Mark Bowles

Summary

Serial Entrepreneur | Inventor | Product Designer | Technologist | Investor | Educator I’m a serial entrepreneur and inventor with 25+ years of experience founding and scaling companies across semiconductors, consumer tech, retail, and biotech. I’ve co-founded seven venture-backed startups, raised over $250M across 18 VC rounds, and secured more than 100 patents (including 25 issued in the U.S.). My companies and products have received 20+ industry awards—including a Crunchies—and have led to multiple successful exits, including acquisitions by Outerwall, Illumina, Apple, Broadcom, Motorola, and Entropic. Before founding VCs in a Van , I helped launch: • Truvian - CoFounder (next-gen blood diagnostics) • Singular Genomics – Board of Advisors (NGS, Nasdaq IPO 2021) • VCs in a Van – CoFounder, Producer, Cast (Award-winning Reality TV show) • Pul Hydration – Board member, Investor, Chair (hydration technology) • Edico Genome – Board member, Investor (next-gen genomics processing) • ecoATM – Founder, Board member (e-waste recycling, $350M acquisition by OuterWall) • Vativ - VP Marketing (acquired by Entropic) • Staccato – CoFounder, VP Marketing (Ultrawideband pioneer, acquired by Artimi) • BlueSteel Networks - Investor/Fundraiser ($110M acquisition by Broadcom) • BOPS – CoFounder, President/COO (DSP microprocessor, acquired by Altera) • Power Computing - Investor/Fundraiser (Mac clone, $130M acquisition by Apple) • Panorama Designs - Fundraiser (Mac clone, acquired by Motorola) I spent my early career at Motorola Semiconductor, where I led distribution management, sales and market development for PowerPC platforms and ultimately served as VP MSP of PowerPC Market Development. My technical background includes work as an NSF Principal Investigator and researcher. I’ve contributed to major wireless standards as a member of IEEE 802.15.3a, 802.15.4a, 802.11n, and played leadership roles in MBOA (Marketing Chair), WiMedia Alliance (Director, China Liaison), and the Certified Wireless USB initiative (Chair, DRF Regulatory Committee). I’ve also shared my entrepreneurial journey as a guest lecturer at universities including Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Wharton, USC, UCSD, SDSU, USD, Pepperdine, and Texas A&M. Currently, I’ve served as a board member and Senior Fellow at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and USD’s Center for Peace and Commerce. I’ve also served on the board of the La Jolla Institute of Immunology (LJI) since 2015. Raised in Southeast Texas by Greek Orthodox Cajun hippies, I now live in La Jolla, CA with my wife and three sons.