Entrepreneur | Musician | Adventurer

Hi, I'm Rick Winfield!

I'm a life long entrepreneur, adventurer, world traveler, musician, and I'm now the Dad of two young boys. A descendent of Caribbean Pirates (Dad's side) and a Chinese Student/Businessman (great-granddad on Mom's side), I grew up in the suburbs of New York City but have now lived on the West Coast for over half my life. I currently reside in Reno, NV. I find myself spending a lot time exploring what it is that makes adventurers, explorers, and entrepreneurs "tick." If you've got an (ad)venture you think I might be interested in, drop me a line!

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    Entrepreneur

    I started my career in the mid-90s as a technologist and self-taught web developer, working my way up to CTO of a Seattle based startup. After surviving the .com bubble burst, I founded ComputerTrainingSchools.com, a pioneer in the online lead generation space. Five years later the site was acquired by Quinstreet (NASDAQ:QNST). I was also the co-founder and Director of Technology at Veskritec, Inc., an early startup incubator/accelerator, which helped found four lead generation businesses (with several successful exits). Today I am an active angel investor, advisor, and entrepreneurship educator. I've taught college and MBA level classes in Entrepreneurship, Finance, Marketing, and Leadership at Sierra Nevada University and University of Nevada Reno and I am currently on the Investment Committee and am Screening Committee Chair at the Reno Seed Fund.

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    Musician

    I first started playing guitar in the fifth grade. In early 90s I ran sound at the legendary Pi Lam House in West Philly for bands like Baby Flamehead, Beme Seed, and IMU and in the late 90s I played bass in infamous Seattle bluegrass band Hot Led Pie. I've preformed with members of ALO, Phil Lesh and Friends, Tea Leaf Green, The Mother Hips, Jerry Garcia Band, and the Reptiles. Since 2015 I've been preforming around the Reno/Tahoe area both solo and in various Psychedelic Rock bands as well as in the West Coast's premier Linda Ronstadt tribute band, Winter Light. I enjoy recording, mixing, and mastering and have basic proficiency using Apple's Logic Pro X. I prefer to us a combination of modern software recording gear along with originals, recreation, and emulations of classic gear. My outboard gear includes many classic compressors, eqs, microphones, and a 2 track reel to reel tape deck.

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    Adventurer

    The Alps, Andes, Antarctic, Appalachian, Atlas, Cascade, Caucus, Coast, Chugach, Dolomites, Dubai (indoor), Hokkaido, Kootanies, Monashees, Ortler, Rockies, Selkirks, Sierra, Skeena, Southern Alps(NZ), Tetons, and Wasatch - I've skied steep couloirs, big volcanoes, and deep powder on all seven of the world's continents and have found myself on trips with ski legends including Doug Coombs, Andrew McLean, Hugo Harrison, Mike Douglas, Jeremy Jones & Gary Ashurst. I've made first descents in the Andes, Monashee and Skeena Mountains, and on Antarctica. I'll use lifts, snow cats, and helicopters to get to the top of the run, but my preference is to "earn my turns" in the backcountry. I've also swum in four of the world's five oceans, visited 28 countries, and been in 49 of the 50 US States. My favorite place to ski is La Grave, I met my wife and got married at Squaw Valley, and I got engaged at Burning Man.

Education

Schools Attended

  • EMBA Global Asia
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • St. Luke's School

Founder

Companies That I've Founded/Incubated

  • ComputerTrainingSchools.com
  • Caution Media
  • Sustainability Schools
  • Veskritec

Companies I've Invested In

My Portfolio as of mid-Sept 2020

  • Invest 1

Teaching

Schools I've Taught At

  • Sierra Nevada College
  • University of Nevada Reno
  • Truckee Meadows Community College

Companies I've Worked For

Precedent Systems, Inc. | Marah Wood Holdings

  • workz.com
  • Humongous Entertainment
  • Microsoft
  • AT&T Wireless