Summerset Ventures was formed in 2015 by two friends from Chicago that have been acquiring and managing companies for decades.
We make strategic investments in early stage companies with a goal of making a couple investments per year depending on what we see.
We spent many years as executives with ADP where we acquired then managed 45~ companies worth billions of dollars around the world.
We prefer to take a more active role in the companies we invest in as we have been blessed to have seen a lot in our careers and can help people avoid some of the issues we have seen.
TEAM
We spent most of our corporate life working for ADP. We had different paths Joe starting in Technology and Ron in Finance. Between us (over the years) we think we can check the box on managing all major functions except HR and Legal.
Ron & Joe both sat on the Board of Open Dealer Exchange (ODE) for years. ODE was transformed from a concept to "the premier provider" in two segments within the automotive industry.
Joe is the Managing Partner at the Summerset Group (an advisory firm), a co-founder of Harvest Moon Labs and sits on several Boards. He and his wife live in Sarasota but spend summers with family in the Midwest.
Ron is the Chief Data Officer for Experian Automotive. Ron and his wife are located in the Chicago area
We have a number of friends that will co-invest with us all with similar backgrounds and experience levels.
Its a guess re: how many companies we looked at over the years and we don't actually know the number we can say the number is rather staggering. When we engaged in our first private investment we found looking at a private investment was quite similar to Due Diligence when we were acquiring companies at ADP. We have also found that we have a great deal to offer the companies we invest in, specifically in the areas of cost optimization, raising money, acquiring and selling their business.
Joe Bihner
30+ years starting and managing technology centric businesses in the Automotive Segment
Ron Workman
30+ years acquiring and integrating business around the globe into Automotive segment.
Tech & SaaS
Active Portfolio
Real Estate
Other Miscellaneous
About
Anyone that knows us, knows we work hard and love to play hard and wouldn't have it any other way. We have been going full tilt since we were about 14 and haven't slowed down and don't have any intention of it. In fact its quite the opposite, we want to invest and work with people and companies that we believe in and help them avoid some of the pitfalls we have seen in or careers.
We believe that we can help companies optimize themselves and significantly increase the odds of a successful and profitable exit.