Entrepreneurship
I have founded two small moderately successful tech companies, one of which developed unique and innovative technology and the other of which raised almost $10M in funding and revenues and employed up to 35 people.
Experience
- Hypercosm Inc. (http://www.hypercosm.com)
Years in operation:1998-2012
Employees:6 - 35
Role:Founder, CEO, CTO
Acheivements:
- Employed up to 35 people
- Raised $4.5M in venture funding
- Earned $4.5M in revenues from government and commercial projects
- Presented at Demo99, a premier conference for tech start-ups
- Opened offices in Madison, Wisconsin and in San Jose and Walnut Creek, California
- Brought in about $5M in government and commerical revenues
- Met with premier silicon valley VC firms such as Benchmark
- Worked for commercial customers such as Cisco, McGraw-Hill, and the New York Times
- Worked for government customers such as The U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, and NASA
- Worked with partner companies such as Adobe, Autodesk, and Google (SketchUp)
- Provided training simulations to NASA including a trainer for the COLBERT treadmill, which was uploaded to the ISS
- Created simulations for the U.S. department of defense for applications such as maintenance training, educational gaming, and helicopter weather simulation
- Cosmic Software Corp.
Years in operation:1993-1997
Employees:2
Role:Founder, president
Acheivements:
- Sold several hundred copies of a simulation and rendering software package called "Microcosm"
- Developed a unique software system including photorealistic rendering and a new scripting language called SMPL
- Distributed software to the University of Mississippi for a simulation based science curriculum
Skills
- Problem solving - breaking down large tasks into manageable parts
- Product development - understanding the difference between a technology and a product
- Business communication - delivering an "elevator pitch" to customers, partners, or investors
- Technical communication - communicating technical information to a non-technical audience
- Business development - figuring out how to find common ground and to collaborate with others
- Business model development - figuring out how to create value and what customers are willing to pay for
- Cooperation - attracting a group of talented partners and allowing everyone on the team a chance to shine