Zane Tarence

Zane Tarence is a Partner and Head of Strategic Partnerships at Founders Advisors, a Birmingham-based investment banking and M&A advisory firm. Founders says he has more than 25 years of experience as an operator, investor, and dealmaker in technology, and that he has led and completed more than 87 technology deals over the past 20 years.

Before joining Founders, Tarence founded and sold two technology businesses to publicly traded companies. Earlier in his career, he worked at IBM, where Founders says he led IBM’s Internet consulting practice in the Southeast. A 2012 profile reported that he had joined Founders in 2007 as managing director and partner in the technology practice, after roles including vice president of business development at CTS Inc. and managing partner of Alliance Consulting LLC, a “technology venture capital-model accelerator” he founded in 2001.

Tarence holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Auburn University and a Master’s in Organizational Management from Southern Christian University. His securities credentials include Series 79, 63, and 24 licenses. He is also the author of *17 Reasons Your Company Is Not Investment Grade & What To Do About It* and founded Silicon Y’all, a SaaS and internet summit.

• Focuses on helping founders build enterprise value, raise capital, recapitalize, or exit, rather than making publicly disclosed seed angel investments.
• In technology, Founders emphasizes domain experience, noting that its team has worked with large tech companies and startups and has sold its own technology companies.
• Tarence’s historical technology niche includes digital media, internet properties, lead-generation businesses, SaaS, and software.
• In a 2008 TechJournal South profile, he described a sweet spot of web properties selling for roughly $7.5 million to $25 million, with buyers attracted to growth and substantial monthly revenue.
• In a 2012 interview, he said he prefers businesses with real profitability, including sites making more than $1 million and ideally more than $2 million in profit.
• He is skeptical of unsupported early-stage valuations, saying in 2012: “I don’t buy this early stage VC investing” when it resembles irrational exuberance; he emphasized cash flow, brand, audience, and ROI.
• He places high weight on management quality, telling the Birmingham Business Journal that “Investors invest in proven management teams.”