Investor, advisor, resource and deal-guy. Introductions and strategic relationships.

Rick Gibson has had a 35-year career building businesses. He founded and co-founded several successful technology companies and has advised over (75) others. He is 59-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, Material Science and Media. As an investor and entrepreneurial activist, he’s totally immersed in early-stage growth companies...finding them and making them great. Rick’s been involved with several companies that have had liquidity events.  Rick has served as an expert witness regarding technology business cases.

Rick has been an investor, advisor or board member in: Avisere, Beamz, The Book Patch, Bourque Industries, CopperKey, DisImpact, Flypaper, Funding Universe, GridCoNet, High Throughput Genomics, LifeBot, Medipacs, MedSphere, MDS VetInfo, MojoVideo, MoonDust Technologies, MSDx, Octopi, Real Time Companies, Regenesis, Sokikom, StrongWatch, Worldwide Wheat and Kind Vines. He has been a limited partner in Solstice Capital II (one of the largest venture capital funds in Arizona) and is a shareholder in Bill Gross’ Idealab.

In Tucson, Rick served on the Executive Board and Screening Committee of the Desert Angels and on the board and is mentor-in-residence for UA’s Arizona Center for Innovation (AZCI). For several years, was Adjunct Instructor and then Practitioner Faculty for UA’s Eller School Entrepreneurship Program, and also served on the MBA Advisory Council.

In Phoenix, Rick has been on the board of Arizona State University's Technopolis and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, an instructor for both the LaunchPad and LaunchPrep entrepreneurship programs, and a mentor for ASU TechBA, coaching companies from Mexico. He is on the Executive Committee and Selection Panel for the Invest Southwest Capital Conference. He was creator of "Entrepreneur's Resource Guide" for bizAZ magazine and a member of the Philanthropic Development Council of the Banner Alzheimer's Foundation.

In Flagstaff, Rick is on the Executive Board of Directors and is the Treasurer of NACET (Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology) and is also a mentor.

Elsewhere, Rick is a Coach for FundingPost and has been a judge for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, and on the Angel Capital Association’s National Collaboration Committee. He is also on the selection committee for the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor Conference. He was a guest instructor for the Power of Angel Investing seminar for Angel Capital Association 2008 Summit.

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 (acquired by Yahoo), 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 (almost $400 million in annual revenues), owned by Vivendi-Universal, known for its 'JumpStart' (20 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.