Jon Gillespie-Brown

“Jon understands. I met Jon through a mentorship program through the University of Colorado Boulder NVC (new venture creation) program. Jon helped mold my concept (gen-z consulting) from the simple idea, all the way to registration and expansion. His insights and true appreciation for people at an individual level have molded who I am today. I genuinely have such an appreciation and deep-rooted respect not only for his wisdom but for him as a person. He has quickly become a core mentor not only for business but for life as well. He understands the complexity of each life and truly seeks to propel you to be a 'good human' before anything else. I will forever be grateful for how he has impacted my life direction and will always value our relationship. ”

“Jon has been involved at the London Business School since 2001 where he has been an Entrepreneur in Residence and worked as a mentor in the school's Entrepreneurship programs. He has supported us in many ways: doing some teaching, serving as a panel judge, and mentoring MBA students. He always brings useful insights and advice, and generously shares his network. He's always received great feedback from the students in his care. He is passionate about helping others learn from a lifetime of experience as an entrepreneur and puts to good use the lessons in his book "So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur". In short, there's no better or more insightful mentor/teacher than Jon. He's been a superb sounding board over the years for London Business School start-ups. ”

“Jon was our mentor in MS&E273 - Digital Venture Formation, and we definitely couldn’t succeed without his mentorship. He thought us how to systematically identify a high potential idea (I recommend to read his blog: http://www.digital-ventures.com/blog/?p=297) . Moreover, he was always positively critical to our ideas; something that is very valuable for entrepreneurs in all stages. He was also very helpful in building a business plan and identifying potential flaws. ”

“Jon has been a major contributor to Stanford Ignite for many years. He has spent many hours as a panelist judging ventures developed in the program and in providing feedback and insights. He brings a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur, an investor and a visionary. He shares his analytic and thoughtful views and is an outstanding resource for the program and the people lucky enough to interact with Jon. It is also very clear to me that he is one of the sharpest thinkers and more importantly execution driven leaders I know.”

“Jon has been lecturing in my UC Berkeley Class on entrepreneurship and leadership. His insights and reflections have stimulated excited responses from my undergraduate students. We use Jon's book, "So you want to be an entrepreneur?" and the students all take the entrepreneur self assessment exam that Jon provides. Jon has been extremely reliable and dedicated to myself and to UC Berkeley. His teaching abilities are top drawer as he stimulated vibrant in class discussions. His frank approach the the trials of being an entrepreneur resonate in the class as his after session conversations with many students demonstrate. I would highly recommend Jon as a lecturer, as a great mentor for young aspiring entrepreneurs, and as a solid business reference source for insights in the world of innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Ron Lesniak, Teaching Fellow UC Berkeley”

“Learning from Jon was truly a remarkable and amazing experience. His intellect, honesty, and passion constantly pushed us to get out of our comfort zone and re-evaluate our approach time and time again. It was a real privilege to get to know him, and I look forward to working with him again in the future.”

“Jon mentored my team for the Technology Venture Formation class at Stanford. He brought incredible positive energy, dedication and a wealth of insight to guiding our idea through its numerous pivots. His feedback was always challenging, honest and constructive.”

“As one of the mentors for our Technology Ventures Formations class, Jon was instrumental in guiding our team's progress throughout the quarter. His honest, no-nonsense feedback early on caused us to re-evaluate our idea and reposition it in a more compelling way. I highly recommend Jon as a startup mentor.”

"Jon was a tremendously valuable mentor for our start-up. He has consistently given us insightful and valuable feedback drawing from his own experiences. His honesty and challenging comments frequently led to us to re-evaluate and perfect our approach. It is clear he is passionate about mentoring, and his dedication and clear passion is refreshing"

“Jon is a great mentor and would recommend him to any aspiring entrepreneur. As our mentor, he guided us through the process of understanding the viability of a new venture idea. He helped us develop a different perspective on how to find a potential opportunity within a market. He was dedicated, honest, and available whenever we needed. I’ve learned a lot from Jon and his experiences. He is an amazing person and I’m glad to have had him as a mentor.”

“Jon mentored our team as part of the "Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities" class at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. His guidance and advice were invaluable as we went through the process of validating our ideas. Jon's ability to step back from problems and point out key learnings was particularly helpful. This was most evident when we were faced with the decision to pivot from one idea to another. I learned a lot from Jon and really appreciated his honest feedback and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.”

“Jon’s enthusiasm for entrepreneurship is infectious. Our team of undergrads not only benefited from his energy, but also from his practical, structured approach to all phases of the entrepreneurial process (whether it be the ideation stage or construction of a pitch to VCs) as well as his candid feedback. We learned to look for an Advil not a vitamin, to commit to the research process, and to place high value on customer development and iteration. Of course, these are just a few of the many nuggets of wisdom offered up by Jon during the mentorship process. He was a great sensei - it was a pleasure to learn from (and work with) him throughout the quarter.”

“I was very fortunate to have had Jon as a mentor for the Technology Venture Formation class. Jon is a highly knowledgeable and dedicated coach who guided my team through the entire early-stage start-up development process. He generously shared his wide range of expertise, which enabled my team to transform an innovative technology into a compelling product. Any entrepreneur would benefit from Jon's experience and infectious enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.”

“Jon is an amazing mentor! He is our team's mentor for a Entrepreneurship class, MS&E 273 Stanford. His expertise, advise and energy is extremely helpful through the quarter. He provides us all we need to know for forming a company. There is no doubt that Jon is an extraordinary people sharing positive energy with others.”

“Jon and I met when he sat on a panel. I was a presenter, his feedback was by far the most insightful and helpful. Since then he's provided numerous suggestion and engagements for our endeavors and has been an invaluable asset to our group.”

“Jon is a visionary, insightful thought leader. I have learned a lot from Jon in 5 minutes than in a full semester class. :)”

“I got to know Jon through Startup School - a global school for entrepreneurs that I manage. Jon gave a couple great classes to an audience of international entrepreneurs. He has a unique talent to understand and pinpoint the core of the challenges entrepreneurs face. His talks are honest, precise and inspiring. I strongly recommend him as advisor and mentor.”

“Jon mentored our team for Technology Venture Formation class at Stanford. He is extremely knowledgeable and was essential to the success of our project. He gave a lot of very good advise that was relevant not only to the project, but to any venture that we might try in the future. Jon has a very keen eye for the business and he is willing share his knowledge and intuition, making him invaluable as a mentor. I was very impressed about how much time and effort he was willing to dedicate to us, especially considering his busy schedule. My favorite part about Jon though is his tremendous amount of positive energy - he is really cool and a lot of fun to be around.”

“Jon was an excellent mentor for our Stanford student team. He sparked creative ideas, provided useful feedback, and inspired us to be extraordinary. He is a great role model for aspiring entrepreneurs and I look forward to working with Jon again in the future.”

“Jon served as a mentor to me as a graduate student at Stanford. I started out know absolutely nothing at all about startups and entrepreneurship, but Jon blew me away with the amount of knowledge he has. Jon certainly has alot to say, and every sentence was good advice. I would recommend Jon as a partner or mentor to anyone. He's no business stiff either, Jon's quite a character and pretty funny making him certainly fun to talk to.”

“Jon mentored my group in a Stanford Graduate School class called Technology Venture Formation. He was extremely helpful throughout our project, and he was dedicated to helping our team succeed. Jon is a very experienced entrepreneur, and he gave us a lot of great advice regarding our own venture. Additionally, he was always available to talk and help us out when we needed guidance along the way.”

“As our mentor, Jon brought tremendously valuable insights to our start-up. His directness and challenging comments often led to us to re-think and perfect our approach. He has consistently given us insightful feedback drawing from his own experience and priceless industry contacts. His energy and dedication to help his mentees is refreshing.”

“Jon met with my business partner and me (both Stanford GSB students). He diligently listened to our story and immediately understood the opportunities and challenges in front of us, and provided actionable recommendations for us. We learned a lot from that meeting and possibly saved us many errors! He also spoke in depth about the advantages/disadvantages of raising venture capital. I think his advice definitely resonated with us when he stated that paradoxically, the best time to raise VC money is precisely when you don't need it. We’d definitely recommend Jon as an adviser or mentor, particularly to early-stage entrepreneurial teams.”

“Jon is generous with his time, experience, and insight. Stanford GSB is lucky to have him as a mentor for their program. He helped our startup team make progress in leaps and bounds where we otherwise would have been completely clueless.”

“Jon is a pioneer of new media & at the leading edge of commercial applications of technology. He is well connected with movers & shakers in the industry and is very genereous with his network and his knowledge. His introductions and consultancy have proved invaluable for our Group & clients”

“A conversation with John will make a difference. He is a straight talking no nonsense communicator with a brilliant strategic mind. Some of Johns ideas are still swimming in my head two years on. I would thoroughly reccommend John. Stewart Collingswood MD Alba Game Fishing Ltd”

“Jon has been invaluable in his role coaching business teams in my course Tech Venture Formation at Stanford School of Engineering. Over the past several years he has coached numerous teams in building businesses from the ground up while avoiding many of the usual failure modes in startup companies. His depth of experience makes him immediately credible in this role and is one of the characteristics that distinguishes the quality of the Stanford offering.”

“Jon was a very helpful and outgoing mentor to my entreprereurship class team. We appreciated his insights into the entrepreneurship and venture capital community and his active willingness to help us through our venture idea. He helped us refine our business idea to create unique value.”

“Having a busy schedule, Jon impressed me with his involvement and continuous guidance for us in Technology Venture Formation that I took last quarter. From crafting effective VC presentation to validating business idea through rentless market assessment, Jon taught us every step along the way to succeed in the process. Thanks Jon!”

“Jon was my mentor while I was enrolled in the Entrepreneurship class at the Haas School of Business. He was a great mentor, and provided us with terrific feedback and guidance throughout the semester. He was also very fun to work with, and made the class more enjoyable.”

“Jon was our team's mentor for the Entrepreneurship class. Jon's guidance, creative ideas and his voice of reason were invaluable to the team. He has a unique ability to focus both on the high level big picture and dive into the nitty gritty details at the same time. He helped the team to think creatively and try different things.”

“Jon taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur. I highly recommend his book "So You Want to be an Entrepreneur?" to anyone who is thinking about being an entrepreneur.”

“Jon is a great teacher and adviser. He is energetic and passionate about your cause, and works earnestly with you to help you achieve the best. As a entrepreneur I would always want a investor like him on my side, working with you as a coach to guide you through the process till you get to the finish-line.”

“Jon is a born leader and a very inspiring and talented individual - he has provided us with, on so many occasions, the right advice whilst challenging us on our thinking when required. I met Jon when he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at London Business School and I am proud to be having Jon as one of my mentors. His success and reputation follows him wherever he goes and he proved it one more time by setting a very innovative company called Digital Ventures. Jon even recently wrote a Book for which all proceeds go to the Grameen Foundation (http://www.grameenfoundation.org) - Not only is Jon a fantastic mentor, he also is a very genuine and generous person. I would recommend to anyone without any hesitation - Whichever work association you may have with Jon in the future, he will shine and will be the most positive reflection of your institution. Jerome Touze Co Founder & Co CEO of WAYN.com”

“I think Jon is one of those extraordinary people who shares so much needed positive energy with others. His expertise, advise and energy was extremely helpful to my company and I hope more and more startups can meet with Jon in the future. If you have a chance to work with him, don't hesitate!”

“Jon has been a great mentor. He is very prompt in giving feedback. He communicated very effectively to us on how one should present ideas. He made us realize that there is an art of how to convince people while presenting.”

“Jon's hard learned lessons as an entrepreneur and his ability to provide honest and sincere feedback have been extremely valuable assets to my Entrepreneurship team at Haas and my learning experience as an Entrepreneur in training. Jon has enabled our team to approach entrepreneurship as it should: a tough battle in which only the smart and well prepared succeed. Thanks Jon!”

“Jon is an excellent mentor for entrepreneur. He mentored my team for technology venture formation class. We obtained his help in evaluating our business opportunity, optimizing operation stack and improving VC presentation skills. Since he has rich business experience in VC scale start-ups and wide spectrum of field knowledge, his advice is always to the point and very constructive. In addition, his advising style is friendly while persuasive. I would highly recommend him to be a mentor for early stage start-up companies.”

“Jon brings a tremendous amount of insight as an entrepreneurship coach. He helped our startup team navigate the early phases of the venture creation process, guiding us by asking the hard questions, identifying gaps, and consistently giving us honest and direct feedback throughout.”

“Jon has been a great guide and mentor for us in our Technology Venture Formation course here at Stanford University. We look forward to further guidance from him and also working with him in the future.”

“Jon is one of my mentors and is a true entrepreneur. Jon helped me in my journey towards becoming an entrepreneur by giving up his time and advice whilst I was on the Entrepreneurship Summer School Program at London Business School. Jon was one of the Entrepreneurs in Residence and provided me with a great deal of support and guidance, along with inspiration, which ultimately led to me setting up my own venture with two other co-founders called WAYN (Where Are You Now?). I thoroughly recommend Jon and his new book, which is filled with useful anecotes and exercises designed to inspire and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs and ultimetly help you to decide whether entrepeneurship is for you? I've already given a copy of the book to my cousin who has said that having read it - she really wants to set up her own business and that the boke helped her to believe more in herself and what potential she has in the future. I have read the book and found it to be a useful reminder on the key lessons to follow and will continue to recommend this book to others.”

“Jon is one of life's fortunate guys with an inherent ability to make every look so easy. In his book I am sure he'll do just that again and inspire many people aspiring to be enterprenuers. Good luck Jon.”

“Jon was a great business partner, and he founded a company that put in the extra effort to make the business relationship work. If I have another need to secure software, I will give Jon a call.”

“What I appreciate most about working with Jon is his ability to zero in on what is crucial for a startup's success and to execute on it. No entrepreneurial skill is more important than action, which Jon combines with high energy and experience to provide the leadership that is required in today's information saturated business environment.”

“Jon is an out of the box thinker that doesn't accept traditional standards in business as the "right way". His creative approach to solving challenging business problems and discounting the obvious has made him an adivsor that I will continue to look to for guidance as an entrepeneur. I believe his book will be a mainstay in the entrepeneurial community!”

“Jon puts full energy behind the projects he gets into. I first met Jon through mutual friends at London Business School (LBS) where he has mentored and championed many projects. He works hard, connects with people and promotes entrepreneurship like a champion. I suggest reading his latest book and grab a coffee with him in Silicon Valley while he does his latest startup!”

“Jon provided me with amazing insight on how to pursue my life goals and how to get to accomplish them. His help has been crucial to expanding my "context" to allow more "content" to flow in. I am looking forward to reading his latest book "So you want to be an Entrepreneur" which is poised for an amazing success. Thank you Jon, I look forward to learning from you!”

“I had the pleasure of meeting Jon a few times when we were considering a business relationship. While this did not come to reality, i was extremely impressed with Jon's entrepreneurial capabilites, passion and grit. I have followed, albeit from a distance, his progress over the years and am happy to say that these traits seem to have borne fruit.”

“I worked with Jon briefly as a marketing consultant, and was impressed by his breadth and depth of not only knowledge, but acumen in the world of running one's own business. He has an entrepreneurial vision that is unmatched.”

“Jon Gillespie-Brown is an entrepreneur who knows what it take to be a successful entrepreneur. He has shared his used-wisdom as a mentor in my course, Technology Venture Formation, at Stanford University. Jon has been an inspiration to the student teams who have benefitted from his guidance. I'm pleased to see that Jon has captured his insights in a book which can influnece aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. Audrey MacLean”

“Jon is a unique and inspirational leader. He is a brillant networker and capable of taking a complex idea and explaining to investors, staff and suppliers who immediately buy into the idea. His infectious good humour and positive outlook on all things means he has been successful in a number of market sectors. I would recommend Jon to any business who needs to energise their teams, reinvent their product or service offering or revitalise their route to market.”

“Apart from our business relationship (where VoxIQ is using the Nalpeiron copy protection system) I was particularly impressed with Jon's determination when I was considering investing in Nalpeiron. He was responsive, flexible and did not give up - he was the reasons why I eventually invested”

“Having known JGB for the better part of four years now and having seen him hold a strong and consistent vision with regard to Nalpeiron as well as his activities with the students at LBS etc., I'd recommend him to anyone needing experienced advice on the tough and increasingly tougher business of starting a business. In addition, he appreciates fine motorcars.......... As they say back somewhere, enough said!”

“Jon Gillespie-Brown is a brilliant entrepreneur who can really communicate the value behind his vision and strategy. I have had the opportunity to know Jon for about 5 years and he is one of the most driven and passionate individuals I have ever met. He has an uncanny ability to recognize the value of combined experience to bring people and ideas together to ultimately create opportunity. I think overall his honesty and warmth is what makes him very unique in the business community.”

“I knew Jon as a young man, starting out in his career, but even then he had a pioneering entrepreneurial spirit and always carried out his job with great panache. He joined an Australian start-up as their first salesman in the UK and enjoyed considerable success getting them established in a very mature market. He's been successful in everything he set out to do since and I wish him well.”

“I have worked with Jon and his team while I was at TI managing the contract with Nalpeiron. While working with him, I could witness the diffculty and growing pains of an early stage product idea especially to satisfy a demanding customer like TI. However, Jon and his team of top notch professionals made sure the work was done to our satisfaction. I am very delighted that he chose to write a book on entrepreneurship - a subject very dear to his heart. I look forward to reading it.”

“Jon and I worked together on a potential business development deal between our companies. Though the deal did not materialize, I found Jon to be a very dynamic and focused entrepreneur. He knew how to pitch his company and product, and what he wanted to get from a business partnership. I respect Jon for his intelligence, knowledge of the software industry, and entrepreneurial intuition. Since that time, I have also read several of his blog entries at www.tobeanentrepreneur.com and, as a fellow entrepreneur, found them to be refreshingly simple and accurate. Easy, yet valuable (and enjoyable), reading. Keep up the great work, Jon.”

“As an entrepreneur myself, I have asked Jon for his opinion on many occasions and on a wide variety of subjects. He has consistently provided excellent advice and shown a very solid understanding of the mechanics and the machinations involved in founding, running and growing a business. This understanding has helped me in my endeavours on more than one occasion and I am sure I will be the beneficiary of Jon's wisdom in the future.”

“Jon, is in my view a classic entrepreneur with a very good track record of building businesses and selling them at the right time. I am an investor in Nalperion, because I felt that Jon has the creative, sales and leadership skills necessary to build a business with substantial value.”

“Jon and I worked together when he was an Entrepreneur in residence at the London Business School and we had a fun time together helping the students and developing the course. Jon not only engaged with the MBAs but also added value to the course with ideas and insights. The students rated Jon’s performance as 4.8/5 so that says a lot about his dedication to helping others develop their entrepreneurial dreams””

“Jon is an entrepreneur extraordinaire. I have known him for a few years now and have come to realize how much he understands the true nature of entrepreneurship and what it takes to bring a business to life. His dedication to the business world and commitment to enable entrepreneurs (and other individuals for that matter) to succeed is refreshing in a world consumed with personal interest and narcissism. There are no conversation with Jon in which you wouldn't gain some insights. I highly recommend him to whomever has a chance to come in contact with him.”

“Jon is a veteran entrepreneur who knows what he's talking about. Savvy, street-smart advice.”

“Jon's success as a serial entrepreneur has been an inspiration to many of us who have had the chance to know and work with him. His work with business students at Stanford University and The London Business School have been an inspiration to a number of young entrpreneurs on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the past decade Jon has provided me with very insightful help in both my personal and professional life - and in particular - with insights into starting and managing high growth, entrprenuerial software companies. His ideas and objective advice are of value to anyone working in similar environments.”

“ComponentSource acts as a worldwide software distributor and reseller for Nalpeiron. I have always found discussing business and ideas with Jon worthwhile - as he has run several different businesses and has real-world experience as a result. Jon talks straight - which means you know where you stand with him and his employees at Nalpeiron - making them an ideal business partner.”

“I have known John for over 15 years and have greatly enjoyed my time with him. He has a true flair for business and is an ideas person with unlimited energy and a strong personality.He has been a pleasure to work with.”

“Jon knew what he was doing.”

“Jon has shown himself to be a man of openess, honesty, action and determination. Despite the hurdles we have faced in trying to find a relationship between our respective businesses over a long period of time, Jon shows continual respect, and a drive to deliver exceptional value to both sides of a deal.”

“Jon is intelligent, fun and collaborative. He has an informal but businesslike approach to working together so that there is a win / win for both parties. I hope to work with him again in the future.”