Open for Business

Entrepreneurs-in-residence (EiRs) are quite possibly the best resource HBS has to offer the budding entrepreneur.  With the patience of a FIN1 professor, the determination of an EC trying to get into Professor Malhotra’s Negotiation class, and knowledge equal to that of Dean Nitin Nohria himself, the EiRs come to HBS with one purpose: to help you succeed.

From firsthand experience, we at The Harbus can honestly and without hesitation tell you that they provide insightful and more importantly actionable advice to guide novice entrepreneurs past common pitfalls and so maximize the chance that he or she will return to HBS with a biography as impressive as the EiRs we have managed to attract this year.  Because there are so many, and their biographies are so extensive, we have been forced to divide this segment into three parts.  This second segment includes:

David Hornik

David Hornik
David Hornik

For more than a decade, David has worked with technology startups throughout the software sector.  In 2000, David joined August Capital to invest broadly in information technology companies, with a focus on enterprise application and infrastructure software, as well as consumer facing software and services.

Prior to joining August Capital, David was an intellectual property and corporate attorney at Venture Law Group and Perkins Coie. In his legal practice, David represented high tech startups in all aspects of their formation, financing, and operations, including the likes of Yahoo!, Evite (Ticketmaster) and Ofoto (Kodak).  Before that, David was a litigator in New York City at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

David has an eclectic educational background. He holds an AB in Computer Music from Stanford University, an M.Phil in Criminology from Cambridge University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

David is currently a lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he teaches intellectual property, and the Harvard Law School, where he teaches entrepreneurship and venture capital.  He is the author of VentureBlog, the first venture capital blog, and VentureCast, the first venture capital podcast, and is the founder and executive producer of The Lobby conference, an annual gathering of the thought leaders of the digital media ecosystem.

Terry D. Kramer

Terry Kramer
Terry Kramer

Terry has a 25 year career in telecommunications. For 18 of the 25 years, Terry worked for Vodafone Group Plc/AirTouch Communications in a variety of roles domestically and internationally in general management, strategy, business development and human resources. His most recent roles included Group Strategy and Business Improvement Director where he was focused on the transition of Vodafone’s business from a voice to a data based one and Regional President, Vodafone Americas which included oversight of Vodafone’s 45% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone’s venture capital activities. Terry led the cooperative initiatives between Vodafone and Verizon in the areas of LTE evolution, common product/service definition and procurement and in the ventures area, Terry led increased equity investments in data infrastructure, mobile gaming and customer analytics solutions. As part of these roles, Terry was a member of the GSMA mobile industry association, and Chair of the GSMA Strategy Committee. Terry’s earlier roles at Vodafone/AirTouch included: President AirTouch Paging and Vice President/GM AirTouch Cellular-Southwest Market. He has also spent several years leading and advising small, growing technology companies in roles including CEO, QComm International and as a Board member of Fiber Tower, 724 Solutions, and Sonim Technologies. In these roles, Terry was a leader in the transition of the mobile communications industry from a voice to data based one and the broader mobile ecosystem which developed.

Currently, in addition to serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at HBS and as a member of the HBS CA Research Center Advisory Board, Terry serves on the Boards of Envivio, the UCLA Economics Department, Larkin Street Youth Services and the World Affairs Council of Northern CA. He also is a frequent guest speaker at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business, UCLA’s Department of Economics, and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business covering the mobile industry evolution and imperatives. Terry and his wife Suzan also recently established a small family foundation focused on education and human services.

Terry holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from UCLA and MBA from Harvard University and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chris LaSala

Chris LaSala
Chris LaSala

Chris LaSala is the Director of Mobile Partnerships at Google. With over a decade of experience, Chris LaSala is a seasoned veteran in the digital media space. Chris currently heads Google’s mobile publisher business development efforts where he works with established media brands as well as the emerging mobile application developer community.  Prior to this role, Chris led a channel program aimed at delivering Google’s advertising solutions to local business, and has also previously led Google’s North American advertising agency strategy.

Prior to joining Google, Chris was the director of business development at Looksmart, where he was responsible for developing partnerships for the distribution of LookSmart’s advertising and search solutions. Prior to Looksmart, he was a strategy development consultant at Strategic Decisions Group, where he advised clients in the energy and technology industries on making multi-billion dollar investments.   Chris began his career as a public accountant at Coopers & Lybrand.

Chris is an active leader in industry associations having held leadership roles in Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) and the Interactive Advertising Board (IAB), and is a frequent speaker at industry events including Kelsey Conferences, AdTech, ADM, and Appnation.  Chris currently sits on the board of the IAB’s Mobile Center of Excellence.

Chris holds a bachelor of science from Boston College and an MBA from Duke University (Fuqua), and is a registered CPA with the State of Colorado (inactive status).  Outside of work, Chris volunteers his time with Fuqua’s Center for Media, Entertainment & Technology (CTEM) and holds the position of Vice Chairman of the Economic Development Commission in his home town of Fairfield, Connecticut, where he resides with his wife and two children.

Jim Matheson

Jim Matheson
Jim Matheson

Jim Matheson joined Flagship Ventures in 2000 and focuses on creating and funding new ventures in the sustainability, clean technology, and special technologies (e.g. nanotechnology, materials, and technology systems) arenas. Jim earned an MBA from The Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Science (with honors) from the United States Naval Academy and retired in 2008 as a Commander in the US Naval Reserves.

Jim has over 20 years of technology and leadership experience across a variety of organizations and roles designing, engineering and deploying sophisticated technology platforms. He formerly served as a Navy F-14 & FA-18 pilot including duties flying over 200 combat missions from an aircraft carrier, as a TOPGUN Instructor and leading the Navy’s Adversary Program. He also gained broad experience in emerging aircraft & weapons system design, testing and procurement, and was deeply involved in many of the military’s IT modernization initiatives.

Jim serves on the boards of Flagship portfolio companies Advanced Electron Beams, Black Duck Software, Frontier Renewable Resources, Mascoma Energy Corporation, Midori, Novomer and Oasys Water and is Chairman of the Board of Genstruct and Ze-gen. He was previously a director of e-Dialog (acquired by GSI Commerce), Yantra (acquired by Sterling Commerce / SBC), Flamenco Networks (acquired by SOA Software) and Zingku (acquired by Google). Jim has also spearheaded Flagship Venture’s role as the Department of Energy’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Jim is on the Board of New York-based hedge fund Black Horse Capital, the New England Clean Energy Council, the National Board of the Clean Tech Open, CLF (Conservation Law Foundation) Ventures, and the Center for Women & Enterprise, and is actively involved in numerous entrepreneurial and venture capital organizations including the Department of Energy’s Biomass Technical Advisory Committee, the MA Clean Energy Center, the MIT Enterprise Forum, The Deshpande Center, and The Service Academy Business Network.

 

Part 1 of the EiR series