Eric M. Tobias
| Eric M. Tobias | |
|---|---|
 Eric-Tobias-Headshot.jpg | |
| Born | July 23, 1976 Illinois |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Indiana University |
| 💼 Occupation | Partner at High Alpha |
| Family | Randall L. Tobias (uncle) |
Eric Tobias (born July 23, 1976) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and board member. He is a co-founder and partner at High Alpha, a venture studio that conceives, launches, and scales enterprise technology companies.[1] In 1999, Tobias co-founded Batteries.com, an online battery superstore, which later sold to Audiovox. In late 2004, Tobias founded iGoDigital, which later sold to ExactTarget in October 2012. Tobias then went on to hold several executive positions at both ExactTarget and Salesforce after Salesforce acquired ExactTarget in June 2013. In May 2015, Tobias left Salesforce to co-found High Alpha with Scott Dorsey, Mike Fitzgerald, and Kristian Andersen.
Early life and education
Eric Tobias was born in Illinois and grew up in Carmel, IN. He attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and worked as a ballboy for the Indiana Pacers from 1990–1994. Tobias graduated from Indiana University in 1998.[2]
Tobias is the nephew of Randall L. Tobias, former chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company who was also appointed as the first United States Director of Foreign Assistance.[3]
Career
Tobias began his career by co-founding Batteries.com, an online battery superstore, with Dean, Dennis, Dale, and David Petruzzi in 1999.[4] They also co-founded Technuity, a designer, developer, and manufacturer of licensed accessories which support technology products in 2001. Technuity became the exclusive North American licensee of Energizer rechargeable batteries and accessories. Batteries.com and Technuity were sold to Audiovox for $20.5 million in 2007.[4][5]
Tobias founded iGoDigital in 2004 and began working full-time on iGoDigital in 2007 after leaving Technuity.[6][7] iGoDigital provides a software-as-a-service platform for e-commerce to analyze online behavior and make personalized product recommendations.[7]
iGoDigital was named to the Inc. 500 in both 2008 and 2011 and had grown to $3.9M in revenue in 2010.[8] In October 2012, Indianapolis-based ExactTarget acquired iGoDigital for $21M.[9][10]
From 2012 to 2015, Tobias held the position of Vice President, Product at Salesforce, which acquired ExactTarget for $2.5 billion in 2013.[11]
In 2015, Tobias co-founded the venture studio, High Alpha, alongside Kristian Andersen and former ExactTarget executives Scott Dorsey and Mike Fitzgerald.[12]
In 2019, Tobias purchased The Vogue, a Broad Ripple nightclub, with Scott Kraege and Andrew Davis. The Vogue opened as a theater in 1938 and became a music venue in 1977.[13]
Investing
Tobias is an active angel investor and advisor, whose investments include TinderBox, Visible, Compendium, Sigstr, Periodic, Jada Beauty, Perceivant, MaxTradeIn, Apparel Media, Bluebridge, Formspring, Formstack, Geofeedia, Petbrosia, Rival IQ, Valor Medical, 250ok, Emerald Logic, Giggill, Vontoo, and Mighty Signal.[14][15]
He also founded or co-founded Lessonly, The Speak Easy, Rain King Ventures, InkPad, and Evolving Technologies.[15][16][17]
Honors and awards
In 2009, Tobias was recognized by the Indiana Business Journal as one of their 40 Under 40.[18]
iGoDigital was named to the Inc. 500 list in both 2008 and 2011.[8]
References
- ↑ Swiatek, Jeff. "Scott Dorsey and friends have $35M to spend on tech startups". The Indianapolis Star.
- ↑ "Eric Tobias, High Alpha: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com.
- ↑ http://www.tobiascenter.iu.edu/aboutus/tobiasbio.html
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Heikens, Norm. "Audiovox buys Technuity for $20.5M".
- ↑ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=91378&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1120159
- ↑ Schnitzler, Peter. "Tech innovator tries entrepreneurship again: iGoDigital software already used by major retailers".
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Staff, I. B. J. "ExactTarget buys interactive marketing firms for $116M".
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Check out iGoDigital on Inc.com!". Inc.com.
- ↑ "ExactTarget Buys Pardot For $95.5M And iGoDigital For $21M As Marketing Solutions Consolidate".
- ↑ "iGoDigital - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding". Crunchbase.
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/erictobias
- ↑ Council, Jared. "Dorsey, Gravity investors raise $35M to launch High Alpha".
- ↑ Lindquist, David. "The Vogue is sold: Iconic Broad Ripple nightclub changes hands for first time in 33 years". The Indianapolis Star.
- ↑ "Eric Tobias - Founder + Investor". www.erictobias.com.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 https://angel.co/erictobiasin
- ↑ http://vergehq.com/2012/01/19/startup-co-working-space/
- ↑ https://angel.co/lesson-ly/activity
- ↑ Staff, I. B. J. "Forty Under 40: Recipients".
External links
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