This is Burdseed 2.0.
Burdseed 1.0 was my tumblog, which I abandoned in 2011 in favor of this longer, more flexible, more lasting format. You can also find more abbreviated or fleeting versions of my thoughts on Twitter and Google+ (and occasionally on places like Quora).
Burdseed is a play one of my nicknames and on the concept of seeding ideas, change, and businesses.
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I’m Eric Free and I’m a product guy, problem solver and business builder. I’ve been an entrepreneur, change agent, venture investor and advisor, public-company and startup executive, and engineer.
I’ve spent the last dozen or so years focused on creating the connected home and spend most of my waking moments thinking about how to disrupt and improve the traditional television, digital living room and first-gen mobile entertainment experiences.
If you watch TV or video in your home, you’re probably using something that’s being powered by software or web services from one of my current or former teams.
I currently ply my trade at Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), where I’m responsible for defining and delivering Intel’s vision for connected services in the digital home and am a co-founder of Intel Media. Before joining Intel, I advised a few venture-backed digital media companies and was the co-founder of a startup in the social TV space. I also architected the turnaround of Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ: ROVI), led the company into the connected home, built its most successful business unit and its global product organization, and helped to create nearly $4 billion of value for shareholders between 2005 and 2010.
Earlier in my career, I managed a $60 million corporate venture fund (focused on digital media), was an executive for an award-winning streaming media pioneer (Electrifier), and learned the venture business as an associate and advisor/entrepreneur-in-residence for several early-stage funds. I’ve mentored dozens of entrepreneurs and companies over the years, and helped to establish the entrepreneurship programs at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Research Triangle Park’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development. Companies that I’ve invested in or advised with successful exits include Digimarc (went public), SciQuest (went public), Widevine (acquired by Google), Digital Fountain (acquired by Qualcomm), SecureMedia (acquired by Motorola), NTRU Cryptosystems (acquired by Security Innovation), Rioport (acquired by eCast), Haht Commerce (acquired by GXS), and Accipiter (acquired by CMGI and later aQuantive).
I like to design, create and fix things, especially products and businesses. And houses. I’m also a sports nut, struggling athlete, and music lover.
You can find a more detailed summary of my professional and academic background here on Intel’s corporate site or on Linkedin.
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Thanks to the community for the technology behind this site. Up and running in ten minutes with only limited mods. Pretty amazing, even for this day and age.
Blog powered by WordPress running on LAMP. Theme by pnts.
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Ideas expressed here are mine alone, and do not represent the views of my current or former employers or any other institution or organization.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.