Press Releases
May 17, 2010vSpring Capital Releases Its List of the 2010 Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs
SALT LAKE CITY May 17, 2010-- vSpring Capital announced today the 2010 class of the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, also known as the v100.
The v100 was created in 2004 by vSpring Capital as a tool to identify and recognize entrepreneurs with Utah ties who are most likely to experience successful venture returns. Members of the v100 become part of an ongoing community of entrepreneurs that fosters collaboration and provides advantages in building and growing companies. Each year, vSpring asks members of the Utah business community to nominate individuals who are most likely to lead a successful startup venture in the next five to seven years in the IT (information technology) or biotech industries. These nominees are then asked to vote amongst themselves based on the same criteria. Those nominees who garner the most votes from their peers in this second step of the annual voting process are then elected into the v100 and become members of this ongoing community of entrepreneurial leaders.
“This year we were able to compile the most complete and unique list of nominees possible,” said Jon Walker, manager of marketing and investor relations at vSpring Capital.
"The v100 process is unique in that members are selected by their peers," said David Jolley, managing partner at Ernst & Young and member of the audit committee who oversees the v100 selection process. “While vSpring created this initiative, they aren’t selecting the winners. This gives the results a compelling validity of being selected by peers while helping ensure the integrity of the v100.”
This year’s v100 announcement comes as the economy is trying to recover from one of the most difficult economic downturns in decades. “It is fascinating to see that as the market continues to try to stabilize, this year’s list has a 48% turnover rate compared to last year showing us that in this down economy, entrepreneurship is happening and with great results,” stated David Anderson, administrative partner at vSpring Capital.
“Entrepreneurship is one of many mechanisms that will help strengthen the current financial environment through providing opportunities to those who live not only in Utah, but in this country,” stated Scott Petty, managing partner at vSpring Capital. “I firmly believe we are starting to realize the success that can come from our region.”
Dr. Kim Clark, former Dean of the Harvard School of Business and current President of BYU-Idaho, will address the v100 community at an exclusive luncheon on Wednesday June 9, 2010 at The Grand America in Salt Lake City.
“President Clark is an ideal keynote speaker,” Walker stated. “His experience in business and entrepreneurship coupled with his leadership is very appropriate as we recognize the current and future accomplishments of the v100 inductees at this event.”
vSpring Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in information technology and life science companies. With offices in Utah and New Mexico, it has over $400 million under management.
Facts about the v100 Class of 2010
A complete list of members in the 2010 v100 is enclosed below. Be advised that positions/companies noted were current as of the date of the compilation of the 2010 v100 list of members. This year there was a tie in the voting, making a total of 112 winners. For additional information about the v100 or vSpring Capital, please contact vSpring's Jon Walker at 801-942-8999(wk) or jon@vspring.com.
Full Name Company Title
Peter Abilla Backcountry.com Continuous Improvement
Jason Alba Jibberjobber.com CEO/Founder
Rick Alden Skullcandy CEO
Curt Allen Agilix Labs, Inc. Partner
Paul Allen FamilyLink.com CEO
Amy Rees Anderson MediConnect Global, Inc. Founder
Jeremy Andrus Skullcandy President
Matt Asay Canonical COO
Pete Ashdown Xmission CEO
Don Atkinson ClearPlay CEO
Dave Bascom SEO.com CEO
David Bateman Property Solutions CEO
Jay Bean OrangeSoda, Inc. CEO
Grant Beckmann Move Networks, Inc. EVP of Engineering
Brain Beutler Alianza Inc. Founder/CEO
Dr. Ragula Bhaskar FatPipe Networks President/ CEO
Clayton Blackham Snapp Conner PR VP Business Development
Brock Blake Funding Universe Executive Director
Mark Bonham SageCreek Partners, LLC Partner
William Borghetti Sendside Networks CEO
Ryan Bott Fusion-io Director of Sales/Alliance Development
David Bradford Fusion-io CEO
Stead Burwell Alliance Health Networks CEO
Greg Butterfield SageCreek Partners Managing Partner
Ryan Caldwell EnticeLabs Founder/CEO
Josh Carr FatPlug President
David Carter Upside Investments LLC Manager
Don Cash Omniture, a Business Unit of Adobe VP Mid Market Sales
Carine Strom Clark Symantec CEO
Josh Coates BYU Computer Science Dept. Instructor
Cheryl Snapp Conner Snapp Conner PR Managing Partner
Brian Cummings UofU TCO CEO
Nicole Toomey Davis Gov. Office of Econ Dev. Director, Center of Excellence
Mike Dodson iFan Media CEO
Ed Donakey FamilySearch Strategic Relations
Adam Edmunds Allegiance, Inc. VP of Sales
David Elkington InsideSales.com CEO
James Endicott Exact Wave President/CEO
Dr. Deborah Eppstein Q Therapeutics President/CEO
Dan Farr DAZ 3D CEO
Eric Farr BrainStorm, Inc. Executive Officer
Vicki Farrar Catheter Connections, Inc. CEO
Christian Faulconer Franchise Foundry CEO
Stephen Fulling Kynetx, Inc. Founder/CEO
Clark Gilbert Deseret Digital Media CEO
Gary Goodrich ProPay Inc. President/CEO
Mick Hagen Zinch Founder/VP Product
Jeremy Hanks Doba Co-founder, Chairman & President
Greg Heaps Allegiance VP, Business Development
Matt Heaton BlueHost CEO
Rachael Herrscher TodaysMama.com Co-Founder/CEO
Tim Hunt Go Natural CNG CEO
Karl Israelsen Carman, Lehnhof, Israelsen LLP Partner
Josh James Omniture, a Business Unit of Adobe Senior VP/General Manager
J.D. Jeppson Allegiance, Inc. VP Sales & Service
Dr. Greg Jones University of Utah
Justin Jory Scalar Partners Managing Director
Dr. Ashok Joshi CERAMATEC INC. President/CEO
Stan Kanarowski Scintalla, Inc. CEO
Jeremy Kartchner Snapp Conner PR Partner
Ken Kaufman CFO Wise Founder/CEO
Maile Keone Lava7 CMO
Trajan King Snirk.com Co-Founder
Dwain Kinghorn SageCreek Partners Partner
Abraham Knell WhyTry Inc. CEO
Chris Knudsen SEO.com SVP/CMO
Ken Krogue InsideSales.com President/Co-Founder
Robert Kunz Jr. KnowledgeBlue Founder/CEO
Bruce Law Sprout Marketing President
Alexander Lawrence TwitJump President/CEO
Darren Lee NextPage CEO
Scott C. Lemon Human Xtensions LLC President/CTO
Richard J. Linder Coherex Medical CEO
Kyle Love Pro-Motion Action LLC Managing Partner
Dave McGinn Agilix Labs, Inc. COO
Glenn Mella Control4 President/COO
Derek Miner OrangeSoda.com Co-Founder
Clarke Miyasaki Skullcandy Founder
Ryan Money Franchise Foundry Partner
Eric Montague Executech Founder/CEO
Jed Morley Outrigger Marketing President
Dr. Tom Ngo Disney Research VP
Brandt Page Launch Sales and Marketing Director, Customer Acquisition
Russ Page Fifty Studio COO
Michael Paul Lineagen CEO
Brad Pelo i.TV CEO/Co-Founder
Ben Peterson Bamboo HR President
Andrew Pincock LotusJump Operations/Bus Dev
Nate Quigley LiveTV CEO
Andrew Raguskus OtoKinetics Inc. CEO
Adam Slovik RemedyMD CEO
Eric Smith Control4 Co-Founder/Chief Evangelist
John Sperry Mindshare Technologies, Inc. CEO
Jesse Stay II SocialToo.com CEO/Founder
Tim Sullivan Ancestry.com President/CEO
Jack W. Sunderlage ContentWatch Inc. President/CEO
Benoy Tamang Shopping Nanny Co-Founder/CEO
Alan Taylor DirectPointe, Inc. President/COO
Cydni Tetro FamilyLink.com CMO
Kent Thomas CFO Solutions Founder/CEO
Ron Tiede Broadcast International Inc President/CEO
Brandon Warburton Backcountry.com Director of Customer Acquisition
Will West Control4 CEO
Greg Whisenant Public Engines/CrimReports.com CEO
Tyler Whitaker TM Ventures LLC CEO/CTO
Hal Widlansky Mangia Technologies CEO
Dr. Phil Windley Kynetx, Inc. CTO
Clark Winegar Mustache Power Productions President/CEO
John Wirthlin AlloCure Inc CEO
Mark Wolfgramm Agilix VP of Development
Dan Young PC Laptops CMO/COO
Tony Zito mediaFORGE CEO