Investment Committee Member: David Carter
Having a long history of both entrepreneurship and involvement with venture capital, David Carter continues to enjoy seeing new technologies reach market adoption. Currently a Manager at private venture firm Upside Investments LLC, Mr. Carter has served on the board and invested in several companies including Cerberian (sold to Blue Coat (NASDAQ: BCSI), Zorch (sold to First Consulting Group (NASDAQ: FCGI), and Oakley Networks (funded by Kleiner Perkins and sold to Raytheon (NYSE: RTN). Mr. Carter is currently a board member and early investor in CrimeReports, a developer of online law enforcement and public communications technology.
At one of his own technology ventures, Mr. Carter served as founder, President and CEO of S5 Wireless, a world-leading developer of ultra-low cost, long-range, next-generation wireless location and telemetry technology that is successfully being implemented in consumer, enterprise and government applications. Under his strategic direction, S5 Wireless has executed key milestones marking core technology developments, creating strategic partnerships, recruiting key management, and raising over $20 million from influential investors. S5 Wireless is now poised for a strong entrance and leading role in the growing Location-Based Service (LBS) applications market—a sector that ABI Research values at $25 billion dollars by 2010.
Prior to joining S5 Wireless, Mr. Carter was an Entrepreneur in Residence for Wasatch Venture Fund (Epic Ventures), a Draper Fisher Jurvetson affiliate. In this role, he consulted the fund’s portfolio companies, providing strategic management expertise and financing support.
From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Carter was Founder, President and CEO of Thoughtstar, the internet application developer of QuickTeam. There, Mr. Carter developed the idea for the business’ principal product, QuickTeam. His efforts led to the eventual enterprise sale of the software to Cisco, and subsequent acquisition of the company by iManage (NASDAQ: IMAN), now Interwoven (NASDAQ: IWOV).
Mr. Carter made his first foray into the world of technology start-ups in 1988 with Vertical Technogies. Under his leadership as founder, President and CEO, the products Bar-OneTM and Barcode AnythingTM were developed and brought to market, quickly becoming the market leaders for retail barcode software. In 1995, Vertical Technologies received the Utah 100 Award from the Mountain West Venture Group for the 20th fastest growing company in Utah. The company was subsequently sold to Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA), where Mr. Carter served as President of the newly created subsidiary. Under his continued strategic direction, sales tripled in less than six months.
Today, Mr. Carter is a member of the National Advisory Council for Weber State University, the Technology Advisory Council for Westminster College, and of vSpring v100. He also participates in Utah Angels, the investment committee for Kickstart Ventures, and he sits on the board of a number of charitable organizations.
Mr. Carter has spoken at numerous industry events and has been quoted in major publications including Financial Times, Forbes, Business Week, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, The Seattle Times, USA Today, Conde Nest Portfolio, Motley Fool, Kiplinger, and many others.
Mr. Carter received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Weber State University.