Ingrid Vanderveldt - Managing Partner
Ingrid is a business woman turned TV show host, CEO, patent holder, skydiver, motorcycle racer and aspiring red headed entrepreneurial Super girl. Ingrid is on a mission to show that “anything is possible” in this world and to help current & aspiring entrepreneurs make great things happen.
Ingrid has been lucky to have sat with Al Roker on the Today show, been interviewed by Donny Deusch on the Big Idea and talked entrepreneurship on BNET’s Dog & Pony Show.
Ingrid has founded more than a half a dozen startups, raised millions in venture funding, closed millions in sales deals and received a technology patent from her first technology company without having a technology background.
She has arm wrestled the founder of Starbucks (Howard Schultz), introduced Malcom Gladwell (author of BLINK, Tipping Point) to a Fortune 500 CEO conference, sat with Hugh Hefner in the Playboy mansion and walked the corporate offices with his daughter, Christie Hefner. Ingrid has ridden motorcycles with John Paul DeJoria, (Paul Mitchell) and Karen Davidson (Harley Davidson) and even raced and beat Alanis Morisette on a motorcycle race track. She has sat courtside and walk the arena with Joe & Gavin Maloof (owners of the NBA Sacramento Kings), helped put on the first in-person & online Microsoft Small Business Summit and has had breakfast with Congress. Ingrid has a Masters in Architecture and an MBA in Entrepreneurship.
Corey Kossack - Managing Partner
Sitting in his college dorm room at Arizona State University in 2004, Corey discovered he was an entrepreneur and launched his first e-commerce business selling DVDs online. Two years later, he was recognized as one of the world's largest retailers on eBay.
Today, Corey is an award-winning entrepreneurial executive, author and social media enthusiast. Corey built a strong reputation as a young leader in the entrepreneur community as President/CEO of multiple startups, created a million-dollar company from scratch and has been featured extensively in national media for his entrepreneurial efforts in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, U.S. News & World Report, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, PBS and much more. Corey has been awarded multiple honors including Biz AZ Top 35 Entrepreneurs Under 35, Business Journal Power Generation, 2nd Place Most Promising Campus CEO Contest and Global Student Entrepreneur Award Finalist.
Corey has been a guest speaker and panelist at numerous web and entrepreneur conventions, has published a best-selling book, "eBay Millionaire or Bust", and launched an online and in person social network for entrepreneurs. Corey has a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Arizona State University.
Mark Dowds - Venture Advisor
Mark is an instigator and disturber of the peace who plays well to the stereotype of his Irish heritage. He has a history of turning ideas into valuable companies and learned the basics of business by getting his hands dirty and taking risks. Mark has been a advisor and coach to many organizations, boards, and executives facing challenge and change including Royal Bank of Canada, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Rogers Communication, Amex, Youth Specialties, CIBC, and several funded start-ups. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Brainpark, Inc., a software company dedicated to making the workplace more collaborative, transparent, and efficient (Awarded as one of Canada's Hottest 20 Innovative Companies and Winner of Red Herring Top 50 Companies) and is an active investor/contributor within the technology community in North America.
Mark has a background in Marketing and Psychology and is a certified trainer from the NLP University in Santa Cruz, California. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Ireland Fund of Canada and on the Board of Advisors for WorldBlu. He grew up in Belfast, lived the last ten years in Canada and recently moved to reside in the Bay Area San Francisco in the pursuit of more sunshine and motocross.
Brandon Janes - Venture Advisor
Brandon Janes is a senior partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group of Jackson Walker L.L.P., a major regional law firm headquartered in Texas. He has extensive experience guiding entrepreneurs in raising capital, including venture capital and private equity, developing successful growth strategies and exit transactions, including mergers and acquisitions as well as public offerings. Brandon has led the structuring of numerous international and domestic financings and offerings including public and private equity and debt offerings. Brandon represents a wide variety of industries including technology, media, energy and retail businesses. Brandon is also a certified public accountant.
Brandon has a B.B.A. from Baylor University and a J.D. from the University of Texas Law School where he was Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review. Brandon has been active for many years in business and community affairs, including activities relating to infrastructure and transportation issues. He has authored a number of articles and papers on business law matters and is co-author of the book Doing Business in Texas, a Guide for Foreign Investors.
Sharon Knight - Venture Advisor
Sharon Knight has spent the past 6 years working for Electronic Arts in both corporate finance and operations in North America and the UK, where she was involved in promoting Women in Gaming as a speaker and mentor. Most recently, Sharon was Senior Vice President for Central Development Services, which provides integrated development solutions in the areas of global localization, quality assurance, motion capture, art, and mastering to EA's studios worldwide. She also oversaw first party relations with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo with regards to product quality. While at EA, Sharon gained considerable experience with captive shared service and outsourced solutions in emerging markets. Prior to EA, Sharon held senior management positions in finance with Gap Inc. and KFC; she started her career in commercial banking in Chicago.
Currently, Knight is President of 1Life Healthcare, a new healthcare startup in San Francisco that is building a new consumer brand that transforms patients' experience with primary care medicine, setting new standards for accessibility, quality and affordability. Knight has a BA from Smith College and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She is also on the board of Women's Initiative for Self Employment in San Francisco.
Red McCombs - Venture Advisor
Red is the co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, a multi-billion dollar media conglomerate. He is also founder of The Red McCombs Automotive Group, a former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. He is the namesake for the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin (an honor given in recognition of a fifty million dollar donation to the University). Red was named one of Forbes Magazine's top 400 richest Americans in 2005.
Rusty Rueff - Venture Advisor
Rusty Rueff led SNOCAP, Inc. as CEO from 2005 until the successful acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April, 2008. SNOCAP was the world’s first end-to-end digital licensing and copyright management service empowering record labels and individual artists to monetize their digital creations on popular sites such as MySpace.
Prior he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Electronic Arts (EA). Joining EA in 1998, he was responsible for global Human Resources, Talent Management, Corporate Services, Facilities and Real Estate, Corporate Communications, and Government Affairs, reporting to EA’s Chairman and CEO. In 2003, Fortune Magazine named EA one of the “Top 100 Places to Work For” in the United States. Prior to joining EA, Rueff held positions with the PepsiCo companies for over 10 years. He concluded his career with PepsiCo as Vice President, International Human Resources. Prior to his tenure with PepsiCo, Rueff spent two years with the Pratt & Whitney Division of United Technologies. In addition, he spent six years in commercial radio as an on-air personality.
He holds an M.S. degree in Counseling, and a B.A. degree, in Radio and Television from Purdue University. He was given the honor in 2003 of being named a Distinguished Purdue Alumni. Rueff and his wife are the named benefactors of Purdue’s; Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts. He advises numerous companies and currently serves as a Director of Glassdoor, Inc. He is an Executive Trustee of the San Francisco based American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), Secretary/Treasurer of The Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles and a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). He is the co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business, (Prentice-Hall. 2006). He regularly writes for a number of blogs including his own: Bolts of Thinking and Purposed worKING. Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA.