We are Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe that the future of our country and our way of life will be determined by how well we prepare our children for success in the 21st century. We are technologists who cut our teeth in Silicon Valley start-ups and learned at some of the Valley's largest success stories, from venerable HP to Yahoo! and Google. Through hard-won experience we know what it takes to get an idea off the ground and how to build a successful company.
We have all been involved in web-based companies from their very beginning. Soon after Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web, we recognized the potential of the Internet and the web to transform society and committed our energies and talents to that change. Today a similar momentum is gaining for the application of technology to education and the future of children K-12. At Imagine K12 we will do everything we can to make this happen as quickly and effectively as possible.
Tim Brady, Partner
Prior to Imagine, Tim was CEO of QuestBridge, an educational start-up company that helps bright low-income high school students gain admissions and financial aid to many of the nation's best colleges. Before that, he spent eight years at Yahoo! Inc. during which time he held several positions, the last of which was as the company's Chief Product Officer. After the two founders, Tim was Yahoo!'s first employee. He played a key role in successfully managing all marketing, operation and business development to launch Yahoo! commercially, and to help make Yahoo! into one of the most recognized brands and successful businesses on the Internet. From writing the business plan that attracted the first venture capital financing to helping scale the business, he helped lead the company through multiple stages, challenges and opportunities. Tim also spent three years with Motorola in Tokyo. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Prior to Imagine, Tim was CEO of QuestBridge, an educational start-up company that helps bright low-income high school students gain admissions and financial aid to many of the nation's best colleges. Before that, he spent eight years at Yahoo! Inc. during which time he held several positions, the last of which was as the company's Chief Product Officer. After the two founders, Tim was Yahoo!'s first employee. He played a key role in successfully managing all marketing, operation and business development to launch Yahoo! commercially, and to help make Yahoo! into one of the most recognized brands and successful businesses on the Internet. From writing the business plan that attracted the first venture capital financing to helping scale the business, he helped lead the company through multiple stages, challenges and opportunities. Tim also spent three years with Motorola in Tokyo. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Alan Louie, Partner
Alan has a deep interest in the future of education and learning. Prior to Imagine K12 he worked at Google managing special projects such as strategic deal development and negotiation, internal cross-functional troubleshooting and managing tricky partners. He helped guide Google.org during its formation and made its initial set of grants. Prior to Google he played early roles in sales and business development at start-ups (at the time) Netscape, Infoseek, Shutterfly and Network Computing Devices, all of which went public, and Kontiki, which was acquired by VeriSign. In prior lives he was a science researcher and software engineer working on high speed parallel computing, radio astronomy and high energy physics at NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab and the California Institute of Technology; a software analyst for advanced aeronautics at Lockheed and Cray Research; and a systems engineer at Sun Microsystems. Alan has a B.A. in Physics from Occidental College.
Alan has a deep interest in the future of education and learning. Prior to Imagine K12 he worked at Google managing special projects such as strategic deal development and negotiation, internal cross-functional troubleshooting and managing tricky partners. He helped guide Google.org during its formation and made its initial set of grants. Prior to Google he played early roles in sales and business development at start-ups (at the time) Netscape, Infoseek, Shutterfly and Network Computing Devices, all of which went public, and Kontiki, which was acquired by VeriSign. In prior lives he was a science researcher and software engineer working on high speed parallel computing, radio astronomy and high energy physics at NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab and the California Institute of Technology; a software analyst for advanced aeronautics at Lockheed and Cray Research; and a systems engineer at Sun Microsystems. Alan has a B.A. in Physics from Occidental College.
Geoff Ralston, Partner
Geoff has been an investor in, board member of, and advisor to a variety of start-up companies, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, Geoff was the Chief Executive Officer of Lala Media, Inc., an innovative cloud music start-up in Palo Alto which was purchased by Apple in December of 2009. Geoff worked at Yahoo! from 1997-2005 after their 1997 acquisition of Four11 Corp. At Four11 Geoff was the VP of Engineering and led the creation of Yahoo! Mail's predecessor, RocketMail. At Yahoo! Geoff was Senior Vice President and general manager of the Communications Business Unit and then served as the company's Chief Product Officer from 2003-2005. Prior to Four11, Geoff was the creator of the popular LookUP! Internet white pages and do-it-yourself home page service. Geoff holds a BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth College , an MS in Computer Science from Stanford University , and an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration.
Geoff has been an investor in, board member of, and advisor to a variety of start-up companies, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, Geoff was the Chief Executive Officer of Lala Media, Inc., an innovative cloud music start-up in Palo Alto which was purchased by Apple in December of 2009. Geoff worked at Yahoo! from 1997-2005 after their 1997 acquisition of Four11 Corp. At Four11 Geoff was the VP of Engineering and led the creation of Yahoo! Mail's predecessor, RocketMail. At Yahoo! Geoff was Senior Vice President and general manager of the Communications Business Unit and then served as the company's Chief Product Officer from 2003-2005. Prior to Four11, Geoff was the creator of the popular LookUP! Internet white pages and do-it-yourself home page service. Geoff holds a BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth College , an MS in Computer Science from Stanford University , and an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration.
Karen Lien, Director
Before joining the team at Imagine K12, Karen was the Director of College Relations at QuestBridge, a non-profit organization that connects talented low-income high school students with admission and financial aid at top colleges across the country. Prior to QuestBridge, she briefly taught high school chemistry, getting a first-hand taste of the challenges and rewards of working as an educator. Karen has a B.S. in astronomy and physics from Yale University and an M.S. in astronomy from UCLA, where her research focused on the x-ray properties of active galactic nuclei.
Before joining the team at Imagine K12, Karen was the Director of College Relations at QuestBridge, a non-profit organization that connects talented low-income high school students with admission and financial aid at top colleges across the country. Prior to QuestBridge, she briefly taught high school chemistry, getting a first-hand taste of the challenges and rewards of working as an educator. Karen has a B.S. in astronomy and physics from Yale University and an M.S. in astronomy from UCLA, where her research focused on the x-ray properties of active galactic nuclei.
