VC Bios

Brad Harrison

Founder & Managing Partner, Scout Ventures

Bio

Brad is the founder and managing partner of Scout Ventures. Brad is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with a passion for building companies pushing the envelope of technological innovation. He has successfully helped incubate several companies out of the Scout office to include Scout’s most successful investment to date, Unite US, as well as PortfolioWatch (exited) and Assurely. Brad also has deep experience developing concepts to include co-authoring 3 patents in search, geo-tagging, and personalization with Edmund Fish. Brad was a distinguished honor graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as an Airborne Ranger in the United States Army for five years before retiring as Captain. He also graduated MIT, Sloan School of Management where he studied New Product and Venture Development. He resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Angie, his son, Elvis and his daughter, Scout.

Key Quotes

“The one thing that I would tell seed investors is it’s not about the technology, it’s not about the business model, it’s not about any of that. I mean, you have to get all that right, but you assume at this juncture in our evolution, we’ve got enough people doing diligence that that’s not where we’re going wrong. The key ingredient, and the key ingredient that’s made this company successful, is “compatibility with coachable entrepreneurs.”

"In terms of companies, the target is so-called dual-use startups that have applications that can be used by both the public and private sectors. These are “core, disruptive technologies that we believe are going to bring a shift change, so they inherently have applications to the DoD and the commercial sector,” he said. “They are hard to find, and that is why we talk to so many companies.”

Career

Founder & Managing Partner

Scout Ventures

2009 - Present

Managing Partner

BHV

2006 - 2009

Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Distribution

WhenU

2004 - 2006

Director, Media Strategy and Development

America Online (AOL)

Founder & Managing Director

Gladiator Group

2001 - 2002

Captain

United States Army

1994 - 1999

Cadet

United States Military Academy

1990 - 1994

Background

Education

United States Military Academy at West Point (BS, Theoretical EconomicsBS, Theoretical Economics)
MIT Sloan School of Management MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA, New Product and Venture Development)

Networks