Spartan Ventures is a strategic venture capital partnership firm with a focus on fast-tracking​ value for creative entrepreneurs and innovative products. Combining the perceptive vision and awareness of our seasoned team, we identify strengths in businesses that meet unmet consumer needs and then act as investors that​ add real value​. We ​provide ​both capital and business expertise to decrease risk, enhance product development and secure successful exit(s). Spartan​ ​Ventures fills an important funding gap ​for ​businesses of all sizes, making investments of time, money and high-level consultation over the life of an investment. The firm has collaborated with more than 30 seed or early-stage companies, nearly half of which have already realized successful exits, such as acquisitions, IPOs, partnerships and other liquidity events.
Reg Lapham is a seasoned entrepreneur and dedicated "deal maker" who consults and invests time and capital in projects that have vision and that inspire positive change.
Having established several successful ventures across a span of market spaces, Reg seeks creative, collaborative and innovative opportunities, regardless of the business sector – "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." He is an accomplished executive with proven skills in strategic vision and tactical business plan execution with valuable expertise in strategy, financial management and developing and growing high-performance work groups in a myriad of settings.
Most recently, Reg co-founded a now publicly-traded bio-pharmaceutical drug development company, Nemus Bioscience, Inc. (NMUS), which is actively engaged with numerous departments at the University of Mississippi with it's research and development lab located at the Insight Park Innovation Hub. He is committed to continuing to build his friendships and relationships within Ole Miss and desires to become more of a force for positive economic change in the state of Mississippi as a whole.
For many start-up's, Reg has been ultimately responsible for fund-raising, investor relations, overseeing all financial aspects of the business, identifying strategic partners, growing the management team and managing legal and regulatory compliance.
Before exiting the constraints of "Corporate America" as a full-time entrepreneur over 15 years ago, Reg consistently proved himself as a leader and valuable asset for companies such as The Goldman Sachs Group, Kiewit Corp., McCaslin Development Co. and Eckland Consultants, Inc. Reg is highly regarded as an effective negotiator with "intuitive instinct" who has built and managed large scale, multi-faceted projects on a national and international basis. He is recognized as a high-performance leader dedicated to excellence and outstanding communication.
He is also a proud supporter of Mississippi Development Authority, MS Society, Second Harvest Food Bank, Collette's Children's Home, Food Allergy Research & Education, Project Self Sufficiency, American Heart Association, Heal The Bay and Wounded Warriors to name a few.
Reg has been received the California Senate Certificate of Recognition for commitment to the safety and well-being of our community, a County of Los Angeles Commendation in recognition of dedicated service to the affairs of the community and for the civic pride demonstrated by numerous contributions for the benefit of all the citizens of LA County and a Long Beach Police Dept. Certificate of Community Service for voluntary acts of bravery in response to the protection of human life and property.
Kirk Coburn
Kirk Coburn is an entrepreneur and start-up advocate who founded three successful companies before starting SURGE Ventures, the leading seed stage venture fund and mentor-driven accelerator focused on enabling entrepreneurs to solve the world's energy problems.
Under Coburn's leadership and direction, SURGE has partnered with a few of the world's leading energy companies including Air Liquide, Aramco, Baker Hughes, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Pioneer, Schlumberger, Shell, Siemens, and Statoil and recruited more than 200 industry-leading scientists, investors, policymakers, customers, and entrepreneurs. SURGE has raised four funds and invested in 43 early-stage energy tech startups in its first four years. SURGE Alumni have raised more than $40 million in funding, generated similar amounts in customer revenue, and created over 200 jobs. In September 2014, SURGE won the inaugural Growth Accelerator Fund competition sponsored by the US Small Business Administration and has been consistently ranked as one of the top accelerators for entrepreneurs.
Prior to leading SURGE, Coburn created and was CEO of Chief Outsiders (acq. 2010), a Houston-based company with offices in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and New York. Chief Outsiders was named the #6 Fastest Growing Company in Houston, and was noted as one of Inc's 5000 fastest growing companies in the US in 2014. Prior to Chief Outsiders, Coburn launched The PGA TOUR Network on Sirius XM (acq. by SIRI). He remained CEO for four years from launch to successful acquisition.
Outside of work, Coburn and his wife are among Texas' most active angel investors. Coburn serves as an ambassador to the Texas Children's Hospital and is a supporter of the Rice Alliance. He is an ultra-endurance runner (completed the Leadville Trail 100), active standup paddle boarder in both Galveston and Nantucket, competitive golfer, and a seventh-generation Texan. He spends his free time indulging in these activities with his wife and children.
@kirkcoburn (twitter)
linkedin.com/in/kirkcoburn
surgeventures.com/
•Air Liquide
•Aramco
•Baker Hughes
•Chevron
•ConocoPhillips
•ExxonMobil
•Pioneer
•Schlumberger
•Shell
•Siemens
•Statoil
•Ambassadors of the Texas Children's Hospital
•Donor to St. Francis Episcopal Day School
•Donor to Kinkaid
•Houston Technology Center
Rob Chandler
Rob Chandler has a diverse background in commercial real estate. He began his career at a national firm focusing exclusively on investment sales. From there he was recruited to run the investment sales division of a large real estate firm where he later became a partner. Rob has been hired to dispose of assets for Fortune 500 companies and multiple financial institutions.
Rob began buying commercial real estate assets in 2004. Since then, he and his partners have acquired and developed many incoming producing assets. He has also managed, asset managed and leased their assets. Rob's primary duties are sourcing new deals, overseeing the construction of his projects, financial analysis and securing debt. Rob and his wife Jeannie reside in Houston with their two children.
•Immunization Partnership
•St Francis Episcopal Church
•MD Anderson Cancer Center
•Jr League of Houston
•Memorial Assistance Ministries
As the President of retail mortgage at Bridgeview Bank Mortgage, Todd is always looking for ways to grow, both professionally and personally. His goal is to surround himself with motivated industry leaders, expand his business, and better himself in everything that he does. He has launched new offices all across the nation and is constantly looking for top-producing loan originators/loan originating teams to add to his highly motivated staff. Throughout his career and personal life, he has always valued leadership. It is what allowed him to succeed in his education at West Point and in his trade. He expects all of his staff to possess strong leadership characteristics and to have a firm grasp on the information necessary to get their jobs done. Bridgeview Bank Mortgage can help those interested achieve a higher level in their professional careers, as well as provide many benefits.
Bridgeview Bank Mortgage provides the benefits of a small mortgage correspondent with the backing of a large, federally insured bank, and provides access to all of the major mortgage products at competitive prices. We utilize a highly innovative online marketing platform, which generates as many as six new loan inquiries per day / per LO. These inquiries are delivered real time to the LO; our LO's are able to focus on sales without the time-consuming aspects of processing because of our great operations system. We at Bridgeview are unblemished in the market, play to LO strengths, and cater to them to produce more.
Kevin Roe
Kevin Roe is an entrepreneur and executive with a diverse background in finance, technology, international business and real estate and is currently an investor and Director at Uplogix.
Kevin joined the three founders of Uplogix in 2005 in pre-funding, start-up phase and has helped raise venture capital for the company and provides leadership in sales, product, and marketing strategies. Since joining, Kevin has led sales and marketing and has grown the organization to a multi-million dollar leader in the technology software and hardware space. His management expertise has been critical in building a global footprint for the company fostering relationships and driving sales in the Americas, UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia.
Kevin built his foundation of sales and executive leadership technology roles at large, blue chip public companies Dell Computer, BMC Software and BEA Systems (acquired by Oracle). He brings a unique perspective to the entrepreneurial world having been involved in both small, start-up and large, multi-national technology companies. He has traveled to or done business in over 75 countries giving him a lifetime of experience in the international marketplace.
Prior to entering into the technology space, Kevin earned his degree in Finance and Spanish from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Starting his career in the Corporate Lending Group at Wells Fargo, he built his base of knowledge in investment banking, treasury and risk management and business lending analysis. He moved from Wells to a boutique Securities and Investment firm (acq. by Washington Mutual) where he earned his securities licenses and proficiency in strategic investing and private wealth management.
Kevin is also founder of Boulder Ventures, a Real Estate firm with assets in Texas, California, Mississippi and Central America. The Company invests in both residential and commercial assets and has tripled in growth over the past three years by leveraging favorable capital markets and a conservative asset allocation approach.
Kevin is an angel investor with a diverse portfolio of investments in the Oil and Gas, Technology, Real Estate, Social Media and Medical industries and is also an active advisor for early stage companies.
•Citigroup
•Standard Charter
•South African Police Services
•Enbridge Energy
•St. John Vianney Church
•Houston Area Parkinson Society
•Wellsprings Village, Inc.
•Wounded Warrior Project
•AIDS Foundation, South Africa
•Cade R. Alpard Foundation
Steve Roe
Mr. Roe joined Gordian in 2013 and is responsible for overseeing the sales of Gordian's portfolio of solutions. Mr. Roe serves to expand current business and tap new markets within the construction procurement and information technology industry. Mr. Roe is a 20-year sales veteran with prior sales and sales management experience at TransUnion, SAS®, and PTC® and IBM. He holds a BBA in Finance and minor in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He has advised multiple startups. He is also the co-founder of an early stage start up based in Denver. He has filed for multiple patents and has experience bringing new products to the market. He lives in Denver with his wife and four kids.
•Kikscore
•Achvr
•MapVida
•Nemus
•Ekso Bionics
•Epilepsy Foundation
•Parkinson's Foundation
•St. Thomas More
•Regis Jesuit
•Gabby Krause Foundation
Chris Gandolfo
Chris is a seasoned sales leader and technology executive with a strong background working with Fortune 500 enterprises, small businesses as well as pre-revenue start-ups.
Chris currently runs a sales division for Oracle in the Western US and is responsible for revenue generation, go to market execution and overall customer satisfaction for over 2,000 customers. He oversees a sales team of over 100 sales professionals in both field territories and inside sales.
Chris began his software career with CA, Inc., where he led sales teams in Texas and California. He was often called on to assist the executive staff on projects such as Strategic Forecasting and Sales Strategy and Execution. He was routinely recognized for his team's standout sales performance and was known to have a unique blend of sales, finance and operational skills. Chris was also the Chief Sales Officer for [24]7, Inc., a leading provider of analytics based customer support operations. During his tenure at [24]7, he was able to work with leading executives of some of the world's largest B2C brands by integrating predictive analytics into their customer experience operations.
Chris is also no stranger to entrepreneurial endeavors. He is a foundation investor in Nemus Bioscience, Inc., and also launched Pacific Street Ventures in 2012 to consult with companies on best practices for software go to market strategies. Chris also co-founded, Finny, a parental engagement platform that is the first mobile solution that turns screen time into learning moments. Targeted to 7-14 year olds, Finny monitors unproductive device usage and interrupts by triggering a custom quiz. Whether reinforcing traditional academic subjects or introducing new topics, the content library contains over 15,000 questions across a range of categories (Math, Science, Current Events, etc.). Through a comprehensive dashboard, parents can customize settings, receive real-time report cards, and gain visibility into their child's device usage.
Before entering the workforce, Chris spent 2 years at the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was a member of the Army Football team. Before his junior year, he transferred to Vanderbilt University where he completed his undergraduate studies with a double major in Economics and Human & Organizational Development. After moving to California, he completed his MBA degree at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Chris currently resides in Santa Monica, CA with his wife Jessica, his son Braxton, and his dog Rocky.
•Oracle
•CA
•[24]7
•finny
•Catholic Relief Services
•Disabled American Veterans
•Claris Health
•St. Monica's Catholic Church
Geoffrey Coy
Geoffrey Coy is a strategic and inspirational leader with 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical, small molecule and medical device industries. Geoffrey has broad commercial experience in marketing, sales leadership and sales operations across organizations ranging from early phase start-ups to Fortune 500. Throughout his career he has been recognized for maximizing organizational talent, reigniting sales divisions as well as leading brand functions to include life cycle plans, market research and strategic and tactical planning.
Currently, Geoffrey is the Director of Integrated Health at BTG International where he has national responsibility for leading quality, cost and clinical pathway initiatives with organized customer groups to include Integrated Delivery Networks, and Integrated Hospital Systems.
•GlaxoSmithKline
•Sunovian
•Camp Sunshine
•St. Jude
•First Frisco United Methodist Church
•American Heart Association
Jon David Cunningham
As a seasoned chief executive and management/financial consultant, Jon David "JC" Cunningham has over 20 years of hands-on experience in launching new businesses, building organizational infrastructure, diversifying revenue lines and growing overall enterprise value for founders, shareholders and employees.
He has deep knowledge and skills in the areas of business & financial strategy development, entity structure design, deal structure creation, and M&A related negotiations. JC specializes in start-up, high growth and turnaround companies that are going through or preparing for outside debt or equity funding rounds & other M&A transaction activities. He is also a veteran start-up employee, executive, founder, and shareholder. JC is currently the Founder & President of several of his own start-up businesses providing services to clients ranging from management & financial consulting to marketing & graphic/web design: Jon
David Group, Jon David Consulting and Jon David Creative. Prior to founding his current businesses, he helped launch and remains a current shareholder in Dairy.com, a successful B2B/SaaS company, where he served as Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer for over 14 years. Before Dairy.com, he served on the executive management team in the Dallas, Texas, office of Arthur Andersen & Co. JC's objective is to work with innovative and energetic professionals driven by a passion to aggressively and wisely grow and diversify a business that provides a unique and valuable service or product to its customers and industry. He is a proponent of disrupting the status quo for the greater good. JC is motivated to continually learn new skills and expand his knowledge and areas of competence. He is a strong believer in teaching, encouraging, and learning from those around him. JC endeavors to invest himself in a mission committed to bringing needed change within a challenging environment. He also desires to work with individuals that value honor, courage, genuineness, determination, service, creativity, optimism, high character and respect for all people regardless of role or position.
•Jon David Consulting
•Jon David Creative
•Jon David Group
•Dairy.com
•Arthur Andersen & Co.
•Wayuu Origins Company
The Heart of Spartan
American Heart Association, AIDS Foundation, South Africa, Ambassadors of the Texas Children's Hospital, American Heart Association, Baylor Alumni Association, Baylor University Hankamer School of Business Scholarship Fund, Cade R. Alpard Foundation, Camp Sunshine, Catholic Relief Services, Claris Health, Collette's Children's Home, Disabled American Veterans, Epilepsy Foundation, First Frisco United Methodist Church, Food Allergy Research & Education, Gabby Krause Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Heal The Bay, Houston Area Parkinson Society, Houston Technology Center, Immunization Partnership, Jr League of Houston, Memorial Assistance Ministries, Keep A Breast Foundation, Kinkaid, Long Beach Memorial Miller Children's Hospital, Long Beach Police Officers Association, Long Beach Rescue Mission, Make-A-Wish Foundation, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Mississippi Development Authority, MS Society, National Brain Tumor Society, National Collegiate Cancer Foundation, National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Parkinson's Foundation, St Francis Episcopal Church, Project Self Sufficiency, Regis Jesuit, Second Harvest Food Bank, St. Francis Episcopal Day School, St. John Vianney Church, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, St. Monica's Catholic Church, St. Thomas More, The Red Cross, Waking The Passion, Walk With Sally, Wayuu Origins Company, Wellsprings Village, Inc., and Wounded Warriors
I have known Reg Lapham for quite some time now and I have found him to be an extremely engaging, active listener and an extremely organized servant leader. He makes checklists and executes – he reverse engineers to help find solutions by actively listening to people and company's problems that need to be solved. He constantly moves the ball forward, and would be someone that I would always recommend to anyone or any company having difficult issues to solve. As an aside, but important, as I have gotten older and wiser from both successes and failures (learning much more from my failures and never going to be done learning!) – I trust my 'gut' and intuition, as, without a doubt, I strongly know he is a solid guy with strong integrity and a moral background. Lastly, he possesses a drive and passion that will serve in making the journey to any solution that much more efficient and less bumpy!
— Todd A. Rustman, CFA, CFP, CLU | Clarity Capital Partners, LLC —
I find him to be a shrewd businessman that always does what he promises to do, a man of his word. He is very passionate about the projects he undertakes and holds no effort to make them succeed. I can't think of a better person to have a business relationship with than Reg.
— Mahmoud A. ElSohly, Ph.D., BCFE, BCFM | National Center for Natural Products Research —
Working with Reg has always been a real pleasure as well as a great learning experience. Reg has a curious mind, is an active listener and learner, is highly intelligent, and has also been extremely generous with his business development knowledge. It is nice to work with people who can apply knowledge so adeptly like Reg. I also love being able to learn so much from experts like Reg.
From the very beginning, I knew that Reg was an excellent person and through many years of working, that feeling was constantly verified by his conduct and consideration. When I first met him, he let me know that it might take some time to get back to me, but he did.
Reg has a very warm and personable manner that is sincere and genuine. Some smart people like to constantly prove it while others like Reg, prefer to focus on doing the right thing and are more concerned with the teamwork and actual progress than taking credit. I find this characteristic so refreshing and invigorating in a business person and friend.
Reg is a great guy and the type of person who instills a lot of loyalty and friendship. When you work with Reg, you really, really want to go the extra mile for him.
— Daniel R. Kimbell, Esq. | karish and Bjorgum, PC —
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Mental toughness is Spartanism, with all its qualities of self-denial, sacrifice, dedication, fearlessness, and love.
— Vince Lombardi —
reg.lapham@spartanventures.com
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