MODERATOR:
Andy Lombard- Executive Vice President, Innovation & Venture Development
Andy Lombard is an Entrepreneur and the Executive Vice President of Innovation & Venture Development at the Arizona Commerce Authority. At age 19, Andy interned at Motorola, then went on to lead Motorola Asia and later became a corporate VC @ MOT Ventures. He then led M&A for Silicon Valley based Adaptive Broadband (NASDAQ: ADAP) and was instrumental in the stock price increase from $6 to $205 in 24 months. In 2000, he founded airBand, a VC-backed company (Battery, SevinRosen, Cisco) and built it to over $400M exit valuation. Andy’s awards include: E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist; CEO World Award 2014; Executive of the Year 2013; President George W. Bush High-Tech CEO Forum; Red Herring Top 10 Wireless Startups 2002. Andy helped create ACA’s Arizona Innovation Challenge and Venture Ready Accelerator. In his down time, Andy is a volunteer Ski Patrol @Brighton Ski Resort, Utah.
PANELISTS:
Clay Gordon – Managing Partner at Stout Street Capital
Clay is Managing Partner of Stout Street Capital, which he co-founded in 2016. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Clay joined a large Washington DC-based nonprofit where he led regional development efforts in the Southeast, contributing to annual fundraising of $25 million. Clay then served as the Business Development Manager for Denver-based Strata Resources Inc., before founding Stout Street Capital with business partner John Francis to become early investors in Colorado’s burgeoning tech scene. Clay specializes in fundraising and deal flow management for the fund.
Van Jones – Partner at Drive Capital
When I stepped off the plane in the searing summer heat of Shanghai, I knew that the trajectory of my life had fundamentally changed.I had left a much safer career-start back home in Cincinnati to experience what I believed would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. The playbook for the business I was joining was still being written. The client relationships were new. The products were relatively untested. The team young. Would it work? There was no guarantee. But I knew I would be learning a ton and having a lot of fun along the way.
After five years in Asia, I applied the skills learned in China along with the best practices I would learn while studying at the Booth School of Business. Both experiences would give me the confidence that I could enter into any new environment and be successful.
While studying at Booth, I saw how the world was shifting and that some of the fastest-growing economies were popping up in Africa. With that insight, I co-founded a startup in Nigeria that would take me across the entire continent. I spent several amazing years in Africa launching a telematics platform for agricultural equipment that positively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of farmers. It was an amazing experience working to fix a broken system in an enormous market.
When I learned of Drive Capital’s thesis and the undeniable opportunity in the Midwest…well, you know the pattern of my choices by now.
Will Price- Founder and General Partner at Next Frontier Capital
Will founded Next Frontier Capital to partner with mission-driven, talented entrepreneurs to build Montana technology companies of impact, utility, value. Will’s career spans venture capital investing as well as operational, transactional, and advisory roles at both public and private companies. With a Montana family history dating to the 1850s, Will is passionate about investing in the state’s promising future.Will’s ancestor, Telesphore Jacques deMers, was one of early Montana’s most dynamic entrepreneurs with investments in cattle, freight, retail, ferrying, hotels, and founded DeMersville, precursor to modern day Kalispell.
Prior to Next Frontier Capital, Will served as CEO of Flite, an advertising and analytics platform. In 2016, Flite was acquired by Snap, the parent company of SnapChat. During his six year tenure, Will built a market leading organization capable of serving and analyzing billions of ad interactions, sold enterprise customers such as Procter & Gamble, The New York Times, and LinkedIn, raised capital from leading venture capitalists, including Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, and strategic customers Conde Nast, Jive Software, and Publicis.
Previously, Will served as a Managing Director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, where he focused on SaaS and open source. Will helped lead investments in Mulesoft, Sonatype, SlideRocket, Flite, among others. Will joined Hummer Winblad from Pequot Capital, where he focused on software investing. Earlier in his career Will worked for Morgan Stanley in NYC, Hong Kong, and the ASEAN markets focused on the privatization of state-owned assets.
Will represents Next Frontier Capital on the board of numerous companies, including SiteOne Therapeutics, Submittable, Quiq, Halp, OptioSurgical, and others. In addition, Will serves on the board of the National Venture Capital Association.
Will graduated from Harvard College, studied Mandarin at Nanjing University, and earned his M.B.A from Northwestern University, where he graduated at the top of his class. Will writes about venture, leadership, and entrepreneurship on LinkedIn.
Will is married and the father of two active boys. In addition to Next Frontier Capital and family, Will’s passions include the outdoors, aviation, and fundraising for conservation groups. He serves on the boards of the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, American Prairie Reserve, MSU’s Tech Transfer Office, MSU’s Jake Jabs School of Business, and is a member of Bozeman’s Sunrise Rotary Club.
Clara Sieg- Partner and Founding Member at Revolution Ventures
Clara is a Partner and founding member at Revolution Ventures. She began working with Revolution in 2010 and joined full-time as a member of the investment team in 2012, when she helped open Revolution’s San Francisco office. Clara serves on the boards of Bloomscape, Bright Cellars, Paro, Playa, and Policygenius. She helped lead fundraising efforts for both Revolution Growth’s and Revolution Ventures’ first institutional funds, closing on $450M and $200M, respectively. Clara was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and named one of LinkedIn’s Next Wave: Top 10 Professionals Under 35 for VC & Finance.
Prior to joining Revolution Ventures, Clara managed alternative investment fund opportunities and associated secondary activities at Probitas Partners. While at Probitas, Clara advised numerous private equity and venture capital groups on fund formation activities, including Revolution Growth. Clara was previously at UBS Investment Bank in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance group, where she focused on technology and media companies.
Clara received her B.A. in Economics with a minor in German from Stanford University. Clara was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
