Excited to Join Foundation Capital as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence

June 30, 2015
Foundation Capital

A little over 6 months ago, after we raised our Series B, I stepped away as CEO of Scripted.com – a company I co-founded in 2010. Scripted.com is the Internet’s largest marketplace for businesses to hire freelance writers on-demand. Scripted charges a flat rate for written content, and turns it around to businesses in a set period of time – while paying writers fairly for their work. I am proud of everything we accomplished at Scripted, and I am excited to watch the company continue to grow.

While I was at Scripted, I developed great interest and expertise in two areas: marketplaces and content marketing.

Internet marketplaces – in particular labor marketplaces, are poised to be as big as ecommerce in the not-too-distant future. More and more Americans are dropping out of the traditional “full time” workforce to become freelancers, so the way we work is completely changing. There are opportunities to create billion-dollar companies in every single industry where freelancers are used. Moreover, more work is being “insourced” rather than “outsourced” to low-cost regions since the time to manage and bring workers up to speed is a huge consideration for employers who need work on-demand.

Content Marketing is here to stay. The early days of the Internet – where it was good enough to put up a short ad in order to sell to consumers – is over. Consumers want to be educated on products, on industries, and feel comfortable that they are making the best decision possible with their dollars. At Scripted, we helped thousands of businesses, many who could not afford to hire and project manage freelance writes, create that written content. The category is enormous and multiple billion dollar-sized companies will emerge in various areas (including content management, analytics and distribution).

While I was the CEO of Scripted, one of the Venture Capital firms I got to know very well was Foundation Capital. I met Ashu Garg and Joanne Chen late last year, and was immediately impressed with their earnest desire to get to know me personally and my company. When Ashu heard the news that I was leaving Scripted, he immediately reached out and we had a very nice lunch with Joanne. In his typical straightforward fashion, he said – “Sunil, we want you to work with us”. True to his word, not 6 weeks later, I will be joining Foundation Capital as an EIR.

I am excited to join Foundation because our interests align almost perfectly – I am interested in content marketing and marketplaces, and Foundation wants to make investments in both areas.

Additionally, I recently started my next company, which is in content – and the team at Foundation is going to let me camp out in their offices and work on it over the next several months. This is doubly great, because I won’t have to work out of Starbucks and other strange places trying to find free wi-fi J. I can’t thank the team at Foundation enough for this opportunity. If you are an entrepreneur and interested in trading notes on either marketplaces or content marketing, I want to meet you so let’s get together soon. (@subes01)

Press Release: Foundation Capital Announces New Entrepreneur-in-Residence