Richard Hearn

Hi, my name is Richard Hearn.

Founder. Operator. Investor.

I founded Crown (acquired by Publicis/Razorfish), then ran Razorfish Commerce as Global President. From there I led IBM's $1.5B Watson Customer Engagement business, then CEO'd PE-backed FPX through a turnaround and exit. Today I'm Founder & General Partner at Bambu Capital, where my partners and I bring the operator playbook to undervalued software companies — and I chair Lemonaid Health, one of our portfolio companies, rebuilding primary care around patients.

Mechanical engineer by training (Purdue), MBA (Ohio State). Raising two kids.

This site is where I think out loud about all of it. Four buckets: Business is the work. Think is the bigger questions. Drive is the road, the boat, the speed. Play is the family, the trips, the absurd.

Currently Bambu Capital

"Richard is the Magic Johnson of technology executives — balances ego with humility, and focuses on the team."

— Russell Scherwin
R

RichardGPT · richardhearn.ai

Talk to my digital twin.

A ChatGPT digital twin trained on 10,000+ hours of my journaling, reflection, and war in the trenches — business, love, addiction, growth. Use it when you need brutal honesty, practical wisdom, or a mirror that won't lie to you.

No more generic ChatGPTs.

Open RichardGPT

The four streams

Same site, four lanes. Pick what you're here for.

Recent

A mix from all four streams. Newest first.

Think
October 9, 2016
My path of breaking the rules and challenging status quo.
I don't know why, but I have always challenged status quo. Many call it breaking the rules, but I don't see it that way. I mean, don't get me wrong. Rules and status quo have their place. Many people …
Business
July 20, 2016
The best startup I found. IBM?!
I woke up this morning to this text from a friend and business leader in the Commerce space: “IBM?”  My response was simple: “It’s the best startup I found!”
Think
June 13, 2016
Your kids dreams aren't enough...
Yes, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt. Dreams enable us to imagine what could be possible without any limitations or expectati…
Think
April 8, 2015
My Parental Struggle & The Challenge to my Kids
Recently, we took our kids Grant and Lauren to Guatemala. We funded the building of a school with PoP and were going to see the project. They would see real poverty up close for the first time and we …

About

The longer version, for anyone who's curious.

I'm a serial entrepreneur and global Fortune 500 executive. I've founded and led startups and billion-dollar businesses in the marketing, commerce, SaaS, and SI/agency worlds.

I was Founder & CEO of Crown (acquired by Publicis/Razorfish — M&A Advisor's 2014 Deal of the Year). After Razorfish I served as Global President of Razorfish Commerce, then went to IBM as GM of Global Revenue & Product for the $1.5B Watson Customer Engagement business. Most recently I was CEO of PE-backed FPX, a B2B Commerce SaaS company, through a turnaround and successful exit.

Today I'm Founder & General Partner at Bambu Capital — a growth PE firm focused on undervalued software and tech-enabled services. I also chair Lemonaid Health, one of our portfolio companies, rebuilding primary care around patients. On the side, I tinker on a handful of small projects — Bonfiyah among them.

Recognition

2014
M&A Advisor — Deal of the Year + Strategic Acquisition of the Year (Crown / Razorfish)
2007 · 2008 · 2009
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist
Multi-year
Top 40 Under 40 · Inc. 500/5000 (6×) · Software 500 · Entrepreneur Hot 100
2015 – 2019
Board of Directors, Pencils of Promise
Purdue
BS · Mechanical Engineering
Ohio State
MBA

Contact

Easiest way to reach me is email. I read everything.