Eric Kanowsky

Eric is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Entrada Ventures.

Eric caught the Internet bug early and was a co-founder of Software.com in 1995. While there, he served as Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Program Management. Software.com completed an IPO in 1999 and later merged with Phone.com to become Openwave Systems with a resulting enterprise value of over $12 billion in 2000.

In addition to Software.com, Eric has also co-founded and held key operational and leadership positions at a number of other companies including Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, providing novel technology for treating atrial fibrillation (acquired by Medtronic in 2019), and SmartReceipt, a SaaS marketing technology company serving the retail and restaurant industries (acquired by Mobivity in 2013).

He has been an active investor, entrepreneur, and mentor for over 20 years and is an early investor in many successful companies such as Apeel Sciences, Procore, CytomX Therapeutics, HG Data, and Truevision Systems. Most recently Eric was a founding member of the Santa Barbara Angel Alliance and has continued to take an active role with the UC Santa Barbara Technology Management Program and their New Venture Competition having served as both a mentor and a judge multiple times. In the past, he has also served on the Board of the UC Santa Barbara Center for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management and on the Board of Directors of Elings Park (the largest privately-funded park in America).

Eric holds an MBA from Indiana University and a Bachelors's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.