OpenView Doubles Down on Product Led Growth with the Addition of Ashley Smith as Venture Partner

BOSTON, April 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, OpenView, the expansion stage venture firm, announced the addition of Ashley Smith as Venture Partner.

Over the last four years, OpenView has invested aggressively behind the idea that product led growth (PLG) is the future of SaaS. Companies like Expensify, Datadog and Calendly break the traditional enterprise sales motion and instead, lead with their product.

"It's not just about identifying and investing behind the trend," said Blake Bartlett, a Partner at the firm, "but having the expertise and know-how to have a real impact on these companies. That meant finding the right person, with the right PLG experience, to join the team."

Smith has built a career working in product led businesses and is passionate about developer products and community building. Smith joins OpenView from GitHub, where she was the VP of Marketing and led global go-to-market initiatives. Prior to that, she was the Chief Marketing Officer at GitLab, an open-source code collaboration platform. Smith also held various marketing roles at Google Maps, Facebook, Parse and Twilio.

"I've built a strong relationship with the OpenView team over the last few years. They continue to be a strong voice in the conversation surrounding the value of a great product and putting the product at the center of go-to-market strategies," said Smith. "I'm very excited to leverage my experience working with four rapidly growing startups to partner with the current and future OpenView portfolio."

With this next step, Smith will move out of an operating role and into the world of venture as an active member of the OpenView investment team.

"Ashley will be instrumental in developing OpenView's Product Led Growth Practice and rethinking how we approach partnering with our current and future portfolio to maximize value," said Bartlett. "We're thrilled to have Ashley join the team."

About OpenView
OpenView, the expansion stage venture firm, helps build rapidly expanding software companies into market leaders. Through our expansion platform, we help companies hire the best talent, acquire and retain the right customers and partner with industry leaders so they can dominate their markets. Our focus on the expansion stage makes us uniquely suited to provide truly tailored operational support to our portfolio companies. Learn more about OpenView at ov.vc.

SOURCE OpenView Venture Partners