People.
High-speed talent. Common Goals.
We enjoy working with high-speed talent that’s all-in on common goals. It makes for more fulfilling work and better financial performance.
Meet the Team.
Studio Leadership.
Chief Executive Officer
Scale and organizational governance freak.
Sam joined the military to pay his way through school at the University of Texas, where he studied Finance and Public Policy. He’s worked with and led crack teams on some of the most difficult and sensitive financial and organizational problems facing the nation at places like the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Defense, Treasury Department, Charles Schwab Bank & Trust, Army Futures Command, and Army Working Capital Fund.
When Sam dressed up for career day in elementary school he didn't dress up as an astronaut - he went as the NASA Administrator.
Chief Technology Officer
Wunderkind of systems and applied mathematics.
Michael was siphoned off from the herd in high school and had a special math teacher who taught a small class many years ahead of their peers. He studied electrical engineering as an undergrad and got a masters in architecture, computer systems and embedded systems. He started out at General Motors as a software developer before joining IBM as a logic design engineer. On an average day, he’s doing anything from building ETL data pipes, performing systems acquisitions and integrations, and setting up full scope onboarding for new units. He pushed a personal $50+ million in trade volume through a momentum algo he wrote in his spare time.
We think Michael’s spirit animal is Peter Drucker. If effectiveness is a martial art, Michael’s got the double-black dragon belt.
Chief Development Officer
Thoroughbred capital markets operator.
Ian stayed the course all the way through to the investment banking group head level, working on increasingly large and complex transactions at Rothschild, Prudential, UBS, RBC, and BNP Paribas before becoming a public company CFO. He then developed expertise working with startups earlier and earlier in the capital formation cycle. He now runs strategy, development and M&A at nth Venture.
Ian’s superpower is that he thinks months and years in the future and works backwards to carefully and vigorously eradicate any risks to the business’s success.
Head of Growth
Been there, grown that.
At his very core, Ari is a scientist. Always on a path to new discovery, it's no surprise that when he joined the frontlines of digital marketing -- just as the web was becoming "a thing" -- he did it with all the passion and excitement of an explorer discovering new land. He has applied this acumen to growing companies across a wide range of industries including proptech, fintech and healthtech, ascending into leadership roles at startups and Fortune 500s along the way. To further prove he really is passionate about growth, we hear he named his dog "Rocket".
After over 20 years in growth marketing, Ari thinks it finally seems the business world is starting to grasp the full potential of seamless integrated marketing; showing the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
Before co-workers let him know it was spooky, Ari’s tagline on social media was “I like to follow people.”
Chief Marketing Officer
Full-bore startup exec & go-to-market leader.
Following his service in the British Army, Sam plowed through the marketing profession with unrelenting determination and focus. The depth and breadth of experience he’s been able to gather makes him one of the most dangerous marketers on the planet. He’s worked in-house, in agency, as a solo consultant, board advisor to numerous brands, an angel investor, and a C-suite executive. He’s also worked on projects across every channel imaginable, tying in PR, outbound, platform network development, PPC, SEO, content marketing, podcasts, guerilla and event marketing, as well as across all flavors of delivery and industry in Saas, B2B and B2C services, and consumer products.
Sam’s default is to be on the growth offensive by driving new ways of thinking about product, people and process.
Chief People Officer
Absolute master of building high performing teams.
Nathan brings experience both in world-class enterprises and startups. He spent nearly a decade at Microsoft, where he not only served as a functional HR leader, but also was responsible as an executive for leading large teams through difficult projects. In addition, he has deep experience working with successful startups as the head of people operations. His approach to crystal-clear culture articulation and developing an environment of exceptional teamwork and performance is a cornerstone of the team’s success. Nathan took the tiny skeleton of an idea and turned it nuclear by shepherding the original co-founders to a team of 20 (now nearly 50) in a matter of weeks.
Nathan believes in the unconventional and the contrarian as a source of inspiration.
Chief of Staff
Communications veteran with an eye for seeing around corners.
Jillian spent nearly 15 years in corporate communications and public relations, working with many Fortune 50 companies and global brands both in top-ranked agencies and in-house. In the ultimate COVID pivot, she decided to realize her dream of entrepreneurship and take her love of writing, messaging strategy and business to new heights. Having lived and worked in some of the most dynamic cities in the world, including Boston, New York and Tokyo, Jillian brings a diverse, global perspective and has seen what can be realized when you embrace the unknown.
When she’s not writing or crunching scenarios in her head, she’s chasing her two kids and dog Bowser, who was lovingly named for the Nintendo character—not Sha Na Na.
Advisory Board
Former Chief Technology Officer, Sears
Former #3 Employee at Amazon India
Mo's background spans a considerable depth and breath in enterprise systems and product development. He started during the very early days of Deloitte's consulting practice, was the number three hire in India for Amazon, held very key roles in a couple Swiss pharma operations including Roche, he served as the CTO on the Sears rescue team where he stayed for over four years and siphoned off a highly profitable unit, joined a start up and took their tech capabilities from a couple guys issuing laptops to enterprise-level best practices and enabled massive product delivery improvements. He joined as the second board member for nth Venture, where he's played an invaluable role in product development and puts on a clinic for dummies on demand on everything from HRIS integrations, replicable data analytics, and data lake development.
Mo is always looking for ways to determine how technology could be used to solve complex business challenges.
Former Director of Human Resources, Microsoft
VP of Human Resources, First Interstate (3,000+ employees)
Steve cut his teeth as a private equity operator, went on to Microsoft, then successfully scaled up several companies as their HR lead, including recently as a key executive delivering on a massive expansion of First Interstate Bank, which, thanks in large part to Steve, now operates with the support of several thousand employees. Steve was most recently inaugurated the board at nth Venture as its first member and a bona fide mentor to the team.
Steve is at home operating where culture, strategy and talent intersect, bringing high-value human capital and talent management expertise.
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Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Finance, University of Texas
Former President of the Texas MBA Hedge Fund
Sandy started his career as an attorney both at a large firm and as a prosecutor before he took a leap of faith to make a pivot, get an MBA, and try his hand at the markets. He did just that and eventually became the President of the MBA Fund at McCombs (one of the best business schools on the face of the planet, mind you), where he spent 12 years and oversaw minor episodes like the GFC without losing his - and Bill Power's - shirt. He has been a teacher - or more specifically Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Provost's Teaching Fellow, and Senior Fellow - at the University of Texas for over 20 years. Nearly every year he's selected by the students for some incredible award - even though he wrote the book the class uses.
Sandy brings a wealth of both rigorous academic and operational finance expertise, having been responsible for approximately $1.6 billion of assets and the development of hundreds of sharp young minds.
Former Partner, Warburg Pincus & Co.
Serial entrepreneur, VC investor, and public and private co. Board member
Gene began his career forming a technology transfer company even before he graduated from MBA school, and it injected a permanent entrepreneurial element into his DNA. A self-described “early adopter without a cause,” he led many innovative projects at Citibank and, as a partner at Warburg Pincus, built a scale retail asset management business from scratch that was sold to Credit Suisse in 1999. Gene continued his career in both asset management and venture capital with Wasatch Global Investors as an 18-year Board Member and partner. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Cross Creek Venture Capital, a Wasatch spin-out company which specializes in late-stage private equity.
Gene enjoys mentoring and offering his corporate and board governance knowledge to early-stage companies and bringing his network of contacts to advance the marketing and capital structure of their growth.
Venture Leaders.
Venture Board Members
Transition to Freedom.
If you want to work with mission-driven people who want to do their best work yet, you’re our kind of people. If you want to create, grow and scale new businesses, reach out and let’s talk.