He said he didn’t understand the approach I took. Once I’d pushed Didier quite hard on a particular issue in a board meeting, and 10 seconds after it ended, the phone rang, and it was him. is not all roses and fairies, you have to have space for the hard, awkward conversations, and Didier doesn’t shy away from those. So the first thing I did was ask if we could run a process to find out what they should be paid based on how the market valued their skill set. but at the same time, they had huge responsibilities. Elke MeitzelĬulturally we loved that, they were efficient and resourceful and weren’t money or ego-led. When you do due diligence you get to see everyone’s salaries, and here was Culture Amp, a leading global software business in its space and one of the most valuable start-ups in Australia, and the founders were paying themselves the same wage as the most junior engineer.Įlzinga and Crocker say they have developed a relationship where they can have frank and tough conversations. I sat down with the existing board members and asked what was working, what wasn’t and what could be better? I also looked for opportunities to find quick wins to show the founders and board I believed in them. They had investors like Sapphire, Felicis Ventures and Index Ventures – I was with the investing greats – and it felt like a big responsibility to make sure I wasn’t wasting my seat. I was anxious about if I’d be valuable and earn my seat. It was a big deal for me personally and a huge step up for me professionally. When I joined the Culture Amp board, I’d only been investing at Blackbird for a little over a year. It was a natural fit because I was such a booster for what Culture Amp stood for. It wasn’t just a financial transaction to me. It was a huge part of my day-to-day, and it’s why it was so cool coming in as an investor. While I was at MyFitnesspal, I’d used Culture Amp. Blackbird had invested in every round, but until then, had never had enough capital to lead a round. But we stayed in touch and when I joined Blackbird I was lucky enough to lead their Series D round. Jon did all the talking, and I assumed Didier was the French engineer because he was very quiet. We had an office above a shop in Chinatown in San Francisco and Jon Williams, one of the Culture Amp co-founders came and said hi when they were visiting. “I was at a start-up, MyFitnesspal, that Blackbird funded. Elke Meitzelįour years on, Crocker is Elzinga’s first call in a crisis at the unicorn start-up. Nick Crocker, left, was only a year into his investing career when he joined Didier Elzinga’s Culture Amp board and led its Series D round. However, Elzinga was initially sceptical about how much value the young venture capitalist could bring to Culture Amp’s board when Crocker joined it in 2018 after the employee engagement software company’s $US40 million Series D raising. In a poignant, full-circle moment, Bennett closed out his very last concert special with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.Culture Amp chief executive Didier Elzinga and Blackbird Ventures partner Nick Crocker have known each other for the better part of a decade, originally as acquaintances when Crocker was a fellow start-up operator in San Francisco. He said, “I sing that song all over the world, and I often wonder, were people in the audience that traveled to America, to visit America, and decided they would like to go to San Francisco just to see what Tony’s singing about?" Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga performed live at New York City's Radio City Music Hall as part of their special, "One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga." Kevin Mazur / Getty Images In 2018, the Library of Congress honored the song as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” title worthy of preservation.īennett reflected on the lasting impact of his signature ballad in the 2018 interview with ASCAP. The beloved song earned numerous accolades, winning Grammys for record of the year and best male solo vocal performance. Several musical legends have covered the classic song over the decades, including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Stevie Wonder and Sarah Vaughan.
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