Scott Maxwell spent the 1990s in financial services, including as a division CFO at Lehman Brothers and a Partner at Putnam Investments running its alternative asset management program, before joining Insight Venture Partners in 2000 as Chief Operating Officer. There he institutionalized the firm's investment process, outbound sourcing program, and value-add capabilities, eventually leading deal work himself across eight portfolio companies. He applied that same institutionalization philosophy when he founded OpenView Venture Partners in 2006, built specifically around the conviction that expansion-stage software companies need genuine operational expertise, not just capital, to scale successfully. Under Maxwell, OpenView built a proprietary 'Expansion Platform' offering hands-on support in pricing, packaging, and go-to-market execution, backing more than 60 companies including Datadog and Expensify through public listings, and the firm has raised $2.4 billion across seven funds since founding.
Education
BS & MA, University of California, Davis
Previous Experience
Senior VP & Division CFO, Lehman Brothers
Partner & Managing Director of Corporate Development, Putnam Investments (ran alternative asset management program)
Chief Operating Officer, Insight Venture Partners (2000-2006, institutionalized its investment process and value-add program)
Works in financial services throughout the decade, including as a Senior VP and division CFO at Lehman Brothers and a Partner at Putnam Investments.
2000
Joins Insight Venture Partners as Chief Operating Officer, institutionalizing its investment process, outbound program, and value-add capabilities.
2001
Begins leading deal work at Insight, ultimately investing in eight of its portfolio companies.
2006
Founds OpenView Venture Partners in Boston, applying his institutionalization playbook to expansion-stage B2B software investing.
2021
Expensify completes its NASDAQ IPO in November at a $1.82 billion market cap; Datadog, another OpenView investment, is independently listed on NASDAQ at a $7.83 billion market cap.