Investing in exceptional entrepreneurs with world-changing ideas.

Kelly Perdew

Kelly is the Managing General Partner of Moonshots Capital – a VC fund that invests in early-stage technology companies and leans in heavily in veteran founded companies.  He was a co-founder & Managing Partner at DuMont Project – a consultative agency that helps accelerate the growth of direct-to-consumer brands and sold to Cart.com in 2021.  Prior to DuMont Project he was the CEO of Fastpoint Games, a venture-backed leading developer of live data-driven games for the fortune 500 brand set that sold to WePlay. 

After winning Season 2 of the NBC hit show, The Apprentice, Kelly served as an Executive Vice President in the Trump Organization in New York, where he managed several real estate projects and worked directly for Donald Trump for one year following the show.  

Kelly is a nationally recognized speaker on leadership, technology, career development and entrepreneurship.  He earned a BS from the US Military Academy, West Point, a JD from the UCLA School of Law, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.  Kelly served in the US Army as a Military Intelligence Officer and completed Airborne and Ranger training.  Kelly is author of “Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump,” that provides guidance on how anyone can develop their leadership capabilities and he donates a percentage of the royalties to the USO and was host of GI Factory on the Military Channel. He has also served as a national celebrity spokesperson for Big Brothers/Sisters and The National Guard Youth Challenge Program.  Kelly received a Presidential Appointment from President Bush to the President’s Council on Civic Participation and Service in 2006 and was re-appointed in 2008. 

Kelly also serves as an investor, advisor and/or Board member for Scopely, ID.me, Red 6 and a dozen others and was previously an advisor or board member for LinkedIn (LNKD), eteamz (ACTV), Pandora (P), Ustream (IBM), Harvest.ai (AMZN) and Bitium (GOOG). He lives in Florida with his wife Dawn and twins – Grant and Grace. 

Craig Cummings

Craig actively invests in technology start-ups, many of which are founded by military veteran entrepreneurs.

Craig’s current and recent board positions include Cartwheel, Copper Labs, Shep (acq by Flight Center) Zabo (acq by Coinbase), Threatcare (acq by Reliaquest), Able, Realize Me, BTS, and Stealth Power, and he serves on the Advisory Boards of VetsInTech, Texas Venture Labs (of the UT McCombs School of Business), and DivInc. He is also the Director of Military and Veteran Affairs for Capital Factory, Austin’s center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas.

Craig is the Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer of RideScout, a mobile app that showed users how to get from point A to point B by providing real-time ground transportation information. RideScout was acquired by Daimler (maker of Mercedes-Benz) in September 2014.

Before he became an entrepreneur, Craig spent 17 years in the Army, most of that time as an Intelligence Officer serving in support of the National Security Agency (NSA). Craig deployed to Afghanistan with the Joint Special Operations Command where he earned the Bronze Star. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, NY.  Craig received a B.S. in Political Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was their first Truman Scholar, and he received a Ph.D. in Political Science (minor: Econometrics) from Columbia University in 2005.

In 2015, Craig was selected by HillVets as one of the 100 most influential and impactful veterans in the United States and, in 2016, Inc. Magazine named him as one of the Top 20 Military Veteran Entrepreneurs in the US. In 2022, Craig was selected as one of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs in the country by Alumni Spotlight. Craig is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows with the Aspen Institute.

Craig is married to Lawton Cummings, a General Partner of the Capital Factory. They have two children, Addison and Cooper, and reside in Austin, TX.

Chris Hoyt

Chris Hoyt is a Venture Partner and CFO at Moonshots Capital and is the CEO of KeifeRx, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions.

Charis was previously the Co-Founder and CFO at Upskill, Inc., a software company providing augmented reality solutions for large manufacturers.  Upskill raised $65M in venture funding led by NEA and sold to TeamViewer AG in 2021.

Chris has spent the last 10 years in the start-up ecosystem as a serial entrepreneur in the technology and government contracting space and has served on multiple start-up boards.

Farah Daou

Farah is an Associate at Moonshots Capital – a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology companies and leans in heavily in veteran founded companies.

Prior to Moonshots Capital, she was an Associate at VU Venture Partners, a multi-stage venture capital fund focusing on Consumer, Enterprise, FinTech / Blockchain, HealthTech, Frontier Tech, and Real Estate Tech.

Farah’s passion for entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem began while working at an investment bank, helping advise companies in the Consumer and Healthcare industries. From there, she went on to start her own company, a vegan bakery in Los Angeles.

Farah holds a B.B.A in Finance from Loyola Marymount University, where she currently serves on the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council.

Aliya Friedman

Aliya is an Associate at Moonshots Capital, with a passion for people and ideas. Before her current role, she worked in investor relations with various companies from Pre-Seed through Series A in Sports, Wellness, Entertainment, and more assisting with their fundraising. She is enthusiastic about the venture ecosystem. Aliya graduated with a degree in Sociology from the University of Texas. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, cooking, and spending time with her dog, Moose.

Milica Iličić

Milica is the Director of Communications at Moonshots Capital. She is responsible for social media, marketing and communications, and assists the investment team with due diligence research. 

Before joining Moonshots, she taught literature and critical theory at Columbia University. During that time, she also developed a textbook for teaching the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language, and her curriculum is currently used for instruction at Columbia, Yale, Cornell, and the University of Chicago. 

Prior to her academic career, she served as Editor in Chief at Kultur!Kokoška, an arts and culture publication based in Belgrade, Serbia. She is a co-founder of the Belgrade-based Kultur Kolektiv, an NGO that supports access to knowledge in the liberal arts through local events and digital content.    

Milica holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Linguistics from Queen Mary, University of London, and a Ph.D. in Slavic and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. The curiosity she developed in her academic career remains part of her DNA.

She spends most of her time between New York, Berlin, and San Francisco. 

Herman Bulls

Herman E. Bulls is Vice Chairman, Americas, JLL, as well as an International Director and the founder and former Chairman & CEO of the firm’s highly acclaimed Public Institutions business unit. This group specialized in delivering comprehensive real estate solutions to federal, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions. As Vice Chairman, Mr. Bulls currently works with the firm’s largest clients to devise and implement integrated real estate strategies to lower occupancy costs and increase productivity. During over 33 years at JLL, Mr. Bulls has worked in the areas of development, investment management, asset management, facilities operations and business development/retention. He provides thought leadership and strategic guidance within the firm and to senior level client executives on issues related to real estate, the environment, corporate governance and social trends. Mr. Bulls has served as an expert witness on real estate matters in court and testified before Congressional committees on real estate issues.

Mr. Bulls co-founded and served as President and CEO of Bulls Capital Partners, a multi-family financing company which partnered with Fannie Mae,SunTrust and Goldman Sachs. Additionally, he founded Bulls Advisory Group, LCC, a management and real estate advisory firm. These entrepreneurial experiences provide him great insight on organization culture, new product development, talent management, as well as mergers and acquisition synergies. Prior to joining JLL, Mr. Bulls completed almost 12 years of active-duty service with the United States Army. His last active-duty assignments were working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management at the Pentagon and as an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has completed the Army’s Airborne, Ranger and Command and General Staff College courses and served overseas in the Republic of Korea. He retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves in 2008 and received the Legion of Merit award for his leadership and strategic thinking skills.

Mr. Bulls serves on several public, private and not for profit boards including Comfort Systems, USA (NYSE: FIX), Host Hotels (NASDAQ: HST), American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) and Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC), where he serves as Chairman of the Board. Private boards include USAA, where he serves as Vice Chairman of the Board, Collegis Education, an educational technology company and the Real Estate Advisory Committee for New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the largest pension funds in the nation. Former corporate board experience includes Tyco International (NYSE), Exelis (NYSE), Computer Science Corporation (NYSE) and Rasmussen College. Current not-for-profit board experience includes the national American Red Cross Board of Governors, the West Point Association of Graduates and the Military Bowl, an NCAA sanctioned football bowl game. Mr. Bulls received a BS degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he played intercollegiate football, and an MBA in finance from Harvard Business School, where he was section president. Two of his sons, Herman, Jr. and Jonathan are graduates of the United States Military Academy.

Chris Mitchum

Major Chris Mitchum is an Army Training with Industry Fellow assigned to Moonshots Capital and a member of the Army Acquisition Corps. In 2002, he enlisted in the Florida Army National Guard as an Infantryman. He graduated from Florida State University and was commissioned as an Artillery Officer in 2006.

From October of 2007 through December of 2008, he deployed in support of the Iraq Surge for OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM with 3^rd Infantry Division. He served in Baghdad, Iraq, at Combat Outpost Norris as a Company Fire Support Officer (FSO). After completing his duties as a FSO he was assigned as Platoon Leader of 3^rd Platoon, B Battery, 1^st Battalion, 76^th Field Artillery Regiment to Combat Outpost Diyarah. The 1-76^th Field Artillery Battalion was missioned as a battle space owner and conducted ground combat maneuver operations. He deployed to Anbar Province, Iraq from May 2010 through June of 2011 as the 3^rd Battalion 7^th Infantry Regiment’s Battalion FSO and Targeting Officer in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION NEW DAWN.

In November of 2011, Major Mitchum was selected into the Army Acquisition Corps. He attended the Naval Postgraduate School from July 2012 through 2013. In January of 2014 he was assigned to the 922^nd Contracting Battalion, which supports the 101^st Airborne (Air Assault) Infantry Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He deployed as a Contracting Officer from October 2014 through March 2015 to U.S. Army Africa Headquarters, Vicenza, Italy in support of OPERATION UNITED ASSISTANCE, The US humanitarian response effort, which provided aid to West Africa’s Ebola epidemic. Major Mitchum deployed to Kuwait from February through November of 2016 as the 922^nd Contracting Battalion’s Operations Officer and Executive Officer in support of OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE. Thereafter, Major Mitchum served in the Missile Defense Agency as the Aegis Ashore Romania Assistant Product Manager from May 2017 through May 2019. Aegis Ashore provides missile defense for Western Europe. Subsequently, he served as a Capabilities Developer for the Maneuver Requirements Division within Army Futures Command from July 2019 through May 2021. Thereafter, Chris served as the Executive Officer to the Deputy Director of Defense Security Cooperation Management Office – Afghanistan and deployed to Qatar from May 2021 to March 2022 in support of OPERATION FREEDOM’S SENTINEL, OPERATION ENDURING SENTINEL, and OPERATION ALLIES REFUGE all of which assisted in the completion of U.S. Operations in Afghanistan.

Major Chris Mitchum is an honor graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff Officer Course. He attained a Master’s in Business Administration concentrated in Defense Acquisition and Contract Management from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Florida State University. He holds the Certified Federal Contracts Manager and Certified Commercial Contracts Manager professional certifications from the National Contract Management Association. He is Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Contracting Level III, Program Management Level III, has completed the Army Logistics University Capabilities Development Course, and is a Six Sigma Green Belt from Villanova University.

Major Mitchum’s awards and badges include: the Bronze Star Medal (two awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (four awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Meritorious Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, the Parachutist Badge, Combat Action Badge, and various other unit and campaign awards.

Kevin Smith

Constantly motivated to help entrepreneurs and investors, Kevin is an inquisitve and detail-driven investor. Kevin is a current MBA Candidate in the class of 2023 at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. In additional to his work with Moonshots Capital, Kevin has prior Venture Capital investment experience with three early-stage funds in Ohio, Virginia, and Washington D.C. With a multidisciplinary skillset, Kevin has developed investment theses on digital twins and electric battery recycling, advancing Moonshots Capital’s ability to evaluate leading technology.

Prior to UVA Darden, Kevin spent four years at a Big 4 professional services firm in its management consulting practice. Ranging from Fortune 500 companies to EdTech nonprofits, Kevin advised a diverse portfolio of clients, focusing on their digital strategies and technological capabilities.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Kevin graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. double majoring in Economics and Anthropology. When he is not reviewing business models and unit economics, you can find Kevin shredding the ski slopes, following the perennially awful Cleveland Browns, and perfecting his famous Old Fashioneds.

Josephine Boulware

Josephine is a graduate of Fordham University, where she received her B.S. in Marketing with a concentration in Strategic Branding. She got to know New York City well during college and studied abroad in London. While traveling throughout the U.K., she worked with the Fordham Study Abroad office to share her experiences with the student body. 

She is a native Austinite and returned to her hometown post-graduation. Josephine enjoys photography, pilates, and spending quality time with her two cats in her free time.