John Petote is an angel investor who has invested in 75 startup and early-stage companies as well as various VC funds and real-estate partnerships. His private company investments include organizations from the following industries: information technology, Internet marketing, shared economy, biotech, medical devices, consumer goods, and financial institutions.

John is the founder of CIO Solutions and currently serves as the company's chairman. CIO Solutions designs and implements customized cloud-based IT solutions and also provides IT management services to SMB and enterprise organizations.

John has held sales and technical-related positions in a variety of industries. He currently serves on the boards of directors for Apeel Sciences, FutureInReview.com, UCSB Economic Forecast Project, Central Coast MIT Forum, United Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County, and the South Coast Business & Technology Awards. Past board memberships include Savings.com, TeraMatrix, CMC Communications, and We Teach Sports. John also serves as an active member of the Santa Barbara Downtown Rotary Club.

John's primary skills include assessing investable startup organizations, mentoring, strategic planning, business development, and creative problem solving. He graduated with honors from the ICM School of Business (Pittsburgh).