Cat Dizon has a keen eye for being able to identify talent in early-stage startups, a skill she said she developed during her roughly five years scouting potential acquisitions for Rackspace Technology Inc., then known as Rackspace Hosting Co.
"I would go out and look into the startup community to find those that had a solid foundation, great leadership, team and impressive tech that could really enhance the Rackspace portfolio, and just got really good at identifying true talent at an early stage," she said.
This ability to size up a startup and determine, for example, if it needs more personnel, additional funding or a complete overhaul, has served her well during her career, which, in addition to more than 11 years at Rackspace, includes serving as chief operating officer at Active Capital.
Dizon co-founded the San Antonio-based venture capital firm with Pat Matthews, who serves as CEO. The two met at Rackspace after the firm acquired Matthews' company Webmail in 2007, Dizon said. Together, they have grown Active Capital's portfolio, leading or co-leading seed rounds for more than 85 startups, according to its website. Its current portfolio has more than 55 early-stage startups, she said.
"We have just a floodgate of investment opportunity after investment opportunity, which is fantastic," she said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic only accelerated this momentum, which "dispelled the idea that you had to be face-to-face" and meet in-person before investing.
Earlier this year, Cloud Campaign Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based startup and a portfolio company of Active Capital, raised $5 million in equity funding to develop its operating system geared toward marketing agencies. Active Capital met Cloud Campaign in 2019 and helped the startup raise a $1.5 million seed round in early 2020. In another recent deal this year, Active Capital helped co-lead a $5 million seed fundraising round for another Portland company, ConductorOne, a digital security verification company. And in March, the venture capital firm led a $1.3 million raise in preseed funding for Austin-based Stagger, a startup that helps small businesses create better digital marketing content.
"We've set such a great relationship at the beginning to where we are actively involved when there are highs and lows for these companies. ... [even when] there's a few VCs at the founder's table, they still come to us with questions and for help," she said. "It's really a true partnership that we've developed. These are long-term commitments, not only from us to the founders, but also to the investors who invest in Active Capital."
In addition to her responsibilities at Active Capital, Dizon also serves as the director for several organization's board of directors, including VentureLab, Geekdom, and Girls Inc. of San Antonio. It's a lot to juggle, especially as a wife and mother of an an 8-year-old daughter.
"I do block myself out for personal and family time, but I do work Saturdays and Sundays, because founders work on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes there are things that arise that can't wait until Monday," Dizon said.
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Name: Cat Dizon
Education: Bachelor's degree, criminal justice, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Career: Co-founder and COO, Active Capital, 2017 to present; executive director, Alamo Angels, 2018 to 2019; various positions, Rackspace, 2005 to 2017; chief of staff to the CEO and purchasing officer, Spectrum Creations LLP, 2004-2005; various positions, D&G Investments, LLP/ Salon David Inc., 1998-2004
