrapped FastSpring’s revenue from $0 to over $120 million using funding of $30,000. FastSpring (acquired in 2013 and then again by Accel-KKR in 2018), was known for its phenomenal customer service (4-time winner of The Silver Stevie Award for “Customer Service Department Of The Year”). It was the #1 fastest-growing company in the LA area during 2006-2010, 13th fastest-growing in N. America, and ranked 41 & 53 on the Inc 500 for 2010 & 2011. FastSpring grew during the Great Recession at a compound growth rate of over 10% per month for over three years and had an annual logo churn rate of 1.3% across 3,000+ software clients. The founders/original investors in FastSpring earned an ROI of over 900X on their original investment. Prior to co-founding FastSpring, Dan led online customer acquisition/advertising for Google AdSense & AdWords through its IPO phase. Before Google, Dan co-led Picasa, a digital photo consumer software company sold to Google in '04 (now Google Photos). Dan led Picasa's customer acquisition & business development initiatives, growing revenue by 7x in ten months. Previously, Dan led customer acquisition for GoToMeeting & GoToMyPC software, generating tens of millions in revenue over a 2-year period, helping lead to a $225M acquisition by Citrix in '03 & building a major online brand. In '16, the GoToMeeting division generated over $600M in recurring SaaS revenue and was acquired by LogMeIn for $1.8 billion. At 24, Dan was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Idealab, the #1 .com incubator, after starting a consumer e-commerce company in college. He graduated Tulane majoring in Finance in 1998. Dan has appeared in various publications, including Entrepreneur, Forbes & the WSJ, and serves on various for and non-profit (homelessness) director/advisor boards. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Engel
fidelity.com
fastspring.com
ml.com
goo.gle
goto.com
idealab.com
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Managing Partner & Founder
Santa Barbara Venture Partners
• www.linkedin.com/company/santa-barbara-venture-partners
Aug 2020 - Present
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Member
YPO Pacific One
• www.linkedin.com/company/ypo-pacific-one
Jan 2025 - Present
Founder
Engel Ventures
• www.linkedin.com/company/engelventures
Jan 2012 - Oct 2021
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Venture Capitalist-in-Residence
OCV
• www.linkedin.com/company/ocv-partners
Jan 2019 - Mar 2020
Greater Los Angeles Area
Venture Partner
NGEN Partners
• www.linkedin.com/company/ngen-partners
Mar 2018 - Mar 2019
New York City Metropolitan Area
CEO & Co-Founder
FastSpring
• www.linkedin.com/company/fastspring
Nov 2005 - Apr 2013
Santa Barbara, California Area
CEO & Founder
GrapeApe.com
Jan 1997 - Dec 1999
Greater Boston Area