About
Rainmaker Capital was formed in 1995 by Scott Lipsitz, Edwin Metcalf and Erik Ott. Our goal from day one has been to provide a hands-on, entrepreneurial approach to investment banking.
We felt then, as we do today, that an investment bank should act like a shareholder and participate daily in value creation. We combine this philosophy with a team-based approach.
The Team
Scott Lipsitz | Partner
Scott is driven by numbers. He is in his comfort zone when he is in the depths of a financial model, balance sheet or cap table. He finds pleasure deep inside a business model and is an expert in building sensitivities that make a complex financial narrative easy to understand. He has co-founded nearly 10 companies, helped raised multiple rounds of financing from every imaginable capital source, and has an uncanny knack for understanding the needs of all constituents and building win-win relationships. Scott recieved his BA from the University of Michigan.
Edwin "Ebe" Metcalf | Partner
Edwin runs Rainmaker’s Corp Dev and M&A initiatives. Edwin has forged global partnerships with the largest names in Tech, Media and Telecom. He is keenly aware of how to navigate large organizations and position opportunities to align all constituents around a common objective. His skill in managing relationships, listening to partners, and driving towards a close has generated significant value for our clients. Edwin received his BA from Colgate University and MA from Johns Hopkins University. A fierce competitor, Edwin played four years of NCAA division one Lacrosse.
Erik Ott | Co-Founder and Advisor
Erik is a Partner at Bowman Hanson. He has over 20 plus years of experienc in investment banking including co-founded Rainmaker Capital. Prior to Rainmaker, Erik was an entrepreneur who started and sold two companies in the consumer market and also spent his early days as a Venture Capital Associate.
Christoffer Andersson | Advisor
Christoffer spent the last 15 years with a little communications company by the name of Ericsson. During his time there Christoffer was an evangelist for the mobile Internet, authored two books, ran the Multimedia business unit in India, worked in Silicon Valley and Spain, was VP of the $100M+ Billing and Customer Care Solutions Group, and ran LHS after it was acquired by Ericsson for $400 million. Not too shabby for someone who has yet to turn 40! At the core Christoffer is entrepreneurial, obsessed with customer experience and a great team builder. Christoffer knows a bit about Telecom and has recently left Ericsson to pursue even bigger opportunities. Based in Stockholm…for now.
Stefan Rust | Advisor
Stefan is truly a rare breed. Stefan has proven capable of running Biz Dev & Corp Dev for large companies like Siemens, Lucent and Sun Microsystems as well as being an Entrepreneur founding and supporting the growth of numerous start-ups. He was named as one of the top 50 Global Mobile Entertainment Executives by ‘Mobile Entertainment’ magazine two years in a row and is Chairman Emeritus of MEF and the founder of the Asia Chapter. Frankly, there isn’t a lot Stefan isn’t an expert in. Cloud, SaaS, API’s, you name it and Stefan can bring it. Born and bred in Hong Kong, Stefan speaks Mandarin, German, French, English and Mobile. Did we mention he is ranked 15th in the world in the Masters 50m Butterfly? Truly Unstoppable.
Tom Ciprian | Advisor
Tom is a product guru. He is a master of the UI/UX and has excellent design sensibilities. He has developed industry-leading applications and games and has received numerous awards for products he conceived and built. He will take and break products in his spare time just to see how well thought and constructed they are (and then he will spend hours telling you about how they messed up or what he loves). Tom cannot only manage a product, but he also leads the distribution deals to drive revenue. Tom hails from Canada, loves him some Canucks, but is truly Italian when it comes to Food and Futbol.