Venture First
John Shumate is the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Venture First since April 2009. John is also the General Partner at Whiskey Capital Finance Co. since December 2019 and the Chairman of Strike Ventures since January 2020. John is a Board Member at Untitled Firm since October 2021, DealerTradeNetwork since March 2021, G&G Fitness Equipment, Inc. since August 2022, and Capture Higher Ed since May 2019. Additionally, they are an Investor at GoodMaps since December 2021, Forecastr since February 2019, and GoWild since March 2020.
John Shumate completed their education with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a focus on Finance and Management from The Wharton School, where they attended from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, they were enrolled at the University of Louisville in 2000-2001, but the details of their degree and field of study are not specified. John also attended Francis Parker School of Louisville from 1988 to 2000, but it is not mentioned whether they obtained a degree or what their field of study was during this time.
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Venture First
Venture First is a boutique financial services group focused on empowering entrepreneurs. At its core, our team believes that innovation is the cornerstone of a healthy economy and an improving society. Venture First works tirelessly to provide innovative companies and their investors with the financial and strategic tools to be successful. Its professionals have worked closely with hundreds of cutting-edge companies and have considerable experience working with technology and healthcare companies. Venture First was established in 2009 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. After working extensively with early and growth-stage companies as an investor, advisor, and operator, founder and CEO John Shumate identified a need for high-end valuation and analytics services at reasonable price. With the belief that small companies operating on a shoestring budget deserve the same sophisticated financial services as their larger counterparts, John set out to develop a superior technology platform and analytical bench that could deliver Wall Street quality services at Midwest prices. The result is a specialty financial services firm that caters to high-growth venture-backed companies from Silicon Valley to Research Triangle Park. By leveraging its proprietary set of rapid-fire analytical tools and combining a vast array of quality data, Venture First’s team delivers market-leading services at prices that accommodate most budgets.