Jeff Malkin
CEO and Co-founder
Jeff Malkin, CEO and Co-founder, brings over 9 years of extensive entrepreneurial and leadership experience to Razz, Inc., where he is responsible for leading the company's over-all success as one of the leading content service providers for the mobile and social networking industries. Malkin oversees all of Razz's business development, market strategy, product development, operations, and financing efforts.
Prior to Razz, Inc., Malkin founded and held the position of CEO of privately held FreeSamples.com, a research and analytics service provider for the consumer package goods industry. Founded in March 1999, Malkin was instrumental in raising $17 Million in funding and grew FreeSamples.com to be one of the leading online sampling and product research companies with clients including The Proctor & Gamble Company, Unilever and Ralston Purina.
In Addition, Malkin architected relationship marketing Web programs for high profile clients as the founder of Cross-Eyed Visionaries, a San Francisco based web consulting firm, and while working as an information architect at a number of San Francisco agencies. He was also actively involved with technology and music in the "multimedia gulch", producing music and audio for many popular CD-ROM titles.
Malkin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and remains an active musician in the San Francisco community.
Jeff Kirschner
Creative Director and Co-Founder
Jeff Kirschner, Creative Director and Co-Founder, leads all content development and creative strategy for Razz. Kirschner oversees creative development for the company's products and services including design and production of marketing the content portfolio.
Prior to Razz, Kirschner was copywriter at TBWA/CHIAT/DAY where he developed global campaigns for accounts such as Levi Strauss & Co, Apple Computer and Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
Kirschner has a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Studies & Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.
David Rich
Chief Marketing Officer
David Rich, Chief Marketing Officer, is responsible for the corporate marketing, product management and content functions for Razz, Inc. Rich brings over 19 years of strategic marketing and sales experience with him within consumer markets including products, services and retail environments in high-tech start-ups to Fortune 100 companies.
Prior to Razz, Rich was Vice President, Worldwide Marketing and Channel Sales for Kodak Gallery (formerly Ofoto) where he drove a 5x increase in revenue and customers, making it the leading online photo service with over 40M members. Before Kodak, Rich was Director of Marketing for Yahoo!'s Search and Directory, Classifieds and Local Media business segments.
Rich also helped launch Bigstep.com, a site building and ecommerce start-up for small businesses while Vice President of Marketing. Rich also held other executive marketing positions at companies such as Jamba Juice, Walt Disney and Pepsi-Cola where he managed marketing for a $340 million product portfolio.
Rich received a BA in Economics and Art, and his MBA from Duke University.
Michael Lipson
Executive Vice President
Michael Lipson, Executive Vice President focuses on corporate strategy, strategic alliances, business development, and new company initiatives for Razz. Lipson has over 25 years of deal making and financial management in the new technology and investment banking industries, and has helped launch several successful, high tech start-ups since the early 1990's.
Before joining Razz, Lipson co-founded M/Media Strategic Partners in 1993, a business consultancy and venture catalyst for early stage new media and Internet companies. While at M/Media, Lipson helped finance and launch dozens of Internet and digital entertainment companies including Total Entertainment Network (later renamed POGO and acquired by EA) funded by Kleiner Perkins, Internet Underground Music Archive (later acquired by Vivendi) where he served as interim CEO, and Paul Allen's Interval Research where he ran Business Development and Strategy for specific initiatives.
Lipson also served as the first President of the San Francisco Multimedia Development Group trade association and held the position as investment banker, for GE Capital for 8 years, where he financed leveraged buyouts ranging from $20 to $250 million.
Lipson has a BA in Economics from Union College and graduated from General Electric's Financial Management Training Program.
Mark McCabe
VP of Engineering and Product Development
Mark McCabe brings over 15 years of technology innovation and development experience to Razz, where he is instrumental in running all aspects of engineering and product development at the company. Prior to joining Razz, McCabe worked at Microsoft in the Windows Vista group, defining various aspects of the groundbreaking OS, such as the Vista hardware language, the new PNPx networking platform and the Bluetooth interface for syncing mobile devices.
Before joining Microsoft, McCabe worked for Casio where he built and managed the team that created MyCasio, the first mobile digital media device portal. While there he also implemented the first Adobe (formally Macromedia) Flash strategy on a mobile device, as well as launched the Atari Game Watch. McCabe also held the position of Creative Designer of start-up ePlanet, an Interval Research spin off, where he developed concepts for games and applications for such partners as Logitech, Intel, Disney and Kodak. McCabe also designed and built the first vision-based game environment for the PC while employed there. Previous to ePlanet, McCabe developed technologies in media identification (RFID), mobile computing and computer human interfaces for Interval Research, a Silicon Valley think tank focused on consumer technology.
McCabe has a degree in design and micro electronics from the University of East Anglia, a Bachelor degree in Product Design from the University of Wales, and a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art in London. McCabe has also filed over twelve patents in the U.S.
Tom Pepper
Director of Systems Operations
Tom Pepper has brought over 16 years experience as a software developer in the digital media landscape to Razz. Pepper is responsible for all infrastructure design, deployment, and maintenance.
Prior to joining Razz, Pepper held the position of Principal Systems Architect at AOL, where he created and managed SHOUTcast, the internet's most popular streaming music service, growing it to hundreds of thousands of concurrent listeners by 2004. This was the basis for the largest-scale streaming architecture ever to reach production and was extended to provide for all of AOL's streaming architecture, drastically reducing the company's streaming costs. Before that, Pepper founded Nullsoft, where he co-authored the groundbreaking MP3 player MacAmp/WinAmp and then sold the company to AOL.
Pepper was also founder and VP of Engineering at LightEdge Communications, the nation's first DSL provider and now the largest ISP throughout the Midwest. He also co-developed Gnutella, one of the Internet's most popular peer-to-peer file sharing technologies, and W.A.S.T.E., an encrypted peer to peer application meant chiefly for secure communication rather than file sharing.
Pepper earned his undergraduate degree from Iowa State University.
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Mayfield Fund provides "venture capital with impact" by partnering with exceptional individuals to create industry-leading companies. Mayfield has domain expertise in consumer Internet technology, communications/mobility and enterprise software. The firm has $2.4 billion under management and a team of eleven investing professionals. Since Mayfield's founding in 1969, the firm has invested in more than 470 high-growth companies, taken more than 100 public, and more than 150 have merged or were acquired. For more information, please visit www.mayfield.com. |
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Cardinal Venture Capital is dedicated to investing in early-stage software companies in four specific focus areas: Digital Media, Financial Technology, Mobility and Software-as-a-Service. By focusing all their efforts on a few areas they know really well, the Cardinal team has built up significant expertise and strong networks in these areas as well as a portfolio of market leading companies. When partnering with entrepreneurs the Cardinal partners bring all of this to bear as a hands-on partner helping entrepreneurs build a successful company. Cardinal balances the number of companies they invest in to make sure they can dedicate significant time and resources to your company. |
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Garage Technology Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. Our focus is on emerging technology companies on the West Coast. In other words, we're looking for "two guys/gals" in a garage who are building the next great technology company. For more information, please visit www.garage.com. |
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Greenpark Capital originally invested as Siemens Acceleration in Communications GmbH, which invests in early stage start-ups that focus on wireless applications and technologies for mobile communication. Greenpark is a dedicated purchaser of secondary private equity interests and advises funds in excess of $700 million, capitalized by major institutions form Europe, the US, the Far East and the Middle East. The management of Siemens Acceleration advises Greenpark from smac partners GmbH, Germany. For more information, please visit www.greenparkcapital.co.uk. |
Janice Roberts
Mayfield Fund, Managing Director
Janice Roberts has been a Managing Director at Mayfield since 2000. Janice invests in networking equipment, mobile communications and consumer-oriented companies. Her key investments include Peribit, Playfirst, QuickOffice and Mobile365. Prior to joining Mayfield, Janice built an early-stage investment portfolio for 3Com Corporation as president of 3Com Ventures. She also led 3Com's global marketing and business development operations as well as the company's Palm Computing subsidiary. Janice holds an honors degree in commerce from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Peter Levin
President, Bellrock Media, Inc., Managing Director, Sedona Capital, U.S.
Levin is a veteran of the entertainment and sports industries. Beginning his career in the mailroom at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Levin worked directly for the chairman and co-founder of the agency, Michael S. Ovitz, in the Corporate Advisory Group working with clients such as Matsushita Electric Industry Company, Sony, Nike, Coca-Cola and Credit Lyonnais amongst others.
In 1996, Levin joined The Walt Disney Company in the Corporate and Strategic Planning Groups and later joined Disney Online as a senior producer. Leaving Disney in 1998, Levin became managing director of investment and consulting vehicle, Lynx Technologies. Lynx's investments included Applied Semantics (sold to Google 4/03), Gamespy Industries (sold to IGN 12/03) and Ask.com (sold to IAC 3/05).
Prior to his position at Bellrock, Levin was co-founder, and remains a partner with Quattro Media. Levin serves on the Board of Directors of Double Fusion, Razz (formerly Phonebites), GamearraY and the Arena Football League. He is also on the Advisory Boards of Impact Mobile, MESoft, and The East/West Sport Summit. Levin is founder & co-owner of the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League and a partner in Palisades Baseball, which owns and operates three Minor League Baseball franchises.
Christian Borcher
Cardinal Venture Capital, Partner
Christian has been with Cardinal Venture Capital since its founding in 2000. Prior to joining Cardinal, Christian was an entrepreneur in Europe and an attorney with Scandinavia's largest law firm, specializing in M&A, restructurings and equity financing. He taught contract and property law at Copenhagen University, Faculty of Law, served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of Young Lawyers and remains admitted to the High Court of Denmark. At Cardinal, Christian focuses on Digital Media, SaaS and Mobility, and he is responsible for Cardinal's investments in Zoove, BlueRoads, DivX (NASDAQ-DIVX), Razz, Inc., PlayPhone, Wireless Security Corporation (acquired by McAfee, MFE) and Sonopia. Christian received his MBA from Stanford Business School and his Summa Cum Laude Masters and Bachelor of Law Degrees from Copenhagen University.
Jeff Malkin
Razz, Chief Executive Officer
Jeff Malkin is the CEO of Razz, Inc., a global publisher of entertainment software and services for mobile phones. Its proprietary mobile audio distribution channel, the RazzSM, offers content providers new revenue streams, while giving consumers the ability to mix their favorite audio content into their phone conversations. As CEO and co-founder, Mr. Malkin leads all aspects of the business, including business development, strategy, product development, operations, recruiting and financing. Prior to Razz, Mr. Malkin was CEO and founder of privately held FreeSamples.com, a research and analytics service provider for the consumer package goods industry. Founded in March 1999, FreeSamples.com raised $17 million in funding, led by GE Capital and Advance Publications. Mr. Malkin grew FreeSamples.com to be the leading online sampling and product research company in its category, with clients including The Proctor & Gamble Company, Unilever and Ralston Purina. Prior to FreeSamples.com, Mr. Malkin architected and built relationship marketing Web programs for high profile clients. As the founder of Cross-Eyed Visionaries, a web consulting firm, Mr. Malkin worked with clients on information architecture, strategic web deployment and designing and implementing Web-based customer acquisition and retention programs. He was also actively involved with technology and music in the "multimedia gulch", engineering many popular CD-ROM titles. Mr. Malkin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan.
Peter Read
Owner, President and Board Member, Entertainment Insights Ltd.
Peter currently runs and owns Entertainment Insights Limited, a data-driven advisory business helping clients to understand and anticipate entertainment trends, and to identify, plan, activate and evaluate entertainment partnerships. Clients include Samsung, Orange, Vodafone, MS Xbox 360, Universal Studios, Fox, Disney, Warner Bros, MTV, and many more. Peter furthermore serves on the Board of Directors of Music Nation and Mobix Interactive, and on the Board of Advisors of 10 digital media and entertainment companies. He has worked with numerous venture capital funds and their portfolio companies in the media, entertainment, communications and information sectors, and has served as an advisor to many renowned names in the industry.
Prior to Entertainment Insights, Peter ran the VNU/Nielsen Entertainment Information Group, a $7 billion Dutch information services company. Peter led VNU's acquisition of NRG (National Research Group), and served on the NRG board with responsibility for growth strategy and corporate development.
Steven M. Blumenfeld
Founding CTO, Razz
Steven is currently Chief Technology Officer at Current TV, the youth viewer-participation network created by former Vice President Al Gore. Prior to joining Razz, Steven most recently served as the Vice President of Technology at AOL Time Warner, where he was responsible for audio/video compression, media services, rights access, copy protection and technical due diligence for investments and portfolio companies. He also co-chaired the AOLTW Inventors' Forum, dealing with Intellectual Property Patents. Steven also served as the VP of Advanced Services for AOL where he was responsible for developing strategy and implementations for various media initiatives, including managing a team of media engineers. He has also been the VP and Chief Operating Officer of AOL by Phone, as well as the Chief Technology Officer of AOL's Spinner and Nullsoft (Winamp/SHOUTcast) division. When not designing technologies that are ahead of their time, Steven can usually be found rolling up the mileage on his road bike.
Kevin Bradshaw
Chief Operating Officer, PlayPhone
Kevin is one of the fathers of the wireless entertainment industry, having founded Digital Bridges in 1998. He brings to PlayPhone extensive experience with start-up ventures in the US and Europe, as a founder and senior executive. Prior to joining PlayPhone, Kevin participated in a series of successful wireless media ventures. As the CEO of Digital Bridges until October 2001, he pioneered the delivery of games and other entertainment services over wireless networks. In 2002 he founded mixipix, a wireless animation platform and content provider, which recently won its first deals with major European carriers. In 2003 he completed the founding team of Kayak Interactive a wireless entertainment publisher, and successfully steered the company through it initial build phase, managing product development and content distribution activities.
Kevin has chaired or spoken at most of the leading mobile entertainment conferences in the US and since the mobile entertainment market was created. He is also a regular speaker at E3 in Los Angeles, at the US and European Game Developer Conferences, JavaOne, CTIA, and most other events of note in the mobile and other entertainment markets. Kevin holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Christ Church, Oxford and a B.Sc. in Physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
John Burns
John Burns most recently served as the CEO, President and Member of the Board of Directors of Sonim Technology. In his role as CEO, he successfully positioned Sonim as the leading mobile VOIP application provider in the Wireless Industry. Burns joined Sonim from Acta Technology, where he was senior vice president of worldwide operations, responsible all customer facing and operational aspects of the business. He was instrumental in growing Acta from a start-up in 1998 to $30 million in revenue in 2001. Acta successfully merged with Business Objects, to form one of the leading business intelligence vendors in the industry. Prior to Acta, Burns was vice president, global sales for VXtreme, the leading provider of business video solutions for the enterprise, packaged and delivered through telecom service providers. VXtreme was successfully sold during 1997 to Microsoft as a core component of its "Streaming Media Initiative". Burns joined VXtreme from Madge Networks; a multi-service networking equipment provider focused on the enterprise and telecommunications markets, where he served as director, global accounts division based in Europe. Burns also held various sales and marketing management positions with NYNEX Business Information Systems Division and IBM Corporation. Burns earned a B.S. degree from Fairfield University.
Jonathan Epstein
Jonathan Epstein is president and CEO of Double Fusion, the leading independent in the in-game advertising space. Epstein has more than twenty years of experience in high-tech media and marketing. Prior to joining Double Fusion, he was co-head of the digital media group of United Talent Agency, where he worked in the gaming, mobile, Internet and advertising technology spaces. Epstein has built a significant track record of success in the gaming and interactive media spaces, having served as the founding president of leading gaming web site GameSpot, president of GameSpy, and EVP and general manager of IGN.com. He holds a degree in physical sciences from Harvard College. Epstein lives in San Francisco, and has two girls who need to be razzed from time to time.