Rob Adams

Biography

Dr. Adams is an active investor, author and consultant, and a Sr. Lecturer in the Management department at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Adams is an active angel investor and is affiliated with numerous venture funds, several of which he started. Prior to the venture business, he was a software operating executive. Throughout his venture and operating career he has been a founding investor in more than 30 companies, including Waveset (sold to Sun, NASDAQ: SUNW), Newgistics, and Troux. Prior to his appointment at the University of Texas, Adams founded Tejas Venture Partners, the second venture fund he has started. Previously he was the founder of AV Labs, a successful early stage venture fund allied with Austin Ventures, starting it after being a partner with TL Ventures. Before entering the venture business, he was a technology executive for 18 years. He started his career with Lotus (NYSE: IBM), joining the company shortly after its public offering. Adams was instrumental in the development and launch of both 1-2-3 for Macintosh and Lotus Notes. He went on to be founder and CEO of Business Matters, a venture backed developer of financial modeling products and was an executive with Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW), a company he helped take public in 1997. Adams holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Purdue University, a Masters of Business Administration from Babson College's Olin School of Management, and a Ph.D. in Management from Capella University. He has taught at the MBA programs of The Acton School of Business, Babson College, University of Texas, and St. Edwards University. He is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on entrepreneurship, company and product strategy, marketing and technology issues. He recently keynoted the Inc. 500 business conference and consults for companies such as ATG, Mentor Graphics and Symantec. He has been covered in Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, Money, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, on Bloomberg Radio, Public Television, and public radio’s nationally syndicated “Marketplace” program. He is also the author of A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs (Random House/Crown, 2002), and is currently working on his next book, Market Advantage: The New Competitive Strategy. Adams is on the advisory board of Austin's Community Development Corporation, an organization that provides loans and assistance to small businesses in low and moderate income areas. He is a Fellow at IC2, a University of Texas based foundation that runs the Austin Technology Incubator, on the board of Purdue Research Park, and a volunteer with Austin's Habitat for Humanity. He is an avid skier and marathoner. He was a collegiate rower and graduated from the Marine Corps' Officer Candidate School.