Jeff Scheinrock

Biography

Jeff Scheinrock learned about entrepreneurship at an early age, primarily watching his parents manage their own electrical engineering business. Working for large companies post college graduation was not to his liking, so he started own accounting company. “I realized that if you wanted to make more, you worked harder — the outcome was in my hands and I liked that. I guess I’m a risk taker.”

A registered CPA, Scheinrock is currently the president and CFO at Originate, which invests capital and elite engineering talent and startup expertise into high-potential opportunities. The company, the result of a 2010 merger between Scheinrock Advisory Group and Originate Labs, builds products that define the future, utilizing expertise that includes software development (mobile, Web, embedded), strategic consulting (turnaround, product development, market research), and fundraising.

His initial connection with UCLA Anderson was as EMBA faculty advisor in 2006. The following year he developed a class in business plan development before becoming a continuing lecturer in 2013 and faculty director of the Business Creation Option program for entrepreneurs. He was recently appointed faculty director of the Applied Management Research field study program, a role he credits with “learning the most about business and primary research that I now apply to my daily business.”

Scheinrock is a former member of GKM Newport Generation Funds, a fund of funds that manages in excess of $950 million for investments into venture capital funds and private equity buyout funds. Prior to founding Scheinrock Advisory Group in mid-1997, he served as vice chairman, chief financial officer and director of Kistler Aerospace Corporation, where he formulated the capital raising plan and all documents, successfully raising $350 million in equity. From 1989 to 1996, Scheinrock served as vice chairman of finance and strategic planning for Packard Bell NEC Electronics Inc., where he negotiated equity investments from Groupe Bull and NEC, and set up operations throughout Europe and Asia, successfully negotiating tax incentives from the different countries. He has also negotiated in excess of $1 billion in bank debt and $3 billion in trade credit from companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Tatung, Lite-On, Seagate and others, and handled the negotiation and structuring of all acquisitions, including Zenith Data Systems and Ark Interface Software.

Early in his career, Scheinrock was senior partner in charge of the entrepreneurial services group of Arthur Young and Company’s Los Angeles office, prior to joining Packard Bell NEC, a company he is credited with increasing sales from zero to $7 billion in six years. He has extensive experience in international financial markets, corporate finance and capital structure, acquisitions and strategic investment.

He is co-author of the book The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know, which offers information on how to build companies that continually adapt to the “real world.”

Education

B.S., University of Southern California