Team
Esalen Ventures has a broad network of technical advisors which help us to evaluate potential investments. They are vital in the Due Diligence process and play an important role in our extended team. They have experience in different sectors and bring the needed expertise to the table.
Tom Vorisek - Founder
I’m an early stage angel investor that works with founders to build iconic brands. Advertising and Technology executive with over 25 years of experience in Global Brand Management, Emerging Media, Disruptive Ad Tech and Mobile-Video-Social Platforms with network effects. In various department head roles: sales, marketing, business development and strategic Partnerships. Proven track record of growing new, pioneering products to scalable and profitable businesses by assembling best-in-class teams, setting clear and transparent operational and GTM strategies, building successful partnerships, exceeding customer expectations and partnering successfully with internal cross-functional teams. 2 IPO’s and 2 M&A’S. >$1B in stakeholder returns.
Dave Clauson - Advisor
Dave has spent the last 12 years working on Indigenous and minority economic development issues around the world. Prior to founding Big Blue Sky, he was Vice President, International for NANA Development Corporation, a $2.5B Alaska Native company with mining, oil, gas, engineering, construction, government contracting and hospitality development operations in 12 countries and 5 continents. He is a noted expert on supplier diversity having worked with companies such as Apple, Cisco, AT&T, and the U.S. federal government on developing sustainable diverse supplier programs. Dave also founded several Silicon Valley start-ups three of which became successful public companies. He has either led or was a key member of the teams that launched the IBM PC, the Palm Pilot, the Intel Pentium Processor, Adobe Acrobat and Amazon.com. He believes that by enabling access for everyone, the world’s economy can only move forward.
Samir Ghosh - Advisor
Samir specializes in building product businesses leveraging high growth, new frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, blockchain, drones, Internet of Things, et. al.
I’ve worked 35 years in tech, including 7 tech startups (3x exits, 2x ongoing, 2x founder, 2x CEO, 3x 5,000% growth), and corporate management experience at Microsoft, IBM, Lotus, and Procter & Gamble. I have very intentionally worked cross-functionally in Engineering, Sales, Professional Services, and Marketing in numerous industries from manufacturing to finance to transportation to consumer goods.
Scott Fackert - Advisor
Scott has over 20 years of experience working on B2B/B2C traditional and new media launches. This has equipped Scott with a unique blend of sales tenacity, business development acumen and adaptability to a multitude of industry verticals. Scott's collective experience is enhanced by a broad composite of additional new business experience and skillsets: