Managing Partners
Tom “TK” Kuegler
Tom “TK” Kuegler is the co-founder and general partner of Wasabi Ventures. Wasabi Ventures is an venture capital, incubator, and consulting firm that specializes in building and advising early stage technology companies. In the last 10 years, Wasabi Ventures has built, financed, and advised some wildly successful ventures like PBworks, Ustream, and Etherpad.
Prior to starting Wasabi Ventures, TK led the sales efforts at MedAptus (a handheld healthcare charge capture solution) and at Amicore (an EMR company founded by Microsoft, Pfizer, and IBM) where he was instrumental in formulating and creating the sales processes. He has also held senior positions at ClickRebates (an online advertising software company) and RightNow Technologies, a Web-based CRM company. In the 1990s, TK was the co-founder of two successful Internet startups, SNT and SpinBox.
TK is the author of all three editions of the highly acclaimed book Web Advertising and Marketing. He has authored dozens of articles about the Internet and been published in leading publications like inc.com and ClickZ. TK spends a great deal of time lecturing at colleges, seminars, companies, and conferences about the corporate benefits of utilizing interactive technologies. He currently sits on the Board of Sponsors of Sellinger School of Business at Loyola University Maryland. He has presented at hundreds of events on a wide array of topics about economics, entrepreneurism, technology, and management.
You can reach TK by e-mail at tk@wasabiventures.com.
Chris Yeh
Chris Yeh was on the founding team of pioneering Internet companies such as United Online Services (Nasdaq: UNTD) and Merrill Lynch’s Intelligent Technologies Group. He has founded, advised, or invested in dozens of startups, including Ustream and PBworks.
Chris is a much-quoted thought leader in the field of marketing and entrepreneurship; his research and publications have been incorporated into the Harvard Business School curriculum, while his projects have received press coverage in Fortune, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. He writes a popular blog on entrepreneurship and venture capital, Adventures in Capitalism and contributes to blogs such as TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Chris holds two degrees from Stanford University, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar (High Distinction).
You can reach Chris by e-mail at chris@wasabiventures.com and follow him on Twitter.
Venture Team Members
Bobby Touran, East Coast Venture Partner
As an entrepreneur and founder of several startups, Bobby’s specialties are business development and team building & management. Prior to Wasabi, Bobby has been involved in both advisory and operational roles for start-ups in the Consumer Internet vertical- especially mobile and retail.
Bobby’s role at WV is to identify opportunities were WV can add value to a prospective start-up and then work with that founding team to utilize the resources of Wasabi Ventures to help achieve success.
A Boston native, Bobby graduated from McGill University in 2008, where he studied Economics and Management.
In his spare time, he enjoys tennis and skiing.
You can reach Bobby by e-mail at bobby@wasabiventures.com.
Nick Daley, Venture Partner West Coast
Recently moving into the venture capital industry, Nick will focus on consulting and business development in the San Francisco Bay area. Nick’s role at WV is to identify prospective portfolio companies, opportunities, and entrepreneurs to bring into the WV incubation process. Once identified, Nick will then manage, coach, and support the team utilizing the resources of WV to achieve sustainability and success.
Nick graduated from the University of Alabama, where he studied Finance with a concentration in Investment Management.
He is an avid sports fan and enjoys snowboarding and golf in his spare time.
You can reach Nick by e-mail at nick@wasabiventures.com and follow him on Twitter.
Alex Hollis, Venture Partner
As a Teach For America alum with experience at a successful, Boston-based e-commerce company, Alex has a strong passion for education reform coupled with a background in business management. Alex will be doing outreach, socializing, and evangelizing in the EduTech start-up communities on a global basis and will be bringing prospective portfolio companies into the WV process.
Alex is a Massachusetts native and graduated Loyola University Maryland with a concentration in Finance.
You can reach Alex by e-mail at alexhollis@wasabiventures.com.
Outreach and Events Team
Kendall D. Ryan, Director of Events and Outreach
Kendall D. Ryan studied at Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management and HES School of Economics and Management in Amsterdam. Kendall began with Wasabi Ventures her freshman year in college as a Marketing Intern for TestSoup. Shortly thereafter, Kendall became the Portfolio Marketing Manager for an array Wasabi Ventures’ startup companies. Currently Kendall serves as Director of Events and Outreach for Wasabi Ventures and is tasked with all entrepreneurial community outreach activities.
You can reach Kendall by email at: kendall@wasabiventures.com
John J. Walters, Blogger and Communications Coordinator
A newcomer to the entrepreneurial game, John does freelance work for various Wasabi Ventures projects, research work for the Maryland Public Policy Institute, and is Director of Marketing of TestSoup. His first publication, an economics companion-text written by himself and five other students during his final year at Loyola University Maryland, is slated for publication in November 2011. Samples of his writing can be found regularly on The Entrepreneur’s Bible and the Maryland Policy blog, with the occasional guest piece appearing on other Wasabi Venture portfolio blogs.
Engineering Management
Jeka Kiselyov, Director of Engineering
Evgeniy “Jeka”Kiselyov studied at the Intelligent System Software Department at Donetsk State Institute of Artificial Intelligence. As the Director of Engineering, Jeka oversees all engineering efforts for portfolio companies at Wasabi Ventures.
You can reach Jeka by email at: jeka@wasabiventures.com
The Team
In addition to the management team and our extensive list of advising partners, Wasabi Ventures has assembled a complete team that can be dedicated to any startup’s operations consisting of 40+ professionals. Our capabilities include:
- Financial Analysts and Researchers
- Project and Product Management
- Multiple Teams of Engineers
- UI and Design Experts
- Sales Management
- Marketing and PR Specialists
Advisors & Friends
Ben Casnocha, Author and Entrepreneur
Ben is the author of the bestselling business book My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, which the New York Times called “precocious, informative, and entertaining.” He is founder of Comcate, Inc., the leading e-government software company for small cities and counties in the U.S. Ben’s work has been featured in dozens of international media including CNN, USA Today, CNBC, and ABC’s 20/20. PoliticsOnline named him one of the “25 most influential people in the world of internet and politics.” BusinessWeek named Ben “one of America’s top young entrepreneurs.” He writes prolifically on his blog, which the San Jose Business Journal called one of the “Top 25 Blogs in Silicon Valley.” He’s a commentator for public radio’s “Marketplace.”
Ben has given 50 paid keynote addresses on business and has traveled to more than 25 countries. He also co-runs the Silicon Valley Junto, an intellectual discussion society for business and technology executives. In his free time Ben enjoys playing chess, ping-pong, reading, and writing.
Chris Wu, Vice President of Mobile Products, Snapfish
Chris runs all wireless products and solutions at Snapfish, a leading digital photography company. Prior to joining Snapfish, he was the Director of Yahoo! Mobile and built Yahoo!’s wireless business from the ground up. He is a well-known expert and speaker in the wireless space. Chris is also a former management consultant from AT Kearney and Mercer Management Consulting. He has helped companies such as Handspring, Earthlink, and Tellme to plan their wireless strategies. Chris has a BA from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he graduated with High Distinction as a Baker Scholar.
Frans Johansson, Author, Speaker, and Consultant
Frans’ latest book, The Medici Effect, has been hailed by innovation-guru Clay Christensen as, “one of the most insightful books about managing innovation I have ever read.” He is a founder and former CEO of Inka.net, a Boston-based enterprise software company and a founder and VP of Business Development for Dola Health Systems, a health-care company in Baltimore and Sweden. He earned a BS from Brown University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Dr. Francis Chen, Entrepreneur
Francis has been a private investor, co-founder and/or Board member of a number of high-tech companies, such as Supertek (acquired by Cray Research), EcoSystems (acquired by Compuware), Keystone Laboratories (acquired by BioScience International), Navius (acquired by Endosonics), Digital Market (acquired by Agile Software), and E-Color (acquired by Lightsurf). He was co-founder and Chairman of EastNet — an ISP in Beijing. He has more than twenty years of senior management experience in the healthcare industry (Becton-Dickingson, Baxter Healthcare, Hygeia Sciences/Tambrands). Francis graduated from Tufts University and received a doctoral degree from Harvard University.
Don Yates, Organizational Expert
Don envisions an optimal organization that is characterized by freedom, equality, community, and individual fulfillment and also delivers unparalleled customer service and exceptional results. However, we can build such an extraordinary organization only if we start with a set of beliefs that are radically different from those underlying the current hierarchical “command and control” model used in virtually all organizations today. His ideas are not just idealistic fantasy but come from ten years in the engineering/construction business and over twenty-five years of organizational consulting with startups to Fortune 100 companies. That work is itself built on an educational foundation including a Stanford BSCE, a Harvard Business School MBA, and a UCLA Graduate School of Management Ph.D. in Behavioral Science.
