Liam Donohue

Co-Founder and Managing Director

ldonohue@406ventures.com | 617.406.3388 |

Ever since he was a kid, Liam has gravitated towards entrepreneurial settings, founding four successful businesses, including two venture capital funds.

For the last 15 years, Liam has been a venture investor – starting as a Principal at Foster Management, a venture investor focused on service industry investments; then co-founding Arcadia Partners, a fund focused on technology-enabled education companies; and finally, co-founding .406 with Larry and Maria. Over this time, Liam has invested over $75M of capital in 15 investments.

While at Arcadia, Liam founded and took on CEO responsibilities for Business Intelligence Advisors (“BIA”), now a .406 portfolio company. This is where he gained a fine appreciation for the challenges and thrills of building a fast growing start-up company.

Earlier in his career, Liam spent two years as employee #3 in Booz•Allen & Hamilton Philadelphia office before opening and leading their office in Budapest, Hungary. At Booz, Liam specialized in energy and environmental consulting.

Liam currently serves on the boards of .406 portfolio companies BIA, Connotate, EnergyHub, Iora Health, WellAWARE and WoodPellets.com. Liam also sat on the board of Health Dialog (an Arcadia and .406 company) until its sale to BUPA in January 2008.

Liam has a BS in Chemistry from Georgetown University, where he was a John Carroll Scholar, and earned an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

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Liam’s Prior Companies Include:

Health Dialog (acquired by BUPA)
AccessWorldwide (IPO 1997)
Pensare (acquired by Duke University)
Knowledge Impact (acquired by mZinga)
Arcadia Partners
Booz Allen & Hamilton

Liam’s Current Portfolio

Meet the Team

Larry Begley
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Maria Cirino
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Liam Donohue
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Graham Brooks
Principal
Greg Dracon
Principal
So-June Min
Chief Financial Officer
Kelci Horan
Office Manager and Executive Assistant

How I want entrepreneurs to perceive the .406 team

We have the same DNA
After work I’ll be

after?
Best job

this one
Worst fear

Failing to do something meaningful
Coolest investment

Business Intelligence Advisors - closest I'll ever come to being confused with 007
Fav book

My Antonia by Willa Cather
Fav destination

Warren, Vermont...especially in the late summer
What you’ll find me drinking

Coffee
Something I say all the time

Believe it or not, I'm only 1/8 Irish
Best part of the day

6:30 - 7:30am after working out and before my daughters wake up - just me and my coffee
Fav website

Huffington Post
Fav wheels

My 2012 Ocean Blue Fisker Karma – definition of bleeding edge
Fond childhood memory

Back-yard bonfires with high school friends on chilly fall nights
Grew up in

130 year-old house with a backyard that took me 3 hours to mow using a 24" mower - thanks mom and dad!
Hidden talent

I can shave, shower and dress in less than 3 minutes
I can’t live without my

Morning coffee
I can’t stop eating

Guacamole
I get annoyed when

People forget that starting a company is hard work and take it out on the team killing themselves to make it happen
I'm terrible at

Making myself look presentable - fortunately, I married So-June...she does a lot with a little
Key to successful leadership

Passion, inspiration and the ability to mid-course correct
Least fav job

Delivery-boy for a florist
Most fun I have ever had

Watching my daughters discover something that they love to do - skiing and snowboarding are their latest
Most important lesson learned

A good idea is about 2% of success
Key to success

Working with the best people I know
What I do for fun

Travel to any place that I've never been before
What I say too much

"No" - it's the worst part of the business
What's on my iPod

Kanye West, Dixie Chicks, Airborne Toxic Event, The Who, Journey, The Pogues
Peak of my athletic career

Still waiting for it
Why I chose VC

Combines the magic of entrepreneuring, the fulfillment of consulting/coaching and the thrill of the deal
My worst investment

My first stock purchase in 1978, bought Sinclair oil instead of MCI, before MCI was a household name