Next Coast Ventures, an Austin-based venture capital firm, announced this week that it has hired Jonathan Kaplan as its chief operating officer.
“I’ve known Jonathan for nearly a decade here in Austin and have seen how his diligence and focus on operations have been game changing for entrepreneurs and companies,” Thomas Ball, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, said in a news release. “We are building out a firm for the long term and have been very thoughtful about creating an infrastructure that best serves our mission, our investors and our portfolio. We believe that Jonathan will be a highly accretive addition and we look forward to leveraging his extensive scaling expertise from an administrative perspective to grow NCV.”
Kaplan previously worked as chief legal officer and general counsel at RetailMeNot, which Harland Clarke acquired for $630 million.
Kaplan has also worked at leading international law firms based in California and Austin including DLA Piper and Latham & Watkins.
Kaplan has a law degree from the University of California, Davis, where he was the editor in chief of the UC Davis Law Review, and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“I was drawn to the opportunity to join Next Coast Ventures because of its differentiated commitment to supporting entrepreneurs in markets throughout the United States and the quality of the firm’s investments to date,” Kaplan said in a news statement. “I am delighted to join Next Coast Ventures, and I look forward to working with Michael, Thomas and the talented team to evolve the firm’s operational infrastructure to benefit entrepreneurs, portfolio companies, investors and our communities.”
Kaplan will be in charge of all operations of the firm.
“Since day one, our mission has been to provide our portfolio with the best resources in the industry and Jonathan’s addition to the team is a prime example of that,” Michael Smerklo, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, said in a news release. “As entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand how immensely additive operational and legal expertise are to a company and its leadership as they scale, and we know Jonathan’s experience and hands-on approach are going to be an invaluable tool for our portfolio as they ramp up their growth.”
