John Richards: Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
John E. Richards is an active angel investor, focusing primarily on Internet and software companies headquartered in the Wasatch Front area of Utah. He often mentors entrepreneurs on a regular basis, employing the combination of his experience and teaching skills to help new ventures achieve their goals.
John was president of a publishing company in Seattle, Washington for several years and later had the experience of being part of a company that went from nothing to an initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock market.
John is an associate professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, teaching courses in entrepreneurship, e-business, and management consulting in the Marriott School of Management and the School of Technology. At BYU he also serves as Associate Director over Technology Entrepreneurship of the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology and Associate Managing Director the Center for Economic Self-Reliance.
John and his family reside in Provo, Utah.
Robb Kunz: Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
Robb Kunz is a Founder & CEO of several high-technology Companies, an Active Angel Investor and also the Founder & Managing Partner of ventureblue Capital, an early-stage high technology investment firm and incubator
As an Entrepreneur, his expertise and track record revolves around starting, launching & funding emerging Companies. He is the Founder/CEO of KnowledgeBlue, an Open Source Systems Integrator and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm. KnowledgeBlue was recently acknowledge as the 37th fastest growing Company in the State of Utah as part of the elite Utah100 group for 2009.
As an Investor, he founded and created ventureblue Capital an early-stage high technology investment firm and incubator. He is an active Angel Investor as a member of the Olympus Angels Investors based in Salt Lake City, Utah and recently was acknowledge as one of the top 15 Angel Investors in the State of Utah for 2009. He is an active Director / Board Member of RedSpan Inc and GuestSpan.
Jon Bradshaw: Co-Founder & Executive Director
Jon Bradshaw is a founder of BoomStartup and is associated with the UtahAngels. As the Executive Director, he focuses on connecting BoomStartup’s entrepreneurs with the right investors and mentors to help the entrepreneur’s business succeed. Formerly Jon worked at FamilyLink.com helping launch their Facebook app from the idea stage that grew into more than 60 million members and developed a site that became one of comScore’s fastest growing sites.
Nathan Furr: Director of Cirriculum
Ph.D., Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Stanford University
Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship Group, Brigham Young University
Nathan Furr earned his Ph.D. from Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University studying strategy and entrepreneurship. Professionally, Nathan has acted as the founder or advisor to startups in web 2.0, clean technology, professional services, retail and financial services industries. In addition, Nathan is currently on the investment board of the Kickstart Seed Fund, an innovative early-stage venture fund; a Senior Consultant to Greentech Media, the premier knowledge outlet for the clean technology sector; and the co-author of a forthcoming book on a highly-effective market-validation process. Nathan was also a consultant at Monitor Group, a premiere international strategy consulting firm, working with senior executives on a range of strategic and market discovery initiatives. His consulting engagements have focused on advising senior executives in Fortune 500 firms on a range of issues relating to strategy, organizational change, technology development, communication processes, strategic planning, competitive analysis, and marketing.
Nathan’s research focuses on market development and early stage entrepreneurial process. His current research examines how both startups and existing firms successfully adapt to enter a new market. Nathan has co-authored papers on the process by which firms develop successful, innovative business models, the determinants of success for firms changing industries, and the impact of organizational learning on international entry performance. In addition, Nathan contributed to The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results, which explores the little discussed use of advisor networks by top performing CEOs and executives. In addition to his doctoral studies, Nathan has a BA, MA, and an MBA.
Steven Liddle: Technologist in Residence
Dr. Stephen W. Liddle is currently Director of the Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness at Brigham Young University and Associate Professor of Information Systems at the Marriott School of Management, where he holds the Grant and David Fellowship. Dr. Liddle teaches information architecture, web development, and other topics related to the practical application of computer systems, conceptual modeling, and e-business.
Liddle currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Utah Technology Council, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for CARE Technologies, a company in Spain that develops model-compilation software. Liddle has consulted for such companies as Intel, Zions Bank, Ray Quinney and Nebeker law firm, Faneuil Research Group, Whitewater, and Technology Partners. Liddle has been a prolific software developer since age 14, so he is fluent in many different programming languages.
