Lance Cottrell

Founder | Advisor | Angel Investor

Bio

Successfully exited founder. Active angel investor (BoD and Selection Chair @ North Bay Angels). Fundraising expert. I mostly advise on pitching, strategy, product, messaging, positioning, & validation. … Successfully exited founder. Active angel investor (BoD and Selection Chair @ North Bay Angels). Fundraising expert. I mostly advise on pitching, strategy, product, messaging, positioning, & validation. Saving Bio...

Top Achievements

Founded the world's first internet privacy business

I founded Anonymizer in 1995 as a consumer privacy business. We pivoted to building platforms for the national security community to conduct online undercover operations. We sold to a strategic acquirer in 2008. The terms of the deal are under NDA, but our investment bankers won an industry award for our deal. We did that while only taking $2.5 million in outside funding.

Created and sold a new category of solution to the USG

Prior to my company, the government had never outsourced the creation of tools for online undercover activities. I convinced them that they could do so and sold multi-million dollar SaaS solutions to many groups and organizations within the government. I know how to appeal to the interests of customers and explain complex solutions and capabilities in ways that non-technical customers can easily understand and appreciate.

Ph.D. candidate in Astrophysics

When I founded Anonymizer, I was almost done with my Ph.D. in astrophysics at UCSD. My thesis was over half done. I was working on structure formation in the early universe using both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Giant Keck Telescopes in Hawaii. My scientific background informs my approach to experimentation and validation in all aspects of business. I had thoughts of finishing my degree while launching Anonymizer. That was not realistic and did not happen. 🤣

Expertise

Fundraising, Valuations & Equity
Skills include Angels Equity Fundraising options Raising funds Valuations Your ask
Go-to-market
Skills include B2B vs B2C Business model Competition Distribution Channels Finding your audience Pricing model Engaging your customer Revenue model

Industries

Cybersecurity

What's included

    1:1 Private Video Call

    Speak with Lance for 60 minutes using our integrated video communication tool. No downloads needed — Just a webcam and microphone.

    Actionable Advice

    Set an agenda before the meeting, share your screen during the session and get tailored advice from Lance on your chosen topic(s).

    Written Feedback

    After your session, you will receive a written summary from Lance including what was discussed, next steps and recommendations.

    HD Video Recording

    Access and download a HD video recording of your session, in case you need to refer back to it or share with team members.

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MentorGuarantee

We pride ourselves on hand-picking the very best mentors who have tried and tested experience at building startups and giving exceptional feedback. If you’re not happy with your session, let us know and we will help you find a more suitable Mentor, free of charge.

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5

3 total reviews

    Peter Boscas

    4 months ago

    “Excellent insights and phenomenal feedback that we will instantly be able to implement on our project.”

    Peter Boscas

    5 months ago

    “This was an amazing session that covered both high level concepts as well as specific details of our project.”

    Paul Sidwell

    5 months ago

    “Lance is an exceptional mentor with extensive experience with fundraising strategies. He brought tremendous value to my business and I felt the benefits he provided far outweighed the modest cost for his time on MentorLabs.”

£159.00

per session