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Managing Partners
Affiliate Partners
Ridgely C. Evers - Managing PartnerMr. Evers has spent over twenty-five years as an entrepreneur in IT-related businesses. He has been CEO of four Internet-related companies, including nCircle Network Security, a leader in enterprise network security, and Exactly Vertical, a company which set a record for the fastest penetration of a software product into a market. He has raised over $50 million in venture capital, and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the venture firm Draper-Richards. At Intuit, he conceived, designed, led the development, and drove the launch of their market-leading small business accounting program, QuickBooks. He played a leading role in the creation of that company's online banking initiative as well as its first strategic plan. His career includes general management, engineering, marketing, business development, board, and advisory roles in consumer, small business, and enterprise-facing companies across a wide range of industries. Today, he is the CEO and Founder of NetBooks, a company that is revolutionizing small business management. He is one of the founders of the California olive oil industry, and owner of DaVero. He received both BA and MBA degrees from Stanford University, and holds several patents. Roy H. Eder - Managing PartnerRoy Eder has over twenty years of experience in sales & marketing in startups as well as publicly traded companies. Most recently, he has been an advisor and interim executive to a number of early-stage as well as Fortune 500 companies. At wireless company @Road, he rapidly expanded the company from a $15mm run rate to $45mm in just 18 months while managing sales, marketing and business development. Prior to @Road, Mr. Eder served as CEO & Founder of Eder Marketing Group, which was named as an Inc. 500 company in 1998. Early in his career, Mr. Eder created and launched various sales and marketing campaigns for Apple, Intuit, Hewlett-Packard, Tandem Computers, Sega, Dell, and Sun Microsystems. He holds a B.A. degree in Communications and Marketing from the University of the Pacific. Alan D. Mutter - Managing PartnerAlan D. Mutter is perhaps the only CEO in Silicon Valley who knows how to set type one letter at a time, just like his hero, Benjamin Franklin. Mutter began his career as a newspaper columnist and editor in Chicago, breaking in at the Chicago Daily News and rising to City Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, he became the No. 2 editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper business in 1988 to join InterMedia Partners, a start-up company that within five years became one of the 12 largest cable-TV companies in the US. Mutter was the COO of InterMedia when he moved to Silicon Valley in 1996 to lead the first of the three start-up companies he managed as CEO: a pioneering Internet service provider followed by two enterprise-software companies. Mr. Mutter's companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in private equity and leveraged debt. He is an active independent investor who has served as an adviser and director for several early-stage companies. Most recently, he has been involved in web publishing ventures that combine his twin passions, journalism and technology. Mr. Mutter received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Illinois. He is the author of the insightful media blog, Reflections of a Newsosaur. Christian C. Hobbs - Affiliate PartnerChris Hobbs has senior executive management experience in both investment and operating roles. He continues as an advisor to Millennium Hanson, a global merchant banking firm focused on growth companies which he helped found. Previously he led corporate development at nCircle Network Security, and was the CFO of XUMA, a web services company. Mr. Hobbs was also formerly a first vice president in the merchant banking group of Imperial Bank, where he worked on a variety of complex transactions. Mr. Hobbs received his MBA from Oxford University, and his BA in Economics from UC Berkeley. He currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of NetBooks, an exciting young company that is revolutionizing small-business management. Bruce Dresser - Affiliate PartnerBruce Dresser is the founder and President of Tenth Dot Solutions Marketing Consulting, a firm specializing in strategy, positioning, business development and board recruitment since 1997. Clients include Lucent, Avaya, Peoplesoft, Aristasoft, and Peak XV Networks. Bruce has over 20 years experience in the high-tech industry, and has held various executive positions with Sybase, Pacific Telesis and several start-ups. Bruce holds a BA from UCLA, an MBA from San Diego State University, and has attended the Executive Marketing Program at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. Douglas Valente - Affiliate PartnerMr. Valente is an unusually gifted customer service leader. He was most recently Senior VP of Support and Operations for nCircle Network Security, an enterprise-facing software company. His career includes management positions with Pinnacle Systems, Pacific Bell Internet, Inquisit, and Sierra OnLine. In each case, he built support organizations characterized by unusually low employee turnover and exceptional customer service quality. Mr. Valente holds a BA from San Francisco State University. Joseph E. Giansante - Affiliate PartnerMr. Giansante has more than 20 years of technology and investment company experience in business and product development, marketing, public relations, finance, and project management. He founded and managed two early-stage software companies: an Internet-based financial services company sold to American Century; and a consumer software company sold to Intuit. At Intuit, he conceived and helped design Quicken Financial Planner, and developed business plans for on-line securities brokerage and mortgage origination businesses. Mr. Giansante has worked in and consulted to investment banking, venture capital, and leveraged buy-out firms, where he structured and completed private equity financings, and worked on IPO and convertible debenture public offerings. He has consulted in the areas of investment due diligence, market, and financial analysis for clients including El Dorado Ventures, Liquid Audio and 3i Capital Corporation. Mr. Giansante holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from UCLA, an MS in Engineering from MIT, and a BS in Engineering from Lehigh University. Carolyn Grossman - Affiliate PartnerMs. Grossman has more than 20 years of experience in technology marketing. Although she has handled nearly every marketing challenge possible across an incredibly diverse set of products, categories, and companies, her deepest strength is in strategic marketing. An early advocate of the "whole products" approach, she works with the complete palette - positioning, pricing, support, target market(s), distribution channel(s), messaging architecture, and beyond - to help companies think about their products, their markets, and themselves in ways that demonstrably improve their success. Carolyn first learned her trade at IBM, followed by senior positions at Wang Labs, Xerox, and a series of early-stage startups including USWeb/CKS. She received her MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the University of Michigan. Today, in addition to her many Tapit activities, she actively assists young women with their careers in thanks to those who helped her become one of the first women to reach the top ranks in technology. | |||
