About

Ed-s-h-o-n…how do your pronounce it? It’s “so-nell”.

BIO

I am a startup and growth company expert in B2C and B2B2C, with more than 20 years leading companies from startup through exit. I sold 1, built 4, crashed 2 and worked with so many others that I lost count.

My wife, Sue and I in Monument Valley

I’ve co-founded and grown two community organizations, served on the board of directors for an industry trade group, am a mentor to private equity-funded companies, serve as an occasional classroom guest lecturer, am an accomplished public speaker, write on my website, guest blog on other websites, and I’ve helped my wife start and grow two businesses of her own.

For more about my specific business focus and operational strengths, please visit my What I do page.

My education includes the Webb Schools, a boarding high school in California, a BA from Pitzer College and an MBA from the Daniel’s College of Business at the University of Denver.

I like to read about consumer marketing, consumer branding, financial markets, media, mobile, outdoors, organic/natural foods/farms, retail/CPG, social media, startups and technology.

Besides my professional work, other things important to me include loving and following Jesus. I attend The Rock Church in Castle Rock, Colorado , a non-denominational Christian church. I also like Mars Hill Church in Seattle and listen to sermons online.

I am a former national-level amateur athlete and currently stay active through cycling, hiking, uphill running intervals, rock climbing, XC/Nordic skiing, biathlon (ski-shoot), alpine skiing, snowshoeing, shooting and weightlifting. My diet is paleo/primal/ancestral and what I cook and eat is a big part of my life due to autoimmune issues from major food groups.

My wife and I live on 14 acres just outside of Denver, Colorado that we are slowly rehabilitating for use in organic, pesticide-free and sustainable agriculture. Our animals include Romeo, our Vizsla, chickens, and with my wife’s dog training business, we have other dogs floating in-and-out of our house on a fairly consistent basis.

Romeo, our Vizsla

My wife, Sue Brown, is a former CPA and controller who changed careers to work with her true passion, which is dog training, and we now own and operate two businesses, Love My Dog Training and The Light of Dog.

For my professional background on LinkedIn, please click here.

WHAT I DO ON THIS WEBSITE

I like to write about doing startups and growing companies, but include other stuff that match my interests. I write because it clarifies and helps focus my thoughts, gets out of my head what I know and learn to hopefully help others, and lets people know what I am thinking and doing.

Other things I do on this website include productizing what I know about starting and growing companies into tools, methodologies and content.

WHAT’S UP WITH MY TAGLINE – ALL OR NOTHING?

When starting a company or training for a race, its common accepted wisdom to give it your all. I am not talking about “all” in a quantitative sense – like hours you spend, miles you ride or resources you commit – although that is important. There is a deeper level of “all” that comes from knowing oneself and feeling the freedom to express oneself in all aspects of life.

Colorado sunset from the house

God created me, and each one of us, with a unique set of talents and strengths that no one else has. Some of those were embedded from birth, while others developed and evolved based on the unique experiences of our individual lives.

“All” to me means finding out what those talents and strengths are, in the context of how I enjoy using them, and using them without abandon. In this way, I glorify God because as His creation, I am letting Him manifest Himself through my uniqueness. But the great thing, too, which I have learned in my walk with God, is that I end up having loads of fun and feeling deeply rewarded. What could be better than to please God and have fun at the same time?

But, there’s risk, there, too. I mean, practicing what I like to do, like starting and growing companies, which I think I am getting better at, brings in all sorts of personal, financial and career risks, doesn’t it? Of course it does! But, I have found that knowing oneself also means getting to know my creator who made me, and I’ve come to know that He’s there watching my back and covering me. So, while there is risk and I will make wrong decisions, experience hardships and fail, He’s there to pull me through. That brings a level of freedom that lets me really commit to “All”.

ONLINE FOOTPRINT

I cross-post and take part on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Facebook, and occasionally bounce in on other sites. My complete online social footprint can be found below.

MOUNTAIN LOGO

From the top of the hill on the property where we live, this is one of the image views that can be seen. From the proper angle close to sunset in the winter, one can see hues of red from the iron content in the exposed sections of the slopes, heavy greens and teals coming from the thick stands of evergreens, and shades of white from freshly fallen snow reflecting off the sun that blankets the trees. The peaks are actually more rounded in real-life, but to stress the Colorado mountain’s impression, we took some liberties in creating the logo. Dustin Stout is my logo creator and website designer.

Sidebar Photo

The sidebar photo was taken on a hike at Spruce Mountain Open Space. It took a few shots before we got Romeo to sit still instead of climbing into our laps and licking our faces. Here’s the sequence: