Jonathan Gael

Entrepreneur

To kill switch routers so that we can enter a new age of computing.

Ether2, Razient, Verabella Beverly Hills, Profunder, Sharemeister

Frustrating: Seeing the big picture and having a credible plan to knock 3% of our national electric spend, but having all the proof points seem all too technical. Example: A partner at Rho was on a panel that judged my pitch in the Bay Area. Bumped into him at Splash LA and he said, "Ether2...oh yeah...that complicated network thing." Also, knowing that one has a solution that can solve global societal issues that are much bigger than any particular website, but being held to the same criteria as some SoMoLo play.

Rewarding: Having achieved proof of concept with no money down.

For us, it was not questioning every assumption. We assumed that we needed to build a prototype after being told by VCs that we needed a prototype, and we spent our seed fund trying to bring that FPGA chip into being. Had we known then what we know now... 5 years later, based solely on marketing our intellectual property, we have been able to gain significant traction which has led to proof of concept, and we have been selected for wireless backhaul by a low power wireless sensor protocol stack.

1) The road is long for fundamental change. 2) Investors will never be satisfied with the state of the company's progress until the company is at revenue. 3) Visionaries and founders may not be the best people to raise money or run the company. As long as the project gets wings...that's okay.

Jonathan is responsible for all aspects of business development, including the acquisition of Ether2’s intellectual property from Illinois Institute (IIT, Chicago) and Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC/CTTC, Barcelona), OEM licensing, and freely licensed strategic partnerships via EcoNODE.org (Ether2 Community Network Operators & Developers).  

 Upon winning the coveted DEMOgod(tm) award, Jonathan was quoted in USA Today saying, "This is just the beginning of a dream to return telecommunications to the commons."  Prior to building Ether2’s founding team, Jonathan spent many years in enterprise sales and as a Director at the growth consulting firm, Unfair Advantage, where he worked with the senior partners of global law firms such as Pillsbury Winthrop, Coudert Brothers and Latham Watkins. Jonathan also served as a Major Account Representative, winning President’s Council Awards for being a top performer at both Nextel Communications and Teligent Communications.