Steve Crane
Principal, Client Liaison

Steve has worked as an entrepreneur, CEO and venture investor in the Los Angeles area for over thirty years. Since 2000 he has invested in and joined the boards and management teams of numerous startup and emerging growth companies. 

He is best known for his work with CorpHQ Inc., a publicly-traded venture incubator. Formerly an Internet destination for small business, he reacquired the company in 2000, then reorganized, recapitalized and built it into one of the most successful incubators in Los Angeles during the period. From 2001-2009 the company built seven companies, taking two public. During that period, CorpHQ generated seventeen consecutive quarters of revenue and earnings growth. 

After taking the company private, he continued his work in venture finance with the surviving entities until 2016 when he formed The Primrose Group. Steve originally co-founded CorpHQ in 1993, as the Internet’s first business-to-business portal for independent workers, and the first precursor to today’s “gig economy”. Under his leadership, the company grew rapidly, went public and consolidated into a larger publicly traded Internet company in late 1999. 

Steve has also played a leadership role in high profile small public company advocacy efforts. He was a member of the NASD’s OTC-Bulletin Board Best Practices Committee in 1999; co-founded The CEO Council, a Washington DC-based advocacy organization in 2002; and testified before White House staff and Congressional Members on Small Business Capitalization in 2003-2004.

 

Gregg Davis
Principal, Investor Liaison

Gregg has spent the last decade building and investing in high-performing startups in the health and wellness, consumer product, retail, beverage and hi-tech industries. He’s a trader (equities, futures, and options) and a previous investment banker with over 20 years experience in the small- and microcap markets in the United States and Europe.

From 2001 to 2009, Gregg was a Principal and served as the Executive Vice President of CorpHQ, a publicly traded venture capital and business accelerator, where he managed business development and investor relations operations. During this time, he also advised portfolio company management in a number of critical areas including building sales teams, developing business prospects, mergers and acquisitions, and investor relations. Gregg was also instrumental in launching portfolio company Safeguard Technology International, Inc. 

Prior to his tenure with CorpHQ, Gregg was a partner with Source Capital Partners, a boutique investment firm, which specialized in equity investments in public companies, private placements and investor relations campaigns. Prior to that, he placed IPO and private placement funding for regional brokerage firm Chatfield Dean and Co., where he successfully created a network of investors in over 10 countries. Gregg previously owned and operated the worldwide licensing for Roller Hockey International, signing 85 major licensees with guarantees of over $2 million. For 10 years, he owned and operated GD Fitness Corporation, which provided fitness and wellness programs to corporations in the greater New York area. Gregg graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.
 
 
Ken August
Legal
https://augustlawgroup.com 
 
During his career, Ken has participated as legal counsel in transactions having an aggregate value of more than $2.5 billion dollars. He has served as an Adjunct Professor both at Whittier Law School, teaching in the area of corporations and securities law, and for the University of California at Irvine Graduate School of Management on general legal issues impacting business professionals. He has lectured extensively in the areas of international business and financial transactional law, including for the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County in 2006, and was a contributing author on international mergers and acquisitions in the book The Art of M&A, published by Dow Jones-Irwin in 1987. He was a Founding Member of the College of Fellows of the Centre for International Legal Studies, headquartered in Kitzbühl, Austria, and has served as a Director for the Singapore American Business Association (Southern California), the International Foundation for the Advancement and Support of Technology, as a Director and Past President of the Orange County International Business and Protocol Foundation, and as Chairman of the California International Business Advisory Board, Rancho Santiago Community College District. He has lectured extensively at home and abroad in the area of international business transactions, including for the United States Department of Commerce, the University of Southern California, the American Electronics Association, Zhongshan (Sun-Yat Sen University) in Guangzhou, China, and the non-profit California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC). He is fluent in English, French and Spanish, and has a working knowledge of German, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.
Randy Lewis, CFA
Financial Analyst, Accounting
 
For the past 15+ years, has operated independently as a corporate/management consultant, performing business and security valuation, and industry, market and economic research. He is also a college professor of business/finance/marketing. Over the years, he has valued and consulted to dozens of companies in a variety of industries. He specializes in Corporate Valuation, Financial, Investment and Economic Analysis, and Due Diligence examinations. He provides advanced financial analysis, modeling, budgeting and forecasting, and business plan development for our clients. Randy also has thorough, working knowledge of the public and private capital markets, SEC regulations (including SOX and Reg. FD) and reporting, venture capital and early stage financing, and investment styles and strategies.

Shiro Onedera
Data Architect, Strategy

Shiro has worked as an entrepreneur for the past 15 years and co-founded three companies of which he currently serves as the President of Seraphim Analytics, a boutique niche-data company that focuses on competitive intelligence. Utilizing his data artisan skills, Seraphim Analytics has assisted in five mergers and two acquisitions, totaling over $2 billion. Shiro brings the ability to uncover obscure and critical data as well as competitive intel.  Under Shiro’s leadership, Seraphim Analytics is the only organization to digitize two monumental national databases that were PDFs, as well as disrupt several industries with its data. Furthermore, he developed the company’s “Data Lab” offering, which has been exceptionally successful for many businesses.  Shiro has built relationships with VCs, PEs, and Angels while assisting many of their portfolio companies with quicker revenue growth and investment exit through strategic data. Shiro is also an early-stage investor and has often provided niche data sets in his investments.  Shiro’s previous work incorporated his passion for the environment, holding a Director of Sustainability position for a multi-billion dollar globally integrated real estate and investment group. During this time, he designed the first net-zero energy homes for the United States military. In addition, his solar and lighting initiatives led to over $6 million in energy cost savings for the United States Government. He received his LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the US Green Building Council.  Shiro was at the forefront of the environmental movement; his first entrepreneurial venture was SyncGreen in 2008, in which he assisted Southeastern companies with environmental sustainability stratagems. His directives led to organizations saving an average of 20% on energy expenses as well as a mean reduction of 18% in carbon emissions.  As a cultural geographer, Shiro brings the ability to have a deeper level of understanding, appreciation, and relatability in the diverse business ecosystem.

Tammy Onedera
Sales & Marketing, Strategy

Tammy has been an entrepreneur for the last 20 years, co-founding four companies, with two in the tech industry. She currently serves as the CEO of Seraphim Analytics, a boutique niche-data company that focuses on competitive intelligence. Utilizing her sales background, marketing and research skills, Seraphim Analytics has assisted in five mergers and two acquisitions, totaling over $2 billion. Having received her BS in Clinical/Community Psychology from the University of Michigan, she brings a unique perspective of human understanding in relation to the business landscape, combined with her MBA.   Tammy’s 10+ years in complex, consultative sales has led to great success utilizing relationship selling with a solution-based, customer-centric focus and assists relevant companies in this approach that employ Seraphim Analytics data.  Tammy is passionate about helping the disadvantaged. With her first entrepreneurial venture in 2004, she assisted senior citizens and the uninsured save over $2 million in prescription costs in the Southeast regional market. She is a proponent of women’s growth in the workplace; being promoted herself to the first female Sales Director in a male-dominated company and remained the only one for five years. Her role later went from employee to equity partner after she developed an industry disrupting sales solution, which led to a liquidity event and is still utilized ten years later. In addition, Tammy is an investor in early-stage start-ups and is passionate about helping small businesses have the tools to grow that often only large enterprises can afford. Because of this, she developed Seraphim Analytics model of “Data for Equity,” which still thrives today.

Clive Morris
Advisor, Europe

A graduate of The London Business School, Clive has been instrumental in many business start-ups and successes. Clive was the founder and CEO of Powerhouse Communications plc in 1986, a telecom company which he subsequently sold to a 3i-backed company in 2001. On the sale of his business, he engaged for six years in the co-funding of a number of Hollywood blockbuster movies, including “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “At World’s End”, “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Shrek 3”.

Since 2009, he has successfully brought numerous UK companies to market through EIS offerings. Clive has also been involved in helping a number of UK companies in the entertainment business, notably working with artists of the caliber of Sting, The Vatican Choir and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Clive oversees European Investor Relations and Funding.

Jonathan Krop
Creative

https://atomicpopmonkey.com

Jonathan founded Atomic Pop Monkey in 2000 after working several years at the Academy of Art College, FCB advertising in San Francisco, and several other small design firms and start-ups in the mid 1990’s – early 2000’s.

Since thence has worked with a large variety of clients and projects. Some of which have been nominated or won awards such as the GRAMMYs, Emmy, the Webbies, Golden Dot Award, as well as a Golden Addy for design work.

He has worked on a wide range of projects – from cd/album cover art direction, graphic design, photography, and layouts to branding, web design and coding, video editing, animation, photo retouching, illustration, merchandise design, html newsletters, WordPress sites, and beyond.