About

Four decades of building, advising, and leading.

A short bio and a look at what I do today.

Crick Waters is a Palo Alto-based C-level executive, founder, and advisor who has spent over four decades building and scaling technology companies — from telecommunications and industrial manufacturing to cybersecurity and AI.

He is currently President of Crick Co., an independent advisory practice serving boards, investors, and early-stage companies, and a Limited Partner at MVP Ventures. He served as CEO of Patero, a post-quantum cryptography company protecting critical infrastructure and federal networks, from November 2022 to April 2026, and continues to work with Patero today as a freelance Commercial Agent, driving sales and client relationships for the company’s quantum-safe encryption solutions.

He previously spent seven years as SVP of Sales and Marketing at Falkonry, an industrial AI company, where he drove 285% average annual sales growth. Earlier in his career, Crick founded Ribbit Corporation, a cloud communications platform sold to British Telecom for $105M in 2008, and served as a VoIP product leader at AT&T and NorthPoint Communications. He also has half a decade’s worth of hands-on experience as an engineering and product line leader in the paper industry, designing and building new manufacturing processes, products, and running product-line P&L.

Crick began his career as a U.S. Navy nuclear engineer, managing the design of reactor control systems for the USS Seawolf submarine. Crick holds a BSEE from Duke University, an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and an MS in Nuclear Engineering from Bettis Reactor Engineering School.

What I Do

Company Building & Executive Leadership Founder or CEO of four companies, including a $105M venture-backed exit. I’ve built go-to-market functions, product organizations, and customer success teams from the first hire.
Strategic & Board Advisory Through Crick Co., I advise boards, investors, and early-stage companies on the moments where strategy, technology, and execution collide — bringing judgment earned from having sat on both sides of the table as founder, operator, and advisor.
Investing & Portfolio Support As a Limited Partner at MVP Ventures, I am a resource for portfolio company founders, drawing on lived operating experience across manufacturing, telecom, industrial AI, and cybersecurity.

Current Roles

Recent Past Roles

Certifications