Carey Ransom

Carey Ransom is the Managing Director of BankTech Ventures, a newly-launched Seed / Series A venture fund focused on compelling technologies for community banks, and founded and funded by leaders in the community bank ecosystem. He is a technology entrepreneur and investor, and has started, grown and / or led 8 B2B and consumer tech companies. In 2019 he founded Operate, a SoCalfocused venture studio and fund, where he and his team invest themselves into founders of exciting data-centric SaaS and fintech startups – so far with over 20 companies. Since 2003, Carey has also invested in 20 of his own or angel-funded others’ ventures, with a current IRR of 25%+ (unrealized). Most of these ventures are SaaS, fintech or data/analytics companies.

Prior to Operate he was COO at Aspiration, the leading “consumer financial firm with a conscience,” where he led the firm’s growth from 20 to 200 people and the build out of infrastructure and approval as a FINRA-regulated broker-dealer. He was also CEO of RealPractice, a venture-backed SaaS company, which he sold to ReachLocal (RLOC); Chief Product & InnovationOfficer of Experian Consumer Services; and founding CMO of Happy Money, a venture-backed consumer fintech company (and unicorn) that innovated in lending and financial health.

Carey's 25-year career spans executive roles in product, marketing, business development, strategy and corporate development. He was VP Business Development at Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), an Internet advertising and celebrity endorsement business; VP Marketing and Corporate Development at WebVisible, where he forged new partnerships with AT&T, American Express and Microsoft and led them to nearly 10X revenue growth; VP Sales and Marketing at MessageRite, security compliance SaaS business acquired by Frontbridge Technologies, and then Microsoft.

​Carey is active in the SoCal startup and investment community - OCTANe, CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County (CLAOC), and has been an instructor or guest lecturer at numerous schools including UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Chapman, Cal State Fullerton, Biola and Vanguard. He has recruited and hired nearly 1000 people in the last 20 years, and passionately believes in purpose, culture and team as key ingredients to successful companies. He has frequently spoken at financial, software and other conferences such as SaaStock, Recurring Revenue, AltFI, Innovation Project, Frost & Sullivan and IMA.

Carey is also host of Operate Podcast, which features innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. He has an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and B.A. in Economics from Indiana University. His real education, though, was growing up in a multi-generational retail family business.​