Our Team
Founded in 2018 in Minneapolis, MN, Brown Venture Group (BVG) is a Black and Indigenous-owned firm exclusively for the overlooked and undervalued market investment segmentation within technology startups. BVG provides technology under resourced founders an environment from which they can launch and scale their startup, including capital, training, and networks. We believe that technology entrepreneurship can bypass many of the cognitive and racial biases that have historically prevented greater economic flourishing for all. Moreover, generation after generation of adversity has made under estimated entrepreneurs particularly resilient. This resilience, combined with the fact that investment in under estimated and under resourced entrepreneurs has been almost non-existent, represents the best un-activated market for technology-focused venture capital.
Our Founders are proven operators with successful track records of launching, scaling, and selling multiple technology businesses.
Brown Venture Group, LLC Management Team: Dr. Paul Campbell
Dr. Paul Campbell
MANAGING PARTNER
Funds Track Record
First Who Global Business Solutions - $35,000
Black Irishmen Productions - $25,000
NuTek Communications- $10,000
Livewire Entertainment- $20,000
Startup Track record
First Who Global Business
Black Irishmen Productions
NuTek Communications
Livewire Entertainment
Business track record
Oracle Sales Executive Top 100 - closed complex strategic deals resulting in sales attentions of up to 390% and sale revenues of $3.4 Million.
Oracle for Startups-provided leadership and guidance to Oracle for Start Ambassadors and participating startups.
Sprint Government Sales Executive- managed Sprints $25 Million State and Local government business resulting in sales attentions of up to 452%
AT&T Sales Executive- sold telecom solutions exceeding quotas every single year by up to 157%
University of Minnesota Venture Center Advisory Board
Selected As "40 Under 40" Honoree By Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
Brown Venture Group, LLC Management Team: Dr. Chris Brooks
Dr. Chris Brooks
MANAGING PARTNER
Funds Track Record
Urban RECLAIM: $500,000
World Vision: $3.8M
Stadia: $1.6M
Startup Track record
Founder URBAN RECLAIM (Nonprofit org)
Founder Issachar Advisors (management consulting business)
Co-Founder BVG (VC)
Co-Founder Firehouse Commons (Physical Building; co-working business)
Business track record
Issachar Advisors: management consulting 2004-present
Leadership Coach to Fortune 500 Executives (2012-present)
Brown Venture Group, LLC Management Team: Jerome Hamilton
Jerome Hamilton
PARTNER
Funds Track Record
Open Therapeutics $6 million
Warecorp $1 million
HomeRoots $250,000
IKAZZ $250,000
GoMoment $250,000
Advisor to 5B Investment group (Deal Sourcing)
Startup Track record
CEO Open Therapeutics $2.5 million to $38 million
IKAZZ. Advisor to CEO, acquired by Grab in 2018
Business track record
Ford Truck Assembly Plant Manager
Director of Material Planning & Logistics
3M VICE president Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Quality, Acquisition Integration
3M General Manager Masking Surface Protection Business
Stratasys, Senior Vice President Global Operations
CEO Open Therapeutics (Bio-Tech)
Harvard Business Advanced Management Program
Co-Author “Make Your Business a Lean Business.”
Brown Venture Group, LLC Management Team: Chris Dykstra
Chris Dykstra
PARTNER
Funds Track Record
Warecorp - $1.5 million
Impact Hub/Finnovation Lab - $3.5 million
TheUptake.org - $500,000
Startup Track record
Warecorp
Minuteclinic.com
Sophia.org
Warmhealth.com
DrupalSquad.com
GoodCarts.co
TheUptake.org
Business track record
Firepond - Global VP Interactive Design Built 70 - person interactive practice in five countries over 6 months prior to successful IPO in 2000, which generated +$1.4 billion.
Designed and launched GM's first online car configurator
Led teams to implement the first online agent portals for Blue Cross Blue Shield in five states
Led the development of guided sales and commerce applications for dozens of Fortune 500 companies.
EPAM Systems - Global VP Ecommerce - Recruited by largest software services company in Europe to lead the development of the ecommerce and online practice.
West Law - Lead business architect and technology resource for complete redesign of product database and commerce applications.
LasVegas.com - Led a team of twenty resources to create Lasvegas.com, the largest travel launch of 2003, for a consortium of hotels and casinos and the founders of Expedia. Lasvegas.com was acquired in 36 months by the Las Vegas Review Journal.
AeroMexico - Redesigned customer loyalty and rewards program for AeroMexico.
Brown Venture Group, LLC Management Team: Operations
Eyerusalem Woldu
INVESMENT ASSOCIATE
Eyerusalem comes to BVG with experience as an analyst, entrepreneur, project manager and software engineer, and will be supporting BVG through all aspects of the investment lifecycle.
Lara Dreier
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Lara has over 15 years of experience in program leadership, project management, operations and grant management. She is passionate about supporting organizations that are scaling their impact, and ensuring they have a strong operational foundation. She joins Brown Venture Group as Operations Manager, and is excited to play a role in the important work BVG does. Lara holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and an MBA from Augsburg University.