Michael Jones (born August 13, 1975) is an American entrepreneur and investor, with more than $2.5 billion in exits. Jones has founded, advised and invested in numerous businesses, including Userplane, Tsavo Media, MoVoxx, People Media, Brizzly, and Myspace. Jones is currently the CEO of startup studio Science Inc. In 2017, Jones was named one of Los Angeles's 500 most influential people by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Video Michael Jones (entrepreneur)
Education
Jones attended Lake Oswego High School and has a bachelor of arts in international business and marketing from the University of Oregon where he was named Student Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997.
Maps Michael Jones (entrepreneur)
Business career
Early career
In 2001, Jones founded Userplane, a Los Angeles-based company that provides instant messaging and other applications for companies such as Myspace and Honda. In 2006, Userplane was acquired by AOL. In 2005, Jones began angel investing, primarily focused in the Los Angeles area. He has personally invested in more than 30 startups. In 2008, Jones launched Tsavo Media, an online media network company which was later sold to Cybernex for $75 million.
Myspace
In 2010, Jones was hired as the CEO of Myspace where he was tasked with the company's relaunch, one of the more high-profile turn-around challenges in the industry. This included stabilizing a historically negative traffic and user trend, reducing the operational cost of the business by nearly 90 percent, and pivoting the product from its legacy as a social network to a social entertainment destination, then selling the business on News Corp's behalf to SpecificMedia. Jones left Myspace in the summer of 2011.
Science Inc.
In 2011, Jones launched technology startup studio Science Inc. Science initially received $10 million in backing from a number of well-known investors, including Eric Schmidt's Tomorrow Ventures, among others. In its early stages, Science Inc. built various tech startups internally and offered support services to early-stage startups. Jones spent much of his time working with the companies' CEOs and investors on strategy, growth and business development. In 2011, Dollar Shave Club launched with investments from Science Inc. Science was Dollar Shave Club's first investor, before the startup raised a $1 million seed round in March 2012. Other startups that have come from Science include DogVacay, Hello Society, HomeHero, FameBit, Delicious, Playhaven, and Quarterly. His exits in 2016 include Science portfolio companies HelloSociety (acquired by The New York Times), FameBit (acquired by Google) and Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever). In 2017, Science Inc. launched its initial coin offering for its blockchain-focused incubator, Science Blockchain. It was the first incubator to do so.
Science Blockchain
In September 2017, Science Inc. announced Science Blockchain, an incubator focused on blockchain-based companies, funded through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The offering falls within U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) private placement exemptions from registration under Regulation D (SEC) and Regulation S. The ICO only allows accredited investors to buy tokens in the ICO. The ICO offering is being managed by The Argon Group, via its subsidiary Argon Investment Management LLC, under the Regulation D Section 506(c) exemption from registration issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Awards
Forbes' 25 Most Influential Kingmakers in Consumer and Retailer Companies
Fast Company's Most Creative People In Business 1000
Los Angeles Business Journal - Los Angeles's 500 Most Influential People 2017
TechWeek100
CryptoDaily Top 30 Cryptocurrency Innovators
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments