About Bill

Bill Whitley is the founder of three successful start-up companies and is the author of Art of the Rainmaker and Story Selling in the Connected Economy.

A sales and marketing expert, Bill has a gift of making complex topics simple, visual and easy to understand. Bill uses a blend of humor and insightful stories to teach advisors how to fully engage clients, bring more value to the sale and develop long term high value relationships.

Bill has helped hundreds of companies create more compelling sales presentations. His sales career started in 1984 while working for Broadway & Seymour, an IBM system integrator. By using interactive presentations he became one of the firm's top sales representatives and maintained 80% closing ratio for five years.

In 1989, he formed The Whitley Group, an interactive multimedia design and production company that developed sales presentations for companies like, IBM, Apple Computer, EDS and AT&T. After growing an average of 40% per year for 8 years, The Whitley Group was acquired by a large internet consulting and e-commerce development firm, Atlanta based iXL.

After iXL's IPO in 1999, Bill co-founded his second company, MindBlazer and created one of the nation's leaders in Education Based Marketing. MindBlazer helps companies create internet based video story packages that educate prospective customers 24/7.

Bill's third venture is Charlotte Angel Partners (CAP). To support other entrepreneurs, Bill spear-headed the creation of a $5 million venture fund that focuses on funding early stage North Carolina startups. So far CAP has evaluated over 300 companies and invested in over a dozen promising start ups.