Tim McAdam

Background

Tim McAdam is a General Partner and Senior Advisor at TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures), the growth-stage technology investment firm based in Menlo Park, California ¹. He joined TCV in 2010 and focuses on investments in the enterprise software, security, and tech-enabled services markets ¹. He has been in the venture capital industry since the early 1990s, giving him over 30 years of experience in software growth equity investing ¹.

McAdam’s career began at TA Associates in Boston in the early 1990s ¹. He then moved to GTCR in Chicago, where he served as a Vice President ¹. Before joining TCV, he was a Partner at Trinity Ventures, a leading early- to mid-stage venture capital firm, where he focused on investments in the software and security sectors ¹².

McAdam holds a B.A. in Classical Archaeology from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business ¹.

Stated Thesis

McAdam focuses publicly on enterprise software, security, and tech-enabled services ¹. In a press release regarding TCV’s investment in Avalara, he stated: “We are extremely impressed with Avalara’s ability to deliver on its mission of helping businesses of all sizes to comply with sales tax and other transactional tax requirements through comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions that are easy to use” ⁵. He further described Avalara as “an exceptional technology leader that is transforming a range of business processes” ⁵.

McAdam has appeared on the Interna podcast “The Growth Equation: PE Perspectives on Product” to discuss the relationship between product strategy and growth investing, reportedly emphasizing the balance between visionary entrepreneurs and real-world market demands ³.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 18 verified investments attributed to McAdam on TCV’s website and other sources.

McAdam’s portfolio is concentrated in enterprise software and cybersecurity.

Enterprise software/SaaS: GitLab, Avalara, Certinia (fka FinancialForce), Splunk, Talend, TOA Technologies, Nasuni, Oversight, Perceptyx, BenchSci, Roofr, Passport — 12 of 18 investments (67%) ¹.

Cybersecurity and network security: Vectra, Rapid7, Alarm.com, Aviatrix, Silver Peak — 5 of 18 investments (28%) ¹.

IoT/connected devices: Alarm.com — 1 of 18 investments (6%) ¹. (Note: Alarm.com spans both security and IoT.)

Stage focus: growth-stage, consistent with TCV’s mandate. TCV’s typical investment ranges from $3M to $300M. McAdam led or was involved in TCV’s $42M Series D-1 investment in Avalara in January 2015 ⁵, and TCV led a $200M growth round in Aviatrix in September 2021 ⁷ and a $300M Series C in OneTrust in December 2020 ⁶.

Exit patterns: Several of McAdam’s portfolio companies have achieved significant public market outcomes — Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK, acquired by Cisco in 2024), Avalara (NYSE: AVLR, acquired by Vista Equity in 2022), Rapid7 (NASDAQ: RPD), Alarm.com (NASDAQ: ALRM), and GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB) ¹. Acquisition exits include Silver Peak (acquired by HPE), TOA Technologies (acquired by Oracle), and Talend (acquired by Qlik) ¹.

Notable pattern: McAdam’s portfolio is almost entirely enterprise/B2B — there are no consumer-facing companies in his documented deals. This distinguishes him sharply from TCV colleagues like Woody Marshall who focus on consumer. His domain expertise in security is particularly deep, with investments spanning network security (Silver Peak, Aviatrix), cybersecurity analytics (Vectra, Rapid7), and compliance/privacy (OneTrust, Alarm.com).

Co-investor patterns: TCV’s Avalara investment was alongside Warburg Pincus ⁵. The OneTrust Series C was alongside Insight Partners ⁶. The Aviatrix round was alongside Insight Partners as well ⁷.

Portfolio

Notes: - Avalara investment confirmed at January 2015, $42M Series D-1 ⁵. - OneTrust Series C confirmed at December 2020, $300M ⁶. - Aviatrix growth round confirmed at September 2021, $200M ⁷. - GitLab involvement includes a secondary transaction in January 2021 ⁴. - Many other investment years are approximate.

In Their Own Words

“We are extremely impressed with Avalara’s ability to deliver on its mission of helping businesses of all sizes to comply with sales tax and other transactional tax requirements through comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions that are easy to use.” — Tim McAdam, Avalara press release, January 2015 ⁵

“Avalara is an exceptional technology leader that is transforming a range of business processes, and we believe our investment will help accelerate the company’s momentum.” — Tim McAdam, Avalara press release, January 2015 ⁵

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found.

Sources