Dan Hess

For more than 80 years, Regal Holdings (formerly Regal Ware) has enriched life by bringing families together. A fourth-generation, family-owned company rooted in Wisconsin, Regal Holdings is a multi-business platform that provides strategic leadership, shared expertise, and scalable systems to a growing portfolio of cookware and kitchen essentials brands. Regal Holdings supports its companies and brands through long-term investment, operational excellence, and The Regal Way—our strategic operating system designed to accelerate growth while preserving the distinct identities of each business. Together, our portfolio reflects a commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and enduring relationships. Our operating groups include the Regal Manufacturing Group, led by West Bend Company, our Wisconsin-based manufacturing organization with more than a century of heritage; the Regal Wholesale Direct Group, including Saladmaster® and Lifetime®; the Regal Retail Group, including Iconic Kitchen Brands; and the Regal Community Investments Group, which encompasses Regal Place™, the Regal & West Bend Cookware Factory Outlet Store™, the Reigle Family Foundation, and Regal Archives. Grounded in heritage and built for the future, Regal Holdings continues to shape how products are made, how brands grow, and how families cook, gather, and connect.

Under Vine Since 1849 - Eden Rift is among the oldest, continually producing wine estates in California. A singular mountain canyon, located in the shadow of the Gavilan Range, the 488-acre property rests on the San Andreas Fault only 20 miles from the deep, cold Pacific waters at Monterey Bay. With elevation ranging from 1,200 ft to 1,600 ft, the Central Coast estate benefits from maritime climate, ideal diurnal swings, as well as the coveted calcareous subsoil requisite in the cultivation of vivid, energetic Burgundian varietals (and more).

FireStarter is an early stage investment fund focused on helping technology companies grow. We are a group of Chicago technology entrepreneurs who have come together to support the next generation of innovators. We all have direct experience founding, operating and investing in technology based businesses that leverage the developments of the past forty years. We owe a debt to the innovators who came before us and it is a debt we intend to repay by helping to fund promising new ideas and the entrepreneurs who have the passion and the drive to see their ideas become reality. Our focus: We believe that one of the most important factors in the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation is the growth of a business community that is open, helpful and nurturing. We know that as entrepreneurs some of the most helpful counsel and advice we have received over the years has been from successful founders who graciously made themselves available as mentors and shared lessons that gave us the confidence and insight necessary to persevere and succeed. Technology is a driving force of modern civilization Progress throughout history has been marked by the development of significant new technologies that improved people’s lives. The printing press, the telephone, the internal combustion engine, the microprocessor, vaccinations and a myriad other technologies have changed lives for the better and brought the world closer together. Forty years ago the personal computer started a revolution by digitizing content. Fifteen years ago the Internet gave rise to a global network of more than 1 billion users. And just a few years ago the introductions of smartphones and tablets have accelerated the rapid change to a digital world where everyone is connected and able to contribute to the growing body of human knowledge. These disruptive changes provide a once in a lifetime opportunity for entrepreneurs to help create businesses that can change the world.

For more than 80 years, Regal Holdings (formerly Regal Ware) has enriched life by bringing families together. A fourth-generation, family-owned company rooted in Wisconsin, Regal Holdings is a multi-business platform that provides strategic leadership, shared expertise, and scalable systems to a growing portfolio of cookware and kitchen essentials brands. Regal Holdings supports its companies and brands through long-term investment, operational excellence, and The Regal Way—our strategic operating system designed to accelerate growth while preserving the distinct identities of each business. Together, our portfolio reflects a commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and enduring relationships. Our operating groups include the Regal Manufacturing Group, led by West Bend Company, our Wisconsin-based manufacturing organization with more than a century of heritage; the Regal Wholesale Direct Group, including Saladmaster® and Lifetime®; the Regal Retail Group, including Iconic Kitchen Brands; and the Regal Community Investments Group, which encompasses Regal Place™, the Regal & West Bend Cookware Factory Outlet Store™, the Reigle Family Foundation, and Regal Archives. Grounded in heritage and built for the future, Regal Holdings continues to shape how products are made, how brands grow, and how families cook, gather, and connect.

Under Vine Since 1849 - Eden Rift is among the oldest, continually producing wine estates in California. A singular mountain canyon, located in the shadow of the Gavilan Range, the 488-acre property rests on the San Andreas Fault only 20 miles from the deep, cold Pacific waters at Monterey Bay. With elevation ranging from 1,200 ft to 1,600 ft, the Central Coast estate benefits from maritime climate, ideal diurnal swings, as well as the coveted calcareous subsoil requisite in the cultivation of vivid, energetic Burgundian varietals (and more).

FireStarter is an early stage investment fund focused on helping technology companies grow. We are a group of Chicago technology entrepreneurs who have come together to support the next generation of innovators. We all have direct experience founding, operating and investing in technology based businesses that leverage the developments of the past forty years. We owe a debt to the innovators who came before us and it is a debt we intend to repay by helping to fund promising new ideas and the entrepreneurs who have the passion and the drive to see their ideas become reality. Our focus: We believe that one of the most important factors in the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation is the growth of a business community that is open, helpful and nurturing. We know that as entrepreneurs some of the most helpful counsel and advice we have received over the years has been from successful founders who graciously made themselves available as mentors and shared lessons that gave us the confidence and insight necessary to persevere and succeed. Technology is a driving force of modern civilization Progress throughout history has been marked by the development of significant new technologies that improved people’s lives. The printing press, the telephone, the internal combustion engine, the microprocessor, vaccinations and a myriad other technologies have changed lives for the better and brought the world closer together. Forty years ago the personal computer started a revolution by digitizing content. Fifteen years ago the Internet gave rise to a global network of more than 1 billion users. And just a few years ago the introductions of smartphones and tablets have accelerated the rapid change to a digital world where everyone is connected and able to contribute to the growing body of human knowledge. These disruptive changes provide a once in a lifetime opportunity for entrepreneurs to help create businesses that can change the world.

Local Offer Network (LON) connects vast and disparate sources of data, content, and consumers to present the right content to any person, anywhere, from the very first moment of contact. LON serves world-class organizations including MasterCard, Tribune, Gannett, Time Inc., Rogers Media, Supermedia, Yellow Pages Canada and many others. LON applications include: • Catalyst™: A personalization platform that merges data from multiple sources into an anonymous, composite user profile and draws relevant content for each user - in real time. Catalyst filters content through LON's proprietary Adaptive Response Model™ (ARM), an algorithm that predicts response based on years of historical consumer and market data and real-time activity. By being open to any data source, content source, or display location, Catalyst breaks through limitations of legacy personalization systems. • Syndicated Shopping Content Network: LON delivers tens of thousands of local and national retail offers and coupons to consumers each day through a network of partners that reach tens of millions of visitors. • VoucherPro™: a white label technology and operations platform used by publishers and manufacturers to create their own prepaid offer products. VoucherPro powers products for LA Times, Baltimore Sun, ParentsCanada and other blue-chip brands. • Dealradar™: a consumer one-stop shopping resource that serves users across more than 200 markets in four countries.