Brian Curtis lives in San Francisco, works in Los Gatos and is constantly traveling all over the world.
Brian joined Calera Corporation in August 2008 to lead Corporate Development activities. Calera is a rapidly growing technology start-up focused on climate change solutions and backed by Khosla Ventures. Click here for more details. Brian also acts as an advisor to the US Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy group (EERE).
Previously, in 2007-2008, Brian was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Qiming Ventures in Shanghai and its sister funds Ignition Partners and Ignition Capital in Seattle. During his time with the firms, clean energy investment strategies were put in place, $1 billion raised and initial investments made. The Brian also worked with Shanghai New Margin Ventures as a Venture Partner during 2006-2007, during which time he developed the firm’s energy strategy and contributed to the fund raising process, culminating in $350m raised. Brian first worked with New Margin in 2002 to define its international positioning strategy. Over the same period, Brian also had the opportunity to consult to several Khosla Ventures portfolio companies.
Prior to joining New Margin, Brian was Founding General Manager of Heritage Technologies Asia. The company operates a series of environmental protection joint ventures in Shenzhen, China. Brian developed and executed the China market entry plan for the US partner. During his time as a hands-on GM, a chemical processing plant was built, export channels established and a Chinese domestic distribution network created. The Chinese partner is a New Margin portfolio company (click here for stock info).
In an earlier chapter, Brian was co-founder/COO/CFO of a San Francisco-based internet company, The Digs Network, which was an early social networking site. The company was acquired by venture-backed iDrive.com in early 2000. Under his guidance as Director of University Marketing, iDrive was ranked Top 10 sites for 18-24 year olds by AdWeek.
Brian began his career as a hydrogen and alternative fuels plant design engineer for Chevron. He was also COO of a high-value machinery manufacturing start-up before founding theDigs. Brian has over 15 years experience in engineering and management for the environmental, energy, manufacturing and internet/IT industries.
Brian holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he was the Lead Organizer for the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and dedicated much of his time to developing entrepreneurial programs across MIT. He received the Patrick J McGovern, Jr Award for outstanding contribution to entrepreneurship at MIT and the Sloan Senate Award for leadership in the MIT Sloan community. Brian now sits on the board of the MIT $100K and is a judge for the energy track. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA.
On a personal note:
For fun, I play bass in a couple of bands and enjoy most outdoor sports and adventure travel. I also ran 2 Olympic distance triathlons in 2008 and plan to do the same in 2009. My 6th annual Bali surf trip is in planning now, although we may charter a boat this year to explore more remote islands. On a more serious note, I’m an interested observer of foreign affairs and a free market advocate.
