Judd Hollas
Judd Hollas
Judd E. Hollas is a technology entrepreneur based out of Austin, Texas.
He is currently the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Newchip, an investment marketplace aggregator that allows individuals to invest alongside venture capitalists and experienced investors in startups, real estate deals, and ICOs via partnerships and proprietary technology.
He is also well known for his previous role as the Founder CEO of EquityNet a leading crowdfunding platform that has helped client companies raise more than $300 million.
Education
Judd Hollas studied at Colorado State University from 1992-1993 in their Bachelor of Engineering program focusing on Mechanical Engineering.
He studied at the school while playing for the Colorado State Rams football team on an athletic scholarship.
In 1996, Hollas graduated from the University of Tulsa with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with honors.
He also studied Engineering Design, Environmental Engineering and pursued graduate level research.
Hollas maintained a 3.8 GPA and played for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team on an athletic scholarship.
From 2004-2005, Hollas completed levels I and II of the CFA Institute's Chartered Financial Analyst designation program.
As part of the CFA program he studied a variety of Accounting, Economics, and Finance concepts.
Career
Chemical Engineering
Judd Hollas began his career as a Chemical Engineer for Phillips 66 working there from 1996-1997.
In this role, he worked on supply chain and process automation, involving modeling and process automation of complex systems that spanned Phillips’ largest petrochemical facility.
He also developed and tested quantitative modeling methods for plant-wide production predictions based on economic data and chemical processing characteristics.
Investment Management
From 1997-2004, Judd Hollas worked as an Independent Investment Manager.
He managed over $10 million in client and personal assets, including portfolios of public shares, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate holdings.
In this role, he invested in hundreds of fixed income and equity securities and over 50 emerging technology companies in a wide range of industry sectors.
Hollas generated proprietary research that was instrumental in the performance of managed investment portfolios by employing unique statistical and quantitative methods and market, competitive, and business intelligence.
EquityNet
From 2005-2007, Judd Hollas was the Founder and CTO of EquityNet, the first business crowdfunding platform in North America.
While CTO, he obtained five United States patents for various crowdfunding and business analysis technologies, including for capital e-marketplaces, business analysis, risk quantification, and business monitoring.
Hollas designed the EquityNet crowdfunding platform and developed the world's first online business planning and analysis software, a business risk prediction system, integrated messaging and activity tracking systems, and the industry's first algorithmic scoring systems to rank businesses by multiple scoring metrics.
From 2008-2015, Judd Hollas was the Founder CEO and President of EquityNet.
In this role, he conducted extensive market, competitive, and intellectual property research to identify the emerging market opportunities for crowdfunding.
He raised $5 million in total capital from angel investors, investment firms, and by utilizing crowdfunding throughout the company's history.
Hollas recruited, trained, and managed a staff of over 25 people throughout the maturation of EquityNet, and built partnerships with various outsourced service providers.
He established many strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and accelerators, state and federal government agencies, and venture capital firms.
Hollas developed a sophisticated web marketing model for marketplace hyper-growth, managed all Google AdWords campaigns, and optimized conversion funnels and product pricing.
Hollas performed all of the operational and accounting control functions throughout the company's history, resulting in breakeven operations at only $1.5 million in revenue.
Under Hollas leadership, EquityNet achieved and maintained annual growth rates of 100% to 200% in web traffic volume, marketplace population, member activity, and total revenue.
He lead the company to become a leading crowdfunding platform with over 200,000 individual members, 20,000 companies, and $300 million in capital raised by client companies.
At the end of his tenure, he negotiated the sale of EquityNet to an affiliate of a global financial services company.
Newchip
Since August 2017, Judd Hollas has been the Co-Founder and COO of Newchip, an innovative investment marketplace aggregator focused on connecting millions of millennial investors to thousands of investment opportunities.
He has used his experience in the investment platform to help expand Newchip's position as a market leader.
He has lead the operational expansion of Newchip in preparing for and accommodating hyper-growth within its marketplace and global business operations.
Hollas has assisted in fundraising efforts and the development of strategic partnerships with major financial institutions, technology partners, and government entities.
He also focuses on implementing systematic approaches for monitoring and optimizing operational performance and value creation for customers and shareholders.