Entrepreneur & Consumer Software Innovator
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- CEO at bunnybot.com
- Past
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- Partner at Sand Hill Angels, LLC
- VP Product Design at Brokerbot / xigo
- Technical Marketing Manager at Pictra, Inc.
- CEO at CyberPuppy Software
- Product Marketing Manager at Storm Technology
- Education
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- University of Oregon
- The Evergreen State College
- Recommended
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1 person has recommended Neill - Connections
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111
connections
- Industry
- Computer Software
- Websites
Neill Kramer’s Summary
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Neill Kramer currently resides in California.
After receiving his BA from The Evergreen State College and a Master's in Education from the University of Oregon in 1983, Neill worked for several years in the non-profit sector before starting a software company in 1992. Winner of the prestigious Codie Award - the software industry's Oscar - Cyberpuppy Software specialized in developing creativity and internet software for children.
Neill sold his company in 1994 to a Silicon Valley startup. He then continued to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, co-founding three additional startups until until his son turned two. At that point Neill became a stay-at-home Dad.
He returned to the software industry as an angel investor through Sand Hill Angels LLC as a partner in 2006. As a consequence of hearing entrepreneurs pitch their companies Neill was inspired to do another start-up.
Neill Kramer’s Specialties:
Neill tends to keep the novice user in mind throughout all aspects of a product's design.
Neill Kramer’s Experience
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CEO
bunnybot.com
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
August 2006 — Present (2 years 3 months)
Trying to grok the web 2.0 shopping space and make it more fun.
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Partner
Sand Hill Angels, LLC
(Partnership; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)
October 2005 — January 2007 (1 year 4 months)
Joined as partner. Currently on leave of absence.
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VP Product Design
Brokerbot / xigo
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
August 1998 — June 1999 (11 months)
Designed a user interface for real-time news and technical alerts for active stock market traders.
- Responsible for defining the web site and the feature-set for an interactive program trading and investment monitoring system.
- Co-author of two patent-pending user experience processes.
- Assisted in business development and raising a seed round.
- Managed a team of designers and programmers on site design and feature integration.
Patents Granted:
Leonard G. Raymond, Neill Kramer, Daniel R. Bornstein, and Jeremy J. Bornstein. "For financial trading system." Patent #AU7611200, published 2001-04-24.
Leonard G. Raymond, Neill Kramer, Daniel R. Bornstein, and Jeremy J. Bornstein. "For user interface for a financial trading system." Patent #AU7712200, published 2001-04-24. -
Technical Marketing Manager
Pictra, Inc.
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
August 1997 — May 1998 (10 months)
- Responsible for discovering new technologies and to consider how such technologies might work best for early adopters of digital photography.
- Coordinated the development of partner plug-in software that enabled partner customers to publish to PictraNet, an early web-based photo serving platform.
- Acted as Pictra's technical liaison to partners and priority accounts.
- Created demos that made use of new, emerging technologies. -
CEO
CyberPuppy Software
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)
October 1992 — August 1997 (4 years 11 months)
Founded CyberPuppy with the idea of making kids creativity software way better. In 1994 we won the Codie Award for Best School Productivity / Creativity Program from the Software Publishers Association for our first product, Kid's Studio.
In 1994 we sold the product to Storm Technology.
- Responsible for all phases of the business.
- Co-creator and producer of an innovative communication program for children, PigMail. Licensed PigMail to Elliott Portwood Productions, creators of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego."
- Obtained an Affiliate Partner Label relationship with Maxis, creators of SimCity and other top-selling software. Licensed Kid's Studio to Keisoku Giken, for Japanese localization.
- Licensed Kid's Studio to Hearst New Media and created a new version of the product, Imaginator, for release as a KidSoft title.
- Managed a small team of engineers and designers.
- Raised capital to fund product development. -
Product Marketing Manager
Storm Technology
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
March 1994 — February 1995 (1 year)
Sold a children's multimedia software creativity product (Kid's Studio) to a larger startup and served as Product Marketing Manager.
- Managed the production of various components of Storm's line of photoware products, including Kid's Studio and EasyPhoto. Facilitated product design meetings; managed the interface between marketing and engineering teams; coordinated product release schedules with the sales group.
Neill Kramer’s Education
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University of Oregon
M.S., Education, September 1981 — June 1983
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The Evergreen State College
B.A., Liberal Arts, 1978 — 1980
Produced and directed a video documentary of the creation of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA.
- Activities and Societies:
- Member, Evergreen Foundation Board, 1996-1997
Additional Information
Neill Kramer’s Websites:
Neill Kramer’s Interests:
photography, film, writing, gardening, walking along a beach
Neill Kramer’s Groups:
Sand Hill Angels LLC, thefunded group
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On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs -
Documentarians
Neill Kramer’s Honors:
Software Publishers Association -- Codie Award 1994 - Best School Productivity / Creativity Program
Neill Kramer’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- new ventures
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
