Elliott Ng

Thanks for visiting this page and I hope we will have the chance to connect more personally, if we haven’t already.  Feel free to email me: elliott at ngventures d0t c0m or connect via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Bio (long)

Elliott Ng is currently the sole managing member of VentureSprout, which focuses on advising startups and developing seed-stage business concepts.  In addition to advising startups, Elliott has also served as mentor/lecturer in various Entrepreneurship courses at Stanford University, and has spoken on entrepreneurship, social media, and search trends at conferences like the AAMA-SV annual conference, China Travel Distribution Summit, and the PhoCusWright Travel Conference.

In 2007, Elliott co-founded online travel startup UpTake Networks, Inc., ($12.5 million investment from Trinity Ventures, Shasta Ventures), which has become the fastest growing new player in the U.S. online travel market since its launch in mid-2008.  In addition to being responsible for UpTake’s marketing and traffic acquisition, Elliott also established and negotiated UpTake’s outsourcing relationships with two China-based vendors:  TopSoft Information Technology (Beijing) Ltd., and Jinwei (Shanghai) Ltd.

In 2006 Elliott invested in and advised Shanghai-based 2DuNet, Inc., an B2B automotive marketplace (investors: Qiming Ventures, IDG VC, Mustang Ventures).  Elliott also advised Cross Country Group, a leading automotive call center and towing service provider, who then entered the China market through a $2+ million strategic investment in United Automotive Association, Inc. a Beijing-based car club and car rental startup (investors: Legend Capital, Cross Country Group, KPCB China).

Elliott has over 15 years of experience in direct/interactive marketing and venture-backed entrepreneurship in the Silicon Valley.  From 2003 to 2005, Elliott served as Director of Interactive Marketing for Intuit, Inc., and grew the online channel from $14 mm to $40+ mm.    In 2001, Elliott co-founded Loyalty Matrix, Inc. (acquired 2006 by Responsys, Inc), a customer intelligence and analytics firm that has helped clients like Apple Computer, LA Times, 24-Hour Fitness, and Starwood Hotel & Resorts reduce customer attrition and increase customer lifetime value.

In 1996, Elliott co-founded Netcentives, Inc. (Investors: Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Mayfield Fund, RRE Ventures, many others).  An early pioneer in using the internet to drive customer loyalty and retention, Netcentives went public in 1999 (NASDAQ:NCNT) and was acquired in 2001 by hospitality/travel/real estate company Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD) and data provider InfoUSA (NASDAQ:IUSA).  Elliott also worked at McKinsey & Company, and was a product manager at Microsoft Corporation.  He received an MBA, with honors, from Harvard Business School and holds a BA in Social Studies from Harvard University. Elliott is based in Silicon Valley, CA.  Elliott is a native speaker of English.

More Photos

Standing outside Palace Museum (aka Forbidden City) in Beijing Tiananmen, November 2008.  This was part of the China 2.0 Tour, where we brought a group of bloggers and social media people to meet with Chinese investors and entrepreneurs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.  The tour was organized by Web2Asia (George Godula) and Christine Lu mostly, but I organized the last segment of the trip to visit  CNBloggerCon 2008 (??????).

At Zion National Park, on the scary-as-heck Angels Landing trail, September 2009.  I was on my annual “Mancation” with my 2 high school friends.  Glad I went but I was scared for my life.  Really.

Oahu, Hawaii, November 2009.  This picture was taken by Kris Krug (flickr: kk+) during the Rethink Hawaii / TedX HNL trip, organized by Christine Lu, Dave McClure,  Chris Noble, and Neenz.  Not only is this guy an amazing photographer, he is an impressive entrepreneur, nice guy, and even has the same birthday as me. (photo CC by-nc-sa):

Bio (shorter versions)

Sometimes, conferences and events require shorter versions of the bio.  Here are a few:

50 words

Elliott Ng is Founder of VentureSprout, which focuses on advising entrepreneurs and develop seed-stage startup ideas.  Elliott previously founded travel startup UpTake Networks, Loyalty Matrix (acquired 2006), and Netcentives (NASDAQ IPO 1999).  He worked for Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and holds degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard University.

100 words

Elliott Ng is Founder of VentureSprout, which focuses on advising entrepreneurs and develop seed-stage startup ideas.  He is also Co-Founder and Advisor of UpTake Networks, Inc., a fast growing new online travel startup.   UpTake’s success is due to an integrated social media and SEO oriented strategy that was quarterbacked by Elliott and his team.  Elliott co-founded Loyalty Matrix (acquired 2006), co-founded Netcentives (NASDAQ IPO 1999) and led online marketing for Intuit’s QuickBooks division. Elliott also worked at Microsoft and McKinsey & Company.  Elliott holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a AB from Harvard University.