The DaVinci Institute

We help turn people with limited resources and determination
into successful entrepreneurs.
An intensive professional workshop produced by the DaVinci Institute

Bootstrap Boot Camp Team Bios

Michael Blakeman	Michael Blakeman - Founder and CEO of Land Info International since 1992. Land Info’s successes to date include taking the company to a worldwide industry leader with international offices in Russia and Germany and India. The company has manufactured one of the world’s largest digital maps archives. Land Info has accumulated a customer base of over 3,500 customers in 20 international countries serving commercial markets, and domestic and international governments. Domestic customers include: United Nations, USGS, USFS, US Army, Bechtel, Flour Daniel, Roy Weston, and Microsoft, International customers in China, Mexico, Europe, Middle East, Asia and South America. After 8 years of self-funding, in 2000, Mr. Blakeman successfully finalized the acquistion of Land Info by a multi-national $500M company called “The Mehta Group”. The Mehta Group’s portfolio of companies are located in the Middlle East, Africa, India, Europe and Asia. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1980 with a BS in business marketing. Since then, Mr. Blakeman gained national recognition and awards as a marketing executive, developing high level B-B business marketing campaigns. In 1996 and 1998 the company was awarded as recognition awards for product ingenuity and development from the Denver Business Journal. Mr. Blakeman has been a member of The Executive Committee (TEC) an organization of local CEO’s. In 1997 via affilition with TEC, Mr, Blakeman was one of 90 Entrepenuer CEO candidates selected from a over 5,000 CEO’S recognized for their achievements.
Pat Engstrom President and CEO Knowledge Factor	Pat Engstrom is President and CEO of Knowledge Factor and has over 30 years of experience in executive management and technologies, including building two start up Internet companies from the ground up. Knowledge Factor was informally launched in September 2000, in Boulder, Colorado, with a primary focus by its founding members on developing processes, tools and systems to create effective and engaging learning content for delivery over the Internet. Knowledge Factor founders took the approach that the Internet is a "new media" which requires a different set of tools to 'engineer content' in order to make web-based delivery effective.
Chris Wand Principal Mobius Venture Capital	Chris Wand is a principal at Mobius Venture Capital. He joined the fund in August 1999 as an associate partner in the company’s Colorado office. Before joining the fund, Mr. Wand was the director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at one of the firm’s portfolio companies, MessageMedia (formerly known as First Virtual Holdings). At MessageMedia, Mr. Wand was an integral part of the company's series A through series E private equity fundraising efforts, initial public offering, acquisition of four private companies, and SEC compliance. He was also instrumental in the transformation of its business from being the first secure Internet payment system to being a leader in the email messaging services industry. Prior to MessageMedia, Mr. Wand was a management consultant at LEK Consulting, where he focused on mergers & acquisitions advisement and general strategy consulting to Fortune 500 clients in a variety of industries including high-tech, media and entertainment, communications, OEM electronics, industrial products and agri-business. Mr. Wand holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University. When he's not advising portfolio companies or evaluating new potential investments, he can be found hiking or skiing (depending on the season) in the mountains of Colorado. He also enjoys playing with new electronic gadgets and power tools.
Kirk Holland Principal Vista Ventures	Kirk Holland has broad operating experience in business development, sales and marketing, engineering, and operations with companies such as Procter & Gamble and Sprint Corporation. He was also an investment banker in U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray’s Internet and Enterprise Software Group, where he was involved in equity offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Kirk was a Vice President at internet.com Venture Funds, where he led several software and information technology investments. Kirk received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington and an MBA from Stanford University.
Robert Bearman Attorney Patton Boggs	Robert Bearman has practiced corporate and securities law in Denver, Colorado for approximately 25 years. He is a member of the business law group and has been involved in structuring, drafting and negotiating securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and numerous other business transactions. His practice focuses on counseling emerging growth companies with formation, financing, executive compensation, acquisition and strategic alliance, and corporate governance issues. Mr. Bearman represents clients across a broad range of industry groups, including bio-technology, network marketing, real estate, software, and telecommunications. Before joining Patton Boggs, Mr. Bearman was a partner with Bearman Talesnick & Clowdus Professional Corporation, a corporate and securities boutique firm he co-founded in 1983. Mr. Bearman has represented emerging growth companies in numerous private and public securities offerings. Mr. Bearman has also been active as counsel in a large number of merger and acquisition transactions. He has provided a full range of corporate legal services including: business counseling, drafting contracts, advice regarding choice of entity in business formations, litigation management and negotiating acquisitions and dispositions of companies. Mr. Bearman also counsels clients on a wide variety of securities matters, including: preparation of 10-K's, proxy statements, insider statements and other Exchange Act reports, assistance with news releases and general disclosure issues, private placement documentation, and registration statements.
Preston Brennan Senior Marketing Consultant Y2 Marketing	Preston Brennan is a senior marketing consultant with Y2 Marketing. Y2 marketing is the nations fastest growing marketing consulting and fulfillment services firm in the nation. They were recently ranked #41 on INC Magazine's list of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies. The success of Y2 Marketing is due to their results driven marketing system based on a new paradigm of marketing which actually makes sense and produces dramatic results for small and medium sized companies. After starting and running several successful businesses over the past 15 years, Preston realized that his real passion was starting and growing businesses but not the daily routine of running them. He found the perfect vehicle for his passion with Y2 Marketing, where he is able to help other businesses grow by creating and implementing powerful marketing systems.
Chris Browne Senior Marketing Consultant Y2 Marketing	Chris Browne has over 20 years experience working with hundreds of small businesses in the areas of marketing and advertising. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, Browne started a software company serving newspapers advertising and marketing staff. He currently owns a marketing consulting firm and direct mail marketing business.
Thomas Frey Executive Director The DaVinci Institute	Thomas Frey is one of the nations leading experts on the process of launching new businesses and new technologies. As the Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute he has helped dozens of inventors and entrepreneurs work through the process to launch their products. Tom is also an internationally recognized futurist, author, and public speaker. His specialty is the future of technology and its impact on business and society. He is a 15-year veteran of IBM where he received more awards than any other engineer - over 270. His leading edge presentations have captivated people throughout the business world, including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, and many more. Tom is the author of "Inventions of Impact" and has written numerous articles on a wide range of futurist topics. He has also been a contributing writer for The Futurist Magazine and is the producer of the Impact Lab emerging technology eZine. During the past 16 years, Tom has launched 16 different businesses.