Alan Patricof made his fortune as a pioneer in venture capitalism and private equity firms. Born in 1934 and reared in New York City, Patricof received his B.S in finance from Ohio State University in 1955 and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1958. He worked for Central National Corporation, which managed private family investments. Patricof pioneered venture capitalism and private equity firms. He founded APAX Partners Inc. (as Patricof and Company Ventures Inc.) in 1969 which provided investment capital for company startups APAX provided early funding for Apple, American Online, Cadence Systems, Cellular Communications, Inc., Office Depot, Audible, NTL, and IntraLinks among others. He founded Greycroft, a group of venture capital funds, in 2006.