Q. "How did you start out as an entrepreneur?"

SBP. "Sometimes I'm hesitant to even use the word entrepreneur. It can feel so loaded at times. In my case, I started creating new ventures because the thing that I wanted — or needed — didn't exist. So when I was a teenager, I co-founded a record label to put out music by the bands of friends. Later, in school, I helped out with starting up a journal. These things helped me understand some basic things about teams, money, and creating value. But it wasn't until 2008 when I started up a tech-enabled consultancy for the learning space that I really became totally invested in the entire process and lifestyle (for lack of a better word) of what it means to start up a new venture. And by 'totally invested' what I mean is that in so far as it was the case, everything depended upon that startup panning out. If I didn't make money, I wouldn't make my bills."

Q. "Who helped you understand and navigate what it takes to startup new ventures?"

SBP. "Back in 2008, it was totally hit or miss. I was just learning by doing. Around 2011 or so I met people who were far more versed in how to run companies and it was then that I got a taste of what it's like to start up something new when you actually have access to the capital necessary to do it. Had to manage things like fundraising and hiring and leasing space and working with a bank. I had a good mentor and, by the time the team that became Yet Analytics started up, I'd acquired a bit more finesse when it came to things like pitching for investment and developing product. I still wasn't a great salesperson, but that would come in time — as something of a necessity, really. I learned over time that sales wasn't about making money — it was about creating value. And if you did the latter, the former would come about."

Q. "What do you look for in a new venture?"

SBP. "Every one is different. But I tend to gravitate towards those that are based in research and which take on complex problems. I like working with technical founders and I like helping them to translate what they are doing into something that other people can understand and value. I also like when projects take on challenges whose solution will benefit people in ways that go beyond monetary value. I think that if you are executing on solving a serious problem — taking on a real challenge that is meaningful and which resonates with people — that success will follow. I think that a big part of that execution comes from putting together the right team — and then once you've gone through all of the trouble of assembling the team, letting them do the work."

Q. "So, that's how you view the role of the CEO?"

SBP. "In a startup — and in any venture whether it's bringing a new product to market or adapting a product for a new market — the role of the CEO is to make reality disappear long enough that the work can get done."

BACKGROUND

Advisory services from Blakeplock and Company are based on our real-world experience starting up new ventures and in helping deep tech startups navigate complicated funding environments.

As co-founder and CEO of Yet Analytics, Shelly brought the company to profitability as an open source software product company after successful capital raises — including through the venture capital firm Grotech and via TCP Ventures — and earned multiple SBIR II awards through the US Air Force. Yet Analytics's flagship product — SQL LRS — is the most widely installed Apache 2.0 xAPI product in the world and powers data validation for the Enterprise Digital Learning Modernization reform effort at the US Department of Defense. In recognition of its contributions in the space of data technologies, Yet Analytics won the Nielsen Data Visionary Award at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco.

In addition to co-founding Yet, Shelly founded a well-respected consultancy in the late-oughts while he was also designing the first courses on participatory media in education at Johns Hopkins. He was on the founding team at the non-profit Digital Harbor Foundation where he served as co-executive director and had responsibilities related to capital fundraising and corporate relations. More recently, Shelly has served as chair of the startup artificial intelligence company INFERable and has started up new ventures and has raised funding for professional efforts within the IEEE, including as charter chair of the International Consortium for Innovation and Collaboration in Learning Engineering.

In 2025, Shelly served as an industry mentor in the National Science Foundation's I-Corps program. Especially in regard to the domain of deep tech, the program's goal is to scale down the time and risk inherent in the commercialization of fundamental discoveries in science and engineering — and to turn scientific potential into new commercial deep tech ventures.

Shelly's commitment to science and technology that is beneficial to humanity led him to become an officer of the Learning Technology Standards Committee at the IEEE — where he has served as the LTSC's treasurer since 2018 and has been active in the start up of several new initiatives including the aforementioned Learning Engineering consortium as well as the Technical Advisory Group on xAPI. He is currently chair and editor-in-chief of the TLA Study Group where he is leading the production of a book-length report on standards-based data architectures.

Active in applied research, Shelly was principal investigator on the DATASIM synthetic xAPI data project, and has contributed to over 50 research papers and presentations on topics related to instrumenting and scaling innovation in complex environments, developing the discipline and profession of Learning Engineering, the implementation of xAPI and semantic data profiles, standards-based approaches to data architecture, and ethical issues regarding artificial intelligence in the learning domain. 

Shelly calls Maryland home and is obsessive about baseball, heavy metal, bluegrass, and jazz. Active in the arts and music community for over 35 years, he has performed throughout North America and Europe, has more than 30 production credits, and has served on arts-related non-profit boards including at the High Zero Foundation. He is married to the architect MJ Wojewodzki and they have three children.