Prior to founding Firebrand, John served as Managing Director for Techstars, a leading startup accelerator with over 30 programs around the world. While at Techstars he ran three accelerator programs in Kansas City and invested in 30 startups. Companies that have gone through Techstars programs have raised a total of over $6 billion in funding and have a collective market cap of over $16 billion.

John was previously a part of five startups, including one he cofounded. Before Techstars he spent nine years at UnitedHealth Group, managing large scale projects including scaling a business from zero to $1.5 billion per year and 1,500 employees in four years.

With a passion for building startup ecosystems, John has been active in the Kansas City startup community since 2012, serving on several advisory boards of community organizations.

John holds a BA in Psychology from Clark University and enjoys hanging with his family, working out, playing the drums, and being an obsessive Red Sox fan.