We’ve toppled markets. Launched or transformed hundreds of businesses. Neutralized the forces of evil. Played a substantial role in 2 IPOs (over $3.5 billion in day one market capitalization), multiple M&A exits, and nearly $200 million in venture capital raised. We bear the markings of the Trilogy Mafia, having played key roles in building one of the most notoriously innovative, successful software and Internet businesses of the past two decades. We strike silently and without warning. We are waiting for your call.

Jonathan Berkowitz

Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan is the Chief Executive Officer at Thinktiv. He has 14+ years of experience leading both consumer and enterprise product strategy initiatives with companies ranging from pure Internet startups to the Fortune 50. Jonathan joined Thinktiv in 2008 and has taken Thinktiv from an expert design consultancy to venture firm specializing in providing financial and human capital to technology companies with significant product strategy and brand challenges. As such, he is an engaged product & market strategy advisor to numerous Thinktiv customers.

Prior to joining Thinktiv, Jonathan served as Vice President of Product Strategy at B-Side Entertainment, Inc—an independent film distributor focused on innovative social and word of mouth marketing distribution models. Jonathan led B-Side through rounds of venture capital funding and played a critical role growing B-Side into the largest provider of social commerce technology to the Independent Film market.

Jonathan began his career at Trilogy Inc., where he spent 8+ years serving most recently as the Director of Product Strategy for Trilogy’s Computer Business Unit and New Businesses Unit. In these roles, Jonathan was responsible for the creation and delivery of analytics-driven, consumer-facing websites for large consumer electronics manufacturers, the computer and telecommunication industry's most successful high-end hardware configuration solution and a sophisticated big-data, pricing service for the tire industry. Jonathan managed over $50M of product and services revenue working with customers such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard Compaq, Gateway Computer, Sun Microsystems and Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co.

Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University.

Justin B. Petro

Chief Product Officer, Co-Founder

Justin founded Thinktiv with Paul Burke to rapidly develop and capitalize on innovative business ideas by providing strategic product design and brand services. He has a passion for launching new products to new markets and is building Thinktiv’s services practice with people and processes dedicated to aggressive, entrepreneurial pursuits.

Prior to founding Thinktiv, Justin worked as the Director of User Experience for Design Edge —an internationally renowned product design firm. While there, Justin assembled an award-winning team of User Experience specialists. His team tackled problems ranging from the brand strategy, mobile devices, the eldercare market, software design, visual product strategy and positioning, and new-market ethnographic research. Prior to Design Edge, Justin worked in e-commerce for Trilogy Software —where he helped found Leadership.com. In his 15 year career, he has worked for a number of large recognized brands, including: Merrill Lynch, SICE, Siemens/Cerberus, SC Johnson, Microsoft, ADT, Darpa, Dell, AMD, Trilogy, LG, and Tricon.

Justin holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Industrial Design with a concentration in Visual Interaction Design and Cultural Studies. He sits on the board of the Austin Center for Design, has lectured at the Savannah School of Art and Design and at the University of Texas. He is a published author in both AIGA and Core77as well as a contributing author to “Thoughts on Interaction Design” by Jon Kolko.

Paul Burke

Managing Partner, Co-Founder

Paul is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Thinktiv. His primary role is to ensure that Thinktiv customers acquire and maintain a dominant market position through strong brand, marketing and product experiences. Paul has 15+ years of experience creating and delivering integrated measurable, marketing communication systems in both B2B and B2C businesses and acts as an advisor to Thinktiv’s largest clients on brand and marketing strategy.

Prior to Thinktiv, Paul successfully launched his first startup, Inkwell Studios. Inkwell was a design and user experience consultancy serving a variety of clients in the Northeast including Carnegie Mellon University and Leed's.

Prior to Thinktiv, Paul spent 5 years with Trilogy, an enterprise software company in Austin, Texas. Paul served as a Design Director for Trilogy's marketing department, was a Visual/Interface Designer for the Human Computer Interaction and was the Creative Director of CollegeHire.com—one of Trilogy's spin-off companies. Following Trilogy, Paul held a position at Carnegie Mellon as the Lead Designer of a best practice standards initiative called ITSqc where he defined and created comprehensive models for IT service qualification. The result was an internationally recognized brand and standard for IT Service Measurement that was successfully spun out of the university into a private business.

Paul holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Communication Design with a concentration in Brand Management and Interaction Design. He is a published author including his article Designing for Disagreement, published in the Feb 2008 issue of Interactions Magazine.

Steve Waters

Chief Ventures Officer

Steve is Chief Ventures Officer of Thinktiv. In this role, he is responsible for Thinktiv’s advisory consulting practice, focusing on capital-efficient market alignment, distribution model optimization, and corporate development strategies for Thinktiv clients.

He is also responsible for managing Thinktiv’s private equity portfolio, Thinktiv Ventures. The portfolio is currently comprised of investments in emerging leaders like Socialware, SharesPost, Pricelock, Prysm, Energytics, Handshakez and others. In this role, Steve also oversees new investments of both financial and human capital, focusing on opportunities where Thinktiv’s services can create high-velocity growth of shareholder value for company stakeholders.

Steve has spent nearly 20 years turning emerging technology startups into high-growth market leaders. As an entrepreneur, serial Chief Marketing Officer, strategic advisor, and angel investor, he has built revenue momentum and accelerated shareholder value across technology megatrends, diverse customer audiences, and disparate vertical industries. Working with over 50 companies during his career, he has played a substantial role in 2 IPOs (over $1.5 billion in market capitalization), 3 M&A acquisitions (over $160 million in transaction value), and nearly 20 rounds of venture financing (over $70 million in raised capital).

Prior to joining Thinktiv, Steve was Founder and CEO of Triggerbox, a strategy advisory firm serving early-stage startups in mobile and consumer Web services and converging digital media sectors. Between its founding in February 2008 and Thinktiv’s acquisition of the firm in December 2010, Triggerbox advised over 20 companies, positioned them to raise nearly $10 million in venture capital, and linked them to game-changing partnerships and executive talent. During this time, Steve also launched Triggerbox Capital, the angel investment arm of Triggerbox, which combined angel investments with hands-on business transformation. He currently acts as Board Director for QuickGifts, and is an active advisor to Collider Media, both originally Triggerbox Capital investments.

Prior to Triggerbox, Steve held strategic roles at a wide variety of early stage startups, most prominently Trilogy, Firepond (IPO – 2000), RightNow Technologies (IPO – 2004), BetweenMarkets (acquired by Inovis – 2007) and the launch of B-Side Entertainment. He began his technology career as a corporate finance and M&A analyst for Bear Stearns. Steve holds a BA degree in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University.

Mark Prentice

Chief Operating Officer

As Thinktiv’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Thinktiv as well as overseeing the execution of the company’s strategic plans and operations of Thinktiv Services. Mark brings with him over 10 years of experience in finance operations, professional services, and technical product management.

Prior to Thinktiv, Mark was the co-founder and chief operating officer at envaulted.com, a consumer credit card rewards program, where he managed the service design and development, member communication and marketing, and consumer products. Prior to Envaulted, Mark was the Vice President of Products for Vital Insight, an enterprise risk management software company.

Mark spent much of his career working as a consultant in the fields of financial operations and risk management. Mark was a Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a Senior Consultant for Arthur Andersen, where he developed a risk management skill set, a strong understanding of business and finance operations, and a great ability to solve complex problems. Mark holds a B.S. in Accounting Information Systems from Virginia Tech.