William Quigley joined Clearstone Venture Partners (formerly idealab Capital Partners) shortly after its formation and concentrates on its Internet, Gaming and Communications related investments.
William’s current portfolio reflects his belief in the enormous opportunities in the consumer Internet, wireless and enterprise markets (Xfire.com, Titan Gaming, AOptix Technologies, SoonR, Meru Networks, Novariant). He is also focused on emerging companies offering managed services in the enterprise and consumer sectors (Communicado, Spock Networks). William is a member of the board of directors of AOptix Technologies, Meru Networks, Novariant, SoonR, Xfire and Evertune.
William joined Clearstone from Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds, where he invested in early- stage Internet and communications companies. Prior to MAVF, he was the chief financial officer of Disney’s merchandise licensing division, the world’s largest licensor. Before Disney, he was a consultant with Arthur Andersen where he worked with media entertainment and banking clients.
William grew up in the Bay Area and came down to LA to go to college (USC). After leaving Disney in the early 90′s, he got an MBA (Harvard) and became a venture capitalist. His firm, Clearstone Venture Partners, has been making investments in consumer and enterprise companies for 10 years.
Andy Abramson is the founder of Comunicano, Inc., a 20+ person asymmetrical communications consultancy, geared to providing clients with Senior Advising, Marketing Communications, Corporate Communications and Marketer-In-Residence services to start-ups, companies in transition and established brands with regard to influencer relations, marketing, advertising, public relations, social media, promotion, events and reputation management in the technology, consumer products and business to business markets. In the last 10 years 27 of his agency’s clients have exited, with three IPOs. Some of the acquiring companies include Google, eBay, Yahoo, Nokia, Cisco, IBM, Citrix Online, Computer Associates, Symantec and Logitech.
For 14 years Andy was Ken Rutkowski’s co-host on KenRadio’s World Technology Roundup and remains an active blogger with both VoIPWatch and Working Anywhere, two blogs that focus on emerging communications and the virtual workplace.
