James Thorson

James Thorson General Information

Biography

Mr. James Thorson serves as Principal at Free Radical Ventures. He serves as a Board Member at Engage Mobilize and Exum Instruments. He serves as Board Member at Well Data Labs. He serves as Board Member at Horne Technologies. He served as Board Member at Endurance Energy Group. He also served as Managing Member at Catamount Ventures. He is concurrently a founding partner of Pronghorn Operating, LLC, a private, Denver-based oil and gas operator. He spent 12 years with Shell Oil in Houston and New Orleans in exploration, and development, and applied for technology roles. On the tech side, he managed Shell's Gulf of Mexico 3D Seismic processing program, where he led the team, interfaced with internal customers, and engaged with Shell's supercomputing center and research group. He serves as Board Member at cQuant.io. After returning to Denver, he joined and then founded and grew firms focused on exploration prospect and play generation and execution in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore unconventional plays. He entered seed-stage energy technology funding as an outgrowth of direct energy investments. He sees a beneficial parallel between oil and gas exploration and early-stage technology development, with success in each relying on analog calibration, carefully discerning and mitigating uncertainty, and portfolio aggregation for risk reduction. He enjoys helping foster the overall development of the Denver-area energy tech community. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysical Engineering magna cum laude from the Colorado School of Mines.