Gerard Adams

Adams was born in New Jersey in 1984, and grew up in Belleville, New Jersey. His father worked at Prudential Financial and his mother at A&P.[12]

He graduated from Belleville High School[13] and became interested in the stock market at the urging of his father, who asked him to look up Prudential stock. He spent one semester at Caldwell University before he dropped out to work for an investor relations firm.[14]

In the 2000s, Adams started a stock market forum named StockSpot.[15] The website included a 5-star ratings feature to evaluate writer contributions. Adams claimed he grew StockSpot to $10 million in revenue before the 2008 stock market crash.[15] He founded several other finance-related companies, including an online investor-relations and financial-marketing company, and the National Inflation Association, which educates consumers on economic changes.[16][17]

Adams said that he took a position in investor relations at nanobatteries firm mPhase to secure investors.[15] Adams pitched the idea to mPhase executives of a real-time demonstration of the mPhase nanobattery. However, according to Adams, in front of an audience of hundreds of investors the technology failed to operate.[15]

Adams is a partner in KD Healthcare USA, a medical device company.[12] He also invests in New York City real estate and new housing developments, and has invested in nine different startups.[12]

Adams was a celebrity judge for the 2016 Shorty Awards.[18]

Adams has said that he was mentored by Tony Robbins.[12] Citing inspiration from Robbins, Adams launched Fownders. The Newark, New Jersey-based non-profit is a mentorship business that focuses on cultivating local startups, with the goal of creating a "startup ecosystem" in the city.[12][19] Adams modeled the organization after Silicon Valley business incubators.[19][3]

Adams lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.[12]

• Official website