Bela L. Musits

Venture Partner

Bela is experienced in new business creation, technology commercialization & licensing, business turnarounds, raising capital, and strategic business planning. He is the founder of two venture-backed companies and has held senior management and technical positions at the corporate research labs of IBM and GE. He also managed the successful technology spin-off from IBM Research, serving as co-founder and president of a computer-guided robotic surgery company. He raised over $17 million in capital and positioned the company for a successful IPO in 1997. During his tenure at IBM Research he held various management positions, including Technical Assistant to the Vice-President of Research.

Bela has developed and taught courses at several colleges and served as an Adjunct Professor at Babson College where he taught entrepreneurship in the MBA program. He is a past member of the clinical faculty of the School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship and new venture creation. He has also given lectures on entrepreneurship and venture capital at University of Albany, Skidmore, Syracuse University, University of Rochester, RIT, NYU, Columbia, Olin College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Bela’s current and former community and professional board positions include; the Board of Directors of MedTech, the Board of Directors of the Center for Economic Growth, the Board of Directors of the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Governors of the Glens Falls Hospital, the Board of Directors of the Upstate Venture Association of New York, and the Board of Trustees of Adirondack Community College.

Bela graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, earning bachelor and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and an MBA. He also holds several U.S. patents and has published over 25 technical and business articles.

I was born in Budapest and immigrated to this country as a young boy in 1956. My father and grandfather were involved in the Hungarian revolution in 1956. When things were not looking good, my dad had the foresight to say, “time to leave” and my dad, mom and I walked across the boarder to a refugee camp in Austria. While in the camp, we had to fill out a card with our name, age, etc. and also had to check one of four boxes. They were UK, Australia, Canada, or the USA. My dad checked the USA box and as they say, the rest is history.

STUFF YOU WOULDN’T KNOW

First Job:
I started mowing lawns in the neighborhood when I was 14. I was making about $4 per hour running my own business back when my friends were making $1.75 flipping burgers. During high school, I also spent summers as a mason’s helper for a builder. I spent my college summers working for a small commuter airline as a ramp and fuel guy.

Greatest Life Experience:
Life itself is a great experience. Enjoy everyday.

Most Humbling Life Experiences:
Realizing the world’s population is almost 7 billion and we are in a very small, fortunate, subset of about 300 million who do not have to worry about going hungry tonight or if someone will be shooting at us tomorrow. And we are part of this privileged group not because of anything we have done, but because of getting lucky in picking parents. It’s our responsibility as citizens of the world to “give back” in order to make the world a better place.

Random Fact:
Bela is a very common Hungarian name with 3 well know Belas in the world. Bela Bartok, Bela Lugosi, and Bela Fleck. They are all Hungarian and as different as three people can be (classical music composer, actor who played Dracula in the 1920s-1950s, and a banjo player).