About

Varud.com is a website dedicated to allowing users to create events that are relevant to their social networking relations, their blog readers, local users, and people interested in the same things.  We were founded in the Summer of 2008 by a group of motivated technologists looking to change the way users interact about the events that are close to themselves. Get ready for a private beta in January. If you'd like to participate, please register. All registrants will be sent an invitation.

Hard At Work Right Now:

Adam Nelson, founder and CEO, has over 10 years of experience in the technology industry. His past roles include working for AT&T and Citibank as well as mid-sized financial companies such as Refco; Most recently, he acted as the CTO of ForSaleByOwner.com. Adam was an essential part of the swift success of ForSaleByOwner.com beginning in 2001, and through its acquisition by the Tribune Corporation in 2006.  After overseeing the integration of the company, Adam left Forsalebyowner.com in 2008.  Adam holds a BS in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Albany, as well as a MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago. In addition, he spent two terms at Oxford University as an Associate Student. 

Zach Smith is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis where he earned degrees in marketing and economics and owned a laundry and dry-cleaning service. Other start-up experience includes working with the recently launched SportsFanLive, a social networking site with a sports focus founded by former Yahoo! executive David Katz.

Helping Us Out When They Can:

Chris Schultz is the founder and president of Voodoo Ventures, LLC a technology company incubator in New Orleans, LA.  Voodoo Ventures launched the Flatsourcing.com brand, an outsourced web development firm, in 2006 and has built a client base around the world.  Two web applications, siteMighty.com, a web publishing platform, and Huckabuck.com, a meta-search engine, were launched by Voodoo Ventures in 2005.  Huckabuck was acquired in 2006 and siteMighty continues to be operated by Voodoo Ventures.  Prior to founding Voodoo Ventures, LLC, Mr. Schultz founded Destination VIP, Inc. a Las Vegas-based internet travel company which was acquired in 2003 by VegasHotSpots.com.  He received his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California in 2002, and his Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia in 1996. 

Peter Memon is Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers/Barclay's.  He has nearly 20 years of industry experience with a background in online medical and financial applications requiring the highest levels of uptime and performance.  He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Doug Hoppe has over ten years of experience in the digital media sector,  working as an entrepreneur and consultant as well as for large multinational companies such as Sony BMG. As an entrepreneur, Doug created XenoMusic.com, the first and largest music web portal in Central and Eastern Europe. Doug also conceived of and served as the initial project lead for Sony BMG's multi-million dollar MyPlay.com video portal. Doug is a graduate of Yale University and also holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and International Business from Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business.

Aaron Pastor has over 8 years of start-up experience, from creating business card cd's (Pella WIndows) to his own organic dog treat brand (The Doghouse Kitchen) to developing the brand and wholesale structure of a burgeoning sauce company (Binga's Wingas).  Aaron's strengths as related to Varud come in the form of his ability to create, develop and manage partner-relationships and marketing plans. Aaron holds a B.A. in English from the University of Albany, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.  He too spent two terms at Oxford University as an Associate Student. 

Thomson Valliyakalayil is currently pursuing his M.B.A. at NYU's Stern School of Business. After 5 years of technology consulting, Thomson followed his passion for entrepreneurship to Varud, with prior startup experience developing the business model for Prism Industries and implementing marketing strategy at Panjiva.