Brian Hand is a Chicago-based entrepreneur, venture & angel investor and author of the upcoming thriller, The Pinnacle Venture.

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He is co-founder of FireStarter Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused on technology investments; a board member of Ocient and Tiege Hanley; and an investor in dozens of start-up companies. He was founding COO of Ocient, a hyperscale data solutions company enabling analysis of trillions to quadrillions of data records in seconds; co-owner of Skolnik Industries, an industrial packaging manufacturer; Founder & CEO of Timelines, a company that allowed users to record and share events via the Web and apps; and Founder & CEO of ShopLocal, a technology company that helped advertisers use the Web to promote local, in-store sales. From 1983 to 1999, he worked in the venture capital and investment banking industry with First Analysis Corporation, the last three years as vice chairman. He received his BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a MBA from Northwestern University.