Entrepreneurs Unplugged: With Ryan Martens, Founder and Chief Technology Officer and Tim Miller, CEO of Rally Software

Tags: Entrepreneurship

Silicon Flatirons, ATLAS, and ITP present Ryan Martens, Founder and Chief Technology Officer and Tim Miller, CEO of Rally Software as our featured entrepreneur.

Ryan Martens brings to Rally proven leadership in dynamic, high growth software companies and is an expert in assisting organizations transition from traditional development processes to more Agile techniques. Before founding Rally Software Development – his fourth software start-up – Ryan directed the corporate adoption of Internet technologies within Qwest Communications, and then moved on to co-found Avitek, a Boulder-based custom software development firm where he served as Vice President of Marketing & Business Development. Ryan’s successful efforts at Avitek culminated in an acquisition by BEA Systems in 1999. At BEA, Ryan served as Director of Product Management for the eCommerce applications division and he was instrumental in growing that division to more than $50 million in revenue within its first twelve months.

Ryan is an alumnus of the Colorado Chapter of Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is also involved in a variety of community organizations including Colorado Conservation Trust, the Knight Foundation and the Entrepreneur Foundation of Colorado. Most recently, Ryan was named as a semi-finalist for the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award. Ryan received his Masters in Business Administration and his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Tim Miller is the CEO of Rally Software, which helps organizations perfect the art of software development through Agile and Lean practices. Rally is four-time winner of the highly coveted Jolt Award (the software industry’s equivalent of the Oscar award) and has been named one of the fastest growth companies and also one of the top companies to work for in Colorado for 3 years running. With more than 18 years of management experience, Tim has been honored as an Esprit Entrepreneur of the Year and a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. Prior to joining Rally, Tim was CEO of Avitek, which was sold to BEA Systems in 1999. Tim helped create BEA’s highly successful Portal Development Group and then served as Vice President of BEA’s Accelerated Development Centers.

Tim has been actively involved in his community with several groups including TechStars, Social Venture Partners, Young Presidents Organization and Young Entrepreneurs Organization. He holds a Masters in Information Systems and a BA in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Entrepreneurs Unplugged is a meeting place where faculty, students and community members with technical backgrounds learn about and get involved in entrepreneurship. In particular, the program offers students and faculty an opportunity to learn how a successful start up is created as well as an opportunity to network. Each Entrepreneurs Unplugged meeting features food, drink and – most importantly – an experienced entrepreneur to discuss his/her start-up experiences.


Presented By
ATLAS
Interdisciplinary Telecom Program, University of Colorado

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