Jamie Allen’s personal page
I’m a native of the
San Francisco Bay Area – a rare breed – I grew up in the East Bay. My
professional roots are in technology.
I’ve spent most of my life since 1980 in Silicon Valley. I've been starting and running businesses
since the mid-90s.
I
spent a number of years at Tandem Computers, starting as a Software Designer
writing low level code (microcode, Z80 assembly, diagnostics, etc.). I
ran some of Tandem’s largest development programs in the mid-late 80’s.
In the early 90’s I got involved with Telecom and in the mid-90’s I ran
Tandem's Telecom product business. In the 80’s Tandem might have been the
best place on the face of the earth for a techie like me to work.
I joined my first startup company in 1997. I have been involved in four startups over the last ten years, two of which I founded. eCustomers, the first company I was involved with as a founder, developed a hosted service to enable highly targeted marketing to on-line shoppers at ecommerce web sites. eCustomers was based in Austin, TX. During this timeframe I was very active in the on-line privacy debates and served on the Federal Trade Commission advisory committee studying on-line privacy issues. After eCustomers I returned to Silicon Valley to work at Malibu Networks. Unifone, the second company I founded, was a fixed-mobile convergence MVNO.
In 2006-2007 I did a tour on the East Coast where I was General Manager of Telcordia Technologies’ Hosted Solutions business unit, the dominate U.S. Software-as-a-Service provider of real-time charging and policy and mobile data services for MVNOs. I was also responsible for Product Management, Marketing, Business Development and System Engineering for Telcordia’s Service Delivery Solutions business, a leading provider of real-time charging and policy solutions to telecom service providers worldwide.
I’m
currently with NetService Ventures Group. I first got involved with NSVG as a “friend
of the firm” in 2003, when I was starting Unifone and NSVG was investigating
fixed-mobile convergence. I had a loose relationship with NSVG over the
next couple of years, including being involved in some of the brainstorming
that led NSVG to evolve their concept of the “extended conversation” into what
is now My Digital Life. I worked with the NSVG team in the initial
definition of MYDL, and was involved in some of the early MYDL discussions with
their first customer. I drew the first (very) high level MYDL
“architecture” on the white board in the NSVG conference room in the fall of
2005. I've been on the MYDL Board of Directors since its inception.
I like to ski, but don’t do it enough. I like to bicycle, but don’t do it enough. I like to eat, and do it too much. I like to play poker, and sometimes I win. I like baseball – as a spectator, not a player. I like to travel, unfortunately most of the traveling I do is on business, not for fun. I’ve got a great wife, son, step-daughter, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and three grandkids that are a kick. I’ve also got a bunch of pretty cool siblings scattered up and down the West Coast.