Initiative ... Technology
Maven

Maven is a platform for microconsulting ...

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

http://www.maven.co/

Did you know that you are already a consultant? Think about it - when was the last time a friend, colleague, customer, or other acquaintance asked you to help them to better understand a topic or to make a more informed decision? Happens all the time, right?

That's microconsulting - short bursts of knowledge, perspective, insight, and opinion that help others make better decisions.

Microconsulting

Have you given someone advice on which product or service to choose? Your advice was a form of microconsulting.

Answered a question about how you do your job? That's microconsulting too.

Explained a key technical term or concept? Described an accounting standard or law in 'layman's terms'? Shared your opinion on the future of your industry? All microconsulting.

At Maven, we figured out a way to help you get paid for microconsulting - that is, sharing your knowledge with other professionals who value your expertise. Here's how it works:

Join Maven Becoming part of Maven's microconsulting network is quick, easy, and free. Simply select an hourly consulting rate (see how much) and tell us a bit about your background and knowledge, and we'll handle the rest. It only takes a few minutes, so Sign Up Now!

Invite Others Maven will pay you referral commissions for bringing other knowledgeable professionals into the network.

Go about your usual business Maven will match you to microconsulting opportunities, and you will start earning referral commissions from those you invited. This is what makes Maven so easy - we work to match you to microconsulting opportunities while you go about your usual business!

Consult When you are identified as potential match for a microconsulting opportunity, you will receive a notification from Maven. If you are qualified, accept the invitation to participate in a Telephone Consultation or Electronic Survey.

Get Paid All microconsulting interactions are tracked by our system. You will be paid for your time spent on the phone during Telephone Consultations or a flat fee for responding to an Electronic Survey. You will also earn Referral Commissions when people you invited to join Maven participate.

Maven's executive team possess over 60 combined years of experience in the areas of high technology, software development, knowledge consulting, primary research, and law. Wyatt Nordstrom, Anthony D'Alessandro, and Mark Platosh conceived the idea for Maven and founded the company in 2008 with the goal of making instant access to professional expertise available to everyone.

Wyatt A. Nordstrom | Co-Founder and CEO Wyatt has over a decade of experience in high technology and investment research. He began his career at Applied Materials, where he held a variety of roles in engineering, product support, and business management. After leaving Applied Materials in early 2005, Wyatt served as the West Coast head of the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications practice at Gerson Lehrman Group. Most recently he served as the Director of Paid Research and Events at Think Equity Partners, a global boutique investment bank and institutional brokerage, where he led efforts to develop new markets and revenue sources for equity research products.

Wyatt's deep experience in the development and marketing of multiple forms of research, combined with a strong belief in the need for a more transparent and transactional expert consulting platform, led him to found Maven. Wyatt holds a BS in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Anthony J. D'Alessandro | Co-Founder and COO Anthony has over a dozen years of operations and high technology experience. He began his career as an Officer in the United States Navy where he served with distinction as the head of missile defense systems on an Aegis class destroyer and as combat information officer on the foreign based Sixth Fleet flag ship. After leaving the service, Anthony spent several years at Applied Materials, where he held roles in product support and business development. Later on, Anthony directed West Coast technology recruiting at Gerson Lehrman Group, and served as the regional head of the firm's Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice. Anthony's success at developing and leading winning teams combined with his experience in the technology and primary research industries led him to found Maven. Anthony holds a BS in Engineering (Product Design) from Stanford University.

Mark S. Platosh | Co-Founder and CTO Mark has 14 years of professional experience focused on web technology. He has a successful track record of building software engineering products, engineering management, and technical product strategy for leading software companies that vary in size from start-ups to the largest on the web. For the past 9 years, he has been managing global product development teams, building products for ISV’s, OEM’s and various enterprises that require a deep technical backbone. He is an expert in Open Source technology, Agile methodologies, collaboration technigues and technologies, professional services, and the global delivery services model. Previously, he was Director of Technology at Lohika, a provider of premium offshore software development services to US companies, with development teams in the Ukraine. Mark began his career at Scient, an early pioneer of ecommerce consulting. Mark holds a BS in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Stephen L. Nichols | General Counsel Stephen is General Counsel of Maven Research, Inc. Prior to joining Maven, he practiced corporate law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City, where his focus was mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. He also has experience in the formation, financing and growth of new ventures. Additionally, he spent a year in the firm's Hong Kong office, working on Asian crossborder private equity deals. Prior to Paul Weiss, he practiced law at Dickstein Shapiro (which had acquired his prior firm, Roberts Sheridan & Kotel). Stephen was involved with several new ventures before beginning his legal career. Stephen holds a BS in Business Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a JD from Columbia University School of Law.

Patrick McKenna | Board of Directors Patrick is a leading expert in OnDemand workforce business models and Direct to Consumer Marketing. Patrick is the CEO of Keniks, LLC, a San Francisco based ecommerce and technology company that integrates online marketing, traditional offline media distribution and OnDemand workforces to maximize the value of cross-media campaigns. Patrick was also a Co-Founder and VP of Business Development at LiveOps, Inc., a work-from-home call center with over 20,000 home-based agents. Before LiveOps, he worked on the start up of a services marketplace company, Ingenio, Inc., that was acquired by AT&T in 2007. Patrick also worked in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan and served four years as an Information Technology Officer in the U.S. Army. He has an MBA from Georgetown University and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Southern California. Patrick is an active angel investor and adviser to start up technology companies. He serves on the Board of Directors of Rapleaf, Inc and the non-profit Board, Hands on Bay Area.

Brooks Gibbins | Board of Directors Brooks is the Worldwide Sales Lead for Enterprise Search at Microsoft, whom he joined through Microsoft SharePoint's $1.2B acquisition of FAST, the Gartner Magic-Quadrant leader in Search, where he was Managing Director of the Worldwide Financial Services business. Brooks set up and built the US business for the UK banking-software provider, Serverside, who are most-recognized for Capital One's 'Card Lab' and who were acquired by Gemalto, the €2B European digital security and software company. Brooks is best-known to the investment research community for his time at Multex who pioneered the access of commingled proprietary and broker research over the Internet and who grew from $3M-$95M in sales, had an IPO, and were acquired by Reuters during Brooks' tenure. Brooks held multiple leadership roles at Multex including Managing Director of their European Operations, Co-Head of Global Sales, and Senior Vice President of their Investment Management Business where he oversaw the launch of Multex360, a web based research tool for Investment Managers which was awarded 'Research Product of the Year' by Inside Market Data. Brooks spent the early part of his software career with Price Waterhouse in their SAP practice. He completed Harvard Business School's PMD program and graduated with honors from Williams College. Brooks is an active seed-stage investor and advisor, lives in New York, and serves on the Board of Visitors for CCES, a secondary school in Greenville, SC.

Matthew Hanson | Board of Directors Matthew Hanson joined GSV as a New York-based partner with GSV Asset Management in January 2012. Prior to GSV, he served as Head of Corporate Finance for ThinkEquity Partners, a growth-focused investment banking boutique founded by Michael Moe and Deborah Quazzo. At ThinkEquity, Matt helped oversee the firm's equity underwriting activity, raising $2.5 billion across 30 transactions. He also managed internal M&A activity and corporate development on behalf of the firm's Management Committee. He also served as Investment Banker in the Global Corporate & Investment Banking Division at Bank of America Securities, LLC, where he was involved with over $5 billion of M&A, equity, and debt transactions. Matt began his career in the Private Wealth Management Group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a Financial Analyst helping to manage $3 billion for ultra-high net worth families, foundations, and charitable trusts. He holds an AB in Economics (General Honors) from the University of Chicago, and is a CFA charterholder. He is also a member of the Manhattan Institute Young Leaders Circle and the New York Society of Security Analysts.