Journalist and media builder Stephen Babcock joins Squadra Ventures to lead content and brand strategy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 6, 2023
BALTIMORE, MD — Squadra Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage cyber and national security companies, announced today that Stephen Babcock joined the team as Head of Media to supercharge brand-building across the firm. In this cross-functional role, Babcock will spearhead owned and earned media, events and strategy, as well as work directly with portfolio companies to hone storytelling and amplify their messages.
Over the last 15 years, Babcock launched new media products, edited news publications through periods of expansion and reported on the ground in tech communities across the U.S. Most recently, he built, launched and served as editor at The Current, a B2B media platform for ecommerce professionals, and supported the marketing and brand activities of parent company Incremental, a retail media attribution and measurement platform.
Previously, he spent seven years in various leadership roles at the multi-local tech media network Technical.ly, overseeing the Baltimore and D.C. markets as the team connected a community of technologists and entrepreneurs through news, jobs and events. He is also the founder of the local newsletter Baltimorning, and served as managing editor of the New Orleans-based digital daily NOLA Defender. Babcock’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, Baltimore Fishbowl and the Rio Grande Sun of Española, New Mexico, among other digital and print outlets.
In each of these experiences, he dug deep into communities, told the stories of entrepreneurs and built brands from the ground up. At Squadra, he will work alongside the team inside the firm, across its network and fast-growing portfolio of startups to produce high-quality content on cyber, national security and early-stage company-building that serves as a force multiplier for brand-building efforts.
“The balance of power in content is shifting, empowering companies to both raise their voice, and build the megaphone to amplify it,” Babcock said. “With the guts to tell it like it is and a bias toward transparency, Squadra has all of the pieces in place to build a media engine that elevates the profile of the entire network, and the industry as a whole. I’m grateful to this world-class team of operators for trusting me to tell their stories.”
In this unique role, Babcock will surface insights from across the Squadra team, while building and executing the strategy to create and distribute these learnings externally. He will also be a frequent presence in the community, including at programming organized by Squadra, and at cyber and national security events.
“Stephen’s next reporting assignment is embedding inside Squadra,” said Managing Partner Guy Filippelli. “As we’ve continued to focus on our ability to attract game-changing companies, it became clear that this was the right time to invest in this massively collaborative and cross-functional role. We couldn’t be more excited to connect great content with the right storytelling to impact our portfolio companies and future CEOs.”
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About Squadra Ventures
Press Contact: Margaret Falzon <margaret@squadra.vc>
Squadra Ventures is a venture capital firm led by founder-operators that invests in early stage cyber and national security companies. Grounded in the belief that success is a combination of people, product, and planning, the Squadra team provides transformational support to startup leaders in the complex dual-use technology ecosystem. By applying a growth-stage mindset at the seed stage and a commitment to building alongside entrepreneurs, Squadra empowers extraordinary teams to win and leave a lasting positive impact on the world. Learn more at https://squadra.vc.
