Marco Thompson

Current

• Advisor at American Wave Machines
• Board Member at Benchmark Revenue Management
• Visiting Lecturer at Rady Business School at UCSD

• Chairman & Founder at Connect Sport Innovators
• Chief Technology Officer at Wind River Services
• Chairman at Auto Point
• Managing Partner at Express Ventures
• Mentor & Member at Chairmen's Roundtable
• Board of Advisors at Rosum
• Board of Advisors at Profitline Inc
• Vice Chairman at CONNECT
• CEO at Heli-Ski San Diego
• Advisor at Philometron
• Board of Advisors at Qthink

see less...

11 more...

Past

• Board of Advisors at Nextivity Inc.
• Board Member at SkyClix
• Board Member at Eyespot

• Board Member at Nextivity Inc.
• Board Member at GiftFlix (Defunct)
• Board Member at MIT Enterprise Forum - San Diego
• Board Member at UCSD Connect
• Chairman & President at San Diego Telecom Council
• Founding Board Member at Xsilogy
• President, Services Division at Integrated Systems
• Founder & CEO at Doctor Design
• Engineering Manager at Syte Information Technology
• Engineering Manager at Megatek
• Programmer at Breck Research
• Writer at Solar Energy Digest

see less...

12 more...

Education

• University of California, San Diego

Recommended

43 people have recommended Marco

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Venture Capital & Private Equity

Websites

• Connect Sport Innovators
• Express Ventures
• Connect

Marco Thompson’s Summary

Serial Entrepreneur & Startup Financing Junkie
marco.thompson (at) windriver.com
>>> twitter: marcosandiego <<<

1 CTO at Wind River Services - for 25 years

2 Chairman of Action & Sport Innovators (ASI) - Serving Entrepreneurs and Innovators building great Action Sports, Sporting Goods, and Apparel companies in Southern California

3 Managing Partner @ Express Ventures assisting San Diego based "pre-Series A" entrepreneurs by providing funding and focused assistance in preparation for a successful S' A funding from a venture fund. Express has made 8 such investments.

Criteria:
$500K - $1Million
Southern California based
Technology deals - No life sciences
Wireless, Internet, SAAS, Comms
Ready to pitch VC within 6-12 months
Strong Team

Our "EV I" Portfolio:
Certona - (Neural "recommendation engine" for etailers) www.certona.com
MaintenanceNet (IT Channel Services Sales & Renewal)
www.maintenancenet.com
Eband Comms - (multi-Gigabit Wireless fiber) www.e-bandcom.com
Nextivity - (enhanced indoor coverage)
www.nextivityinc.com
Genalyte - stealth
Benchmark Revenue Management - (Revenue Cycle tools for hospitals)
www.benchmarkrevenue.com

Partner: Joe Markee brings extensive experience in company formation, capital raising & corporate management. Founder, CEO and Chairman Copper Mountain Networks, a carrier supplier whose market cap exceeded $1 billion. CEO of Figure 8 Wireless, acquired by Chipcon and then TI. Boards of Certona, Genalyte, MaintenanceNet & Eband, in addition to Dot Hill Systems (HILL) and Metalink, LTD (MTLK).

Marco Thompson’s Specialties:

Action Sports
Sporting Goods
Lifestyle Apparel
Online Sports
Set top box
Semiconductor
SAAS
Web 2.0
Web based video
Wireless
Mobile
Engineering management
Venture Funding
Angel
Cell Phone
Embedded Software
Team Sports
Individual Sports
Surfing
Skateboarding
Snowboarding
Wakeboarding
Skiing
Sports Marketing
Sports Retail
Sporting Goods
Apparel & Fashion
Company Formation
Angel Financing
Venture Financing

Marco Thompson’s Experience

• Advisor

  American Wave Machines

  (Sports industry)

  January 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)

  American Wave Machines has developed the first true standing wave surf pool - SurfStream. Using patented technology, this attraction provides the most sought after surfing experience – “the long ride.”
  
  SurfStream accomplishes this in a compact area, without the need for a large surge tank. SurfStream is an open river of water. Standing waves form up and away from subtle bottom contours, but don’t travel towards a shore or boundary. Less space is needed to create great waves. Because the water moves at natural gravity-fed river speed, it is safe to have several people in the stream at once – even riding right next to each other. This significantly increases throughput, capacity, and fun!
  
  The AWM team is comprised of engineers and hydraulics modelers who have worked in the water amusement industry for nearly two decades. SurfStream is the culmination of a development effort to finally bring the popularity and fun of surfing to the waterpark industry as an affordable attraction.

• Board Member

  Benchmark Revenue Management

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Hospital & Health Care industry)

  January 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)

  Benchmark is here to help hospitals become more efficient and more effective through administrative efficiency gains facilitated by our technologies. We achieve this goal by:
  
  Getting management all of the information available in their organization to make effective choices
  
  Getting management the tools to easily act on that information, and then effortlessly follow-up
  
  Giving the workers a system that empowers them to be more effective while automatically complying with the optimum work task flow at all times.
  
  Ensuring our clients fully utilize the power of their solution
  Guaranteeing results.
  
  In short, our mission is: Client Success, Guaranteed.

• Visiting Lecturer

  Rady Business School at UCSD

  (Education Management industry)

  2007 — Present (2 years)

  I have had the pleasure of Lecturing in Entrepreneurship at the Rady School of Management at UCSD a couple of times each year.

• Chairman & Founder

  Connect Sport Innovators

  (Sporting Goods industry)

  September 2007 — Present (1 year 11 months)

  Founder of the first San Diego based non-profit focused on the Action Sports and traditional sporting goods industries. The focus of the organization, which is being incubated inside of Connect, is to assist in the formation and growth of innovative firms in the region.
  
  Active participants in the group include the leading action sports brands, golf brands, sporting goods brands and apparel brands,
  
  The group is independant of any single force, and instead is a community effort to build what the industry needs.

• Chief Technology Officer

  Wind River Services

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; WIND; Computer Software industry)

  January 2006 — Present (3 years 7 months)

  I've been doing this job since 1984, but I changed the start date so that it would show up higher in my linked-in summary...
  
  Wind River Services is the "Embedded Engineering" Services arm of Wind River. Projects span the field from digital video set top boxes to high resolution video cameras to portable consumer gadgets... Anything that needs embedded software...
  
  Wind River Services provides software and hardware engineering services for technology companies developing complex consumer and industrial products...
  
  Wind River in 2000 acquired my company, Doctor Design, the leader in Embedded engineering Services.
  
  I work out of the San Diego office on a part time basis.

• Chairman

  Auto Point

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Automotive industry)

  December 2005 — Present (3 years 8 months)

  Since 2004, Auto Point has been developing the first generation of complete lifecycle and retention services for automotive retailers. Providing a combination of cutting edge software with lightning quick digital fulfillment and support, the Auto Point solution will complement and enhance all of the dealers profit centers. For additional information about Auto Point contact Jim Roche at (760) 613-3982 or visit: www.autopointsite.com

• Managing Partner

  Express Ventures

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

  June 2005 — Present (4 years 2 months)

  Express Ventures invests in "Pre Series A" ventures in San Diego. We make investments in technology firms in the wireless, software, communications, networking, web and internet space.

• Mentor & Member

  Chairmen's Roundtable

  (Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Professional Training & Coaching industry)

  June 2004 — Present (5 years 2 months)

  The Chairmen’s RoundTable is a non-profit volunteer organization comprised of successful Chief Executive Officers with diverse industry backgrounds who provide businesses in San Diego County advice on how to manage and grow their businesses through a well-defined mentoring program. CRT members provide this service free of charge to qualified area businesses as a way of giving back to the community.
  
  http://www.chairmensroundtable.com/

• Board of Advisors

  Rosum

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

  2003 — Present (6 years)

  For enterprises and government entities that suffer from the limitations of GPS, Rosum provides seamless indoor/outdoor location technology that is rapid, available, and accurate. Rosum TV-GPS integrates signals from existing commercial TV towers with signals from GPS satellites to support positioning in all environments.
  
  Rosum designs, builds, and markets the chipset, software, and hardware components of the Rosum TV-GPS system. Rosum TV-GPS can be used to support a broad array of applications including People Tracking, Mobile Resource Management, Public and Personal Safety, Homeland Security, Asset Tracking, and VoIP E9-1-1.
  
  Rosum was founded by Dr. James Spilker, the co-architect of GPS, and Dr. Matthew Rabinowitz, an expert in high-precision navigation systems. Jim and Matthew deeply understand the inherent limitations of GPS, and they established Rosum to address those limitations. Jim's GPS co-architect, Dr. Brad Parkinson, is a member of Rosum's board of advisors.

• Board of Advisors

  Profitline Inc

  (Telecommunications industry)

  2002 — Present (7 years)

  ProfitLine serves Fortune 1000 enterprises and government agencies.
  
  ProfitLine is the leading provider of outsourced telecom expense management solutions for large enterprises and government agencies. ProfitLine's seasoned telecom experts combine deep domain expertise and Six Sigma principles with intelligent technology to deliver clients substantial savings, operational efficiencies and enhanced visibility to mission critical telecom assets. Our technology enabled Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions allow clients to offload a non-core competency and gain robust business intelligence so they can better navigate today's complex telecom landscape.
  
  Solution Description:
  TLM 360™, is the most comprehensive, source-to-pay solution in the market.
  TLM Sourcing™ - Contract benchmarking through negotiations
  TLM Mobility™ - Mobile device management
  TLM Wireline™ - Wireline service order management
  TLM Invoice™ - Invoice processing, audit, verification and payment

• Vice Chairman

  CONNECT

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Fund-Raising industry)

  January 2002 — Present (7 years 7 months)

  CONNECT is the globally recognized public benefits organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by catalyzing, accelerating, and supporting the growth of the most promising technology and life sciences businesses. www.connect.org

• CEO

  Heli-Ski San Diego

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Sports industry)

  January 2002 — Present (7 years 7 months)

  I organize the worlds best Heli-ski and Heli-Snowboarding trips to the best lodges in Canada. My guest list includes over 100 of the top executives of the technology and venture industry, who still have the skill and guts to challenge themselves on the worlds best powder terrain in Western Canada

• Advisor

  Philometron

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Medical Devices industry)

  September 2001 — Present (7 years 11 months)

• Board of Advisors

  Qthink

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Semiconductors industry)

  2001 — Present (8 years)

  Through our extensive experience in advanced Constraint-DrivenTM design methodologies, leading EDA tools, IP integration, libraries and deep sub-micron fabrication technologies, we partner with clients to deliver their new products to market faster.
  
  We offer full front-to-back IC design services to clients in the following markets:
  
  High Speed Networking
  Wired and Wireless Communications
  Multimedia
  High Speed Computing
  Medical
  Military
  
  With design centers and offices in San Diego and San Jose, California, Austin, Texas, and Bangalore, India, QThink has successfully completed almost 200 complex design projects in leading-edge technologies, including 8 current and completed projects in 90nm, and 35 in 130nm with TSMC, UMC, Chartered, and IBM foundries. QThink’s mantra is ON-TIME and ON-SPEC; quite simply, QThink doesn’t miss schedule and spec commitments.

• Board of Advisors

  Nextivity Inc.

  (Privately Held; Telecommunications industry)

  September 2007 — May 2009 (1 year 9 months)

  Nextivity is a San Diego "stealth" company in the wireless business.

• Board Member

  SkyClix

  (Wireless industry)

  December 2006 — November 2008 (2 years)

  SkyClix lets consumers get the information they want, when they want it. Using the ubiquitous mobile phone, consumers can dial #SKY (#759), hold the phone near a speaker and get connected with advertisers, stations and music.
  
  SkyClix' mission is to make interaction with radio & TV as easy as clicking a mouse - by dialing a single number, #SKY, consumers can click-through to advertisers, radio stations, and music. A free, ad-supported mobile service that enables consumers to:
  
  communicate with radio or TV stations – mail the DJ, enter contests, etc.,
  
  link with radio & TV advertisements - get coupons or advertiser contact information, etc.,
  
  identify content like songs or TV shows – purchase ringtones, full-track music downloads, etc.

• Board Member

  Eyespot

  (Internet industry)

  September 2007 — October 2008 (1 year 2 months)

  More video personalization applications & services than any other offering - uploader, galleries, players, mixing studio, moderation, monetization, mobile & more - all conveniently bundled for easy integration and use.
  
  All the tools & services you need to make video a bigger part of your site & profitability. From access to 400,000+ videos - to the sophisticated video mixing studio & viral marketing best practices. Increase user loyalty with The Personalization Suite.

• Board Member

  Nextivity Inc.

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  June 2006 — September 2007 (1 year 4 months)

  Nextivity is a San Diego "stealth" company in the wireless business.

• Board Member

  GiftFlix (Defunct)

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Consumer Goods industry)

  January 2006 — January 2007 (1 year 1 month)

  Stored Value card for the gift giving industry. DVD movies delivered...
  
  Sold thru 5,500 retail outlets during XMAS 2006

• Board Member

  MIT Enterprise Forum - San Diego

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  2000 — 2005 (5 years)

  San Diego MIT® Enterprise Forum utilizes current established companies with revenues higher than 500,000 a year as case studies.
  
  A company is chosen from a pool of applicants and given the opportunity to stand before a panel of industry veterans and a room of 200 San Diego business men and women and present their company.
  
  Each case study focuses on a particular aspect of the presenters company. Through facilitated discussion by both panelists and audience criticism, praise, and suggestions are made. The format allows for an entertaining and interactive environment, giving everyone something to walk away with.
  
  Real Companies. Real Issues. Real Feedback.

• Board Member

  UCSD Connect

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

  1999 — 2005 (6 years)

  The Connect Organization, listed elsewhere on this profile, was originally part of UCSD Extension.
  
  www.connect.org

• Chairman & President

  San Diego Telecom Council

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  2001 — 2003 (2 years)

  CommNexus San Diego, formerly the San Diego Telecom Council, is a non-profit network of communications industry companies, defense industry companies, service providers, professional trade organizations, and local government.
  
  By introducing both national and international markets to the emerging technologies in our region, CommNexus positions San Diego as a world center for innovation in communications technology. Our core programs and on-line services, which include over 50 networking and technical events per year, funding & business development assistance to more than 100 companies annually, and an award-winning website & on-line portal, have formed a vast communications community in the San Diego region that is constantly growing.
  
  www.commnexus.org

• Founding Board Member

  Xsilogy

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Industrial Automation industry)

  1998 — 2001 (3 years)

  Company sold to SYS Technologies in 2005.
  
  Early pioneer in wireless sensor networks, applied to the water and waste water monitoring business.

• President, Services Division

  Integrated Systems

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; INTS; Computer Software industry)

  January 1996 — January 2000 (4 years 1 month)

  Integrated Systems was one of the two leading Embedded Software Tools and Platforms providers in the late 1990's and was merged with Wind River to create the dominant industry player in 2000. I ran the services division, which comprised the Doctor Design group in San Diego.

• Founder & CEO

  Doctor Design

  (Design industry)

  October 1984 — December 1999 (15 years 3 months)

  Doctor Design started in my Garage in 1984, and I built the company, without external financing, into a $50,000,000 Embedded Engineering Services firm.
  
  I sold the firm in 1996 to Integrated Systems (INTS), and then merged with Wind River in 2000.
  
  Doctor Design, through excellence in Project Management and deep hardware, software and systems engineering skills established a reputation as the "go-to" organization for complicated embedded engineering projects that had to be done on time and on budget.
  
  Our customers included AMD, Intel, Samsung, Mitsubishi, DirecTV, Phillips, Thomson, Sony, IBM and many more.
  
  Established expertise in Set Top Box development, digital video, ASIC development, embedded software, embedded operating systems...

• Engineering Manager

  Syte Information Technology

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

  June 1982 — October 1984 (2 years 5 months)

  Designed Computer Workstations, including 32 bt processor, networking, Object Oriented OS, Graphics processor hardwarei

• Engineering Manager

  Megatek

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Hardware industry)

  June 1977 — June 1982 (5 years 1 month)

  Designed High Performance Graphics systems. Microprocessor, Logic, Memory, Bit Slice Design, Microcode, Graphics algorithms...

• Programmer

  Breck Research

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Defense & Space industry)

  1976 — 1977 (1 year)

  Worked on top secret navy hardware at the EDATL lab at Navelex / NOSC / NELC.
  
  Wrote Fortran & Cobol program in support of Crypto, Fire Control & other programs, using AN/UYK-20 CPU.

• Writer

  Solar Energy Digest

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)

  1973 — 1973 (less than a year)

  I wrote a few articles for Solar Energy digest (under the name Jeff Thompson) in my youth.... I think the technology finally has legs 35 years later !!!

Marco Thompson’s Education

• University of California, San Diego

  BSEE , Electronics, Software, Communications , 1975 — 1979

  Worked almost full time during my years at UCSD. Managed to spend a little time on campus too !! I was lucky to be accepted to this great school before they tightened up the entrance requirements !! A great 4 year engineering education which prepared me well for life in the real world of technology.

Additional Information

Marco Thompson’s Websites:

• Connect Sport Innovators
• Express Ventures
• Connect

Marco Thompson’s Interests:

Heliskiing, Wakeboarding, Hockey, Snowboarding

Marco Thompson’s Honors:

Lifetime Achievement Award / Technology, San Diego Business Journal - Technology Executive Awards, April 2008

UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering - Alumni of the year 2003

( video http://rpvss.ucsd.edu:8080/ramgen/jsoe/Thompson.rm )

UCSD Alumni Association - Distringushed Service Award - 2005

Induction Hall of Fame for Engineering, Science & Technology 2003

www.hofest.org

http://www.itiworld.org/hofest1/Telecom/ThompsonM01.htm

Top 20 People in Technology in San Diego - Nature Magazine 2003

Gray Cary (DLA Piper) Technology Supporter of the Year 2003

Speaker - Gilder Telecosm 2003

Marco Thompson’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch