Meet Origin’s Newest Team Member: Devon Leichtman

Building a business is a rough and lonely road. I know from experience: I co-owned a business in college, founded an LLC at 22, was an early employee at a successful startup, and spent the last two years at an incubator. I’ve learned what resources are important as a business scales, and when a small amount of assistance has a huge impact. That’s why I am thrilled to join Origin Ventures at its new Marketing and Community Manager.

I’m here as an ally, liaison, and champion for Origin’s portfolio companies. I’ll help entrepreneurs grow their businesses by making connections; solving problems; researching, vetting, and recommending technology infrastructure; and hunting down contact information for potential customers. I’ll design function-specific in-person summits for portfolio companies, help entrepreneurs reach a larger audience, host live and remote roundtables, facilitate knowledge sharing, and recruit talent.

My goal is to unlock the many novel strategies and tactics our portfolio companies are using so they can be shared by all. I’m here to accelerate those many infrastructure decisions by sharing the experiences of our community of portfolio investments. I’m also a human router – if I can’t help you, I’ll connect you to someone in Origin’s network who can.

It’s also my mission to make sure investors, entrepreneurs, partners, and the tech ecosystem at large hear about the groundbreaking accomplishments Origin portfolio companies make. I’ve spent the last two years in marketing at MATTER, the healthcare technology incubator in the Merchandise Mart, where I kept my finger on the pulse of 200 startups, promoting the members’ many accomplishments. I was also MATTER members’ connection to the outside world. If a company was hiring, I helped distribute and fill the position. I helped get their fundraising news noticed. I became the “voice of MATTER” through consistent communication, attention to detail, and an innovative approach to marketing with resource constraints.

But I’ve been helping startups grow long before MATTER. My first marketing job was as a project manager at OneIMS, a local startup and marketing service. Before that, I cut my teeth in a sales role at west coast startup Graphiq (then called FindTheBest). Before that, I was an entrepreneurship major at Washington University in St. Louis, where I owned and operated Wash-U-Wash, a laundry and dry cleaning service on campus.

I’m thrilled to bring my entrepreneurial background, passion for startups, and marketing experience to Origin Ventures and its long history of success. If you have questions or want to connect, you can reach me at devon@originventures.com. Here’s my LinkedIn.

I’m here to help startups grow. Let’s build.