Our Team

Blake Patton is the founder and Managing General Partner of Tech Square Ventures where he leads investments in enterprise software, marketplace, and platform technology companies. Under his leadership, the firm has invested in more than 100 early-stage companies and launched Engage, an innovative corporate innovation and enterprise startup accelerator program.

Prior to founding Tech Square Ventures, Blake was General Manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech – named by Forbes as one of the “Top 12 Incubators Changing the World”. Prior to leading ATDC, he served as President & COO of Interactive Advisory Software and EVP of iXL, an internet services company that he joined through the acquisition of Swan Media and was part of the executive team that grew the company from startup to over $400 million in annualized revenue and an IPO. He started his career as an Associate at SEI Corporation.

Blake is an active leader in the technology community, serving on the boards of Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures (GATV) and High Tech Ministries. He also serves on the ATDC Advisory Board and is a former Chairman of Venture Atlanta and former Chairman of the Center for American Entrepreneurship. Blake is a part-time Professor of the Practice at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, where he teaches Entrepreneurial Finance.

Blake earned a Bachelor of Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, where he was captain of the swim team. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni, is a former Georgia Tech Alumni Association Trustee, and previously served on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board.

Bill is a Partner at Tech Square Ventures where he supports the firm’s early-stage investments and oversees the growth of the Engage program and fund

Bill spent most of his career as a tech CEO. His first company, which he co-founded in high school, provided graphics software for early, text-based personal computers. His second company, Da Vinci Systems, was started out of his college dorm room and grew to serve millions of users across 45 countries. Later, he spent several years as a venture capitalist with Greylock. In 1998, he left the firm to become CEO of a portfolio company, iXL, which went public and grew to nearly $500 million in revenue. After iXL, he joined Silverpop as CEO. The company grew to nearly $100 million in recurring revenue and became a global leader in cloud-based marketing. In 2014, IBM acquired the company and made it the foundation of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Shortly after the acquisition, Bill was promoted to IBM’s VP of Corporate Strategy, helping the CEO and SVPs set IBM’s strategic roadmap.

In 2018, Bill co-founded Solar Inventions to commercialize a series of scientific breakthroughs for improving the manufacturing of solar cells and panels. He has spent his career in the tech industry, centered on go-to-market and customer experience, and over the last few years, he has focused on energy and sustainability.

Bill received a degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He holds several patents and has published three books.

Scott is a Partner at Tech Square Ventures where he leads the investment team and co-investment network, while overseeing the internship and EIR programs at the firm.

Scott has had a passion for building high performing teams from a young age, where he was most often found on the soccer or football field. He attended The University of Pennsylvania where he studied Finance at Wharton and was the four-year starting punter & kicker for Penn Football. After three Ivy League championships and a few NFL tryouts, he hung up his cleats for a career in finance and joined the Investment Banking group at UBS in New York City. He covered insurance companies and banks and helped his clients raise $26B in preferred stock and debt capital during his time.

Following UBS, Scott joined Tech Square Ventures to pursue a passion in building a firm, supporting entrepreneurs at the early stage, and investing in the future of the Southeast. Scott was the first hire and originally led all transactions at the firm, established the firm's investment process, and built the infrastructure needed to scale.

With three young kids at home, outside the office you can find Scott between the soccer fields and trying out new cocktail recipes with his wife. He’s also an active member of the Atlanta startup community, sitting on the board of Venture Atlanta and helping founders at Atlanta Tech Village as a mentor.

Being raised in a highly competitive family, Joelle took her father’s experience playing minor league baseball for the Cubs, along with his time as a finance executive, and applied it directly to her own career in the business world.

After studying finance and accounting at the University of Tennessee, Joelle joined PwC as an auditor. Following nearly a decade at the firm, she transitioned into the world of startups, helping accelerate growth through M&A transactions. She joined iXL, an internet services company that grew to over $400M in annualized revenue and completed an IPO during the dot-com era. While there, she led financial due diligence on iXL’s 40 acquisitions, with her first acquisition target being Blake Patton’s company, Swan Media.

Looking to get into earlier stage startups, Joelle joined Velocity Medical Solutions which commercialized technology developed at Emory University in the oncology space. Sitting alongside a team of scientists, engineers and medical professionals, she was the first business-oriented person at the company. She helped lead the company’s growth to 30+ employees and an acquisition by Varian Medical Systems, where she worked post-acquisition.

Joelle joined TSV after a gathering with Blake, Bill Nussey, and other members of the iXL group whose relationships formed years ago. As CFO and Operating Partner, Joelle manages operations, treasury, fund administration and accounting, supports the investment process, and assists portfolio companies with financial and operating strategies.

Outside of work, Joelle likes to apply her competitive nature to fitness, travel and any adventures her friends and family want to pursue.

With a mom as a registered nurse, and a wife as an Emory physician, Jason has been surrounded by healthcare his entire life. After studying information systems at Carnegie Mellon, he applied his engineering background to various product roles at successful healthcare tech companies, before joining Patientco (acquired by Waystar) as one of the first product managers.

Following his time at Patientco, Jason completed his MBA at Emory and joined Citizens Bank, helping founders raise capital and navigating successful acquisitions as a healthcare-focused investment banker. From there, he started a legal tech startup to help international students navigate the complexities of building a life and career in the US, and after two years leading the company, joined Tech Square Ventures.

As a Principal on the investment team, Jason is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions, as well as growing portfolio companies post-investment, and is a Board Observer at Paccurate and DocStation.

Outside of work, Jason builds and rides bicycles (he used to race motorcycles), competes in marathons and triathlons, and spends time with his two kids and their Lhasa Apso.

Growing up in suburban Minnesota, Jordan developed a growing interest in technology and entrepreneurship at a young age, when his oldest brother moved to Silicon Valley to design computer chips at Intel. Jordan would spend his free time building circuits and learning how to code, with an aspiration of using technology to bring new ideas to life.

Since graduating with an engineering degree from Stanford University, and finishing his last year on the varsity swim team as a captain, Jordan has worked as an engineer at various venture capital and private equity firms, using data science to reimagine the traditional investment process. Previously, he’s been a Machine Learning Engineer at Vista Equity Partners, a Data Science and Investment Analyst at Norwest Venture Partners, and most recently a Data Science Consultant for General Catalyst.

Jordan joined Tech Square Ventures as an Associate and Chief of Staff, where he is responsible for investment activity and supporting the Managing Partner.

Outside of work, Jordan enjoys taking his dog to Fetch Park with his wife Ornella, and keeps his neighbors occupied by playing piano a little too late into the evening.

Born in Ohio and raised in Atlanta, David’s career has taken him there and back again, and he’s built communities along the way. When he attended The Ohio State University, he was the Communications Director at the Buckeye Social Entrepreneurship Program, which focused on building businesses that give back to the community. His love for networking with entrepreneurs led him to start an angel accelerator called the Buildternship Program that helped college students turn their ideas into venture-backable businesses and helped 20+ companies raise $1.5M in funding.

Bit by the startup bug himself, David started a feedback analytics company in the consumer intelligence space, which notably helped Duolingo implement a TikTok strategy to become the fifth most popular consumer brand on social media. He applied his early-stage experience to LOUD Capital, a leading Columbus-based venture firm, where he grew from intern to associate over a five year period, sourcing and executing deals in supply chain, healthcare, and B2B SaaS.

David moved back to Atlanta upon joining Tech Square Ventures as an Associate, where he’s focused on investing in companies out of the Engage funds, while supporting entrepreneurs in our portfolio.

When he’s not actively finding the best possible startups to join Engage, David tries to extend his life through diet and exercise, and is a frequent visitor of Moe’s Southwest Grill, where he’s always happy to hear the staff greet him with a warm “Welcome to Moe’s.”

With parents who met in corporate America and an older sister whose business idea made it on Shark Tank and Good Morning America, Taylor loves connecting with people to understand and help solve their pain points. While she originally thought that meant being a doctor, her upbringing gave her a natural talent of problem solving for C-suite executives.

After studying international affairs at The University of Georgia, Taylor worked for Gartner as a Senior Researcher and ran a non-profit called National Student Leadership, which focuses on equipping the next generation of student leaders through the idea of servant leadership. She brought that leadership framework to Marriott International where she served as a Senior Manager of Enterprise Strategy for the Global Loyalty Business, and at Atlanta-based management consulting firm, GXG.

Taylor is currently the Director of Corporate Innovation at Tech Square Ventures, where she’s responsible for building a world-class program at Engage that delivers accelerated innovation, learning, and networking opportunities to our Corporate Limited Partners and executives.

Outside of work, Taylor plays basketball and pickleball, collects children’s books, and frequently visits museums in admiration of their architecture and design. She has most recently served as a member of Women Shaping Shepherd, which is a group of women who collectively support patient programs at the Shepherd Center Foundation.

Growing up, when school was out, rather than attending summer camps, Hari decided to do his own book reports, which sparked his early interest in research. After studying business with a minor in engineering and management at Georgia Tech, Hari kicked off his career applying his research mind to the professional world.

Hari's early career spanned both small and large consulting firms. At inCode, he worked on new product and technology consulting, with a focus on go-to-market business cases. He also worked at Deloitte to do high-level strategy, including black swan event planning, working closely with C-suite executives. He then joined Cox as an Innovation Manager, where he explored a range of products across industries like energy, gaming, and private networks.

Currently, Hari serves as the Corporate Insights Lead at Tech Square Ventures, where he helps our Engage corporate partners better understand emerging technologies and guides startups on how to collaborate with large corporations.

Outside of work, Hari is a proud father of two, enjoys performing stand-up comedy, and once reached the quarterfinals in a state-wide Georgia Monopoly tournament (his wife went even further as a semifinalist).

Not many people have been exposed to entrepreneurship since they were in a stroller, but Maddie is an exception. Her parents run their own business as landscape architects, and her mom would take her to business meetings at a very young age, absorbing discussions around designing roads and public spaces in urban areas, introducing modern ideas to local governments and institutions. Her parents were not surprised when she started a side hustle in elementary school, selling homemade hair bows & jewelry during recess.

While attending Georgia Tech for a business degree, Maddie specialized in supply chain and operations, with a particular passion for product management. Her first internship was for Stackfolio, a machine learning-enabled online marketplace for loan trading and participation, where she spent three years in a variety of roles.

Knowing she wanted to sit in innovation between small startups and large corporations, Maddie joined Tech Square Ventures and is currently the Manager of the Engage Launch Program, which is a go-to-market accelerator, where she is responsible for operations and program support.

Outside of work, Maddie is going on adventures with her husband Tyler, raising her English Labrador Zeppelin, and playing bass guitar in her family band. She’s also a volunteer at Heartbound Ministries, which supports prison communities through faith-based programming.

Finding himself programming his first computer (a TI-99/4A) at 12 years old, Matt has always had an interest in technology. This led him to study computer science in college, but also delve into management to understand how he could apply his engineering skills to being an entrepreneur.

Matt used his skills, along with early professional experience as a programmer, to start, scale, and sell several successful businesses. He co-founded CENTEGIX, which was twice recognized by Inc 5000 as a Fastest Growing Company in America, before being acquired by Gauge Capital Partners. Prior to that, he co-founded Infrapoint, which provided cloud hosting and computing services, which subsequently sold to DC Blox.

Wanting to apply his operating background to early stage investing, Matt joined Tech Square Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. He supports the firm’s new investments and advises portfolio companies on go-to-market acceleration and scaling for growth.

Matt spends his spare time with his family, mainly in outdoor activities, as well as volunteering in his local community through High Tech Ministries, Creative Destruction Labs and host of other nonprofits.

Steve found himself largely shaped by working in hospitality. His first jobs were in the hotel business, bartending at banquets, delivering room service, and assisting guests by the pool. After graduating from James Madison University, he moved to Atlanta looking for an entrepreneurial opportunity in a growing city, and noticed his experience treating customers with the highest level of professionalism and respect provided the foundation for him to scale and exit several supply chain businesses.

Steve’s first company, Global Imaging Products, was a specialty distributor of barcode consumables. The company scaled and ultimately sold to a strategic acquirer. From there, he co-founded Inovity, an IT systems integrator connecting business across the entire supply chain, and that business was sold to Sole Source Capital.

Steve is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at the firm, where he supports the firm’s new investments and advises portfolio companies on go-to-market acceleration and overall company building.

Outside of work, Steve attends live music events, is an avid hiker, biker, and runner, and enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids.