M&A Advisor - Exit Coach - Angel Investor

For the first half of my career I was an entrepreneurial CEO. More recently, I've been a hedge fund manager, venture capitalist and angel investor. For most of the past decade, my focus has been exit transactions.

This my personal website. It describes my background, has links to my other web sites and hosts the presentations from my recent speaking engagements.

Technology Entrepreneur

I have always been fascinated by technology.

While I was still in grad school I cofounded Nexus Engineering. The attention generated by my first company generated a surprising amount of press coverage and awards including Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneurship Silver Award, BC Science and Engineering Gold Medal and Business Leader of the Year.

We sold the Nexus in 1993/4 and it's now part of Cisco. After the sale, I went from being a starving entrepreneur with every cent I could borrow in the company I was running, to actually having some investable capital.

As a techie born and raised in Vancouver, I thought everything was bigger and brighter in Silicon Valley. My next CEO job was at ICTV Inc. - right in the heart of the Valley. I learned that the Valley is bigger, but not necessarily better. I'm now convinced entrepreneurs can be just as successful in Vancouver as in the Valley, or anywhere else in the world.

Fund Manager and Angel Investor

I've cofounded and managed three technology investment funds.

My first fund was a hedge fund - Fundamental Technologies I. I believe it was the first hedge fund in BC.

By 2002, at the bottom of the bust, the tech equity bargains were irresistible, but I still couldn't find anyone who wanted to co-invest. So I started a family of early-stage venture capital funds which are now the BC Advantage Funds.

My current angel fund is Fundamental Technologies II.

M&A Advisor and Exit Coach

After being an investor for a couple of decades, I realized that when I made an exceptional return on my investment, it was always because the exit had gone well. I also realized that exits are the most fun part of being an investor or entrepreneur.

The first companies I helped sell were ones I'd invested in. Now I am most often selling companies I haven't invested in. I do this through my company Strategic Exits Corp.

I was surprised by how little had been written about exits - especially for entrepreneurs and angel investors. Exits have been a major theme in my blog on best practices for angel investors and entrepreneurs at www.AngelBlog.net.

My first book is also on exits - Early Exits - Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors (But Maybe Not Venture Capitalists). My goal is to help entrepreneurs and angels have more profitable, and more frequent,exits.

Putting Something Back

I am passionate about entrepreneurship and believe the world would be a better place if we encouraged more young people to be entrepreneurs.

In the hope of helping to create more successful entrepreneurs, I speak regularly on campuses and for associations. I am also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Simon Fraser University.

I also enjoy speaking to groups of investors or entrepreneurs. The videos from some of my speaking engagements are online here. The PowerPoints from most of my recent talks are available at this link.