Chad Kruse Phone: 503.928.7500 ck@chadkruse.com
Hello: I'm Chad Kruse, an entrepreneur, lean startup enthusiast, and former corporate development guy.
This site describes some of my startup endeavors, side projects, former consulting engagements, advisory activities, and traditional work history.
Part strategist, part dealmaker, I'm probably best described as a business generalist. That means I'm equally comfortable with product strategy, marketing, fundraising, financial metrics, business partnerships, and generally just making sure the lights stay on.
As a generalist, I've been involved in everything from consumer-facing mobile startups to buyouts of wire hanger companies. I like to think my background in venture capital, private equity, and Fortune 500 corporate strategy provides a unique perspective on growth-oriented companies.
After helping entrepreneurs execute on their dreams for the past 5 years, I decided it was time to chase my own.
I recently founded 10Speak to capture what I think will be the next big opportunity on the web: time.
I have big plans for the company, but am starting small with a simple application geared towards "in-demand" individuals.
I served as COO for innovative sensor startup GreenGoose during a critical time in the company's history, hired on by the sole founder as employee #1.
My role changed on a daily (if not hourly) basis, but ranged from crafting the go-to-market strategy and product definition, to early business development and fundraising. When no one was looking I would crank out a wireframe or two.
Forkfly continues to assert itself in the highly competitive location-based mobile space, and as COO I had the honor of building a rockstar development team from the ground up, managing and launching three web apps and two mobile platforms, prioritizing a seemingly endless feature list, and helping lead overall strategy development.
One of the fastest growing marketplaces on the web today, I consulted with Bonanza (formerly Bonanzle) during its bootstrap phase. I served the role of "business guy" with duties generally focused on business partnerships and API evangelism, but also included product management, strategy, data mining, and managing the company's first ad campaign.
Great working relationship with the technical co-founder, offloading certain tasks to allow him to fully concentrate on the user experience. The company subsequently raised a $1M first round from a variety of Seattle-based VCs and super angels.
The following is a representative list of venture capital transactions I have been involved in:
PeriscopeGIS was an online application that intended to make large GIS datasets useful to the 80% of GIS users with little to no formal GIS training.
The back-end technology leveraged proprietary scripting technology, Amazon Web Services, and the ubiquity of Google Earth™ to drastically improve the user experience when accessing large, complicated GIS datasets.
This was a "nights and weekends" project and is currently on the far, far back burner.
Execution: I'm a firm believer that ideas are cheap, execution is everything. I spent a few years partnering with domain experts to help turn their ideas into reality.
Seed Stage Companies: My consulting work with seed-stage founders centered on creating business models and developing paths to that first customer (or first investor).
Growth Companies: For existing businesses, my value-add often entailed creating business development strategies, mining market and site data, exploring new markets, and developing models and financial metrics to help guide the decision making process.
Are you sick of all those books that tell you how a startup succeeded (our eyes are on you Founders at Work)? They are good reads, but we thought it was time to focus on the screwups. Much like the American Alpine Club publishes their annual journal chronicling mountaineering accidents, we created this site to show people what NOT to do. People have made the mistake already…let's honor them by not repeating it.
The site was launched in a weekend with a fellow local entrepreneur. It was shut down a week later after we realized how hard it was to film yourself talking about your screw-ups. Fail fast.
Served as one of four dealmakers for Intuit, the Fortune 500 consumer-focused technology company. Our group not only executed software M&A deals and explored new growth markets, but also served as internal sound board for business unit leaders while continuing to push for innovation across all levels of the company.
This was a spin-out idea stemming from my work in conservation-based forestry. The beauty of working with offline businesses is uncovering countless opportunities to apply technology...this was one of those scenarios. With a focus on the small forestland landowner, we developed a system that intended to leverage LIDAR and satellite technologies to inventory ecosystem assets on ALL non-industrial, private forestlands in OR & WA (we're talking millions of acres here). If successful, the platform could disrupt the entire forest products supply chain in Western North America.
That's the good news. The bad news is the technology behind the data sets isn't quite there yet, at least not in a way that scales (but lots of smart people are cranking on it as we speak).
Quite possibly nothing, except...
The CFA Program (think CPA for the finance world) is something I enrolled in back in 1997 and have decided to finish up next year (Level III).
Ruby on Rails is something I started learning last month, for fun.
That might possibly make me the only CFA-type currently learning to code software.
In partnership with one of the most passionate domain experts I have met to date, I played a leadership role with the creation and eventual market launch of WiLD Forests I, L.P., a conservation-based timberland investment management fund. I lead corporate development, finance, and fundraising.
The firm uses a unique approach to forest management, leveraging carbon offsets, conservation easements, and other "ecosystem services" to monetize lands while maintaining healthy forests.
Part of the core team of analysts behind this groundbreaking report covering the Pacific Northwest cleantech sector.
Served as the lead on all econometrics-related work. Download a copy here.
I was hired to assist a solar company explore the feasibility of using New Market Tax Credits (NMTCs) on a utility scale solar project in Eastern Oregon.
Produced an intricate financial model which outlines risk sharing opportunities.
Saava was part experiment, part informal network of individual investors, foundations, lenders, and resource providers. Members explored investment opportunities in mission-related organizations, using the Saava website to collaborate with other like-minded investors.
I incubated and launched the project while on sabbatical ($7k all in...talk about lean), eventually reaching 35 local, accredited investors. The organization facilitated the review of over 60 Porltand-based organizations seeking capital, from smart growth real estate funds to cleantech upstarts and non-profits developing earned-income streams.
I assisted a large engineering services firm assess their cleantech value proposition and develop market entry strategies.
The following is a representative list of software and online service transactions I have been involved in:
I was hired to assist a local CDFI (community development financial institution) explore the investment merits behind a community wind development.
I was a senior associate for a Portland-based private equity firm. Incredible experience learning from three partners, all of whom have extensive, real-world operating experience. This is the place I learned the true value of a private equity firm...hint, the transaction is the easy part. It's what you do with the company post-close that matters.
The bulk of my "offline" consulting work focuses on transaction structuring and creating financial models.
Most often, these involve renewable energy projects, forestry deals, and other deals requiring creative financing. Recently, I've been assisting firms explore the use of New Market Tax Credits (NMTCs) as a potential financing tool.
I was hired by the developers of the largest private landholding in Western Australia. My task was to develop a modeling/valuation framework for assessing potential cleantech-related deals. The development is positioning itself to be a model, ground-up sustainable community.
My first job out of undergrad. Also the place I got my de-facto MBA thanks to the active and engaged mentoring I received from the firm's partners. Amazing experience working with these nationally-recognized business valuation experts.
Making money and making the world a better place shouldn't be mutually exclusive. I have been involved at the intersection of philanthropy and investing since 2003 (see also Saava.org)
Call it double or triple bottom line, mission or social investing, MRIs, PRIs, blended value...it simply makes sense.
I use this lens when approaching any business, be it startups, fund advisors, nonprofits, or manufacturing companies.
Don't tell my mom, but the stuff I do for fun usually involves a helmet. Mountaineering during spring, mountain biking during summer and fall, and skiing during winter.
In town, you can usually find me with friends at one of the (seemingly) thousands of brewpubs in Portland.
© Chad Kruse | 2009-2011
