DreamIt Ventures (http://www.dreamitventures.com/) is after more eCommerce-focused startups, the company is announcing today, and is preparing to support them with the launch of a new advisory board featuring top execs from across the eCommerce industry. The board, which includes members from Walmart, Amazon/Quidsi, QVC, Bononos, Kate Spade and others, will be available to support the DreamIt NYC (http://www.dreamitventures.com/about/Schedules.php) Summer 2012 program partipants, including the startups from DreamIt Israel (http://www.dreamitventures.com/israel), the newly launched Israel-U.S. accelerator (http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/17/dreamit-ventures-launches-first-israel-u-s-accelerator/).
The move by DreamIt is meant to better take advantage of its in-house expertise in this space. Mark Wachen, the managing director of DreamIt NYC founded Optimost (http://techcrunch.com/2007/10/18/interwoven-acquires-optimost-for-52-million/), while DreamIt Founder David Bookspan is Chairman of Monetate (http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/04/monetate-raises-15-million-for-simple-ad-testing-and-targeting-platform/). It seems only natural, then, that DreamIt would want to play up the eCommerce angle when going after new startups.
The organization tells us that the new board members include the following execs:
- Matt Butlein, President, FreshPair
- Jennifer Byrne, VP/Business Development, American Express
- Bryon Colby, SVP/Ecommerce, Cornerstone Brands
- Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, FutureNow
- Josh Himwich, VP/Ecommerce Solutions, Amazon/Quidsi
- Chris McCann, President, 1-800-Flowers
- Alex Miller, VP/Ecommerce & Marketing, QVC
- Johanna Murphy, VP/Ecommerce, Kate Spade
- Bob Myers, CEO, Sheplers
- Elaine Rubin, Founder, Shop.org
- Cliff Sharples, Co-Founder, Shop.org
- Mike Simas, VP/Merchandising, Wal-Mart
- John Tomich, CEO, OneStop
- Andrew Weber, VP/Operations, Bonobos
The board members will hold office hours, conduct seminars, and offer expert advice and mentorship to the companies selected to participate in the programs in NYC and Israel (the latter of which will also spend time in NYC).
DreamIt NYC plans to accept 15 companies this year. Applications (http://www.dreamitventures.com/) close on March 16th.
TechCrunch