About Us

- Who -

Who works at Adcelerium?

Jesse Ander, Partner

Jesse works on all types of projects at Adcelerium, but he is especially focused on energy-saving initiatives, Italian entrepreneurial projects, managing Adcelerium investments, and student entrepreneurship engagement.

He primarily works out of Austin, Texas where he can often be found riding a bike, paddling on the lake, swimming in Barton Spring, or out searching for good smoothies, queso, or music.

Jesse holds BAs from UC Santa Barbara in Economics and Law as well as a JD from Boston College. Outside of Adcelerium he has experience as an innovation strategist, community activist, and in various roles with various start-ups. Jesse serves on the boards of Austin Sister Cities International, Ballet Austin, the Austin Florence Alliance, and few other nonprofits and start-ups.

Erik Ander, Partner

Erik is focused on projects involving art, policy, international relations, and Italian entrepreneurship.

He is a prodigious adventure traveler, having visited around 75 countries and having traveled about 100,000 kilometers along the Pan-American Highway with nothing but a motorcycle and a backpack. If you ask him where he is from, he will likely answer “el mundo”, but we send his mail to Sacramento, California.

Erik holds BAs from UC Santa Cruz in Philosophy and Psychology. He also studied at Oxford and the National University of Singapore. Erik speaks 5 languages passably, has been in at least 6 motorcycle crashes, has visited hospitals in 5 countries, and has slept under the stars more than 300 times.

Who does Adcelerium work with?

We work with entrepreneurs in the phases of starting to think about an idea all the way to formally pitching investors for funding and everything in between. We also work with other investors looking for investment partners. And we sometimes work with large, established companies seeking help to develop new ideas or strategies.

- What -

What do we do?

Invest

We typically focus on two phases for investment. The first is the pre-equity stage. We are often our founders’ first investor and do so through grants. We typically make these investments through partner institutions like the University of Texas, the University of Florence, Nana Bianca, and others.

We also make seed stage investments in companies that are past their proof-of-concept stage. We usually like to invest in the $50,000 to $250,000 range. And we typically prioritize investment opportunities where we can provide useful connections, strategic development, or some other active support other than funding.

Advise

We advise and connect with all types of people in all different stage of their entrepreneurial process. This can take many different forms. We like to advise people as a way of meeting interesting people and increasing our deal flow.

Consult

Sometimes we consult with established companies working on new strategies.

What is our process?

We take every idea we work on through 4 simple steps:

  1. Clearly defining the idea.

  2. Identifying the dream outcome.

  3. Thinking through ways to speed up the process.

  4. Evaluating the most significant potential problems.

What are our interest areas?

We will work on anything we think is interesting, but we are currently most active in these areas:

  1. Energy-saving technologies or concepts

  2. Italian entrepreneurship

  3. Seed-stage investment opportunities

  4. Interesting entrepreneurial ecosystem engagement

  5. Food industry concepts

  6. International relations projects

  7. New policy concepts

  8. Positive impact, philanthropic, and charitable ventures

  9. Art, music, literature projects

  10. Student entrepreneurship

- When -

When was Adcelerium founded?

2022.

- Where -

Where is Adcelerium located?

Our headquarters are in Austin, Texas and we have an office in San Diego, California.

Where do we invest?

We’re interested in any place with a human presence. We are active in North America and Europe, but are most focused on projects in Italy and Texas.

- Why -

Why does Adcelerium exist?

Fundamentally, we work on projects that are 1) fun 2) interesting or 3) can make a lot of money. We especially like projects that do all 3. And we want all of our projects to improve the world in some way.

- How (Bonus Round) -

How do we work? (practical)

We work by:

  • Launching, incubating, and investing in startup ventures.

  • Pursuing in-house idea generation to explore with partners, clients, and entrepreneurs.

  • Pursuing specific targeted outcomes with a single business or involving partnerships between multiple stakeholders.

  • Developing of early-stage ideas with young entrepreneurs, including students.

  • Managing portfolio companies.

How do we work? (philosophical)

Founding Principles

  • Honestly evaluate work on our scale: excellent/good/mediocre/poor. Invest more into the top 2 and less into the bottom 2.

  • Organize around founders and leaders.

  • Take risks. Everything has risk, there should never be coasting. It should always feel like we're running not resting. We want partners who want to run.

  • Prioritize equity ownership of all people involved.

  • Operate business units with at least minimal profitability for owners, then save enough to fund the next idea.

Core Values

  • Be fast.

  • Be clear.

  • Take action. When in doubt do something, most things can be reversed. Don’t wait for direction, don’t talk about it endlessly, do it.

  • Be straightforward. Always tell the truth even if it is tough, do not mislead, do not dodge.

  • Value people. We are people-centric, people drive all of our work. Treat all people with respect.

  • Pursue excellence. Whatever we do, do well.

Please contact us if you want to know more about investing with us, pitching something to us, or working with us in some other way.