Jonathon Perrelli founded numerous companies and has been involved with tech and telecomm startups since 1996. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that Perrelli zeroed in on what brings him alive and co-founded Fortify.vc.

Fortify is a DC-based tech fund that leverages the proven experience of their network to give our portfolio companies the connections and guidance needed to succeed. It’s become a critical ingredient to the DC startup community and helped dozens of entrepreneurs start and grow their companies.

Here’s the full interview:

Jonathon Perrelli of Fortify.vc shares some startup lessons learned:

• The jump from telecommunications to software
• Sales role as a starting place in startups
• Connect early with good mentorship
• Why culture is one of the most important things in any business
• Find what you’re good at and do that
• The importance of startup events like Distilled Intelligence

You can catch Jonathon at Distilled Intelligence in Washington DC, or connect with him at the Powder Keg, in Indianapolis next week. Will you be there?