Bill Townsend is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in the launch of more than a dozen companies over the past two decades. He is currently the Chairman of Amati Foundation, a nonprofit serving the education and classical music industries. He serves on the boards of directors at Newegg.com, the #2 pure play Internet retailer and YourOffers, a leading personalized marketing provider to the retail industry. He also acts as an advisor to ANM Soft, an e-commerce platform company and New West Symphony, the outstanding orchestra based in Southern California.
His background in entrepreneurship includes being part of the founding management team and Vice President Advertising and Vice President Worldwide Ideation at Internet search pioneer Lycos.com, was one of the first Internet companies to undertake an initial public offering, doing so in a NASDAQ record of 8-months.
Bill was cofounder of YouthStream Media Networks (now Alloy), the largest publicly-held young adult marketing and media company in America. YouthStream owned sixdegrees.com, the intellectual property behind LinkedIn. His management skills have been utilized at companies like GeoCities (now Yahoo!), Deja News (now Google and eBay), NewsAlert (now DowJones), IntelliQuant, Really Easy Internet (now Hey, Inc.), Solidus Networks, Cyber Operations, Supermodel.com, and Ocean Technology.
He has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Baylor University, Loyola Marymount University, University of Texas at Austin, University of New Orleans, Digital Hollywood, Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE), SIMBA, Camp Internet, Violin Society of America Annual Convention, and American Institute of Attitudinal Psychology.
His numerous media appearances and interviews include NBC Nightly News, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, People, Cosmopolitan, Baylor Magazine, The Strad, News8Austin, KDKA TV Pittsburgh, The Young and The Restless, and ABC Television’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
He earned his MBA at Baylor University and BA at College of Wooster. He has been previously published in Harvard Business Review and Hoof Beats Magazine and is the author of the Internet’s first Children’s Advertising Guidelines. He is also the creator of Predictive Mind, a method for overcoming challenges and improving career, life, relationships, and more through pre-determination of events and reactions, and the inventor of Carbonixx musical products.
In his spare time he enjoys painting, photography, handcrafting violins, collecting guitars, playing drums and guitar, supporting outstanding and unique violinists, and traveling throughout Asia.
He is available for speaking engagements, media appearances, and one-on-one empowerment sessions.
You can contact Bill via email.
