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Around
entrepreneur Renea Thomas are Start Up's six founders (from
left to right): Greg Waldorf, Kris Hagerman, Greg Sands, Steve
Kessel, Lee Zimmerman, and Mike Zimmerman. Photo for Time magazine.
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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.
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.
Up
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.
Up
Greg Sands
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.
Up
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.
Up
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.
Up
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.
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