Bethany Stachenfeld

I’m joining Active Capital as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

Active Capital was the first investor in Sendspark, and I've worked with Pat Matthews across 3 different companies over the last 10 years.

Pat was the CEO of Filestack, where I worked as a VFA fellow out of college.

If you know Pat, you know his intensity. He exudes energy. This drew me in and fueled my love of startups.

After Pat left Filestack to start Active Capital, I left to travel.

But funny enough, I got bored.

I missed the intensity!

I ended up cutting my trip short and moving to Minnesota to join VidGrid, one of Active Capital's first investments.

A year later, Brandon Escalante ✨ and I left to start Sendspark.

Pat was our first supporter. He invested before we even had a name, lent us office space in downtown San Antonio and helped us learn the ropes of fundraising, hiring, and acquiring customers.

And he continued to accelerate us through our entire journey… Offering advice, making intros, and encouraging moves, like going to SF to fundraise & to Chattanooga to build at Brickyard.

That said... I'm not working with Active Capital out of gratitude.

I'm joining because the way Pat has worked with me is how he works with every founder. And Chris Saum, Cat Dizon, and the rest of the team are the same way.

They encourage founders to maximize their potential, and that puts them in the center of the action. They get to work with top-tier founders, see super cool pitches early, and ride the cutting edge of AI.

As I think about what's next for me, I want to be in the thick of this action. With the pace of AI, I believe this is THE most exciting time to be building software in history.

As an EIR, I’ll be diving in head first, doing everything I can to help the team and portfolio founders make it big.

Very excited for this!

If you’re building something big with AI, experimenting with workflows, or raising pre-seed, please reach out!

Earlier this week, we shared Sendspark was acquired.

A lot of people reached out, stirring up memories from our 7(!) years building.

Sharing some highlights:

- Pitching at San Antonio Tech Bloc Demo Day. Looking into a packed auditorium to see my friends taking up the front row, all with huge smiles.

- Pat Matthews writing the first check into Sendspark. Feeling like a real company. Meeting with Chris Saum weekly for advice & cold brew.

- Getting into 500 Global accelerator. I wanted this so badly. Jessica H. Tan sent our acceptance as Sendspark video, making it all the sweeter.

- Launching on AppSumo. We were worried we’d be torn apart, but the launch ending up super successful. We got thousands of early customers, and even won an award from AppSumo.

- Gaining traction with influential folks in B2B Sales. Chris Bogue and Morgan J Ingram were among the first. I was ecstatic when they had liked the product.

- Closing our first big customer, Fiverr (back when Celena M. used to work there)

- Moving to the Bay for a month to raise our Seed round. I had no housing, no plan. Vowed to stay until we had 12 months of runway. Leonard Lee hooked me up with a (very nice) room in Palo Alto. Billy Draper was the first to invest. Others followed.

- Grinding at Brickyard in Chattanooga (s/o Matt Patterson and Cam Doody). When Ben Wright joined me, we’d get so focused we’d forget to eat. That’s when I started doing meal delivery…

- Similarly, when Isaac Peraza came out, we spent so much time in the office that by his last night he still hadn't seen the Chattanooga sun. We had him extend a couple of days to go rock climbing and see the city in daylight.

- First team member to buy a house (Wilbert Sepulveda). First person to have a baby (Ben Wright).

- Team off-sites in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. Micro off-sites in San Antonio (thanks Pat Matthews for always lending us your guest house as an office). We had fun, but we always shipped 🚢

- Speaking on stage at SaaStock Austin. Brandon Escalante ✨ surprising me by showing up to watch. (I had a blast… lmk if you guys want me to speak at SaaStock Dublin 😉 )

- Hitting $1m ARR. Ben Wright had the team record congratulatory video messages for Brandon and me. Our angel investor, JD Beebe, sent champagne to the office. So happy they made it special, because milestones can come and go so quickly.

- Getting to know so many amazing founders and passionate people in the space. Spending time with Alina Vandenberghe 🌶️, Gianna Scorsone, and other amazing women. Finding my voice and gaining confidence sharing on LinkedIn.

- Long nights with Brandon Escalante ✨ talking, working, building. Truly living the dream. I could not have asked for a better co-founder.

It really is about the journey, not the destination…

I’m grateful for the people who made this journey special.

Thank you 💜