Founder Bio & Ambition
From the beginning days of BLD Brands, Doug instilled solid business roots backed up by years of prior experience in entrepreneurship, finance, real estate and technology, and he radiated overall passion to hit the ground running towards success. Through the years, he has always been eyes wide open, and eager for the next best business adventure to come along to add to his business portfolio. However, like all things in life, seasons change; new chapters open. After much discussion and ponder, the name switch was necessary, as it rings back to the beginning roots the company has always been built on – “seeking & stiving towards new adventure.”
Mr. Doug Pak is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned executive in chain restaurant and franchise businesses. Mr. Pak founded BLD Brands in 2005 with no money in his pocket but raised more than $120 Mill of capital to grow his business from scratch to a business that generated more than $200+ Million in annual revenues. He has exited and divested a number of companies since the peak of his company in 2016 and recently launched BLD Ventures to focus his time on investing and engaging in new ventures.
Prior to 2005, Mr. Pak co-founded a technology company with an angel investment and R&D funding from National Research Council (NRC), a government technology funding arm of Canada. In addition, his prior work history includes real estate consulting and valuation, corporate finance, and restaurant development and operations.
Mr. Pak is passionate about education and currently serves on two advisory boards at UCLA. In the past, he served as a board member at the Pepperdine University and as an advisor to Loyola Marymount University MBA incubation program. His personal mentor is John Shields, former chairman and CEO of Trader’s Joe’s who grew a small company of 17 units to a multi-billion retail enterprise. He is also a founding member of a Vistage chapter in Orange County, CA. Mr. Pak is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. in Business and Economics. He currently lives in Newport Beach with his wife and two children.