Summary

Managing Director, Venture Mentors Former Director, Mason Small Business Development Center and Entrepreneur in Residence

Information

Web:  LinkedIn

Email:  john@venturementors.org

Biosketch

Before starting Venture Mentors in 1997, John B. Casey helped start, grow, and sell a number of software companies. Since then he has been advising CEOs of software and IT companies in the U.S. and overseas on strategy, management, marketing, venture capital, international sales, business development, and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activities.

In addition, since 2004, Casey has worked at George Mason University’s (GMU) Mason Enterprise Center as a mentor and small business counselor, as an entrepreneur-in-residence, and as an adjunct professor in GMU’s School of Business. Casey is currently advising several spinout companies who have launched tech businesses based on university-owned intellectual property.

Over the years he has worked with incubator programs and technology commercialization programs at other universities in the greater Washington region, including University of Maryland (UMD) and The George Washington University (GWU). He is currently an adjunct faculty member for a three credit course on customer discovery for UMD and GWU graduate students sponsored by DC i-Corps.

Casey’s first startup was a software company he helped create with his faculty advisor at GWU’s business school, so he’s seen up close the potential for university resources to help a startup succeed. That university spinout raised venture capital, grew rapidly, and opened offices all around the world before being acquired. Casey holds a Master of Science in information technology from GWU and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.

Education

The George Washington University
MS Information Technology
1980 – 1985

Colgate University
BA Political Science
1974 – 1979

Experience

Managing Director
Venture Mentors LLC
1997 – Present
“Connecting Experience To Ideas”
I co-founded Venture Mentors with two cashed-out entrepreneur friends in 1997 and quickly built a network of serial entrepreneurs and C-level executives who serve as trusted advisers to technology company CEOs. We truly enjoy helping founders of enterprise software companies scale rapidly and achieve a successful M&A exit. Some of our best references are the serial entrepreneurs who engaged Venture Mentors numerous times during the last twenty years to help them start, grow, and sell multiple businesses. We’ve helped create a lot of valuable businesses (and millionaires) since ’97 and we look forward to helping to create many more — as trusted advisors to CEOs and founders.

Entrepreneur-in-Residence
George Mason University
Jul 2004 – Mar 2016
I started volunteering as an advisor and mentor for entrepreneurs in the Mason community in the late 90’s and joined Mason research faculty in 2004. I advised numerous incubator companies and Mason spinout companies, managed the Mason Small Business Development Center, taught classes as an Adjunct Professor of Management at School of Business, served as chairman of the Advisory Board for Mason’s Computer Game Design Program, and was a member of the Vetting Group for Mason’s Office of Technology Transfer. I represented Mason in a wide variety of regional entrepreneurship initiatives including National Science Foundation iCorps, AccelerateDC, TandemNSI, TechStars, Mach37, and many other regional programs; I also represented Mason overseas in a number of international entrepreneurship programs, including the World Bank’s Global Entrepreneurship Challenge.

President
Sushi Software LLC
Jan 1985 – Jan 1997
Washington D.C. Metro Area
I founded Sushi Software LLC with two friends while in grad school at GWU. We did software development for startups as well as large organizations like Tandem Computers and International Monetary Fund. Over time I stopped doing software development and started doing management consulting for technology companies throughout the US and in Asia. Nowadays I continue to advise technology companies as part of the consulting practice within Venture Mentors LLC.