  |
Contact Us | FAQ | Espaņol |
| The Future is in Your Hands | |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
History Start Up was established in 1994 as a collaborative effort between six Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) students and East Palo Alto community leaders. These social entrepreneurs set out to bridge the "economic divide" between East Palo Alto and other Silicon Valley communities by establishing a nonprofit micro-enterprise initiative that would foster the development of locally owned and operated small businesses. The decision to locate Start Up in East Palo Alto, CA, was quite deliberate given the city's striking ethnic diversity, predominantly low income population, limited local employment opportunities, and proximity to Stanford University. Founders Start Up is grateful to the vision and leadership of its founders, whose original mission continues to drive the organization's purpose. Two of the original six founders, Greg Sands and Greg Waldorf, currently serve on Start Up's Board of Directors.
Kris Hagerman Kris Hagerman currently serves as Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations at VERITAS Software. VERITAS is the leading provider of storage software solutions, and one of the top 5 software companies in the world. At VERITAS, Kris is responsible for all strategic alliances, business development, mergers & acquisitions, and venture investments. Before VERITAS, Kris served as founder and chief executive officer at Affinia, a contextual merchandising service. Prior to that, Kris was the founder and chief executive officer of BigBook, Inc., a pioneering Internet yellow pages service acquired by GTE in 1998. In addition, Kris has held various management positions in consulting, sales and marketing, business development, and finance at companies such as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Odyssey Research, McKinsey & Company, and Morgan Stanley. Kris holds an M.B.A from Stanford University. He also holds a master's degree in international relations from Cambridge University and a bachelor's degree in Russian and economics from Dartmouth College. Steve Kessel Steve Kessel is the General Manager of Amazon.com's Books, Music, and Video businesses and is the former Chairperson of Start Up's Board of Directors. As one of the Stanford GSB student founders of Start Up, Steve worked on program design, fundraising, and staff recruitment. Before attending Stanford's Graduate School of Business, he spent three years as a management consultant with Bain & Company, and two years as Development Director for Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit organization working to alleviate hunger. Greg Sands Greg Sands now serves as co-chair of Start Up's Development Committee, and has been on the Start Up Board of Directors since 2000. After founding Start Up and earning his MBA from Stanford, Greg served as Director for SuiteSpot, Netscape's suite of Internet server software. He is now an investor in start-up Internet companies as a Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures, where he has been since 1998. His directorships include iPIN, Quinstreet, Closedloop Solutions, Pivia, and Collabrys. Greg Waldorf Greg is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who has worked extensively with technology enabled growth companies. Selected venture investments of Greg's include Avantgo (AVGO, later acquired by Sybase), eGain (NASDAQ: EGAN), eHarmony.com (where he is a founding member of the board of directors), Qurb (acquired by Computer Associates), Trulia, Vizu, and Wily Technology. Greg is a former general partner of Charles River Ventures where he established the Menlo Park office and he also invested in public technology companies with Pacific Edge Investment Management. Greg started his career as a young entrepreneur by founding a software and consulting company before he started high school. He operated that business for eight years through his time in college. Serving clients from Hawaii to New York and internationally, Greg managed the firm and was the primary salesperson for the company. Greg holds a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been cited on matters relating to investing and technology in the New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, and BusinessWeek among other publications and he has made numerous broadcast appearances on CNBC. Lee Zimmerman Lee Zimmerman is a founder of First Light Destinations, a for-profit social-purpose enterprise providing supportive employment for at-risk Bay Area youth. Prior to founding First Light, Lee was a Farber Fellow with Juma Ventures, where he helped create and launch a social-purpose business incubator. Before joining Juma, Lee served as Vice President of Marketing at World Wrapps Restaurants, where he supported growth of the venture-backed company from one to 25 units. In 1994, Lee co-founded Start Up, a micro-enterprise program serving entrepreneurs in East Palo Alto; he currently serves as the organization's board chair. Previously, Lee spent 3 years as Manager of Hotel Operations for JMB Realty Corporation, where he was responsible for overseeing a portfolio consisting of hotels, resorts and the Grand Canyon and other U.S. National Park concessions. Lee holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Cybernetics from UCLA. Mike Zimmerman Mike Zimmerman is currently a principal with Technology Venture Partners, an early-stage technology venture capital firm, and lives with his family in Sydney, Australia. Prior to joining TVP, Mike was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Altos Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Vice President of Corporate Development for iOwn.com, an online financial services firm. Mike has also worked with Bain & Company, a strategy consulting firm, and Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. Mike has also worked with a range of non-profiit organizations over his career, including the One to One Partnership, a national organization promoting mentoring to at-risk youth based in Washington D.C., and the Mott Hall School Division of New York's Street Project, which teaches business and ethics to gifted students in Harlem. As a Start Up founder at Stanford, Mike worked on fundraising, community relations and board recruitment. He served as a board member from 1996 through 2002, and served as the Board Chair from 1997-2000. Mike has a BA in American Studies from Amherst College and an MBA from Stanford University. |
Start Up
1395 Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Ph: (650) 321-2193 | Fax: (650) 321-1025
info@startupepa.org
1395 Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Ph: (650) 321-2193 | Fax: (650) 321-1025
info@startupepa.org