Overview

 

FundingUniverse matches qualified entrepreneurs with active banks, investors, and other funding sources across the United States.  We provide services that make an entrepreneur Investor or Bank-ready.  Prepare your company for bank or investor scrutiny with our LenderReady Analysis, InvestorReady Analysis, or our LenderPrep Report services.  

Once prepared, these entrepreneurs are introduced to the appropriate financing source:  a network of active investors & lenders who rely on FundingUniverse to save them time by bringing them qualified business deals.  Through FundingUniverse, investors and banks have access to pre-screened dealflow organized to their investment preferences via our LenderMatch and InvestorMatch technologies, and our highly-popular pitching events (CrowdPitch, IdeaPitch, SpeedPitch, and BankPitch). 

 

 

History

In late 2004, serial entrepreneur Paul Allen and attorney David Bradford were troubled by the fact that there was not an easy way for entrepreneurs to connect with angel investors.  Determined to find a solution, they asked current FundingUniverse CTO Trent Miskin to create a web-based solution.  Miskin's efforts lead to the first version of FundingUniverse. 

In September 2005, Brock Blake joined the FundingUniverse team and assumed the role of CEO, leading the company to its current status as the nation's leading connector of entrepreneurs and investors.

 

Quick Facts

• Investors and angel groups that use FundingUniverse.com have access to thousands of quality business plans and, in some states, video proposals called VideoPitches.
• FundingUniverse.com provides users with educational podcasts, 10,000 company histories, sample business plans from successful startups, and hundreds of pages of resources and tips for entrepreneurs and investors.
• Brock Blake, FundingUniverse CEO, has been voted to the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, also known as the v|100.  In addition, Mr. Blake has been selected as one of the Top Forty under 40 businessmen in Utah.
• Headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, 10 miles south of Salt Lake City.
• Phone:  888.558.5751

 

Board of Directors

Alan Hall, Partner at Mercato Partners

A co-founder and managing director of Mercato Partners, Alan E. Hall brings deep understanding and expertise around channel sales, marketing strategy and sales execution.

Prior to founding Mercato Partners, Alan E. Hall was founder and CEO of MarketStar Corporation, an outsourced global marketing and sales organization which helps thirty of the world’s largest high technology companies generate billions of dollars in revenue from the small to medium business space. After selling MarketStar to Omnicom (NYSE:OMC) in 1998, Alan assisted Omnicom management in acquiring channel sales businesses nationwide. Alan is the founder Grow Utah, a non profit organization which fosters entrepreneurial development and co-founder of Junto Partners, an education initiative to help mentor aspiring entrepreneurs. He is currently the chairman of the Utah Technology Council; a member of Wells Fargo’s community advisory board; and a founding board member of the World Trade Center Utah. Alan has been honored as the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the 2009 Mountainwest Capital Network Entrepreneur of the Year. Alan received a B.S. from Weber State University and an MBA from Brigham Young University's Marriot School of Management..

Brock J. Blake, Chief Executive Officer FundingUniverse

Brock Blake is the CEO of FundingUniverse, Inc.  His primary role with the company is to lead the strategy and execution of the FundingUniverse team.  The company was established in 2005 to help make the angel investing and small business financing industries more efficient by increasing the amount of completed deals across the nation.  Blake also co-founded KnowMarketing LLC, an online referral business network, in 2004.  

Blake has received several awards of recognition on behalf of the FundingUniverse team including the #2 Startup to Watch Award from Business Q Magazine and Utah Technology Council’s 2007 Emerging Executive of the Year.  At age 24, Blake was recognized by Utah Business Magazine as one of the Top 40 Under 40 business professionals in Utah, and his peers selected him to vSpring Capital’s v100 list in 2006, 2008 and 2009.  

Blake speaks regularly at national entrepreneur conferences and seminars, and he currently serves on several advisory boards including the Utah nonprofit organization LaunchUp, the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum, Launch Magazine, Brigham Young University’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and Weber State University’s Entrepreneurial Society.  He graduated from Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management in Entrepreneurial Finance and played semi-professional soccer for the BYU Cougars when they won the 1999 Collegiate Club National Championship.  Blake is married and has two children.   

Levi King, President of FundingUniverse

As President of the Company, Levi is responsible for the day to day management of FundingUniverse, including underwriting, production, operations, funding fulfillment, customer service, and sales.  Levi has extensive experience working with small businesses to diagnose risk and in designing paths that lead towards establishing a secure business model.  His primary expertise lies in serving as the daily driver of the business with oversight of people, data, processes, and systems.  In the course of his career worked with business owners in nearly every state and major city in the nation.  His expertise in mitigating risk of failure extends past underwriting conducted pre-funding, as he is also an expert in determining whether the financial and marketing plan that will be followed by the business upon acquisition of financing will truly deliver satisfactory results measured by new profits for the business.  Levi earned a BS in Business Management from Western Governors University.  

Alexander C. Lawrence, Partner of FundingUniverse

Alex has an proven track record of starting, growing and selling large scale, high growth businesses.  Prior to joining FundingUniverse, Mr. Lawrence was the Founder and Managing Partner of LC Management, a multi-industry holding company founded in 1998.  LCM was invested in a variety of startup, growing and mature businesses from several industries, including (but not limited to) international franchisor, venture capital firm, consumer technology, internet software, commercial real estate development, franchise restaurant chain, and other minority equity ownership interests in LLP’s and LLC’s.  Alexander also has successfully exited three previous ventures (technology, franchise and multi-state chain) and is a current Board Member at his Alma Mater and three privately held companies.  Alexander has been included by Utah Business Magazine as one of their “top 40 businesspeople under the age of 40”.  Mr. Lawrence teaches a class on Entrepreneurship at his Alma Mater and also writes a column on entrepreneurship for one of the largest newspapers in the State.  He maintains a healthy blog following at www.TheEntrepreneursBlog.com and on Twitter @AlexanderLaw.  In the past, Alex has served on the board of several local and national entrepreneurial organizations.  Alex has a BS in Business Management as well as a Masters Degree (MBA).

Rich Ferguson, Chairman of the Board -- FundingUniverse

Rich Ferguson, Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of FundingUniverse, has 10 years experience owning and operating small to medium size businesses. He offers his extensive expertise in consulting with small business owners in all aspects of business development, operations, leadership, marketing, sales, funding, and finance. Rich sold his first company in 2004 after growing it to become the largest service provider in its industry, with over $12,000,000 in annual revenues. Through practical experience gained in running, investing in, or selling a variety of businesses in different industries, Rich brings valuable experience to the leadership team.  He volunteers his time with a local SCORE chapter to offer no-cost coaching services to local entrepreneurs.

 

Advisory Board

T. Craig Bott, President/CEO of Grow Utah Ventures

Craig Bott has provided senior level management advice and council on strategy, marketing and management to hundreds of emerging and expanding businesses throughout the western United States. He directed Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneurial Management consulting services and owned and operated his own successful consulting business for many years. He has served in a variety of senior operational positions at such companies as Franklin Covey, MarketStar as well as the Utah Governor’s Office. He has operated and led numerous companies in the areas of software technology, consumer electronics, services, and most recently wireless broadband. He has helped numerous businesses raise investment capital, design product and operational strategies and implement successful marketing and sales campaigns.

Paul Allen, Co-Founder of FundingUniverse, CEO FamilyLink.com

Paul Allen has founded several companies in the consumer content and social space. He was the Founder and CEO of Ancestry.com in 1997. He also launched MyFamily.com in 1998, which became the fastest growing community site of its time. After an initial stint as CEO, Allen focused on internet marketing and strategy for several years, helping Ancestry.com become one of the leading content subscription sites in the world. In 2002, Allen founded 10x Marketing, an internet marketing agency that was sold to Innuity in 2005. In 2004, he started FundingUniverse.com, a fast-growing company that helps entrepreneurs through venture consulting. Since 2007, he has been 100% focused on his new company, FamilyLink.com. He graduated from BYU with a degree in Russian in 1990. He is suffering from a serious addiction to his Blackberry, iPhone and Amazon Kindle.

Bill Payne, Entrepreneur-in-Residence Kauffman Foundation

William H. (Bill) Payne is an entrepreneur and angel investor, and serves as entrepreneur-in-residence with the Kauffman Foundation. Payne founded an electronic materials company in 1971, which was sold to DuPont in 1982. Payne currently is involved with four early-stage companies and serves on the Board of the Vegas Valley Angels. He has been active in the San Diego Tech Coast Angels, the Chairmen’s RoundTable, the San Diego Social Venture Partners, and the Aztec Venture Network. Since the early 1980s, Payne has made angel investments in 30 early-stage companies and served on the Boards of a dozen, adding up to more than 120 years of Board experience for private companies and nonprofit organizations. As entrepreneur-in-residence since 1995 with the Kauffman Foundation, Payne’s most recent projects include the development and delivery of a full-day seminar on angel investing and his work as an entrepreneur editorial advisor for eVenturing. Payne started his career working in engineering positions for two Fortune 1000 companies. He earned his engineering degrees from the University of Illinois. He and his wife, Ann, reside in Henderson, Nevada.

Greg Warnock, Mercato Partners

Greg Warnock is a co-founder of vSpring Capital, a regional venture capital firm with over $200 million under management.  Mr. Warnock was the Coordinating Managing Director from inception through 2004.  The firm’s first fund has emerged as a top decile performer.  At the invitation of Mr. Hall, Mr. Warnock has transitioned to a founding role with Mercato Partners.  Mr. Warnock is recognized as one of the most prolific regional angel investors.  Mr. Warnock believes in the power of entrepreneurship and working with entrepreneurs.  In June of 2006, Mr. Warnock was honored with the Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award at the Ernst & Young Special 20th Anniversary Gala Event.

Rick Gibson, HOTventures  

Rick Gibson has had a 31-year career building businesses. He founded and co-founded several successful technology companies and has consulted to over (45) others. Since 2000, Rick has served as Managing Director of HOTventures, a "mentor capital fund" for the Southwest U.S., which invests in and advises early-stage companies. He is also a limited partner in Solstice Capital II (one of the largest venture capital funds in Arizona) and on the Executive Board and Screening Committee of the Desert Angels.

 

David Bradford, Co-Founder of FundingUniverse, CEO Fusion-IO

David Bradford is the Chief Executive Officer of Fusion-io which has developed what many have hailed as the "World's Fastest Storage Device."
Mr. Bradford brings nearly 30 years of experience in technology leadership. He is a proven business leader who has used innovation and foresight to play a significant role in shaping the expansive growth of the world of Information Technology. From 1985-2000, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Novell, Inc. the world leader in computer networking software. Mr. Bradford helped lead Novell from start up through a series of acquisitions, public offerings and business development activities which led to its place as a multi-billion dollar corporation. His responsibilities at Novell spanned four different divisions including Legal, Government Relations, Business Development and Security. During his last three years at Novell, Mr. Bradford reported to Eric Schmidt, now Chairman and CEO of Google.

From 2001 to 2008, Mr. Bradford was actively engaged in a variety of work including serving as a Partner with one of the Top Ten Law firms in the Country, Greenberg Traurig, as General Counsel of Dynix Corporation, the world's leading supplier of Library Software, and as General Counsel to the Governor Elect of Utah, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. Additionally, he served as CEO, Founder and Advisor to multiple Web 2.0 and social networking companies. Mr. Bradford has also been very active in the private equity markets and continues to serve as a Senior Advisor to Huntsman-Gay Equity Partners.

Mr. Bradford has been honored as the Alumnus of the Year from the Brigham Young University Law School and served as Chairman of the Business Software Alliance, the world’s largest coalition of software companies. He has a Law Degree from Brigham Young University, a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brigham Young University.