Crick Waters

Crick Waters

Tall enough that most people get a Crick in the neck talking to me at a stand-up party. Starter, creator, builder. Competitive masters swimmer. Husband and father of two. Ribbit co-founder.

Website: http://crickwaters.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/crickwaters, http://crickwaters.wordpress.com, http://about.me/crickwaters
Twitter: crick
Palo Alto, California, United States
Accredited investor
Member since July 29, 2012
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Angel
Typical investment size Under $25,000
Credentials Accredited Investor
Activity
Investments made Igea, Funsockets
Board seats Alianza
Advisory positions TimeBridge
Education
Duke University , BS , Electrical Engineering
Bettis Reactor Engineering School , MS , Nuclear Engineering
Duke University, Fuqua School , MBA , Masters of Buiness Administration
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Ribbit, Conga, LeafLit, EasyNDA
Companies I work or worked for:
Alianza
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

Cross-media voice mail notification and delivery(Link) - United States 8,155,281
System and method for replying to voice messages left by callers(Link) - United States 8,320,533
Telephonic communications with intelligent protocol switching(Link) - United States 20110029682

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I love creating things that people value

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Frustrating: Knowing deep in your heart you're going to have a valuable technology and service while repeatedly being told in one form or another the opposite.

Rewarding: Being told how great what you've build is - especially by those who had told you otherwise.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Failing to talk to customers first.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Wow. Let me boil it down to one top lesson: Keep on networking.
I love what The "Power of Pull" by John Hagel et al. teaches. There are some great lessons learned in the TechCrunch article, "The Ribbit Rollercoaster: A Founder’s Story From Concept To $105M Exit" (http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/21/the-ribbit-rollercoaster-a-founders-story-from-concept-to-105m-exit/) and my follow-up post, "
The Rest of the Story of The Ribbit Rollercoaster: A Founder’s Story From Concept To $105M Exit" http://crickwaters.wordpress.com/?p=411&preview=true.

Full bio

 

Crick co-founded Ribbit in 2005, which was acquired by British Telecom for $105 million in 2008, on the simple premise that voice has value, and that value is in the application of voice. He served as EVP of Strategy and Business Development.  Prior to starting Ribbit, Crick lead development and delivery of consumer voice and data services including fiber-to-the-home, VoIP, DSL, Wi-Fi, and voice over DSL services for AT&T Consumer Services.

Crick was Director of Value Added Services at NorthPoint Communications where he was responsible for creating services delivered over the company’s high speed data network. During his tenure, he launched one of the Nation’s first voice over DSL services. Prior to his civilian life, Crick devoted seven years to developing nuclear reactor instrumentation and control technology for the U.S. Navy’s submarine, the U.S.S. Seawolf.  Crick has served on the Boards of Directors of the DSL Forum and the International Packet Communications Consortium. He has B.S.E.E and M.B.A degrees from Duke University, and a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering.