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Greg Kidd is Founder/CEO 3taps, an early stage investor & advisor to Twitter & Square. He founded and took public Dispatch Management Services Corp (DMSC) – the world’s largest on demand dispatch network for urgent deliveries. The company purchased more than 60 companies from Perth, Australia to Edinburgh, Scotland and the successws and mistakes of the endeavor have been chronicled in a case study taught at the Harvard Business School. From the lessons learned about “free-call” dispatching of bike messengers came insights that led DMSC alumni to start a wealth of new ventures – the most noteworthy of which have been Twitter and now Square by Jack Dorsey. Greg was an angel investor for Twitter’s first funding round and serves as a risk adviser for Square. Greg is an active angel investor in other startups that match seekers and providers (Hailo, Parking Panda, Meexo, Kabbage, and Craiggers). He is a founder and CEO of 3taps and Anoni, which facilitate searching, messaging and payments for these and other general exchange spaces like Craigslist. Besides startups, Greg’s time in the corporate world has been as a management and risk consultant for Booz Allen and the Promontory Financial Group. His focus has been on disruptive effects occurring in de-regulating industries (telecoms, transportation, financial services). Greg’s tenure in the public sector has been as a senior analyst for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC. Greg’s time in the not-for-profit sector has been as a leader for Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School. Prior to explorations of data visualization at Stanford’s HCI program, Greg studied public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, management at the Yale School of Management, and history at Brown University. Greg’s observation is that the little insights behind big startups can come from any person and any corner of the earth. The role of angels is to find and back the persons that have those insights. You can find Greg on Twitter @gregkidd
What are the little insights behind big outcomes for new ventures? And what is the difference between an ‘insight’ versus a mere ‘idea’. Greg Kidd discusses observations about the path to success for some of the most valuable startups in & outside of Silicon Valley. Hear why setting out to solve big problems rather than make money has the potential to yield the most amazing outcomes & remarkably short time frames.
