Meet Volition Capital Managing Partner Sean Cantwell

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Sean Cantwell is a founding team member and Managing Partner with Boston-based Volition Capital, a technology-oriented growth equity and venture capital firm that raised $600 million in separate funds for new investments in 2019. While Volition invests in companies across America, Cantwell has distinguished himself as a growth equity professional dedicated to Boston’s startup community where he focuses on software, technology-enabled services and Internet investments. Cantwell and Volition have invested growth capital in a wide range of Boston-based companies including GRAX, TraceLink, JazzHR, and VisualIQ, among others. Prior to joining Volition Capital, Cantwell was an investor at Fidelity Ventures and worked at Summit Partners where he focused on technology growth equity investments. He began his career at Arthur Andersen.

Enjoy our pre-podcast written Q&A below. You can also listen to our BSU podcast discussion on any of your favorite audio platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and SoundCloud).

Where did you grow up, and how would you describe your childhood?

I grew up Allentown, PA, a hard working town with blue collar sensibilities. I had a great childhood with supportive parents. As a kid, I was involved in a lot of sports and activities. After school, I would go to a nearby park with other kids from the neighborhood and we’d play basketball, football, stickball or some kind of team sport until it got dark.

What was the first career you remember wanting to pursue?

General manager of a sports franchise. From 4th grade until the day I left for college, I had a morning paper route. Every day as I was delivering newspapers, I’d look at the sports page and soak in all of the box scores of the previous day’s games. I memorized stat lines and became somewhat of a sports trivia and history buff. Even during and after college I considered pursuing some kind of job in the sports field.

What drove you into the growth equity world?

It was something I actually kind of fell into. I majored in Finance and Computer Applications in college and I had an interest in technology. My first job out of school was a consulting role at Arthur Andersen. While that was a great experience for a couple years, I was looking for a new role in a more entrepreneurial environment. I had a friend who was working at Summit Partners in Boston and he encouraged me to apply for the Associate role. The rest is history.

What do you love about your job as an investor?

I love spending my days dialoguing and strategizing with entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are a rare breed — they are people who set out to do the “impossible” and are the people creating new companies, new jobs, new business models, and in some cases entirely new industries. Being an investor and working with entrepreneurs feeds my intellectual curiosity. It’s motivational and inspirational to interact with entrepreneurs every day, and I love the aspect of getting to partner with these companies and founders along their journey.

In December 2019, you announced the closing of $400 million for your main fund, Volition Capital Fund IV, L.P. In addition, the firm closed $200 million in capital commitments for Volition Capital Select Fund I, L.P., meant to finance Volition’s most promising portfolio companies. Can you explain the different focuses of each fund?

$400M Fund IV is a progression from our $250 Fund III. Fund IV capital will be deployed by the team executing our strategy of investing in high growth, predominantly bootstrapped, capital-efficient companies in software, internet, consumer, and tech-enabled services.

The $200M select fund is set aside to give us additional capacity to participate meaningfully in follow-on funding rounds across our portfolio.

In that same announcement, you also reported a current portfolio of 26 technology and consumer companies. How many new investments did you make in 2019, and how many do you anticipate making in 2020?

Our portfolios are fairly concentrated, a fund may include 10–15 companies. We made 3 new investments in 2019 and make 3–5 new investments per year on average.

What industries are you most interested in investing in moving forward into 2020 and beyond?

As a firm, we focus on software, internet, and consumer businesses. My specific focus is on emerging SaaS businesses where I’m seeing increased opportunities in businesses focused on data management and infrastructure. I also spend time on vertical market SaaS applications.

Where did you go to school and what did you major in?

I attended University of Notre Dame where I majored in Finance and Computer Applications. I received an MBA from Harvard Business School

What brought you to Boston after growing up in PA?

I lived in Chicago for a couple years after college and then moved to Boston in 2001 to join Summit Partners. I’ve been here ever since.

Why is entrepreneurship your passion?

I have always liked technology and I’m a super curious person. I always want to learn new things and I find a career in growth stage investing to be very fulfilling.

I am also very competitive, and entrepreneurship is a competitive game where founders create something out of nothing and defy the odds. It requires a level of competitiveness and will to win and push against the odds. I am drawn to people who take on those challenges, so naturally, investing in and partnering with founders and entrepreneurs keeps me close to those types of people.

What philanthropic initiatives are you involved in?

I am running the Boston Marathon in 2020 for the Joe Andruzzi Foundation. JAF is a great organization that provides financial assistance to families across New England who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis and the financial hardships that can follow. I’m also a big proponent of education and am involved with my children’s schools.

What are your thoughts about the socio-economic challenges of our time — in Boston and even globally?

I think it’s important that we manage the opportunity gap. This country was built in part on the backs of great entrepreneurs, many of whom were first generation immigrants, who came to this country with nothing and achieved great success through hard work and education. I am continually amazed by the entrepreneurs I meet every day at Volition Capital. I think it’s important that we keep the American Dream alive.

What’s the biggest obstacle you face today to grow Volition Capital?

In many ways, we mirror our portfolio companies. What we were thinking about and doing when we first started has completely evolved. We started with a handful of folks and have grown to 20+. The biggest challenge for us is something common for any company that is scaling. That is ensuring that we maintain our unique culture and ethos and that it permeates the entire organization as we scale.

In what area of Boston’s innovation economy do you predict the most job growth in the next 3–5 years?

We live in the world of software and see a lot of potential growth in software that enables companies to capture data, understand it, monetize it, and use it to provide value to customers.

Fill in the blank. The future of Boston will be…

Bright.

The city has a lot going for it. There’s a large educated workforce. There are a lot of big innovative tech companies providing a training ground and intro to the worlds of technology and entrepreneurship. There’s also good access to capital for entrepreneurs. In general, Boston is just a livable city and there are a lot of people starting new businesses.