People

General partners

Andy Sack

Andy Andy Sack has over 15 years experience running and investing in high tech businesses, most recently as co-founder and CEO of Judy's Book, a local search social network. Prior to founding Judy's Book in 2004, Andy co-founded three successful Internet technology companies: Kefta (acquired in 2007 by Axciom), a leading provider of real time customer interaction solutions; Abuzz, (acquired by New York Times Digital in 1999), an enterprises knowledge management solution named number one in the Internet software category by Red Herring Magazine and the top company to work for by Boston Magazine; and Firefly Network, an Internet company that pioneered internet personalization technologies (acquired by Microsoft). Andy also spent time as an entrepreneur in residence for SOFTBANK Venture Capital (now Mobius VC) where he founded and served on the board of three companies: BodyShop Digital, Quova, and Kefta.

Andy currently serves on the board of and advises a number of companies including: zango, Cooler Planet, and Orange Line Media. Andy was also a founder and board member of Students for Responsible Business, and is a regular lecturer at the University of Washington Business School. Andy received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1990, and his MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Andy lives in Laurelhurst with his wife and two children.

Chris DeVore

Chris Chris DeVore has been an investor, operator and executive at both public and private companies. Prior to Founders Co-op, Chris was the other co-founder of Judy's Book and served as the company's COO and member of the board of directors. Previously Chris was a Vice President at Sapient Corporation (NASDAQ: SAPE), where he built and led the company's strategy consulting practice and was also a core member of the M&A and corporate venturing teams. Chris arrived at Sapient via the 1999 acquisition of Adjacency, an e-Commerce consultancy he and his partners bootstrapped into a profitable, 50-person, $15MM revenues firm serving clients like Apple, Nordstrom, Virgin, Land Rover and Steelcase. Prior to Adjacency, Chris served as Patagonia's Director of eCommerce, building that outdoor retailer's first online retail presence, and also led and managed six of the company's product lines. Pre-Internet, Chris held senior product management and strategic planning roles at McCaw Cellular (acquired by AT&T) and at AT&T (NYSE: T).

Chris is currently an investor and board / advisory board member for: AppStoreHQ, Colligent, Cooler Planet, Frugal Mechanic, Nearlyweds! and LookStat. Chris received his BA in American Studies from Yale in 1990 and attended the MBA program at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Chris is a Seattle native and lives in Wallingford with his wife, Emily, and two children.


Limited Partners

Alex Algard Alex Algard is the founder of two Seattle-based online companies that grew to success on minimal funding: WhitePages.com and CarDomain Network. He currently serves as CEO of WhitePages, which is the No. 1 destination for people search. He also serves as Chairman of CarDomain, which is the leading online community for auto enthusiasts. In 2007, Alex was selected as the Software Entrepreneur of the Year, Pacific Northwest by Ernst & Young and as a finalist for Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. Alex began his career in investment banking with the Goldman Sachs High Technology Group. He received a BA in Economics with Honors and MS in Engineering, both from Stanford University

Adam Brotman Adam Brotman is an experienced leader and entrepreneur. He is currently VP, Digital Ventures at Starbucks Coffee Company. Prior to joining Starbucks, Adam was a Senior Vice President at Corbis, a Bill Gates-owned digital image licensing company where Adam was responsible for several divisions of the company, including web strategy and design, marketing, pricing, web analytics,web/search marketingand an internal user generated content start-up. Previously, Adam was the founding CEO of PlayNetwork, a profitable, $30M+ digital music programming company with dozens of international customers such as Starbucks, Chili's, Abercrombie and the GAP. Adam attended UCLA and the University of Washington Law School, and is an active member of the Seattle community, serving on several corporate and non-profit boards including PlayNetwork, UW Law School Foundation, Seattle Repertory Theatre Board of Trustees, and Young Entrepreneur's Organization Seattle chapter board.

Stuart Davidson Stuart Davidson is a managing partner of Labrador Ventures and has been involved in investing in early stage companies for the past 18 years. Prior to Labrador, Mr. Davidson founded and served as CEO of Combion, Inc., which was acquired by Incyte (Nasdaq:INCY). He also served as President of Alkermes, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKS), a biotechnology company focused on drug delivery. Mr. Davidson also worked for MCI Communications and for Warner Communications, where, in different management capacities, he was responsible for the development of a number of information technology business opportunities including electronic messaging, data networking, interactive cable TV, and on-line services. Mr. Davidson is a graduate of Harvard College (1978) and Harvard Business School (1984).

Ben Elowitz Ben Elowitz is a co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, the leader in social publishing. Ben was also co-founder and vice president of Blue Nile, Inc, the leading online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewelry. Other technology experiences include stints at Fatbrain.com and consulting assignments for eHarmony and Flutter.com. Ben started his career at Bain & Company after graduating from UC Berkeley.

Geoff Entress Geoff Entress is a Venture Partner at Voyager Capital and an active angel investor in the Pacific Northwest, focusing broadly on investments in information technologies. A former venture partner with Madrona Venture Group, Geoff is a current investor in over twenty private companies in the Pacific Northwest and is a current board member of four companies, including drugstore.com (NASDAQ GM: DSCM), BuddyTV.com and Sandlot Games. Geoff is also a long-time member of the Executive and Screening committees of the Alliance of Angels, the largest angel investor organization in the Pacific Northwest, and is a board member of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington. A former securities lawyer and financial analyst, he has also held positions at Perkins Coie, UrbanEarth.com, Salomon Brothers, The Prudential Home Mortgage Company, Mellon Bank, Priority Investment Management and Duquesne Capital Management. Geoff is a graduate of the The University of Michigan Law School, the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Notre Dame.

Kevin Flaherty Kevin Flaherty is a co-founder and VP-Marketing of Wetpaint, the leader in social publishing. Kevin has a product marketing background with experience at Colgate-Palmolive, Amazon.com, and Precor Incorporated. Kevin has an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a graduate degree from Indiana University.

Brad Gillespie Brad Gillespie Brad Gillespie is a consultant for a number of established high tech businesses. In addition he is an investor, advisor, and board member to early-stage companies. Previously, Brad worked as the Technical Advisor and Speechwriter to Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. He also played a part in the start-up of pioneering real estate company Redfin. He holds a PhD in Signal Processing from the University of Washington.

Ramesh Haridas Ramesh Haridas has been an entrepreneur and an investor in early stage internet companies for the last 10 years. He has started and successfully sold two internet companies. Some of his investments include Blip.tv, Mashery, Imedix, Webchutney and Grisoft. Ramesh holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Steve Hirsch Steve Hirsch most recently has been an owner and/or executive consultant on a number of lead generation businesses, several of which have since sold to Austin Ventures, Quinstreet, Plattform, and AllStarDirectories.  He currently provides executive consulting for several other lead generation businesses, including AllPropertyManagement.com and CoolerPlanet.com.  In the early 90's Steve was a program manager in the Office group at Microsoft.  Previous to that, he earned degrees in Finance from the Wharton School of Business, and Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.  He lives and works in Winthrop, WA and makes frequent trips to Seattle.

Young Lee Young Lee Young Lee is a recovering attorney.  After several years as a litigator, he co-founded Peapod-Seattle, and then subsequently joined Software Labs as General Counsel-VP of Business Development.  He served as EVP of sales and business development at iParadigms (TurnItIn.com) and managed business development at top consumer web properties including Ask.com, Expedia.com, and Amazon.com. He currently leads business development at WhitePages.com.  He holds a JD from Boston College Law School and a BA from UC Berkeley.

Andy Liu Andy Liu is CEO of BuddyTV, the largest independently held TV site on the Internet. Prior to BuddyTV, Mr. Liu served as President and CEO of NetConversions from 1999-2004 prior to its sale to aQuantive and served as VP and GM of its Site Optimization unit from 2004-2005. He is also a founder of a non-profit that is focused on technology in developing countries and is very passionate about entrepreneurship. Mr. Liu brings deep experience in building companies, site optimization, viral marketing, SEO, community building and product development. In 2003, he was named to Puget Sound Business Journal's "40 Under 40." Mr. Liu received his MBA from Wharton.

David Niu David Niu is the Founder of BuddyTV, the largest independent TV community website in the world. Prior to BuddyTV, David co-founded NetConversions in 1999 which he sold to aQuantive in 2004. Post-acquisition, David served as a Vice President at Avenue A | Razorfish, which is a division of aQuantive (aQuantive was acquired by Microsoft in 2007). Before NetConversions, David was the Associate to the CEO of Billpoint (acquired by Ebay in 1999), and a consultant in Andersen Consulting's Strategy Group.David graduated from UC Berkeley with Distinction and received his MBA from The Wharton School. He has also studied at Beijing University and INSEAD.

Michael Oiknine Michael Oiknine Michael Oiknine most recently has been the COO and a co-founder of Kefta Inc, a provider of online behavioral targeting solutions, acquired by Acxiom (ACXM) in March 07. Kefta developed a series of website behavioral targeting solutions to increase online conversion rates and sales. Kefta was founded in 2000, got financing from top-tier VCs and was positioned as a high-end marketing technology & service company to Fortune 1000s.  Prior to starting Kefta, Michael was the managing director of GiSMo, a mobile payment start-up owned by Millicom International Cellular (MICC) in Sweden, and a management consultant with Altis, a consulting firm now owned by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in Paris, France. Michael has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master's of Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

Neil Patel Neil Patel is the co-founder of 3 marketing companies: ACS, Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics. Through these 3 companies he has helped large corporations such as AOL, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Viacom make more money from the web. By the age of 21 not only was Neil named a top 100 blogger by Technorati, but he was also one of the top influencers on the web according to the Wall Street Journal.

Person Vikas Taneja is an advisor to and investor in technology companies. He is a Partner & Managing Director with the Boston Consulting Group and a leader in BCG's Technology, Media, and Telecommunication practice. Vikas' investments with HT ventures include imedix, webchutney, Blip.tv, FridgeDoor Inc, Mashery, Lookery, and others. Vikas received his MBA with Honors in Economics & Finance from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Computer Systems Engineering and Economic Development from Stanford University. Vikas is also on the Executive Committee of Pratham, an India-based organization that has helped over 2 million children achieve literacy and basic mathematics skills.

Person Brent Turner is the General Manager of Media Auctions for Microsoft Advertising, spearheading the company?s advertising strategy for search and direct-response media campaigns. He joined Microsoft through its acquisition of aQuantive, where Turner has worked since September of 1999. While at aQuantive, Turner was Vice President of Operations for Avenue A, inventor and General Manager of Atlas Publisher, and General Manager of aQuantive?s lead generation business. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Memphis.

Person Jay Westerdal graduated with a Bachelors of Computer Science from Central Washington University. Previously the founder of Name Intelligence, Inc. Jay sold his company to Thought Convergence, Inc. in mid 2008. Jay currently serves on the board of Thought Convergence, a diversified holding company which owns operates brands like Spry Hosting, Inc, DomainTools.com, Aftermarket.com, TrafficZ.com, Domain Roundtable, and LeaseThis.com. He also serves on the boards of AboutUs, Inc. and Custom Toll Free, Inc.

Person Edward Yim is the founder and President of Blue Moon Ventures. Blue Moon acquires and then operates a variety of internet companies including e-commerce and advertising based websites. Prior to Blue Moon Ventures, he founded Pike Street Industries in 2002 and served as President until it was acquired by Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) in 2005. Edward is an active investor and has invested in many companies including Pet Holdings (icanhascheezburger.com), Sandlot Games, Minted.com, and Heatmax (acquired by Kobayashi Pharm Co Ltd). Edward received a bachelor's degree in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.