Jeff Binder

Jeff Binder is an American entrepreneur that has built several highly successful startups in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector. He is currently the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Layer3 TV, and previously the Founding CEO of Broadbus and Chairman of This Technology which were sold respectively to Motorola and Comcast.^[1][2][3]

Early life

Binder was born in Chicago. Both his father and his grandfather were entrepreneurs; his father launched several business and his grandfather, Martin R. Binder, was the founder of Quartet Manufacturing and chairman of the Greater Chicago and Success National Bank.^[4]

Binder began playing table tennis at 10, and was later ranked in the national Top 5 for his age group.^[5] A musician since childhood, he moved to Colorado with his band after his high school graduation. He additionally pursued a career in audio engineering.^[6][3]

Career

Binder returned to Chicago after a recording and performing stint in Colorado in the band Numerous People and went to work at the Chicago Board of Trade. In 1987, after training under a leading options trader, he established Tao Commodities, Inc., and became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade where he was market maker in 30 yr US Treasury Bond Futures and Options. In 1989, his father, who had been collaborating with engineer Robert Scheffler on the development of a technology to duplicate cassettes using dynamic random-access memory (D-RAM), recruited Binder to develop the sales and marketing strategy for the technology. In 1991, he closed Tao to become the president and CEO of Magic Music, Inc., joining his father and Sheffler full-time. Winning key contracts with Universal Music, MCA Records, Philips NV and Polygram, among others, the company became a leading provider of the first digital technology to mass-produce cassettes. Magic Music ceased operations in 2001 as compact discs replaced cassettes as the dominant commercial format.^[6][7][8][9]

Binder continued his partnership with Scheffler, and in 1994 they launched Nanosoft, an offshore start-up which established development facilities in Chicago, Beijing and Seattle to incubate young technology companies. In 1995, he founded Leading Golf Companies, LLC, a technology-based marketing network and affinity program affiliated with the top 500 golf courses in North America as well as American Airlines, TWA, and Northwest. Binder and Leading Golf sold their online tee time portion of the business to Jack Nicklaus’ World Golf Network in 1999.^[6][10][11]

Binder and Scheffler co-founded Broadbus Technologies in 1999. Based in Boston, Broadbus built the first high-density, highly scalable DRAM-based server for video-on-demand (VOD), subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), and television-on-demand (TOD™) services. Broadbus quickly became a key player in the cable industriy’s launch of VOD and time shifted TV, with Liberty Global using its technology exclusively in Europe, and Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Adelphia and Rogers deploying the technology throughout the US and Canada. The company was sold to Motorola in 2006 for a reported $186 million. Following the acquisition, Binder served as a senior executive and general manager of the video and on demand solutions group within Motorola's $10B plus Connected Home Division. At the same time, he returned to his formal education and became a special student through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, completing his degree in 2012.^{[12][13][14][3]}

In 2008, Binder, former Broadbus partner Vin Bisceglia and advisory board chair David Fellows, previously the chief technology officer at Comcast, teamed to form Genovation Capital. A boutique private equity and venture VC fund which combined entrepreneurial and corporate-level operational experience, Genovation focused on media, communications, and the internet. It was partnered with both TPG and Silver Lake’s Sumeru fund.^[15][16]

Binder and Fellows co-founded Layer3 TV in Boston in 2013; in 2014 the company was moved to Denver. Operating in stealth mode, Layer3 TV raised $21 million in Series A funding in March 2014,^[17] and more than $51 million in a Series B round in June 2015, reportedly raising as much a $100 million to date .^[18] The City of Denver honored Binder and Layer3 with its prestigious Denver Gazelles Award, placing Layer3 amongst just twelve Denver companies to receive the award since its inception.^[19] In 2015, Layer3 was 19th on Forbes list of 50 hottest startups and tying with Comcast for runner up as best telecommunications service to work for by Colorado Biz magazine.^[20][21]

Binder was chairman of the board of directors for This Technology, which was acquired by Comcast in August 2015. A member of the Chicago Board of Trade since 1987, Binder serves on the board of directors for InStock Fasteners and was previously a member of the board of directors for the Greater Chicago Bank. Binder was named to Boston Business Journal's 40 under 40 in 2004, and to Multichannel News' Next Generation Leaders in 2005..^[22][22]

Personal

Binder moved from Chicago to Boston in 2002, and lived there during his years at Broadbus and Genovation Capital. In 2014 Binder moved to Colorado. A member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, he was formerly on the board of the National Jewish Fund.^[23]

References

External links

• Layer3 TV