Stage 2 Capital

Stage 2 Capital Research

Investment Thesis

Stage 2 Capital is a distinctive B2B software-focused venture capital firm and the first VC fund backed by more than 1,000 go-to-market (GTM) executives. Founded in 2018 by Jay Po (former Bessemer Venture Partners) and Mark Roberge (founding CRO at HubSpot, Harvard Business School faculty), the firm was built on the premise that the most critical challenge facing Series A/Seed-stage software companies is not product development but go-to-market execution.

The firm's core belief is that capital alone is insufficient — founders need operational expertise and curated executive access to scale revenue effectively. Stage 2 Capital operationalizes this through a proprietary "two-person investment pod" model: every deal involves one partner with traditional VC/finance expertise paired with a seasoned GTM operator. This dual-lens approach informs diligence and ensures post-investment support is substantive, not advisory.

Stage Focus

Stage 2 Capital primarily targets Seed and Series A stage companies — companies that have found initial product-market fit and are beginning to scale revenue operations. This maps directly to their GTM-first thesis: the firm's network and expertise is most valuable when a company is hiring its first sales and marketing leaders, establishing repeatable demand generation, and defining its ideal customer profile.

• Seed: 22+ investments, average round size ~$4.85M
• Series A: 26+ investments, average round size ~$10.3M
• Series B: Selective follow-on investments (4+ deals, avg ~$17.9M)
• Catalyst Accelerator: 11-week seed accelerator program with $100K investments for pre-product-market-fit companies

Check Size

Typical check sizes range from $2M to $6M, with a sweet spot around $4M for lead investments. The firm positions itself as a lead investor that takes meaningful ownership while leveraging its LP network for co-investment.

Fund Status & AUM

Stage 2 Capital has raised over $245 million across three funds:

• Fund I: Established 2018
• Fund II: Followed with expanded LP base
• Fund III: $150M (announced 2022, oversubscribed), currently actively deploying

The firm's LP base has grown from 300+ GTM executives at Fund III launch to 1,000+ senior GTM leaders as of 2026, drawn from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Snowflake, Atlassian, Zoom, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Workday, and Toast.

Portfolio Highlights

Stage 2 Capital has invested in 70+ companies across its fund history with 58+ active portfolio companies. Notable investments and exits include:

• Momentum — acquired by Salesforce (flagship exit demonstrating GTM network value)
• Metaplane — acquired by Datadog (April 2025)
• Cable — acquired
• Sendoso — revenue grew nearly 10x post-investment (cited in portfolio testimonials)
• QuotaPath — sales compensation management
• Ocrolus — AI document processing (fintech)
• DeepScribe — AI medical documentation
• Slang.ai — AI voice assistant for restaurants
• PolyAI — conversational AI
• Letter AI — sales enablement platform (Series A, Feb 2026 — most recent investment)

The portfolio is concentrated in enterprise software (55+ investments) and fintech (8+ investments), with meaningful representation in HR tech, marketplaces, developer tools, and vertical SaaS.

Team

Jay Po — Co-Founder & Managing Partner Former investor at Bessemer Venture Partners (New York). Harvard University graduate. Forbes 30 Under 30 (2022). Co-founded Stage 2 Capital to fill the go-to-market support gap in early-stage venture.

Mark Roberge — Co-Founder & Managing Director Founding CRO at HubSpot, scaled revenue from $0 to IPO as HubSpot's fourth employee. Harvard Business School faculty for 10+ years. MIT Sloan MBA. Author of The Sales Acceleration Formula and The Science of Scaling. Widely regarded as one of the preeminent B2B go-to-market operators of his generation.

Mandy Cole — Partner Silicon Valley sales veteran. Scaled LivingSocial from $5M to $750M revenue, held sales leadership at MyNewPlace, Main Street Hub, and Zenefits. Founded Rise Accelerator supporting Series A GTM. Pairs with Anu Maheshwari as Pod 2.

Anu Maheshwari — Partner Former VC at Iconiq Growth. Provides traditional finance/VC diligence lens. Pod 2 with Mandy Cole.

Liz Christo — Partner Six years at OpenView Venture Partners rising to Partner and Investment Committee. Previously AVP of Worldwide Business Development at NetSuite, where she built and scaled a 170-person global BDR team. Pod 3 with Dan Heck.

Dan Heck — Partner Former VC at OpenView Venture Partners. Traditional VC/finance expertise. Pod 3 with Liz Christo.

Investment Process & Decision Framework

Stage 2 Capital's pod model means every investment decision involves two partners: one evaluating traditional VC metrics (market size, team, financials) and one evaluating GTM readiness and fit with the LP network. This structure means founders get a faster GTM-oriented evaluation process.

The firm's network involvement is a screening criterion — 100% of investments leverage LP introductions or domain expertise. This creates warm-intro preference as a natural byproduct of the model.

Decision timeline is typically 4-8 weeks for a full diligence process, typical for Seed/Series A investing.

GTM Methodology

The firm's value-add is operationalized through three key frameworks, derived from Mark Roberge's work at HubSpot:

1. Scale Revenue — Data-driven timing for scaling GTM teams, avoiding premature hiring
2. Generate Demand — Establishing repeatable lead flow across channels (outbound, content, PLG)
3. First Sales Hire — Supporting the critical first sales/marketing leadership decisions

The AI Lab (an adjacent program) connects AI product founders with 50+ enterprise GTM decision-makers (CROs, CMOs) for non-dilutive introductions — reflecting the firm's belief that GTM access is a core product.

Geographic Focus

Primarily US-based, with selective international investments. The firm invests nationally given its distributed LP network and virtual-first engagement model. Some portfolio companies are based in Europe and beyond (Veremark, PerchPeek, Enboarder).

Founder Preferences

Stage 2 Capital strongly prefers:

• B2B software founders at or approaching $1M ARR
• Founders who recognize GTM as their primary scaling challenge
• Teams with technical depth seeking commercial expertise
• Companies where the Stage 2 LP network provides genuine distribution advantage

Anti-thesis: Consumer companies, hardware, deep tech without near-term GTM path, companies seeking purely passive capital.

Competitive Positioning

Stage 2 Capital occupies a unique position as an operator-LP network fund. Frequent co-investors include OpenView Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and other B2B software-focused funds. The firm differentiates through depth of GTM support rather than brand name or check size alone.