Global Technology Symposium Silicon Valley

Ian Sobieski

Since August of 1997, Dr. Ian Sobieski has co-directed the Band of Angels, an exclusive group of high-net worth individuals who were also former officers or founders of many of the high technology companies that made the Silicon Valley famous. Since its inception, the Band has invested approximately $180M into 220 startup companies. Of these, more than 40 have exited for a profit to Band of Angels investors and 9 have had Nasdaq IPOs; generating a +53% IRR and more than 4,000 jobs.

Ian has been a founding partner in three venture funds totaling $65M in capital. He is currently helping invest the Band Acorn Fund, which invests in entrepreneurs with focused strategies for building enterprise value and either exiting or becoming profitable on the Fund's sole investment. His previous two funds were focused on seed round financings as stepping stones to larger VC rounds. Ian has managed more than eighty direct investments and has served on twenty boards of directors. Seven of his seed investments have exited for a gain via M&A including SeaDragon Software, Quorum Systems, and Ordinate Corp. Two of his seed investments have gone public; Genitope Corp in 2003 and PortalPlayer in 2004.

Ian has a Ph.D. and MS in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, and a philosophy BA as well as a BS in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech. He is a founding board member of the Angel Capital Association and is a member of the Young Venture Capitalists Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the National Ski Patrol Alumni Association. He is the author of a dozen technical publications and is a former lecturer in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

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