About our Mentor Program
Under the direction and hand picked by the executive committee, our VentureBox Mentor Team is our "secret sauce" which makes our program unique. Many are past Founders, Chairman's, Chief Executive Officers and Presidents of successful companies. Many have done start-ups and corporate turn-arounds. Some have taken their company through a successful IPO and many have gone through a successful exit. In addition, our Mentor Team is also made up of subject matter experts in a variety of fields including: technology (web, mobile, SaaS and cloud), sales, marketing (SEO, SEM), professional services, finance and legal. Our Mentor Team is elastic in nature due to demands on their schedules, some will teach a Venture Launch class, others will join one of our start-ups as a board member. Our Mentors are compensated by an equity pool created by the companies VentureBox serves.
Join our Mentor Program
If you're a past Founder, President, CEO or Subject Matter Expert (SME) and want more information on joining our Mentor Team, please use the Contact Us form to reach us.
The Mentor Team
Senior Marketing Consultant
John has always been an innovator which led to him becoming an Internet marketing pioneer. He was one of the first to see the potential of the Internet for business and founded one of the first Internet marketing agencies, Multimedia Marketing, in 1995 (sold in 2000 and thriving as Outrider today). He was one of the first to see the Internet as a viable channel for the distribution of press releases and he founded the Internet News Bureau, one of the of first online press release services (sold in 2000 and still operating successfully today). He was one of the first to see the potential power of search marketing and coined the term Search Engine Optimization, an early service offered to MMG clients.
Executive Director, VentureBox
Jim is a serial entrepreneur with a 20 year foundation of leadership in developing businesses for technology multinationals. Jim traces his roots back to Silicon Valley where he founded a fiber optic product line for Raychem Corporation and two concept ventures in food marketing and custom cable assembly manufacturing. In 1990, Jim joined Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon to expand its test instrumentation business into the telecommunications market and was instrumental in the product definition, development and launch of Tektronik’s test solutions addressing digital transmission applications. In 1998 he founded StreamPort Technologies to develop products targeting digital testing needs in the Broadband Cable TV market. In 2000, Jim relocated to Bend Oregon and founded a private Cable TV franchise working with a major land developer in Las Vegas where he pioneered many applications that have come to be associated with the “connected community” concept. In 2005, Jim founded Home Technologies of Bend in 2005 which designed and installed an array of home automation applications.
Mentor / Investor at The Founder Institute
Chris Capdevila is an entrepreneur, investor, and active board member in several technology startups. Chris was the Founder and CEO of LogicalApps, which he led from inception to become the leading provider of automated business controls monitoring and enforcement solutions. Chris bootstrapped the company for the first 5 years of growth doubling revenues every year and in 2005 raised a $14M from Sequoia Capital and Mission Ventures. He grew the company to over $25M in revenues and in November 2007 sold the company to Oracle Corporation. The company’s automated business controls solutions continue to serve as the core backbone of Oracle’s offerings in the governance, risk and compliance market. Following Oracle’s acquisition, Chris served as Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Oracle, responsible for driving the strategic direction and roadmap for Oracle’s Governance, Risk, and Compliance applications. Prior to founding LogicalApps, Chris was a senior manager with Price Waterhouse for over 7 years and provided strategic consulting services to several Fortune 100 companies. Chris graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and was named Software Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005 by the Southern California Software Council.
Economic Gardening Business Advisor, Small Business Devleopment Center at COCC
Steve is an advocate for effective business communication and the founder of Blue Space Markets. Steve’s passion lies in creating growth opportunities for companies by identifying effective positioning, creating meaningful brand communication and developing new market strategies that produce measurable results. He also works as an economic gardening business advisor at the Small Business Development Center at COCC conducting strategic market research for Central Oregon based traded sector companies which includes tactical planning and actionable steps to help them grow their markets. Steve is also involved with Sunterra EnergyBlock, a start-up company that provides a high-mass wall system for constructing the most energy efficient homes and buildings.
He holds and Associate of Science degree in Computer Science from Broome Community College in New York and a Bachelor of Science in Management from Linfield College in Oregon. A longtime resident of Central Oregon, he is actively involved in the Bend business community as a volunteer with Opportunity Knocks.
Past President of Mustang Software, Web Associates, Starbase, EventMingle & Alchemy Solutions
Jim Harrer is a successful start-up CEO, turnaround CEO, interim CEO and an experience change management practitioner. In 1986, Jim founded Mustang Software to develop a line of modem communication software. In 1995 he took that company public (NASDAQ:MSTG), only to be crushed by the World Wide Web in late 1996. Jim reinvented the company in 1997 by creating a new email response management system called Mustang Message Center for companies like Nordstrom, Dow Jones, Carnival Cruise Lines, and others. In 2000 the company was acquired for $290m. Jim later went on to become the turnaround CEO for Web Associates, Starbase (NASDAQ:SBAS) and Alchemy Solutions while squeezing in the EventMingle startup from 2005 to 2010.
Business Mentor
Dave came to VentureBox with over thirty years of executive level experience in a number of international electronic manufacturing companies, as well as serving as advisor to numerous start-upcompanies. Dave’s skills are many and diverse. From developing business plans for multi-million dollar capitol campaigns, negotiating and developing relationships with local, national and international partners, recruiting and developing team members and marketing, Dave understands the full spectrum of business operations. His knowledge of multiple technologies, manufacturing principles and project management are of huge benefit to the spectrum of work VentureBox is involved in.
President InfoViva, Inc.
Jake’s experience includes hi-tech marketing and sales management in F500 corporations such as Digital Equipment Corporation and Tektronix, and executive positions in start-ups and Portland based companies including LWG Group, Kentrox and Flight Dynamics. He co-founded and was CEO of CardinalVision, Inc., where he raised $1.5 million of angel funding. The company created software products for visualization of finite element analysis. He is currently co-founder and president of InfoViva, Inc., a web software product company. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Management from Marylhurst University where he received the President’s distinguished alumni award for outstanding achievement by a graduate. Jake also has experience as a part-time SBDC Business Advisor, economic development consultant and organizer of OEN PubTalks in Baker City, Oregon. On the avocation side, he is a 2,800 hour instrument rated pilot and enjoys kayaking, motor-homing and cross-country skiing. After living in Portland for many years, with interim positions in Boise, Mexico City and Boston, he and his wife moved to Baker City five years ago and are relocating to Bend in 2012 where he is delighted to be involved with VentureBox in assisting entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
Chairman, Vistage International
Executive Coach of CEOs through Vistage International. Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Deep Photonics, a specialized high performance laser company. Before that, was a partner at Rimrock Partners LLC, an M&A advisory company located in Bend, OR. Before that, spent 10 years as the founder and CEO of Microbar Inc., a semiconductor equipment company. Before that, 20 years in various management positions at Raychem, a materials science company located in Menlo Park, CA.
Chief Technology Officer at G5 Search Marketing
Chris is a husband, father, and technology evangelist (in that order). He has multiple successes in building technology practices for early stage companies, all of whom have experienced triple-digit growth during his tenure. Chris is currently the Chief Technology Officer at G5, the leading provider of digital experience marketing solutions for owners and operators of Multi-Family, Senior, and Storage properties. He began his entrepreneurial career in the heady days of San Francisco's dot-com explosion in the mid-1990s, holding roles as a developer, technical architect, project lead and director. Chris graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME) with degrees in mathematics, economics, and computer science.
Business Development Manager, EDCO
Nate began his entrepreneurial endeavors while still in college where he worked on commercializing a peer-to-peer file sharing technology developed at the University of Oregon. His professional experience includes venture capital and financial consulting where he has helped numerous businesses obtain the financing and expertise they need to grow. Nate is a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs and is currently the Bend area Business Development Manager at EDCO (Economic Development for Central Oregon). He received his MBA and bachelors degrees in finance and psychology at the University of Oregon while playing tight end for the Ducks football team.
Executive Management Consultant & Venture Development Professional
Jason is a venture development professional with roughly five hundred million dollars worth of private equity experience, working with both early-stage entrepreneurs/companies and large funds – primarily in technology and manufacturing sectors. In this capacity, he has served as President, COO, CFO, and/or VP of Finance for various angel-funded and venture-backed entities. His former corporate roles include senior positions in strategy, planning, and finance with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), PacifiCorp (a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate; $9.4B M&A), Planar Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLNR), and ReliaStar Financial Corp. (an ING affiliate). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and an MBA, and is actively involved in Bend’s business community through ongoing volunteer efforts with Opportunity Knocks and the Bend Venture Conference.
Experienced Marketing and Advertising Professional
With over 22 years of marketing, advertising and sales experience, Molly has contributed to a number of small to large technology firms in the areas of marketing, business and media plan strategy, marketing communications, product development, lifecycle management, and creating advertising campaigns for both consumer and business marketing.
After growing up in Portland, Oregon, she received her Business and Marketing degree from the University of Puget Sound. She spent 13 years at AT&T Wireless in sales, marketing and product development as Corporate Account Executive, Director of Sales, and Director of Enterprise Marketing & Product Development. She was the Director of Sales and Marketing at Activate, a streaming media company in Seattle, Director of Marketing at UNICOM, a local telecommunications company located in Bend, Oregon, General Manager for an Internet company in Bend called One Eighty Networks and Marketing Manager for BendBroadband responsible for business and residential marketing. Recently she worked as Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Brand Navigation working with clients and helping them achieve their marketing goals and objectives through creative brand marketing strategies and media planning and consultation.
Molly is very active in the Central Oregon community through various non-profits and business associations. She currently serves on the Abilitree board (formerly CORIL) and is Past President and Oregon Addy Chair for the Advertising Federation of Central Oregon.
Co-Founder of Code Benders
Michael is principal and co-founder of Code Benders, an agile software development company that specializes in building minimally viable products (MVPs) and rapid iterative development. A startup geek at heart, Michael thrives on moving interesting ideas from the whiteboard to the world. Since 1996, Michael has been starting and managing rapid-growth technology businesses with an emphasis on Internet, Telecom, wireless and software ventures. He has participated in the founding, development, financing and management of several early-stage technology companies, including officer and board-level positions. In 1999, he co-founded and was the VP, Business Development and General Counsel of Rent.com (acquired by NASDAQ:EBAY). Former client companies include In-Sync Interactive, GreenlightJobs.com, FlyFone and Pacific Media Ventures. He has participated in early stage investments including Internet Brands (NASDAQ:INET), HiMax, GoMed, CiviData and others.
Managing Director, Formative Ventures
Dino Vendetti is a Managing Director at Formative Ventures where he and his team invest in early stage web, mobile, and software companies. He is an experienced operating executive who spent the majority of his career in Marketing, Business Development, and Engineering roles at start up’s including Qualcomm. Prior to joining Formative, Dino was a General Partner at Bay Partners, and Vulcan Ventures. His current investments include Eightfold Logic, Manzama, SpoiledSelf, Capella, and Veebeam. Dino earned his MSEE and MBA degrees from the University of Washington and a bachelor of science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University.
Our Mentor Team
