Eric Holtzclaw

Liger

As Chief Strategist of Liger, Eric evaluates businesses to improve products, services, support and marketing strategies for overall effectiveness. Along the way, Eric teaches companies how to understand their customers better so they build solid teams that deliver to customer expectations.

A trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies and small business owners alike, Eric uses his extensive experience starting, growing and running his own businesses in concert with a knowledge base from over a decade of business and consumer interviews to accelerate a deeper understanding of the true behaviors, motivations, goals, preferences and expectations of customers and teams.  

A sought after speaker, writer and thought leader, Eric's passion is to apply customer-based knowledge to emerging trends in technology creating new opportunities and improving existing business models.

Chief Strategist

Tarkenton Private Capital

Actively guiding the firm's investment strategies and shaping the future of innovative startups and early-stage companies in the portfolio.

Collaborate closely with entrepreneurs, founders, and CEO's, guiding them through growth challenges, refining business models, and providing valuable industry connections. Analyze market trends, identify emerging opportunities, and contribute to portfolio optimization. Contribute to the success of both the firm and the startups we support, fostering innovation and driving impactful returns on investment.

Principal

PossibleNOW

Provide strategic direction for the adoption of the MyPreferences platform within enterprise clients. MyPreferences allows companies to "Listen, Remember and Respond" to their customers' desires for overall engagement and customized experience.

Formation of a Professional Services Organization within PossibleNOW to assist Fortune 500 companies with both the strategic evaluation of enterprise-wide preference management and the implementation of the MyPreferences SaaS solution.  

Serve as the interface between PossibleNOW and industry analysts, potential PSO partners and vendors.  Establishment of proprietary research and best practices for the centralization of preference management and maximizing user adoption with an eye toward existing and future marketing needs.

Chief Strategy Officer

Mansueto Ventures

Weekly column on Inc.com providing advice to business owners and entrepreneurs.  The column covers trends in technology, leadership, employee management and research.

http://www.inc.com/author/eric-holtzclaw

Columnist, Lean Forward on Inc.com

User Insight

As CEO of User Insight, Eric Holtzclaw oversaw strategic service offerings and ensured operational excellence and innovation across the business. 

User Insight's body of work gave Eric the unique opportunity to interview thousands of users across industries where they work, live and play to truly understand "why" they do what they do within different contexts.  User Insight delivers over 150 projects a year supporting the world's largest brands.  This vantage point provided a unique perspective and understanding of the dramatic impact created by relationship-based technologies and a preview of the future based on the "Internet of Things".

Chief Executive Officer

CyberSource

Part of the leadership for a new team tasked with creating a professional services arm within CyberSource to support deployment and extension of CyberSource's core payment and fraud offerings.

Specific highlights include:

- Responsible for negotiating relationship with order fulfillment partner and rollout to organization 
- Creation of stored value offerings
- Supporting United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia in development of emerging markets
- Development of statements of work, pricing and pitches of key high profile projects

Practice Manager

Silicon Graphics

Created Internet Services practice for SGI's newly formed Professional Services organization that generated $30 million a quarter in new business

Responsible for identifying partner companies to add new solutions for extension of SGI hardware

Advised SGI's customers on solutions based on SGI hardware to take advantage of emerging Internet technology to extend and expand upon their core businesses

Solutions Architect, Practice Lead

PrimeWire

Created an employee benefit enrollment system to streamline benefit enrollment for employers working with independent agents.

VP, Technology

OneCoast Network

OneCoast is a consolidation of Manufacturer Representative Agencies from across the United States into one larger entity.

Responsibilities included:

- The application of technology to increase efficiency 
- Centralization of the back office operations
- Creation of enabling technology to equip in-field sales reps
- Development of order entry and commission system for showroom sales
- Build out of corporate headquarters and data center

OneCoast was the one of the largest venture capital backed entities in Atlanta in 1997.

Thomson Reuters

Projects included KnowX, KeyCite, WestLaw on the Web and WestLaw Europe.

Director of Product Development

Marketing isn’t just about tactics—it’s about discipline, consistency, and strategy. At Liger, we don’t use cookie-cutter marketing. We specialize in bringing complex businesses to market—financial services, fintech, insurance, PEOs, and more—to clarify their message, amplify their brand, and drive real business growth.

With decades of experience launching, growing, and advising companies, I’ve seen firsthand how the right marketing can transform businesses. I’ve helped Fortune 500 giants and scrappy startups alike, using a mix of research, strategy, and storytelling to uncover what truly drives customer behavior.

Why Work with Liger?

We take brands from being invisible to unforgettable through:
- Strategic Positioning – Crafting messaging that cuts through the noise
- Creative Storytelling – Turning complex ideas into compelling narratives
- Smart Execution – Driving measurable growth with tailored marketing

As a founder of multiple startups—including one of the first profitable internet enterprises—and two, three-time Inc. 5000 honorees, I understand what it takes to scale a business. My experience spans creating new divisions in established companies to challenge the status quo and leading teams that turn bold ideas into real impact.

Let’s connect and explore how Liger can help you become the market leader in your space.

Professional experience includes: founding multiple startup companies, including one of the first profitable Internet enterprises; co-founding User Insight which made the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies 3 years in a row; and the creation of new divisions within established companies to encourage a shift in thinking and change in approach.

Chief Strategist & Dojo Master

As Founding Partner and Chief Strategist of Liger Partners, Eric evaluates businesses to improve products, services, support and marketing strategies for overall effectiveness. Along the way, Eric teaches companies how to understand their customers better so they build solid teams that deliver to customer expectations.

A trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies and small business owners alike, Eric uses his extensive experience starting, growing and running his own businesses in concert with a knowledge base from over a decade of business and consumer interviews to accelerate a deeper understanding of the true behaviors, motivations, goals, preferences and expectations of customers and teams.  

A sought after speaker, writer and thought leader, Eric's passion is to apply customer-based knowledge to emerging trends in technology creating new opportunities and improving existing business models.

Launching new pre-seed VC firm, Kabila Ventures. I provide free mental therapy for startup founders via the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund non-profit. 

Co-author of the book, Burn Bright Not Out: Shattering the silence around mental health in tech startups; the most important book written to date about founder mental health. 

I am a force for good with a give first mindset.

James Oliver

🎉  Big news! 

Today my book Burn Bright, Not Out: Shattering the Silence Around Mental Health in Tech Startups is officially available on Amazon.

This is the most important book ever written about founder mental health.

Not just because of the stories.

But because it turns those stories into action.

90% of the book’s net profits go directly to the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund, which pays for mental therapy for founders who want support but cannot afford it. The non-profit fund has provided mental therapy grants to 50 founders now, and counting!

So this is not just a book about founder mental health. It is a book that helps improve founder mental health.

Founders are quietly burning themselves out. Carrying stress, fear, isolation, and pressure in ways that rarely get named. This book exists to say: you are not broken, you are not alone, and you do not have to suffer in silence.

This book is a collection of honest stories from founders and investors who chose to be real about what this work actually costs them emotionally, psychologically, and relationally.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who trusted me with their stories and voices. Thank you to:

Jeffrey Johnston
Will Allen
Nisha Devadoss
Brad Feld
Lauren Goodell
Shaler Houser
Mike Ma
Mitch Wainer
Nick Merich

All of you made this book what it is.

And thank you to Techstars Founder and CEO David Cohen for writing the foreword. 

Special shoutout to Django D. for co-authoring the book with me and bringing this incredibly important project to life. 

If you are a founder, investor, a partner to a founder, or someone building something that matters and feels heavy sometimes, consider this book a lifeline.

And if you believe founder mental health matters, I hope you’ll help me share it.

The book is now live on Amazon - link to purchase it is in the comments. 

Founders, please burn bright, and not out. 

Abrazos (hugs), 

James

James Oliver, Jr.

Launching Kabila Ventures, a pre-seed fund. I provide free mental therapy for startup founders via the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund. Techstars & gener8tor alum.

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