Founder Profile: Andrew Jones, co-founder of GolfRival

Discover who’s who in the tech startup industry with Founders Network Founder Profiles. Each profile covers one of our founders, their startup vision, achievements and current focus. Gain key insights about their most valuable lessons learned, greatest mentors and tips for staying motivated.

Andrew Jones, co-founder of GolfRival

Name:
Andrew Jones

Member Cohort:
March 2012

Location:
San Jose, Ca.

Education:
MBA Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
BA, Western Michi

Prior Experience:

• Extensive vendor/customer relationship management experience
• Knowledge in financial/contract negotiations
• Supply chain management experience
• Management experience in launching new products and leading new ventures

Current Startup:
GolfRival
– a social network enabling golfers to connect and compete when and where they want.

Mission:
To empower golfers to connect and compete when and where they want.

Milestones:

• Launch page & logo
• Founders network membership acceptance
• Front end/back end mockups for iphone/web

Lessons Learned:
“It’s unbelievably important to focus on having a good team.  The ideas may change, but the core team will stay the same.”

Staying Motivated:
“I’ve learned through this process that if you’ve given it everything you’ve got to into your startup and it doesn’t succeed, it doesn’t feel like as big of a failure. There’s nothing worse than regret about something you should have done and didn’t. You just have to try to leave everything you’ve got out there.”

Biggest Mentor:
“I don’t have one specific mentor.  For me, it’s more about various trusted sources that I go to for advice based on their specific experience (e.g. golf pros, country club managers, website design, etc).”