Company Bios
Founder/CEO Cliff.Boro@KidZui.com
Cliff has an eclectic background: his occupations have ranged from teaching skiing to hundreds of children, to crossing the Atlantic as second-mate on a mega-yacht, to working as a full-time Wall Street trader during his senior year in high school, followed ever since by a career as a serial entrepreneur. Cliff founded KidZui with his longtime business partners, Vidar Vignisson and Tom Broadhead. The trio sold their last company, Infogate, to AOL Time Warner in March 2003. Cliff is also the Chairman of mSnap, a leading mobile interactivity partner for traditional media companies, and an Advisor to (and former founding Chairman of) Videoegg, the leading video ad network for online communities.
Rewarding curiosity is in Cliff’s DNA. As a child, Cliff’s dad paid close attention to Cliff’s evolving interests and rewarded his inquisitive nature by leaving relevant books on his bedside table. So, long before the Internet Cliff was benefiting from personally tailored search results – kind of like a human Google who also tucks you in at night and kisses your forehead. It is in that spirit of fostering a child’s natural curiosity that KidZui was founded. Cliff likes to spend time sailing and skiing and other things that start with “S”.
Founder/CTO Vidar.Vignisson@KidZui.com
Vidar for the past 20 years has been at the forefront of developing flexible, cost-effective and highly scalable software solutions for a variety of leading companies including General Instruments and Qualcomm. He served as the CTO of Infogate and Entrypoint where he directed an exceptional engineering team that created an innovative product that delivered personalized content to the desktop. Following the acquisition of Infogate Vidar continued to develop the Infogate system at AOL until the end of 2003 when he joined KidZui’s other 2 founders to form CVT Ventures.
Vidar has like 9 kids. Ok, just 3. But it feels like 9 when you’re trying to serve as protector and muse for 3 voracious young minds. As a techoid, Vidar has helped contribute to the power of the Internet. But as a parent, was frustrated to know that that power was unavailable to his small children. Vidar’s dream of providing a way for all kids to navigate the web safely and independently was the inspiration for KidZui.
Founder/CFO Tom.Broadhead@KidZui.com
Tom was born in San Jose, CA at pretty much the same time as his brother. Having an identical twin brother suggests Tom knew how to multiply before most kids. His Mom was a twin also. Maybe that’s why it’s no surprise math was his favorite subject in school.
Being a twin of a twin, Tom’s love of numbers started early with “2” and “4”. As he grew, so did the numbers. His current favorite gets bigger every day – the number of dollars he and his team have spent perfecting KidZui.
Tom began his career with Ernst & Young (a leading global professional services firm), and has held numerous financial and operations positions with both privately held and publicly traded companies, and co-founded CVT Ventures (a venture development firm to help start and accelerate software companies). Tom has worked on numerous public offerings and complex M&A transactions throughout his career and has a proven track record of streamlining costs while increasing operational efficiencies and shareholder value.
President/CMO Andy.Jedynak@KidZui.com
Before the web was invented, while still a student at the University of California, San Diego, Andy was Editor-in-Chief of an early online publication, “Informative Networks on Computers”, which focused on and predicted the evolving role of the Internet in daily life. Andy graduated with a double-emphasis: Communication and Computer Science.
Andy spent 9 years with NBC, participating in sales, marketing and as television producer. During this time, he developed one of NBC’s most innovative and profitable Internet businesses. And before joining KidZui, Andy spent 8 years at WeatherBug, helping drive growth ten-fold and establish WeatherBug as one of the top ranking Internet properties.
In his free time, Andy enjoys playing music and sports and has even been known to bungee jump when the opportunity arises. He and his wife Meg have 3 boys, 11, 10 and 8, so Andy has an in-house focus group for all things KidZui. And having played professionally before embarking on his career in digital media and communications, Andy is the ringer for KidZui’s in-house basketball squad.
Editor in Chief Deanne.Kells@KidZui.com
Deanne began her career in the educational publishing industry where she gained a broad range of knowledge across all grades and subjects. Most recently, she served as Vice President/Editor in Chief of LeapFrog, where she applied her editorial expertise to help create best-selling and award-winning technology-based learning products designed specifically to make learning fun.
Deanne lives with her family in a real-life 3-story log cabin, made of golden round logs, on an acre and a half of land with a stream running through it. Her favorite hobbies are reading and taking Happy the Dog on long walks to the beautiful sights near her cabin, including an incredible waterfall that is practically in her back yard. Her greatest accomplishment in life is having two incredible teenagers . . . a 17-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son. Although she’s pretty proud of KidZui, too.
Vice President, Engineering Will.vonReis@KidZui.com
Will was always the inquisitive type. As a child, he was perpetually compelled to take things apart to find out how they work. If the phone was missing, his Mom could pretty much be sure she’d find it on Will’s workbench. It didn’t take that long for him to figure out how to put stuff back together again, making improvements along the way.
Will brings to KidZui a strong background in developing engaging children’s software products including Disney’s Magic Mirror and DC Comics’ Superman Activity Center, as well as downloadable Internet applications such as CNN Newswatch and EWallet. He has worked for Infogate, Launchpad, Gryphon Software, WordSmart and Linspire.
Always a strong believer in user testing, Will produced two beta testers of his own: Gus, 5 and Hazel, 3. Gus has been surfing the web since he was 3 on prototypes of KidZui.
Will is the driving force behind a team of like-minded tinkerers who have taken the Internet apart, improved it, and put it back together – just for kids.
Vice President, Business Development Adam.Jacobs@KidZui.com
Adam has a knack for being in just the right place at the right time – or just a little early. He was born in New York City on New Year’s Eve, a little premature, but at least not in the taxi. Growing up, Adam relied on this great timing and a keen sense of humor to open doors to new experiences. As a teen, he sold cheese at Balducci’s in New York, which is actually just as funny as it sounds.
Adam brings extensive experience in senior-level business development, advertising, sponsorship sales and promotions in new and traditional media markets. During his career Adam has managed on-air promotions for Time Warner Cable and headed up Business Development at CollegeClub.com. He founded Mass Hysteria Web Promotions, the Internet’s first online promotions agency, as well as InSync Media where he created original social networks for The Microsoft Network. Most recently, Adam launched a new children’s product line that is in distribution in over 9000 locations. He has also acted as a business development consultant to numerous companies including Crossflo Systems, Astronaut Sally Ride and Education Systems.
Clifford Boro Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, KidZui
Jason Green, General Partner, Emergence Capital Partners
Pat Hopf, President, Symmetry Growth Capital
Tom Kalinske, Vice Chairman, Leapfrog Enterprises
Josh Kopelman, Managing Partner, First Round Capital
Debra Somberg, General Partner, Maveron