My name is Rich Christiansen. I am a founder of Know More Media.

In my career, I experienced successes at Mitsubishi Electric, Novell, and About.com, however, my true passion and talent is in the startup and launch of technology oriented companies. Several of these most recent successes include, Tornado Solutions, Cyclone Trading Company, Eggnesters, and MountainGrabbers. I guess you could say that I am an engineer turned entrepreneur.

I have over 18 years of management experience leading cross-functional teams and organizations in the technology industry. I am a skilled market innovator with a strong technology background and a thorough understanding of how to deliver technology to the marketplace.

I have now formally left the corporate world and I am having the time of my life building and managing my own compilation of technology companies. I am not sure it should be legal for one individual to have this much fun. I take great pride and satisfaction in mentoring young talented individuals and helping business opportunities emerge.

My long term goal is to be actively involved in helping enable commerce and capitalism in developing countries. Of keen interest to me right now is Nepal. I am raising a young woman from Nepal as my daughter and have many strong ties to this amazing country. I recently returned from Nepal with my family where we not only trekked through the Himalayas, but also documented the Sherpa culture. This information can be found on SherpaTrek.com. I feel drawn and compelled to help this country evolve out of its desperate situation.

Well, back to reality ….

I was CEO and a founder of Tornado Solutions, a media company that publishes over 60 content specific websites. These websites generate more than 15 million page views per month. In 18 months, Tornado grew from a start-up to $3 million in revenues and was profitable from month one.

I spent a couple of years as the General Manager of About Web Services, a profitable division of About, Inc. About is the seventh largest traffic driver on the Web. In this capacity, the division increased subscription revenue from $400,000 a month to $600,000 a month. The paid subscriber base was grown from 40,000 to 62,000+, and the monthly cash was increased from $400,000 a month to $740,000 a month. This was done while maintaining a contribution margin of 61%. This business was recently acquired by United Online, who also owns Juno and NetZero.

I was also CEO of HumanLink (previously OurFamily.com) and General Manager and Executive Vice President of CareerWebSource.com and Myjobsearch.com. I also ran the USA Operations for Mitsubishi Electric PC Division. I was General Manager there and opened the US market for Mitsubishi which grew $25 million in annual sales in two years from start-up.

My background is network engineering. I spent seven years at Novell in management, marketing, and engineering capacities including Product Line Manager of NDS, Product Line Manager of Novell Cross Platform Services, and four years as Strategic Engineering in the Novell Labs Division. While at Novell, I was one of a few Certified Novell Instructors and was the 5th Enterprise Certified Novell Engineer.

I earned an MBA as well as a BS in Electronic Engineering Technology from Brigham Young University. I am active in community and religious service as well as humanitarian efforts. I am an avid high altitude mountaineer and a golfer. My wife Gaye and I are the parents of five sons and are also the legal guardians of an adopted daughter from Nepal.