Jon Nordmark

Co-founder, CEO

2013

AI platform, generative AI, and private LLMs for the Enterprise. Changed our name from a .com to .ai in 2017, when most of our work became AI-oriented. Five AI patents granted, including "Container Architecture for Modular Machine Learning," what we call "Drag-and-Drop AI." About 10 more patents are pending. Intel, Nvidia (AI Accelerated), Google Cloud, Qualcomm, AWS are tech partners, as are others. Our AI processes on CPUs and on the edge, in addition to GPUs. We operate in >10 countries. Companies like FujiFilm in Singapore and Asia help roll out our products. Customers are from diverse industries. Our working relationships typically start with CDOs, CMOs, CIOs, board members, and CEOs.

Team Member

2024

Board Member

2022

Co-founder, CEO, Chairman

1998 - 2017

After selling 29 million bags (worth $1.65 billion), eBags was acquired by Samsonite in 2017. Annual revenues were $164 million, exceeding $1.5 million per employee. eBags brand (private label) was 25% of sales. About 70% of products were drop shipped ... fueling a 120 day negative cash conversion cycle and growth that was funded by customer credit cards. During my final 8 years as CEO (2001 to 2008), we grew profitably at a 34% CAGR. Customers wrote more than 1.4 million product reviews making eBags a trusted retailer. We operated TUMI.com and CaseLogic.com, in addition to eBags, in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. We also built 6pm.com, acquired by Zappos and owned today by Amazon. eBags' first profitable month was August 2001, just ahead of the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy, which greatly dampened luggage sales for more than 6 months. Our first profitable quarter was in 2002 after growing through the dot-bomb recession and the months following the 9/11 terrorist attack. We raised $30 million prior to the dot-bomb and took great pride in reaching profitability, growing 34% per year by continually reinventing our marketing efforts, and never doing a down round. Awards: @ Website of the Year from America's Direct Marketing Association in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008; @ Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young, 2003, Rocky Mountain Region; @ Company of the Year in 2003 from Colorado Business (magazine); @ Top customer satisfaction scores (Circle of Excellence) from BizRate twice (based on shopper scores of >50,000 websites). Co-founder, CEO and Chair from 1998 to 2008; Chairman from 2008 until acquired in 2017.

Advisor; Investor ... many startups

2010 - 2017

Angel investor in A/B testing optimizer Clearhead (acquired 2017, Accenture), BazaarVoice (pre-IPO, 2012), Swiftpage/ACT! (acquired 2018), RedTricycle (acquired 2020), Verblio.com (exit 2012), Yottaa (exit 2022), Platform9, AX3. 4x LP in LeadEdgeCapital.com ... invests in growth-stage software, internet, and consumer pre-IPO businesses like Spotify, Uber, Bla Bla Car, and Alibaba. Top performing PE in 2022 according to Pitchbook. Advisory board chairperson for Runa (acquired 2017, Staples), shareholder and advisor to TurnTo.com (bootstrapped to 80 employees, exit 2022). Iterate became a shareholder in Attentive ($6b unicorn) and BlueCore ($1b unicorn, exit in 2021 secondary offering). More info: https://signal.nfx.com/investors/jon-nordmark Between 2009 and 2013, worked with dozens of emerging tech startups. Many from TechStars (Boulder), Founder Institute (Palo Alto) and an Eastern European Accelerator where I was a Board Member for 3 years.

CEO

2003 - 2007

Acquired by Zappos, from eBags, in 2007.

Senior Director of Product Management, N. & S. America

1994 - 1998

Product positioning, pricing, and development for 21 distribution channels (Premium, Department Stores, Military, etc). Marketing, collateral development, sales force training. About 1,200 products continually in circulation and being replaced. Worked primarily in the U.S., but also in Hong Kong, China, Europe, Mexico and Argentina.