RossMartinson

Partner

Office Location:
Lawrenceville, NJ
Email:
rmartinson@edisonventures.com
Phone:
609-873-9202
“I am working for the same goal that Thomas Edison said of himself 100 years ago: 'My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant, but sometimes misdirected, ideas of others.'”

Over the past two decades with Edison Ventures, Ross Martinson has learned from and contributed to outstanding entrepreneurs doing great things.  Building great companies requires many elements to go right.  Ross provides guidance and some hard lessons to up-and-coming entrepreneurial teams in anticipating upcoming challenges. 

Ross manages exit planning and execution for Edison companies, helping Edison investors and entrepreneur teams optimize and monetize success.

Partner Ross Martinson serves as Director of eight Edison portfolio companies.  He has previously served as a director, including lead director roles, for a dozen other companies. 

He leads Edison's investment focus in technology-driven business services companies. He focuses on outsourcing solutions and technology-enabled services for business functions.  

Ross has participated in many successful company sales for Edison investments.  He manages exit planning for private companies.  He also leads Edison exit execution for public companies. 

He has served as an Advisory Board Member of the Private Equity CFO Association and the New Jersey Technology Council CFO Board. 

Ross joined Edison in 1989, and served as Chief Financial Officer during the early years.  He has been a principal with each of Edison’s seven funds.   

Prior Experience

Ross is a financial and administrative manager with 30 years of experience in the investment and financial services industries. 

Previously, Ross was Vice President with the securities firm of Kidder, Peabody.  His positions included Director of Financial Consulting and Director of Corporate Financial Management Information.  Earlier, Ross was Controller of two successful start-up businesses, American Express Leasing and ABB Financial Services.  He was Senior Auditor with Arthur Andersen. 

Other Investment Experience

CyberShift; FastNet; MathSoft; MDY; NFR; Optinuity; Ripple; Satori; Scribe Software; Sela2, Taratec; Voxware 

Education

BA, Economics, Yale University, with honors

MS/MBA, New York University

Speed was a lesson I observed and learned working for GE, which acquired my company. I expected a lumbering company with layers of management.  Instead, I saw a challenging environment oriented to accomplishing today to anticipate tomorrow. 

Entrepreneurs need to accelerate decisions, workflow and execution. Focus on important actions to achieve medium-term goals. Strip away detail when we are working to achieve big things. Empower people with authority and accountability. Attempt to accomplish many things at once. Plan, execute, and deliver with urgency. As Thomas Edison said, “Time is the only capital that any human being has, and the thing he can least afford to waste or lose.” If you are not moving forward rapidly, your competitor is taking away your market.  Speed.