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Rob Adams
Executive Partner at Alumni Ventures
Austin, Texas
Overview
Rob Adams is an Executive Partner at Alumni Ventures in Austin, Texas, with a strong background in venture capital and entrepreneurship. He has held key roles such as Managing Partner at Texas Funds and Founder of Congress Avenue Ventures, and has invested in notable companies like Kapital and Plastiq.
With extensive experience in managing venture capital funds and founding successful ventures, Rob Adams has made significant contributions to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. As an Executive Partner at Alumni Ventures, he continues to leverage his expertise in product strategy and performance improvement to support startups and drive strategic partnerships.
Work Experience
Executive Partner, Alumni Ventures
2024 - Current
In addition to continue managing Congress Avenue and Ring Ventures, I am working to expand the investor base of Alumni Ventures' Limited Partners.
Managing Partner, Texas Funds
2023
Founder and Managing Partner, Congress Avenue Ventures
2019 - 2023
Rob started and runs the Alumni Ventures fund focused on The University of Texas community for Alumni Ventures
Alumni Ventures Group is a venture capital investment firm that manages fund families that invest in a portfolio of companies.
Raised $500,000.00 from Michael Bunning.
Managing Partner
2023
Ring Ventures is part of Alumni Ventures and focuses on the Texas A&M community. Rob was instrumental in working with Larry Warnock to start Ring Ventures, and as Larry become Ring's Director Emeritus, Rob took over as Managing Partner.
An Alumni Ventures Group Fund and Community
Founder and Managing Partner
2019
Congress Avenue Ventures is part of Alumni Ventures and focuses on the University of Texas community and provides high net worth individuals with access to annual venture funds with 25 portfolio companies, diversified across sectors, venture stages and geographies. We do this by following top-tier funds as they invest across the country in opportunities that have UT alums as part of the management team. We follow firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer, Lightspeed, Menlo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NEA, Shasta, and Sequoia. While Congress Avenue Ventures is currently fund raising and is just starting to invest, our sibling funds have recently invested in companies with founders that are UT alums including: • data.world • Oura • TerraDepth • Capella Space For me this is a great opportunity to combine my knowledge of UT based companies that I’ve been educating and mentoring over the last decade, along with my previous experience running several institutional funds for Austin Ventures. I’m really excited about the opportunity and innovation around bringing venture class returns to individual investors.
Congress Avenue Ventures is the smartest, simplest way for UTexas alums to add venture capital
Director Emeritus, Texas Venture Labs
2019
As the founder of this program at the McCombs School of Business, I continue to be active in it and serve on the Advisory Board.
Director of Texas Venture Labs, Senior Lecturer, IC2 Fellow
2005 - 2019
Rob Adams is on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin where he teaches entrepreneurship in the MBA program and is the Director of Texas Venture Labs. He’s a former software executive, entrepreneur and institutional fund manager. He has served on many corporate boards and has founded or financed more than 40 companies, which have launched more than 100 products and raised significant amounts of capital in both public and private markets.
Strategic Advisor, Cutler Center for Investment and Finance
2019
Advisor - CNBC Disruptor 50 Council
2019
CNBC is a news network that offers business and financial news from around the world.
Owner
2005 - 2011
Upgrade Automotive focused on the upgrading of classic cars with current automotive technology. The company restored primarily muscle-era cars to their original exterior cosmetic appearance while providing modern engine, brake and mechanical systems.
Founder, Managing Director - AV Labs
1999 - 2005
Founded, raised capital and was the Managing Director of AV Labs, a pioneering early stage $62 million institutional venture fund affiliated with Austin Ventures. We were the original investors in many successful Austin companies including Alterpoint, Covasoft, FowardVue, Lane 15, Mediaprise, Newgistics, Permeo, Salion, Triactive, Troux, and Waveset.
Founder, Managing Director
2003 - 2005
Professor, Co-founder
2002 - 2004