I start and grow companies and initiatives, and help both entrepreneurs and investors grow and improve their businesses. My biases? I love innovation, sustainability, and stuff that improves the world for people in a scalable, non-harmful way.
My first software startup was funded by the original Draper Fisher Jurvetsen (DFJ) and acquired by Cobalt (subsequently bought by Sun soon after). That was a wild ride, and much different from my first company, a boutique computer manufacturer and network services; we'd accept almost any job, from image processing software development to hand-built computers.
Chili!Soft grew out of the first company. A guy named Hai Banh named it and conceived of our first product--the first to add Internet function to Microsoft Excel, before Microsoft even conceived of it. The second product was an application server called ChiliSoft ASP, which ran active server pages before Microsoft developed ASP--just with a home-grown scripting language, developed by a kid out of grad school from Palmyra--Dave Weaver. Eventually it became Sun One ASP, and then Oracle. It was put to rest in 2006--not a bad run.
After ChiliSoft I started Mission Research, which made GiftWorks fundraising software, designed to be simple to use at a low cost so nonprofits could focus more of their funds on their core missions and less on technology. My co-founders were the first two employees of ChiliSoft--the brilliant and unassuming Dave Weaver, and the always entertaining and talented Chris Walker.
After we developed the right product-market fit, we shot from 250 customers to about 2000 in only 18 months. We built it to over 12,000 nonprofit customers continues to be one of the leading fundraising software companies in the country. In August 2013 it was acquired by Frontstream.
Most recently I started and led The Lancaster Food Company, a social impact company that made organic bread to hire people out of poverty. That was an incredibly rich but tough experience, and after four and a half years of growth in highly competitive markets we closed the business.
At the moment I'm building Cooler.
Sometimes I help companies develop new strategies and paths to growth. Sometimes I advise startup investors on improving the performance of existing investments, vetting new ones, and kicking around new ideas.
I'm deeply interested in ideas that solve big systemic problems, and developing ways to improve the lives of those living near and below the poverty line. And I'm interested in just about anything that improves the world through tech.
Finally, I'm a musician and songwriter, and have been since I was about 12. That was and continues to be my passion, and someday I just might release album number 7.
My first software startup was funded by the original Draper Fisher Jurvetsen (DFJ) and acquired by Cobalt (subsequently bought by Sun soon after). That was a wild ride, and much different from my first company, a boutique computer manufacturer and network services; we'd accept almost any job, from image processing software development to hand-built computers.
Chili!Soft grew out of the first company. A guy named Hai Banh named it and conceived of our first product--the first to add Internet function to Microsoft Excel, before Microsoft even conceived of it. The second product was an application server called ChiliSoft ASP, which ran active server pages before Microsoft developed ASP--just with a home-grown scripting language, developed by a kid out of grad school from Palmyra--Dave Weaver. Eventually it became Sun One ASP, and then Oracle. It was put to rest in 2006--not a bad run.
After ChiliSoft I started Mission Research, which made GiftWorks fundraising software, designed to be simple to use at a low cost so nonprofits could focus more of their funds on their core missions and less on technology. My co-founders were the first two employees of ChiliSoft--the brilliant and unassuming Dave Weaver, and the always entertaining and talented Chris Walker.
After we developed the right product-market fit, we shot from 250 customers to about 2000 in only 18 months. We built it to over 12,000 nonprofit customers continues to be one of the leading fundraising software companies in the country. In August 2013 it was acquired by Frontstream.
Most recently I started and led The Lancaster Food Company, a social impact company that made organic bread to hire people out of poverty. That was an incredibly rich but tough experience, and after four and a half years of growth in highly competitive markets we closed the business.
At the moment I'm building Cooler.
Sometimes I help companies develop new strategies and paths to growth. Sometimes I advise startup investors on improving the performance of existing investments, vetting new ones, and kicking around new ideas.
I'm deeply interested in ideas that solve big systemic problems, and developing ways to improve the lives of those living near and below the poverty line. And I'm interested in just about anything that improves the world through tech.
Finally, I'm a musician and songwriter, and have been since I was about 12. That was and continues to be my passion, and someday I just might release album number 7.
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Contact
You can contact me at my gmail account at charlie.crystle. That's Bear in the pic. Bear left us in 2024. The piano in the corner now lives at an elementary school in Lancaster, Pa. I live in West Michigan, and someone wrote a song about that, way back, called "That's How I Got to Memphis"