JE

Jeffrey Eschbach

Professor at Kellogg | Angel Investor | Tech Founder & CEO | Public Speaker

Greater Chicago Area

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $10,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $100,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $50,000.00

Work Experience

  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Strategy & Entrepreneurship / New Venture Discovery

    2017

    * New Venture Discovery, teaching 2017 - 2025 - Avg. Instructor Rating 5.8/6.0, 97%. Avg. Course Rating 5.7/6.0, 95% (all scoring by students) - Teaching in associated executive programs: KHUST (Hong Kong), Sasin (Thailand) * Executive MBA, Early-Stage Investing & Fundraising, taaching 2023 - 2025 * MBAi (AI-focused degree), Advanced Product Management, teaching 2022 - 2025 * Invited Lectures: fundraising, product management, startup strategy, entrepreneurship, corporate intrapreneurship * Article: 5 Ways Established Companies Can Overcome Internal Hurdles to Innovation (Kellogg Insight Manazine: https://bit.ly/3W91ub7)

  • Kellogg Entrepreneurship Program: Outreach Lead - Executive/EMBA and E&W Programs

    2018

    * Lead contact for students and alumni of Kellogg Executive/EMBA and E&W programs seeking support for their new ventures. * For Kellogg-founded startup companies, provide mentoring and connections to appropriate resources. * Develop relationships with key organizations, especially within the Chicago ecosystem, to support Kellogg students and alumni with entrepreneurial ventures.

  • VCIC - Venture Capital Investment Competition, Faculty Advisor/Mentor

    2019

    Faculty advisor/mentor for Kellogg teams, including the 2024 and 2021 Grand Prize winners. Global VCIC is the world's premier MBA venture capital competition with over 120 university and graduate school teams competing. Students function as VCs to evaluate real startups throughout the year-long competition. https://www.vcic.org/ Kellogg 2021 Global Winners: https://bit.ly/3WgO8ut

  • Founding Partner & Principal / Angel Investor

    2018

    Completed over 90 investments as of 2024. Chicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV) invests in early-stage startup companies, with a particular focus on Chicago-based entities. We consider seed-stage investments in almost any sector, demographic and geography, but a majority of our portfolio companies have Chicago ties or founders from Chicago-based higher education institutions (Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, etc.) Though investment is our primary purpose, we also seek to build and develop relationships among our investors, other investor organizations, and with founders, entrepreneurs and educational institutions in Chicago. www.chicagoearly.com

  • Founder and Former CEO - Successful Exit, 2022, Current Advisor

    2012

    Successful exit from Page Vault in the summer of 2022. Grew the company from concept to an Inc. 5000 company. --- PAGE VAULT captures web-based content for legal use. Our software captures webpages exactly as they appear online, includes key metadata, and provides easy-to-print PDF output files. Page Vault offers both do-it-yourself software and vendor services to archive websites and social media profiles of any volume or complexity. Affidavits are also available that attest to the preserved chain of custody and content authenticity. Learn more at www.page-vault.com.

  • CORPORATE PRESENTATIONS: Lean Startup, Digital Tech

    2016

    COMMON TOPICS - Applying Lean Startup Methodologies for Corporate Innovation - Digital Tech Bootcamp for Non-Tech/Business Professionals: Internet & networking, 5G & wireless, computer architecture, software/code/programming, world wide web, encryption, cloud computing, and more.

  • STARTUP PRESENTATIONS / PANELIST: fundraising, strategy, lessons learned, early ops, team formation

    2016

    COMMON TOPICS - Fundraising & Pitch Decks - Practical Advice and Strategies - So You're NOT Steve Jobs? Startup Strategies that Work for the Rest of Us - Failing Fast / Lessons Learned from the Startup World - Early stage Operations and Team Formation - Growing from 1 Employee to 10+

  • Illinois Tech, Stuart School of Business: Board of Advisors

    2022

    https://www.iit.edu/stuart/about/board-advisors "The Stuart School of Business Board of Advisors offers vital perspectives on aligning the school’s research programs, educational goals, and professional and development activities with the needs of the business community. Board members strengthen the curricula, expand faculty linkages to the business community, enrich the student learning experience, develop financial resources, and assist with the advancement activities of Stuart."

2023

  • Advisor

    2023

  • Advisor

    2019

  • Advisor

    2018

2020

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    2020

  • Advisor

    2022