Spectrum Equity’s John Connolly and Jeff Haywood Named to GrowthCap Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors List

Spectrum Equity is delighted to announce John Connolly and Jeff Haywood have been recognized by GrowthCap for their contributions as growth equity investors and tremendous work with portfolio companies. This represents the second consecutive year that John Connolly has been named to the GrowthCap Top 40 Under 40 list.

John Connolly, Principal

John joined Spectrum Equity in 2009 as an Associate. Now a Principal, John has been involved in 9 transactions, representing approximately $430 million of invested capital. John has been most active in the education technology, consumer internet, online marketplace, and SMB software sectors. He has participated in Spectrum’s investments in Ancenstry, ExamSoft, GoodRx, Headspace, Jimdo, Prezi, and Teachers Pay Teachers. He currently serves on the board of Teachers Pay Teachers, Jimdo, and ExamSoft. Notably, John was involved in Spectrum’s investments and subsequent exits of Grubhub, which merged with Seamless before going public, and Finalsite, which was acquired by Bridge Growth Partners.

John graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Political Economy. He began his career as an Analyst within Credit Suisse’s Media & Telecom Group in New York City.

“Spectrum Equity’s singular focus on growth-stage, internet, software and information services companies with recurring revenue business models provides us with deeply relevant expertise and contributes to our growing network of resources. We are purpose built to help these types of companies accelerate growth and create lasting businesses that define the categories in which they operate. I feel lucky to be part of the Spectrum team and to be able to partner with the exceptional management teams we have supported.”

Jeff Haywood, Principal

Jeff joined Spectrum Equity in 2007. Since joining the firm, Jeff has been involved in 8 transactions representing $400 million of invested capital across the software and information services verticals, with a particular focus on healthcare-related businesses. He has participated in Spectrum’s investments in Definitive Healthcare, GoodRx, HealthMEDX (acquired by Netsmart), MedHOK (acquired by Hearst Health), Net Health (acquired by The Carlyle Group), Passport Health Communications (acquired by Experian), RainKing (acquired by DiscoverOrg), and Verisys. He currently sits on the board of Definitive Healthcare and Verisys.

Jeff graduated with a B.A. from Duke University where he was also a member of the varsity soccer team. He began his career as an Investment Analyst with a real estate development firm prior to joining Goldman Sachs. He also worked at Thoma Cressey Equity Partners as an Associate.

“Partnering with entrepreneurs and executives of innovative technology businesses is an incredibly rewarding experience for me. At Spectrum Equity, we are focused on identifying market-leading companies and management teams, developing our relationships with them in a way that demonstrates we can help drive growth and shareholder value, and acting as true partners for them in the execution of their company’s goals and vision. Our sector-focused growth equity strategy will continue to drive distinctive results.”