# Dan Engel

> Dan Engel is the Santa Barbara-based founder and managing partner of Santa Barbara Venture Partners and the co-founder and first CEO of FastSpring. His career spans customer acquisition at GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting, Picasa, and Google, software entrepreneurship, and investing focused on helping portfolio companies grow their customer base.

- **Role:** Founder and Managing Partner at Santa Barbara Venture Partners
- **Organizations:** Santa Barbara Venture Partners, Engel Ventures, FastSpring, Mobile1st, Google, Picasa, Expertcity, Idealab, NGEN Partners, OCV Partners, Morpheus Software, Partners in Housing Solutions
- **From:** The Bronx, New York, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Management, Finance, Tulane University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and served as first CEO of FastSpring, bootstrapped with $30,000 in initial funding., FastSpring ranked 13th in North America in Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500, with 17,468% growth over 2006-2010., Founded Santa Barbara Venture Partners; its inaugural fund closed at $11 million in 2022.

## Career timeline

- **1997** — Began software and ecommerce entrepreneurship; founded GrapeApe.com while in college.
- **1998** — Graduated from Tulane University with a finance major.
- **1999** — GrapeApe.com launched an online magazine newsstand with more than 1,400 titles.
- **2000** — Served as entrepreneur in residence at Idealab at age 24.
- **2002-2003** — Worked on customer acquisition for GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting.
- **2003** — Joined Picasa as vice president of market development.
- **2004** — Joined Google following its acquisition of Picasa; worked on online advertising for AdSense and AdWords.
- **2005** — Co-founded FastSpring with Jason Foodman, Ken White, and Ryan Dewell; became its first CEO.
- **2013** — Following Pylon Capital’s investment, transitioned from CEO to senior vice president of marketing and board member.
- **2015** — Co-founded Mobile1st and served as its first CEO.
- **2018-2020** — Held venture roles at NGEN Partners and OCV Partners before founding SBVP.
- **2020** — Founded Santa Barbara Venture Partners.
- **2022** — SBVP announced the $11 million final close of its inaugural fund.
- **2025** — Participated in FastSpring’s twentieth-anniversary Growth Stage interview.
- **2026** — Discussed company building at Ventech’s March 25 Santa Barbara founder panel.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and served as first CEO of FastSpring, bootstrapped with $30,000 in initial funding.
- FastSpring ranked 13th in North America in Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500, with 17,468% growth over 2006-2010.
- Founded Santa Barbara Venture Partners; its inaugural fund closed at $11 million in 2022.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Appeared with Sonos founder John MacFarlane and Seek Thermal co-founder Bill Parrish at Ventech’s March 25 How I Built This: Santa Barbara Edition event.
- **2026-01** — In a published interview, reported approximately $75 million in SBVP assets under management and a network of more than 100 limited partners.
- **2025-06** — Featured in FastSpring’s twentieth-anniversary Growth Stage conversation alongside then-CEO David Nachman.

## Links

- Website: https://engelventures.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danengel1/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dan-engel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20