History
It would be easiest to start describing our work from the day we founded the studio, but the honest truth is that much of the work that we do is literally part of our DNA; it's actually rooted in a generational aptitude for entrepreneurship and leading community change. The partners come from entrepreneurial families that have founded and run businesses that include hotels, restaurants, beauty salons, men’s haberdasheries, and other traditional businesses dating back to the 1920s.
Our practical experience comes from the partners themselves having worked on Wall Street, advised leadership teams of Fortune 50 companies and global family offices; our partners have also been part of the founding teams of venture-backed startups and a successful New York venture firm.
All of this experience and history affords our studio a vantage point that’s not common in our industry. In 2014 four (4) partners agreed to form a Venture Studio to house a handful of entrepreneurial projects that they were either leading or actively investing in. The Core Venture Studio was born. That partnership went on to create a physical studio space, Collider, that would welcome over 140+ entrepreneurial teams, mostly entrepreneurs of color; and more than 50% woman lead.
Today the two (2) partners of Core continue to invest, mentor and support dozen of entrepreneurial teams through affordable entrepreneurial office and production space, investment advisory, accelerator programs, and equity investments.
Get in touch
Use the form below to contact us regarding your business inquiry. Please be as detailed as possible. Include your firm, title, industry along with any specific information requests. To help us best service your inquiry, we recommend that you first describe your general interest before telling us what you want to achieve. You may also email or call us to make an appointment.
Book an appointment ▸
Partners
Anthony Gee
Partner
Anthony Gee
Mr. Gee has over 20 years of real estate development, venture capital, and private equity experience. Mr. Gee co-founded The Core Development Partners, an Atlanta-based real estate development company that builds entrepreneurship oriented environments and invests in high-growth companies. Core is currently developing a 30-acre site on the Southside of the Atlanta Beltline, Pittsburgh Yards. Mr. Gee is also co-founder of Koncept House Holdings. An asset-based co-working and co-living company.
Koncept House will launch a 25,000 sf location in Castleberry Hill in Q1 of 2019 followed by additional cities in the US and abroad. Mr. Gee also co-founded Carthage Venture Fund, an institutionally backed venture capital and private equity firm with offices in New York and Atlanta. Mr.
Gee was responsible for creating an investment partnership with one of the largest Indian conglomerates, The Hinduja Group. Prior thereto, Mr. Gee served as an investment banking professional in both Smith Barney’s Technology and Communications Group and Salomon Brothers’ Media and M & A Groups. Mr. Gee was a Research Analyst at New Science Associates, emerging technology, and strategy think-tank (acquired by Gartner Group). Mr. Gee has also held corporate positions at GE, IBM, and AT&T.
Mr. Gee received an M.B.A. in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he was an NYU Graduate Fellow and a B.S. in Computer Science, with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was a National Science Foundation Scholar. Mr. Gee is on the advisory council for the University of Massachusetts College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Mr. Gee has spoken on venture capital and entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, Columbia School of Business, Wharton School of Business, and NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
B.S. in Computer Science
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
M.B.A. Finance
Activities & Affiliations
• Advisory council for the University of Massachusetts College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
James Harris
Partner
James Harris
Harris is the co-founder of Core Venture Studios. Founded in 2014 with the express purpose of creating adaptive reuse real estate projects with an Entrepreneurial focus; Core considers itself an Impact Developer. Along with Anthony Gee, the team created Collider - one of the first “affordable” co-working spaces in Atlanta; located just one block from Ga Tech’s business school. Teams from Ga Tech’s Flashpoint program made up over half the 60 plus companies that were mentored, incubated, or housed in Collider.
Inspired by attending the very first Facebook developers conference in 2010, James is co-founded, N4MD (pronounced “Informed”) to create web robots that would search the Web for content that could be shared by large corporations via Social Media as “recommended Content.” N4MD’s first customer was the Home Depot and was later joined by Nissan North America, Maui Jim sunglasses, and Sears.
Prior to founding N4MD, James co-founded Elemental in 1994, he served as its chief executive officer until the company’s purchase by Grey Global Group in December 1999. In May 2003, he repurchased Elemental Interactive from WPP, which retains a minority ownership stake in the new company, Elemental Interactive LLC. Over its 16-year history, Elemental’s client list has included AFLAC, Ameritrade, AT&T, Avaya, Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Cingular Wireless, Canadian National Railroad, The Coca-Cola Company, Compaq, General Motors, Georgia-Pacific, Holiday Inn, IBM, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Pfizer, Rayonier, Triarc, Turner Network Television, UPS, Worldspan, and others.
In 1999 Harris was recognized as Tennessee Tech’s Outstanding Young Alumnus. He is working to develop The Rosewood Camp, a camp for inner-city children that will specialize in teaching environmentalism, mathematics, and technology in the foothills of Tennessee.
Education
Tennessee Tech
B.S. Business Systems, 1990
Georgia Tech
GT Flashpoint, 2011& 2014
Activities & Affiliations
•Fort McPherson Redevelopment (Community Sub-Committee), Board Member
• Truly Living Well Farm, Board Chair