Our Team
Jeremy Kagan
Managing Partner
Jeremy Kagan is a growth and innovation consultant and strategic advisor to startups and digital media companies. He is the former Managing Director of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School, where he managed curricular and co-curricular offerings, the Lang Fund for early-stage investment, the Columbia Startup Lab, and launched the Columbia Alumni Virtual Accelerator. He is a Professor of Digital Marketing at Columbia Business School, and Faculty Director of the Digital Marketing Strategy executive education program, and teaches graduate and executive education classes. Kagan also teaches the Digital Marketing Intensive in the Cornell Tech MBA program and Foundations of Entrepreneurship at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His book “Digital Marketing: Strategy and Tactics”, the first textbook for digital marketing, was published in 2018 by the Wessex Press, and is now in its second edition, with international editions available as well. His new book “Designing the Successful Corporate Accelerator” was released by Wiley in 2021. Jeremy previously was the founder and CEO of Pricing Engine, a digital marketing platform that enabled small businesses to benchmark, optimize, and expand their search and social advertising campaigns.
Jeremy has been a speaker and corporate trainer in the digital media industry. His clients include companies in content, services, and e-commerce, as well as traditional advertising agencies needing digital media expertise. Jeremy previously worked at Sony Music Entertainment in the Global Digital Business, where he was the Vice President of Global Account Management, working with large partners such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Before this, he was Vice President/Director of Strategy and Customer Insight for Publicis Modem, a leading digital advertising agency, where Jeremy headed research and innovation out of the New York office.
Eric Schwesinger
General Partner
At HPR Commodities LLC, Mr. Schwesinger pioneered the energy markets move from open outcry to electronic trading, as well as helping develop hedging and margining plans for newly developed cleared swaps.
After securing enough credits to graduate, Mr. Schwesinger left his undergraduate program early to take several positions at Susquehanna Investment Group, including roles at the specialists’ desk for technology and index derivatives.
Mr. Schwesinger received an MBA from Columbia University with a specialization in Financial Engineering and holds a BA in both Economics and Political Science from Emory University.
Eric Schwesinger is the Founder and Owner of GM Trading LLC established in 2009. GM Trading is a trading, investment, and advisory firm founded in 2009 by the remaining principals at HPR Commodities specializing in new markets and technology.
From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Schwesinger was a partner at MBF Trading, LLC. Mr. Schwesinger oversaw energy trading operations and portfolio management, as well as designing hedging plans for energy companies and investors. Mr. Schwesinger was a partner and managed HPR Commodities LLC from 2004 to 2009.
Austin Evarts
Venture Partner
Austin is a venture partner at Textbook Ventures, focusing on early-stage climate tech investments. In this role, Austin builds on his unique knowledge of the intersection of startups and climate tech as head of NYU’s Urban Future Lab ACRE Incubator, New York City’s longest-running and most successful climate tech startup incubator. Austin is also the Co-president of the New York Techstars Chapter where he focuses on community building and mentoring startups.
Previously, Austin spent 10 years in the marketing technology industry where he co-founded and led a SaaS marketing technology business, GoChime, to its successful acquisition by Wunderkind (f/k/a Bounce Exchange). He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.