Taylor Davidson is a Senior Associate for kbs+ Ventures, the thematic investment arm of the advertising agency kbs+, and a professional photographer. He has a decade of experience in building and implementing business strategies for early and late-stage companies, primarily in financial services and telecommunications. He is a mentor and advisor to a range of early-stage ventures, and over 6,000 entrepreneurs have downloaded one of his Excel template financial models for startups.

He has an MBA in Finance from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia. He is generally pretty easy to find on the web.

Follow @tdavidson

Professional Experience

kbs+ Ventures
Senior Associate
New York, NY
2011 - Present

• Venture Capital: kbs+p Ventures is the thematic investment arm of kirshenbaum bond senecal and partners. Focused on investing in early stage entrepreneurs with solid teams and great ideas in advertising technology, mobile, and design infusion.

Unstructured Ventures, LLC
Founder and Principal
2008 - 2011

• Strategy and Finance Consulting: Boutique strategy, product, marketing and financial consulting for emerging and growing companies. Financial management and part-time CFO for growing companies. Financial model templates have been downloaded over 6,000 times and used by startups at TechCrunch 50, NY Tech Meetup and other forums.
• Media, PR, Digital Campaign Execution: Experienced in creating web and social media properties for digital communication campaigns. Collaborated on campaigns for Gulf Coast Benefit Concerts, Citizen Gulf and Gulf Aid, helping raise over $600,000 to benefit families, wildlife and wetlands impacted by the Gulf Oil Spill. Assisted with campaigns for New Orleans Visitor and Tourism Bureau for JazzFest and My Mardi Gras Experience for Mardi Gras (sponsored by Tabasco and Sheraton).
• Blog: Taylor Davidson: Photography, Marketing & Innovation, named a top 50 photography industry blog and top 100 travel photography blog.

NOLAlicious
Co-Editor
New Orleans, LA
2010 - 2011

• Weekly newsletter delivering suggestions and previews of events and highlights in and around New Orleans, LA, focusing on exploring the city through the eye of a tourist and the emerging soul of a native.
• Winner, The Gambit's 2010 Web Award for Best Email Newsletter in New Orleans.

Capital One Financial, Inc.
Business Manager, Marketing Strategy (US Card)
Richmond, VA and McLean, VA
2005 - 2008

• Industry Experience: Diversified consumer financial services company. Primarily focused on marketing and product strategy in USA consumer credit card division.
• Product Innovation: Developed innovative product, service and marketing solutions to solve customer needs. Launched and actively contributed to internal blog about innovation, focusing on trends and innovations from a wide range of industries and applying insights to financial services.
• Marketing Strategy: Managed strategy, $15 million budget and team focused on suite of products and strategies aimed at building customer loyalty and engagement. Led a team analytically developing, testing, refining and implementing a mix of product and marketing strategies, running campaigns sending mail and email to 40 million and 25 million people every month, respectively. Managed complete product strategy and implementation, including customer needs evaluation, product strategy, product launch planning, marketing communications, channel strategy, cross-functional execution planning and post-campaign performance analysis.

InCode Telecom Group, Inc.
Senior Consultant, Business Strategy Group
Reston, VA
2004 - 2005

• Industry Experience: Technology and business strategy consulting services to the wireless telecommunications industry.
• Project Experience: Prominent roles in delivering product strategies for multiple Fortune 100 clients. Focused on financial modeling, market research and business case development. Primary project topics included network infrastructure strategies, wireless-wireline convergence and MVNOs.

Illinois Ventures, LLC
Investment Associate (MBA Internship)
Champaign, IL & Chicago, IL
Summer 2003

• Industry Experience: Early stage venture capital firm focused on technology originating from the University of Illinois system. Evaluated software and basic engineering investments.
• Investment Analysis: Conducted due diligence of 11 investment proposals, focusing on market, competitive, financial and business plan analysis. Wrote six Investment Memorandums for presentation to the Investment Committee. Funded four transactions.
• Strategy Development: Created due diligence procedures and templates for market, competitive and customer analysis.

C-SAM, Inc.
Manager, Finance & Associate, Business Development
Chicago, IL & London, England
2000 - 2002

• Industry Experience: Wireless application start-up concentrated on developing digital wallet and payment platform for mobile devices. Primary clients included major wireless carriers and financial institutions
• Leadership: Managed financial analysis team, overseeing financial plans for all projects globally.
• Business Development: Aided senior management in raising investment capital by presenting to potential investors. Designed approximately 15 business proposals and projects in a small team environment, focusing on European business development. Attended industry conferences in Europe and US to present the company and build business relationships.
• Strategy Development: Developed and wrote company business plans and financial projections. Constructed corporate strategy, business cases and revenue models, collaborating with senior executives in finance, business development and product development.
• Financial Analysis: Designed financial models for over 15 business plans and projects, creating template models for all analysts in firm.
• Industry Analysis: Led continual monitoring of industry trends, competitive landscape and intellectual property position of company.

Cherokee Equity Holdings, LLC
Investment Analyst
Raleigh, NC
1998 - 2000

• Industry Experience: Private equity investment firm (sister firm of Cherokee Investment Partners, a $255 million fund) concentrated on performing leveraged build-ups executed through purchasing ownership stakes in privately held companies.
• Investment Analysis: Analyzed 30 potential acquisitions and closed $6 million asset purchase. Conducted financial modeling analysis and accounting examination of financials.
• Valuations: Evaluated business plans and prepared valuations using discounted cash flow and earnings multiples methods. Designed deal structures and purchase proposals for acquisition targets.
• Strategy Development: Wrote sections of business plan and built consolidated financial model for purposes of raising investment capital.

Education

Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
MBA, Master of Business Administration
Pittsburgh, PA
2002 - 2004

• Concentrations in Finance and Accounting.
• University Honors (Top 10% of Graduating Class).
• Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.

University of Virginia
BA, Bachelor of Arts in Economics
Charlottesville, VA
1995 - 1998

• Dean's List.
• Graduated in three years.

Presentations

• Creating Context for your Content (Solo presentation, March 2010)
• Everyone can be a Professional Photographer (Dual Core Conversation at SXSW, March 2010)
• Making Yourself Uncomfortable (Panel discussion, group presentation, October 2009)
• How to use Twitter to market your photography (Panel discussion, solo presentation, October 2009)
• Trends in Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship (Solo Core Conversation at SXSW, March 2009)
• "How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure" (Web, released September 2008)

Personal

• Voracious reader, experienced sailor (cruising and racing); other interests include photography, hiking, triathlons, racquetball and travel.