Contact Information. In general, I prefer that you e-mail directly at jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com. If you prefer to call me, I can be reached at (781) 718-1301 seven days a week, between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. Boston time.
Profession. Professionally, I start technology companies, launch lots of Web sites, and I purchase companies. I am also an essayist and I am host of Boston Convivium, a social group.
Juris Informatica. I am founder and Chairman of Juris Informatica, LLC, a publisher of Web sites. We publish legal Web sites, sites that cover legal topics for the laymen. Our business model is to collect information from potential clients and then to refer them to a local attorney who specializes in that area of the law, in exchange for a referral fee. So far, we have launched about 15 such sites (as well 25 or so non-legal sites). Going forward, we expect to launch 4 of 5 sites a month, for a total of over 500 legal sites in the next five years. Currently we have four manager/editors, about 40 writers, four WordPress Web designers, one PHP programmer, and three search engine optimization experts. We also have three attorneys who screen cases and make referrals. Founded in 2008, Juris Informatica has already become quite successful.
CAPS. CAPS is a company that is developing the most sophisticated technology in the world to post ads on various bulletin board systems and Web sites. We will then use this technology to sell products and services for which we receive an affiliate marketing commission. Our team is committed to making certain that this technology be used only for legitimate purposes, as opposed to being a spam tool.
Kensington Partners. I am founder and Chairman of Kensington Partners, LLC, a private equity firm that sponsors leveraged buyouts with purchase prices between $10 million and $100 million, which I founded in 1999. I am the team leader for most of Kensington's acquisitions and consolidations and as Chairman, I am ultimately responsible for management of the Firm. I've also spent a considerable amount of time developing Kensington's intellectual capital and tools.
Computers and Information Technology. I spent part of my career in the computer industry, having been a Research Associate at Harvard Business School ("HBS") and a Software Specialist at Digital Equipment Corporation, which was the leading minicomputer company in its day. At HBS, I did research in computers and information systems and was a teaching assistant for second-year MBA classes. At Digital, I supported major New England customers of Digital on Digital commercial operating systems. I was also a management consultant in information systems to many of the large commercial banks in Boston and several high technology companies in Massachusetts. I've been active in high technology entrepreneurship, as an entrepreneur, venture advisor and as a consultant to Venture Founders Corporation, a venture capital fund.
In terms of hands-on technical usage, most of my Web development utilizes Microsoft technologies — .Net, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio. In the past few years, I have supervised the development of VB.Net code, but going forward, my focus is on C#. Although I have extensive programming experience, and have learned about 15 programming languages in my career, I rarely program any more, but I do do extensive code reviews. For the complex information systems I develop, I typically write the system specification and database design.
I am an exceptionally advanced user (literally one of the best in the world) in many Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, Outlook, Access. (It's unlikely I will be converting to Google Docs soon.) Many of my applications and templates have been used by Microsoft to debug future versions of Microsoft Office. (Don't blame me for any of the numerous bugs in Office — Microsoft doesn't always listen to me.) My advanced Office projects use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications.
For my Web sites, I have adopted WordPress wholeheartedly, although I sometimes will use Dreamweaver or HomeSite for page design. Web 2.0 technologies are of particular interest, as is search engine optimization and techniques to monetize Web sites. I am a frequent participant in the monthly Cambridge Search Engine Optimization meetup.
I am also interested in numerous higher level IT and computer issues: artificial intelligence, distributed computing, virtual offices, project management, scalability, management of data centers, and frankly most other IT/computer issues, as well as the economics of the software industry. I particularly find the open source software movement interesting and I am particularly concerned about how intellectual property laws hamper innovation in the software industry.
Boston Convivium. I am founder and host of Boston Convivium ("BC"), the most successful "high end" social group in the history of Boston. I founded BC in 2002. In that year, I started going to a lot of events and I was surprised at how bad most of the parties are in Boston — loud music, crowded venues, lousy circulation flow, no nametags, no facilitators. I was particularly surprised at how many rude and flaky people, and people with poor social skills, attended these parties. I kept saying to myself, "Why don't the organizers choose good venues, invite only good people and skip the dweebs? The party will be so much better, word will get around that only an A-list crowd attends, and this will attract more good people." After complaining for six months, I had a choice: leave town or do something about it, and I choose plan B.
My first party was in November 2002, and in 2003, Boston Convivium started to take off, as word got around how good these parties are. We now have over 6000 members, with membership expected to more than double in the next two years. (Or as an economist would say, the second derivative is positive.) We have become the most successful "high end" social group in the history of Boston. (And perhaps the country, based on what I have heard about other cities.) I host a large cocktail party about once a month, two smaller cocktail parties a month, as well as send out invitations for other good events. We are the only social group in Boston of any size that actively screens for interesting people with interesting careers, good social skills, seeking to weed out those who are rude, flaky or space cadets.
Boston Convivium is a social group, rather than a business networking or singles group. Literally thousands of friendships have been made through our events. Although we are not a business networking group, some people come for that purpose, and hundreds of business relationships have occured — people have found jobs, employees, clients, customers, investors, partners, and members of Board of Directors. We are not a singles group — lots of married couples and couples in committed exclusive relationships attend — but many people who come are single and looking. Five marriages, three engagements, and hundreds of medium- and long-term relationships have resulted from our parties.
If you are interested in attending my parties, you can sign up for a free membership here.
Essays. I regularly write essays on a variety of topics — politics, economics, political economy, international relations, law, business, computers, time management and personal organization, and dating and romance. All of these essays are posted on my essays Web site. If you sign up for my parties, you will receive these essays automatically. (You also have the option of not receiving them.) Otherwise, I will soon have an RSS feed on my site and you can sign up to receive them. I've also written a 500 page memo ("Statement of Mission") on various topics. I am looking to collaborate with gifted writers and serious thinkers in writing more essays and articles.
Law. I'm also keenly interested in law. My father was a prominent attorney in Los Angeles, as was my grandfather, and my great uncle, Donald Wright, was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. But what really got me interested in law was what happened in the first company I bought. My lawyer did not do a good job, so document A contradicted document B which said something different than document C. After the deal was closed, the seller's lawyer tried to renegotiate the deal, based on the discrepancies among the various documents. This caused me to learn a lot about law, particularly corporate law, and to this day I remain paranoid about incompetent attorneys.
Business. I've been interested in business since elementary school, and I'm probably the only person you'll meet that was reading "The Wall Street Journal" as a teenager. (Some would say it's written for teenagers, but that's a different story.) My business interests include corporate strategy, competitive analysis, business process reengineering, project and team management, knowledge management, and commercial applications of the Internet. I remain interested in politics, international relations and microeconomics.
David Allen. I'm a devout follower of David Allen and one of my primary goals is life to have my mind completely free of worry, to be totally in the moment (what Allen calls "mind like water").
Sports. When the weather permits, I love to bike. I joined Sports Club LA and try to go there every day; I've become an addict. I particularly like resistance training and pickup basketball.
Education. I studied political philosophy and economics at Pitzer College (the Claremont Colleges), international relations (specifically, defense policy and arms control) at Harvard University, and management at MIT and the Wharton School of Finance. At Harvard, I was a Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and was a member of two working groups in national security issues at the Belfor Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. In addition, I was a research assistant in statistics for Gary Orren in the Government department.
After Harvard, I studied classical music (specifically piano) and theory and composition with Louise Vosgerchain at Harvard and Suzanne Sobol, respectively. Music is my greatest passion in life, and I'm also interested in movies, theatre, opera, ballet and dance.
Looking for Miss Right. I recently ended a serious relationship and so I am now single again. I would love to find Miss Right:
Three extra brownie points for any of these:
You may want to read my Girlfriend Job Description, my profile, my Eharmony responses, as well as various essays I have written.
People I Would Like to Meet. For Juris Informatica, we are always looking for good:
In addition, we are always interested in speaking with experienced attorneys who would like to receive leads from us concerning potential clients.
For CAPS, we are looking for:
At Kensington Partners we are always looking for:
Now and then, wealthy individuals approach us, seeking to invest in acquisitions. In general, our preference is to deal with institutions rather than individuals, but in certain cases we will consider individuals.
At Kensington, we are particularly interested in speaking with a suitable business partner who wants to enhance their buyout/M&A capabilities. Such a partner could be:
I expect to spend more time in the future writing more essays and I would love to collaborate with good people. If you are a gifted writer and editor, that alone would make you of interest. Those who have deep expertise in corporate strategy and microeconomics, public policy, or law would also be of interest. The idea would be to write articles worth of being published in a major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, or Harvard Business Review. By itself, writing does not generate much income and prospective collaborators must understand that.
For all of the above people, I am looking for people with a high level of professional and personal responsibility, people who have manners, who return telephone calls and e-mails, who do what they say they will. They should have low total cost of interaction.
I am always interested in people who want to attend my parties.