Thad has spent his career building and investing in technology companies outside the traditional tech hubs. After years as an entrepreneur and operator in the Midwest, he saw a persistent mismatch: strong founders and important innovation were increasingly distributed, while venture capital remained concentrated in a small number of markets. In 2014, he co-founded Flyover Capital to invest in that opportunity.
Before Flyover, Thad served as CEO of Zave Networks, a Kansas City-based, venture-backed marketing technology company acquired by Google. Earlier in his career, he held executive leadership roles at Sprint PCS and Sprint Nextel, where he co-founded Sprint Nextel Ventures and led the company’s innovation program during the formative years of mobile data and wireless services.
Today, Thad brings that combination of operating experience, investment judgment, and long-term market perspective to Flyover’s work with founders. He focuses on identifying exceptional companies early, investing with conviction and discipline, and supporting leadership teams through the challenges of building enduring businesses. Flyover-backed companies have gone on to strategic acquisitions including EyeVerify by Ant Financial Group and Agrible by Nutrien, demonstrating that venture-scale technology companies can be built well beyond the traditional centers of venture capital. Thad is also an active member of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a global network of venture investors.
Thad graduated from the University of Arizona, where he played on the Wildcats’ nationally ranked NCAA tennis team, and earned his MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Leawood, Kansas, with his wife and daughter and spends as much time as he can with them on the tennis court, on hiking trails, and exploring new places.
