John Amster, the co-founder and CEO of RPX Corp., would have you believe he’s more lucky than smart, and that the unprecedented success of RPX — his first entrepreneurial venture — should be ascribed to little more than being in the right place at the right time.
However, Amster is really a man of disciplined research and analysis who lives by principled hard work and fact-based decision-making. Throughout his working life, Amster has consistently challenged adversity and the status quo with creative visions for the greater good of the companies that have employed him and the global business community he now serves at RPX.
Amster’s true colors were evident from his first job out of college, at Ralph Lauren’s Polo operations in Paris. There, Amster bucked his boss’s assignment to consolidate and tally weekly orders by hand. Instead of blindly following orders, Amster won permission from a higher-up to design and install the company’s first automated order-entry inventory system, providing desperately needed accuracy and insight to the business.
That innate ability to zero in on fundamental obstacles, craft a creative solution based on research and analysis, carefully communicate to win necessary support and then execute beyond expectations, has guided Amster professionally throughout his career.
In three short years since Amster co-founded the company, RPX Corp. has become the leading provider of patent risk solutions, offering defensive buying, acquisition syndication, patent intelligence and advisory services to technology companies around the world. The San Francisco-based company’s model and strategy are easily traced to Amster’s time as managing director for Ocean Tomo, where he founded the M&A advisory practice and completed several pivotal transactions in the early patent market, followed by his roles as general manager of strategic acquisitions and vice president of licensing and intellectual ventures.
How to reach: RPX Corp., (866) 779-7641 or www.rpxcorp.com
