History
As the name of our firm indicates, we remain fascinated by the alchemy of talent, opportunity and execution required for new ventures to enjoy sustained commercial success. Our mission is to bring a combination of pragmatism, poise and relentlessness to the projects in which we are partners.
From the beginning, we have defined success as delivering a material improvement in the financial, operational and/or technological assets of our portfolio partners. We do this by wading into the messy and ill-defined and working to provide clarity and direction.
So, how can we serve you?
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While we are realistic enough to know that we aren't a match for everyone, we believe even an initial discussion can be helpful. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation and brainstorm about potential avenues of collaboration.
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Who We Are
FOUNDER
Ira Williams, III
A graduate of the Harvard Business School, Ira has worked with firms such as Accolade, Castlight Health, Callaway Golf, and Dell Inc. He has also served as President and CEO of PriceAdvice Inc (formerly known as iTaggit), an Austin, TX-based start-up. He was the Vice President of Golfsmith’s E-commerce and Direct Marketing operations, and he led acquisition efforts at InterZine Productions and at CBS SportsLine, successfully securing strategic elements that drove their respective growth plans.
While attending Harvard, Ira also held business development roles with Internet startups such as Yoyodyne (now a subsidiary of Yahoo) and Avicenna (a health care start-up acquired by a major managed care organization.) Prior to attending Harvard, he excelled in sales and marketing positions with Reuters America and IBM in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Mexico City.
In 2006, Ira published his first book, entitled Speak Softly…What’s Happened to American Humility? In addition to celebrating a misunderstood virtue, all proceeds from the book are donated to charitable organizations.
Ira completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University with an AB in International Relations, and a focus in Latin American Economic Development.
Education
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
MBA, 1996
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
A.B., International Relations, 1989
Candace Ng
Candace Ng is the President and CFO of IT Strategists, a Los Angeles-based technology firm that advises middle market to Fortune 500 companies. As a highly successful leader, her focus has been on delivering technology strategies and tools to maximize customer business performance in clients such as Ticketmaster, Petco and AEG. Through her leadership Ms. Ng’s firm is currently developing data analytics tools for use in the Snowflake data cloud.
Prior to working in technology, Ms. Ng was on the investment team at Triumph Capital, a private equity group with over $1 billion in assets. She invested in a diversified portfolio of later stage growth equity. Early in her career, Ms. Ng was an investment banker at Salomon Brothers, helping clients raise capital through IPOs and debt financings.
Ms. Ng serves on the boards of organizations such as Woodbury University, The Giving Spirit (a 501c3 supporting the homeless of Los Angeles), Toigo Alumni Endowment, Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter and Brentwood Presbyterian Church Preschool.
Ms. Ng attended UCLA, where she graduated in 1991 with a double major in mathematics/applied science and economics/business. She completed her honors thesis in game theory under Nobel prize winner Dr. Lloyd Shapley. She then obtained a MBA from Harvard Business School in 1996, where she was a Robert Toigo Foundation Fellow in finance.
Ms. Ng lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband and three children.
Education
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
MBA, 1996
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
B.S./B.A., Applied Mathematics and Business Economics, 1991
Lisa Sriphaseuth
Lisa has more than ten years of experience developing, executing, and managing marketing and channel partnership go-to-market strategies for companies like Accolade, Castlight Health, and Coupa Software. Her experience with early-stage companies has helped companies grow from evangelists to IPO.
Before working in technology, Lisa spent her career in banking, working for financial institutions such as Wells Fargo, Bank of the West, BancWest Investments, and CUSO Financial.
Lisa completed her MBA in Organizational Management and Information Technology from Chapman University.
Education
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
MBA, Organizational Management & Information Technology, 2016
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD
B.S., Business Administration, 2007