Jordan Zipkin

Experience

• 

  Camp Robin Hood

  Jun 2009 - Aug 2009

  Camp Counselor
• 

  Jewish General Hospital

  Jun 2010 - Aug 2010

  Database Manager

  I updated and maintained the Database for Pulmonary Oncology Department. Additionally, I assisted fellows with research.

• 

  Bear Deliveries

  Aug 2010 - May 2013

  Co-Founder

  Bear Deliveries is a company that delivers food from on campus cafeterias directly to the student dormitories. Orders are taken via an online web portal with integration of the student meal card. The program was initiated at Wash U by Phil Taub (a classmate) and myself.

• 

  Washington University in St. Louis

  Aug 2010 - May 2012

  Teaching Assistant for Microeconomics, Graduate and Undergraduate Statistics, and Microsoft Excel

  I led information sessions of 60+ students, hosted tutoring sessions, proctored exams, and corrected assignments and exams.

• 

  Washington University in St. Louis First Year Center

  Dec 2010 - May 2013

  Head of Training

  As Head of Training for First Year Programs, I created and led a year long training program for 70+ student advisors. This empowered them to become effective resources for the 1,300 students they were advising.Additionally, I directly managed a team of 10 student advisors and led weekly meetings to ensure they were able to attain their goals in transitioning first year students into the school environment.

• 

  Symblia

  Jan 2011 - Jun 2013

  Co-Founder

  I was a co-founder of Symblia which is an online community built to simplify students', professors', and administrators' lives. The platform fosters community in colleges and increase communication and coordination for any organization or group on campus from a team project to managing an entire department.Symblia was active on five campuses across North America, and partnered closely with administrations at Washington University in St. Louis, and at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to improve online tools for students, professors, and administrators. These tools ranged from online chat and group management to a secondary marketplace for students to buy and sell goods and services from one another. Show less

• 

  Soluto

  Jan 2012 - May 2012

  Consultant

  Led a team of four undergraduate and graduate students from Israel and the United States in researching and reviewing pricing models for Soluto's initial consumer product launch.

• 

  Cherokee Inc.

  Jun 2012 - Aug 2012

  Intern

  As an Intern in Cherokee (CHKE), I worked with the controller, CFO, COO and CEO on several financial projects. I assisted with creating, updating, and formalizing financial models, hedging currency risk, and implementing strategic growth initiatives. The biggest project was the modelling and evaluation of an acquisition opportunity which culminated in a multi-million dollar buy out. http://cherokeeglobalbrands.com

• 

  Montreal Home Magazine

  Feb 2013 - Oct 2013

  Chief Operating Officer

  During my tenure at Montreal Home Magazine, a publishing house, I worked alongside the publisher in order to re-organize the business and prepare for a dynamic growth stage. I oversaw production of the magazine from editorial to print and distribution, and managed the financial and accounting needs of the company as we published 3 titles with 6 issues a year across Canada in 3 languages. Additionally, I assisted in the development and launch of a new title for the Vancouver market which went to market with 30,000 copies in 2 languages and featured 2 celebrity spotlights. Further, I transitioned the business into a larger media company by securing a contract with a billboard reseller. This new segment of the business increased revenue significantly, and allowed the firm to expand its scope and better service its advertisers. I undertook several other projects during my tenure with Montreal Home Magazine, including renovating the website and updating social media strategies as well as working on a custom back office solution that streamlined the production, operation, and billing process of magazine production.http://www.movatohome.com/ Show less

• 

  ML Partners

  Mar 2014 - Feb 2016

  ML Partners is a Canadian investment group which incubates and manages a portfolio of healthcare and financial services companies within the US. I had two areas of responsibility: managing analytics across the portfolio of companies, and running the Sage vertical. Sage is a firm incubated at ML which manages care for diabetes patients, enabling them to be proactive with their ailment on day to day basis.As Head of Business Intelligence I implemented a new standard of reporting and KPI development within the firm to key in on success factors and identify bottlenecks. We built a new CRM to exponentially increase visibility through each vertical, and developed an automatically generated reporting system through SQL.Ultimately I built an analytics team, created a flexible reporting infrastructure for each vertical, and helped foster an organizational habit of utilizing KPIs to manage various business lines. We strived to supply GMs of each business with the data they needed to scale their operations and hit ML's goal of doubling every nine months.As the General Manager of Sage, I was involved at every level of the operation. Along with the partners at ML, I set the strategy for the firm and oversaw implementation. Be it traveling across the United States to secure contracts with pharmacies or lead-generation partners, overseeing operations in any of our 3 offices and many partner-sites, or developing and implementing customer acquisition strategies, I did what needed to be done to help the firm scale rapidly.Together, we grew from a startup of 30 people to a firm employing over 200 employees across North America. We expanded our business from diabetic supplies to a variety of products and services to ameliorate the lives of the diabetic patients we served, and further supplemented our B2C operation with a profitable B2B segment. We developed and implemented many initiatives to greatly reduce CPA while maximizing gross margin per customer.www.mlpartners.com Show less ML Partners is a Canadian investment group which incubates and manages a portfolio of healthcare and financial services companies within the US. Within the fast paced business day at ML Partners I had many responsibilities. These include evaluating merger and acquisition opportunities, financial analysis, developing reporting tools and KPIs to assist General Managers run their verticals, creating a unified database to increase the analytic capabilities of the verticals, and even managing the hiring process for various corporate positions. I worked daily with the CFO and CEO to successfully launch new ventures, develop informative reporting packages for business leaders as well as partners, and perpetually ameliorate existing businesses. I attended business management meetings, and focused on learning how to build and manage companies.www.mlpartners.com Show less

  • General Manager of Sage & Head of Business Intelligence

    Sept 2014 - Feb 2016

  • M&A and Financial Analyst

    Mar 2014 - Sept 2014
• 

  Chomp Cards

  Jun 2014 - Jun 2015

  Co-Founder

  Chomp Cards are a fresh take on the traditional greeting card. When opened, Chomp Cards surprisingly bite onto their recipient's hand! They are great to send to friends, family, coworkers, kids, and anyone who likes a good laugh. The patent pending design is recyclable, safe, and easy to use.We launched on Kickstarter in fall of 2014, exceeded our goal by 150% including sales in 24 countries across 3 continents. After manufacturing and assembly, we shipped out the product in Christmas of 2014. We subsequently sold Chomp Cards in several retail stores in the Milwaukee area. Show less

• 

  Self-Employed

  Feb 2016 - Jul 2017

  Global Explorer

  I took a sabbatical from the world of management, analytics, startups, and investments to travel the world. After living and traveling in mainly western countries for my whole life I decided it was time to invest in an alternative education and gain some perspective! Equipped with a backpack stuffed with 23kg of gear, I went trekking, camping, hitch-hiking, skiing, eating, and generally meandering my way through the world. My journey took my through Canada, US, Japan, S. Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, India, Nepal, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Austria, Czechia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. Every day was an adventure complete with new friendships, incredible people, cultures, customs, sights, and discoveries! I learnt more each day than I could have possibly imagined, and the cultural interchange were complemented by time spent developing my writing skills as well as avid reading and a steady consumption of YouTube lectures and podcasts on topics ranging from race in South Africa to Artificial Intelligence, Universal Basic Income, Buddhism, Quantum Physics, Modern Romance, and much more (lots of train/plane/bus/shared car time to spend)!If you would like to learn more about my adventures, send me a private message. I maintained an email list of people who I updated regularly and would be thrilled to share some stories. Alternatively, send me a message if you just want to discuss my year of infinite stimulation and learning. Show less

• 

  Real Ventures

  Jul 2017 - Sept 2019

  I am currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Real Ventures, Canada's most active early stage venture capital firm. Prior to Real, I founded and ran businesses in food logistics, ed tech, publishing, and health care including some successful exits and educational failures. After an exit in 2016, I spent a year and a half travelling the world living out of a backpack and spent most of that time in the developing world. I came back with the belief that individuals have more leverage to create change than ever before due to the incredible advancements in technology. In order to get reacquainted with the tech world, I worked as a Partner Associate with Real Ventures for 18 months, helping to develop many of the firm's 'deep tech' theses, working with and investing in incredible world changing companies in AI, quantum, energy, personalized medicine, longevity, neuroscience, the blockchain, the future of cities, and data rights.I have now transitioned to an EIR role where I am coming back to my entrepreneurial roots and applying the knowledge I've accumulated around tech enabled companies and business model innovation. I am very interested in tech-enabled for-profit solutions solving problems in the developing world around food, water, energy, and the environment. Reach out if you are working on a new tech with potential world-changing applications, or if you are familiar with the problem spaces I'm passionate about, I love meeting and engaging with new people! Show less

  • Entrepreneur In Residence

    Feb 2019 - Sept 2019

  • Associate

    Jul 2017 - Jan 2019
• 

  Engineers Without Borders Canada

  Sept 2019 - May 2020

  Venture Partner

  As a member of the Investment Team with Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWBC) I participated in Investment Committee meetings and supported the portfolio. I worked with the team to execute a Series A investment in MPost, and developed the fund model and strategy for Hummingbird Capital, a dedicated for-profit impact-oriented gender-lens venture fund as a spin out from EWBC.

• 

  East African Power

  Sept 2019 - Feb 2020

  Chief Investment Officer

  Interim CIO with East African Power, a renewable energy developer with a portfolio of 20MW of active hydro and solar projects. As CIO, I led the company's restructuring phase which culminated in a successful seed capital fundraise. I worked closely with equity and debt providers to secure term sheets and execute investment agreements to fund the development of two hydro power projects in Rwanda representing 6MW in new projects. Through these activities, we cumulatively obtained USD $10M of capital commitments for the firm during my time with the firm.https://vimeo.com/335794363/07da58b9c4 Show less

• 

  Self-employed

  Feb 2020 - now

  Consultant and Advisor

  Providing management consulting and investment support to a variety of small businesses around the world who are leveraging technology to make an impact and reduce emissions. Many of the businesses I work with are within the energy sector, and do business in the developing world. In addition to my consulting work, I am proud to act as an advisor to the following firms:SolarMente (Residential Solar in Spain) https://solarmente.es/EAP (Renewable Energy Developer in East Africa) https://www.eastafricanpower.com/EWBC (Gender Lens Impact Tech Investing in Sub Saharan Africa https://www.ewb.ca/en/what-we-do/investing-in-ventures/CapSolar (Solar modules for small EVs) https://www.capsolar.ca/Hub One Systems (Backend Software for Finance, Manufacturing) https://www.hubonesystems.com/Eternal Light (In-space wireless charging) Show less

• 

  Volta Space Technologies

  Jun 2020 - now

  Advisor
• 

  Entrepreneur First

  Aug 2020 - Nov 2020

  Founder in Residence

  Entrepreneur First is a $140M fund and the world's leading technology talent investor. Entrepreneur First brings together extraordinary people to build startups from scratch in London, Singapore, Berlin, Hong Kong, Paris, India and now Toronto! Through their fund, they invest in individuals to find a world-class co-founder, develop an idea and fund the deep technology businesses they create.EF has created 200+ companies which include Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter), Represent (acquired by CustomInk), BloomsburyAI (acquired by Facebook), Tractable, Cleo, OpenCosmos, CloudNC, Transcelestial and many more.EF is backed by Reid Hoffman, Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Mosaic Ventures and Lakestar.For more information about Entrepreneur First, or to apply to join our next cohort, please visit www.joinef.com Show less

• 

  Sawa Energy

  Nov 2020 - now

  Chief Investment Officer & Cofounder

  Sawa Energy provides affordable, predictable solar electricity to power Rwandan businesses. We build, own, and operate solar systems for our clients, enabling them to go solar & save money without any upfront costs. Sawa Energy is a triple bottom line business, generating returns while driving value for our Rwandan clients and engineering partners, and targeting a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. Learn more about us online: