About

Rob Adams is on the faculty of the MBA program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also the Director of Texas Venture Labs. He’s a former software executive, entrepreneur and institutional fund manager. He has served on many corporate boards, and has founded or financed more than 40 companies which have launched more than 100 products and raised more than a billion dollars of capital. Dr. Adams is currently active with a number of technology and life sciences companies as a board member or advisor.

Prior to his appointment at The University of Texas he was in the venture capital industry, holding a partner position at TL Ventures, and Managing Director and Founder positions at AV Labs (Austin Ventures) and Tejas Venture Partners. Prior to the venture business he was a software operating executive for two decades. This career included positions in sales, marketing and general management. He was with Lotus (NYSE: IBM), joining the company shortly after its public offering.  Adams was their first corporate sales representative, and went on to be instrumental in the development and launch of both 1-2-3 for Macintosh and Lotus Notes.  He then founded and was CEO of Business Matters, a venture backed developer of financial modeling products that was acquired. He was an executive with Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW), a company he helped take public.

Adams holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, where he is a Distinguished Alumnus, a Masters of Business Administration from Babson College’s Olin School of Management, and a Ph.D. in Management from Capella University.  He has taught at the MBA programs of The Acton School of Business, Babson College, The University of Texas at Austin, and St. Edwards University.

He is a nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, product and financing strategy. He recently keynoted the Inc. 500 business conference and consults for numerous Fortune 500 companies. He blogs for Inc.com, and is on the board of directors for AOL Small Business. He has been covered in Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, Money, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, on Bloomberg Radio, Public Television, and public radio’s nationally syndicated “Marketplace” program.

He is the author of A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs (Random House/Crown, 2002), and If You Build It Will They Come? Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity (Wiley, 2010).

He provides expert testimony on technology related business issues, and has consulted on economic development and early stage company investment and its impact on economies for governments including Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand.

Adams is a Fellow at the IC2 Institute; a University of Texas based foundation that runs the Austin Technology Incubator. He is a visiting Professor at Thammasat University in Thailand and The University of Manitoba. He is an avid downhill skier and runner. He was a collegiate rower and graduated from the Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School.

Rob Adams is an active investor, author, consultant, and on the faculty of the Management Department at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, where he teaches in the MBA program and is the Director of the Global Moot Corp Program.

Dr. Adams is an active angel investor and board member for several start-ups, and is affiliated with numerous venture funds, several of which he started. Prior to the venture business, he was a software operating executive for two decades. Throughout his venture and operating careers he has been a founder, founding investor or involved with the public offering, merger or acquisition of more than 40 companies, representing the launching of more than 100 products, and transactions totaling more than one billion dollars of capital.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Texas, Adams founded Tejas Venture Partners, the second venture fund he has started. Previously he was the founder of AV Labs, a successful early stage venture fund allied with Austin Ventures, starting it after being a partner with TL Ventures.  Before entering the venture business, he was a technology executive.  He started his career with Lotus (NYSE: IBM), joining the company shortly after its public offering.  Adams was instrumental in the development and launch of both 1-2-3 for Macintosh and Lotus Notes.  He went on to be founder and CEO of Business Matters, a venture backed developer of financial modeling products and was an executive with Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW), a company he helped take public.