Areas of Expertise (10)
Entrepreneurship
Public Offerings
Mergers & Acquisitions
Early Stage Management
Business Innovation
Startup Fundraising and Growth
New Venture Competition
Student Entrepreneurship
Venture Capital
Sales and Marketing
Biography
Rob Adams is a senior lecturer of management at the McCombs School of Business. He is a leading educator in entrepreneurship, an active angel investor, and board member for several startups, and is affiliated with numerous venture funds, several of which he started. He is a respected advocate for entrepreneurial education on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a mentor for student-founded startup ventures. He leads executive workshops on strategic management, market validation, and innovation.
Adams founded Texas Venture Labs, Tejas Venture Partners, and was a founder of AV Labs, a successful early-stage venture fund allied with Austin Ventures. 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 modeing products and was an executive with Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW).
Adams is a nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, company and product strategy, marketing, and technology issues. He recently keynoted the Inc. 500 business conference and consults for numerous Fortune 500 companies. He provides expert testimony on technology-related business issues and has consulted on economic development and early stage company development for numerous governments including Chile, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand.
He blogs for Inc.com and has been covered in BusinessWeek, 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, April 2010).
Media
Publications:
Documents:
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Links (2)
Education (3)
Capella University : PhD, Management
Babson College - Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business: MBA, Business and Entrepreneurship
Purdue University: BS, Industrial Engineering
Media Appearances (10)
Whole Foods Suppliers' Speculation on Possible Amazon Deal Runs Wild
Inc. online
2017-07-11
Rob Adams, who teaches entrepreneurship at The University of Texas at Austin, is sanguine that suppliers won't feel much pain. "A lot can come off of Whole Foods' profit margin, or it can come out of Amazon's operational efficiency before they start reducing prices to the vendor," he says. "Amazon's costs of delivery are the lowest in the industry. If they apply that to Whole Foods, they can bring down prices without necessarily lowering what the vendors get."
Experts: Whole Foods-Amazon Deal Has Positive, Negatives for Austin
Statesman online
2017-06-16
The deal “will give Amazon an even bigger presence here and push Whole Foods to be more of a technology company,” said Rob Adams, director of University of Texas’ Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs and a UT senior lecturer.
Texas Venture Labs hosts entrepreneurship seminar
The Daily Texan online
2015-09-03
The new venture creation course, taught by Rob Adams, director of Texas Venture Labs, and business lecturer Stephen Courter, focuses on students starting their own enterprise.
Texas Venture Labs Fall Expo Showcases New Startups
Silicon Hills online
2014-12-10
“With the expo today, we’re helping companies raise money,” said Rob Adams, director of TVL.
One Frequent Flyer's Minimalist Travel Secrets
Entrepreneur Magazine online
2014-09-12
The serial entrepreneur and investor...spent several years as a kid living in Tokyo and fueled a lifelong zest for travel, which his international consulting practice provides plenty of today.
The 9 Buzzwords That Can Kill Any Business Plan
American Express OPEN Forum online
2013-05-16
Rob Adams has poured through tens of thousands of business plans over the years—and has seen the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly.
What Did You Learn From Steve Jobs?
Huffington Post Small Business online
2011-10-06
We asked some of his (Steve Jobs) fellow entrepreneurs -- our Board of Directors -- to share what they learned from this true icon.
What Is the Biggest Challenge Facing Small Businesses Right Now?
Huffington Post Small Business online
2011-08-15
So who better to ask about the state of small business today? It ain't pretty, but as usual, entrepreneurs always see some opportunity amid the chaos.
Market Research on the Cheap
Bloomberg Businessweek online
2008-01-09
Your first step before introducing a new product or launching a business should be to interview your potential customers the same way you plan to sell to them, according to Rob Adams.
The city Amazon picks for its second headquarters will change forever
CNN online
2017-10-27
"The smaller the town, the bigger the impact. In a city like New York with over 8 million people, the impact won't be as dramatic as a Danbury, Connecticut, as an example," said Rob Adams, director of Texas Venture Labs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Articles (1)
Reducing Product Failure Rates: A New Perspective
UMI Publications
2007-11-01
Publication number 3284101.
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