John Sculley

Updated at: May 21, 2007, 2:21 a.m.

John Sculley is a partner with his brothers in Sculley Brothers LLC, a private investment firm founded by brothers Arthur, David and John Sculley in 1995. Each brother has held senior operating positions with multi-national corporations including J.P. Morgan, H. J. Heinz, Unilever, Pepsi Co. and Apple Computer.

Sculley Brothers mission is to help build new companies for the new economy. Their primary focus is early stage ecommerce companies with exciting growth opportunities. They look for powerful business models with a special emphasis on virtual businesses, brand marketing, first-tier business partnerships and first-tier investors. They particularly look for inflection points in the value chain of familiar industries where marketing ground rules can be changed and there is an opportunity to become the number one service in its industry sector.

Since each of the Sculleys has had considerable operating experience, they look for investment opportunities which can leverage these skills and their extensive business network. "Marketing and business development partnerships are our primary skills, so we concentrate on businesses where building brands and working with first tier partners is critical to a new company's success. We are strong believers that the internet is not just a technology… it's the primary enabling utility service for the new economy," says John. They also incubate their own creations for deal flow. The Sculleys typically co-invest alongside a major venture capital lead investor.

"We are big fans of virtual company business models because the internet enables many functions to be outsourced to business partners," says David. Virtual organizations are typically very scalable, let one work with the best business partners in each part of the value chain and are especially well suited to the Sculleys added value experience in marketing strategy, branding and business partnerships. Sculley Brothers have co-investments in various companies with Softbank Venture Capital, Patricof, Highland Capital, RHO Capital, Boston Millenia, Soros, Accel Partners and Allen & Co. Sculley Brothers portfolio companies have major corporate investors including Goldman Sachs, H&Q, IBM, Ernst & Young, Johnson & Johnson, Reuters, Starbucks, NBC, Cox Communications, Hearst Corporation and News Corp.

Often the Sculleys will be at the start of a new company, sometimes as a co-founder. Examples include John with PeoplePC and SiriusThinking.


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