The founder of a once fast-growing D.C. software firm that sold for $1.4 billion last year now wants to give a leg up to other small D.C.-area tech companies.
With proceeds from the sale of his company, Thycotic, which sold to TPG Capital in 2021, Jonathan Cogley is ramping up investments in local software firms startups through his 3-year-old accelerator, LogicBoost Labs.
Until now, the accelerator has largely invested in companies on the West Coast, where Cogley now resides. But it recently established a second headquarters in D.C. to more easily identify promising startups in Greater Washington, said Josh Frankel, the D.C.-based vice president of marketing for LogicBoost and one of multiple Thycotic alumni that are now part of LogicBoost’s team of six full-time employees. (LogicBoost's other headquarters is in San Diego).
It hasn't made any local investments yet but hopes to do so in the fourth quarter, Frankel said. So far, LogicBoost has worked with nine startups — including the Sugarland, Texas, cybersecurity firm Information Shield, Los Angeles-based Haste, which integrated blockchain technology into online gaming and Reston virtual event video startup Clarevent.
The accelerator spends about two years working with each participant to help them get from zero to $1 million in annual recurring revenue, said Frankel. The investments range from $150,000 to $300,000 and include support from Cogley and his team. Cogley is the primary investor in the fund, using some of the proceeds his company's sale to TPG, which has since merged with Santa Clara, California-based Centrify and rebranded as Delinea.
“In early days, we think of ourselves as partial co-founders,” said Frankel. Accelerator participants tend to have between two and five employees, so Frankel said a large portion of his team’s work is to take some of the administrative — as opposed to creative — work off the table for founders. That includes human resources, legal and marketing.
“We also think of ourselves as bringing pillars of expertise that fill in the gaps in early days,” Frankel said. Instead of needing to hire staff to take care of those crucial aspects of a growing business, LogicBoost aims to save startups that effort and plug their own experienced staff into those roles. Taking that off a startup’s plate gives them the room to “focus on the product rather than trying to hire people and ramp up that way,” he added.
LogicBoost is partnering with a wide array of software firms working on everything from payments to crypto and cybersecurity. Frankel says he and his team do not need to know the industries inside and out to be effective and help companies reach their potential.
"What we expect of our founders is that they’re subject matter experts," he said. "The model with how you sell software is what we’re really good at."
