Rick Gibson has had a 34-year career building businesses. He founded and co-founded several successful technology companies and has advised over (75) others. He is 56-years old. Since 2000, Rick has served as Managing Director of HOTventures, a "mentor capital fund" for the Southwest U.S., which invests in and advises fast-growth companies, specializing in Information Technology, BioSciences “light” and Media. As an investor and entrepreneurial activist, he’s totally immersed in early stage growth companies...finding them and making them great.
Rick is chairman of Octopi and on the board of MSDx. He has been an investor or advisor in: Regenesis, High Throughput Genomics, CopperKey, Beamz, BioWheat, Flypaper, FundingUniverse, Medipacs and Medsphere. He is a limited partner in Solstice Capital II (one of the largest venture capital funds in Arizona). Rick is treasurer and on the board of NACET (Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies), UA’s Arizona Center for Innovation (AZCI), Arizona State University's Technopolis and TiE-Arizona. He is on the Executive Board and Screening Committee of the Desert Angels and is on the Screening Panel and Executive Committee for the Invest Southwest Capital Conference.
Rick is a judge for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. He was the creator of "Entrepreneur's Resource Guide" for bizAZ magazine and a member of the Philanthropic Development Council of the Banner Alzheimer's Foundation. He was a guest instructor for the ‘Power of Angel Investing’ seminar and Workshop Panelist for Angel Capital Association 2008 Summit. For several years, Rick was Adjunct Instructor and then Practitioner Faculty for University of Arizona's Eller School Entrepreneurship Program, and served on the MBA Advisory Council. Rick is part of the ASU SkySong Global Investor Network.
Rick was an early shareholder in Bill Gross' Idealab and founded one of its first companies, E-Ticket Inc, which merged with the Nederlander Organization's RealTime Syndication Network to become FeatureCast Inc. Rick served as Vice-Chairman. FeatureCast secured the online license for and executive-produced: Fox's America's Most Wanted, Teen Magazine and National Enquirer. Rick participated in strategic planning with the ten original Idealab CEOs. Idealab is known for its creation and investment of several well-known technology companies including: Overture (was GoTo.com), United Online (was NetZero and Juno), Aptera, Internet Brands, CitySearch, Energy Innovations, eSolar, Desktop Factory, Picasa, Tickets.com, eToys and Evolution Robotics. [See http://idealab.com ]. 1998-2000, Rick was an advisor to the board of directors of Petersen Publishing, producers of 100+ magazines including Motor Trend, Hot Rod and Teen.
Rick co-founded GNP Development Corp and in 1986 they sold it to Lotus Development Corp for $10 million. In 1991, they co-founded Knowledge Adventure Inc, which in 1996 they sold to Cendant for $100 million. Knowledge Adventure became the world's largest children's CD-ROM edutainment software company, owned by Vivendi-Universal, known for its 'JumpStart' (15 million units sold) and ‘Blaster’ series.
1986 through 1991, Rick consulted to several software companies including Ashton-Tate, Que Software/Macmillan and SPSS Inc, and arranged sales of technology to Symantec, Microlytics and Paramount Publishing. Rick directed a division of Ashton-Tate and was Chairman of 4-5-6 WORLD, a direct marketer of Lotus products. Earlier, Rick directed national sales and or marketing and helped start or re-start: Fisher Corp, KLH, Ultralinear and Androbot Inc (the personal robot start-up by Nolan Bushnell, who founded Atari and Chuck E Cheese). Rick began his career as one of the first store managers for The GAP Inc, which now has over 3,000 stores including Old Navy and Banana Republic.
