Rob Adams
Listen to Rob's podcast.
Credentials:
- Director of the McCombs School of Business's Moot Corp at the University of Texas
- Founder of Business Matters, AV Labs, Tejas Ventures
- Formerly an executive at Lotus and Pervasive Software
- MBA, Babson College; B.S., Purdue University
Rob Adams is a straight talking, no-nonsense entrepreneur, a graduate of the Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School who understands the meanings of courage, honor, and integrity. He knows the physical toughness and mental strength it takes make tough business decisions under pressure.
Rob began his career as a technology executive at Lotus, where he helped launch Lotus 1-2-3 for Macintosh and Lotus Notes. He left Lotus to found Business Matters, a venture-backed developer of financial modeling products and later helped take Pervasive Software public in 1997. Rob later served as a partner at TL Ventures before joining Austin Ventures as a partner to found AV Labs, a successful early-stage technology accelerator.
Rob is a nationally recognized expert on start-ups and has been covered in Forbes, Fortune, Money, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, on Bloomberg Radio, and public radio's nationally syndicated Marketplace program. His straight talking approach to business is revealed in his book, A Good, Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs (Random House/Crown, 2001). Rob is currently working on his next book, Market Advantage: The New Competitive Strategy. Rob sits on the advisory board of Austin's Community Development Corporation, is a Fellow at IC2, which runs the Austin Tecnology Incubator, and is a volunteer with Austin's Habitat for Humanity.