Kelly Perdew

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Kelly Perdew
Born (1967-01-29) January 29, 1967 (age 58)
Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Education United States Military Academy (B.S.)
University of California, Los Angeles (J.D., M.B.A.)
OccupationManaging General Partner at Moonshots Capital
Website kellyperdew.com

Kelly Crawford Perdew (born January 29, 1967) is an American businessman and winner of The Apprentice 2 .

Contents

Personal life

Perdew was born in Lexington, Kentucky and was raised in Florida and Wyoming. Prior to winning The Apprentice, he was president of CoreObjects, a software development outsourcing company based in Los Angeles.

Perdew attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in national security and public affairs in 1989, graduating as the number one ranked cadet in his field of study and in the top 5% of his overall class. [1]

While at West Point, Perdew attended Ranger and Airborne training. In addition to his regular studies at West Point, Perdew interned with the House Armed Services Committee, spent a semester on "exchange" at the Naval Academy, and was a Rhodes Scholar finalist. He served in the United States Army as a military intelligence officer for three years.

After his honorable discharge as a First Lieutenant, Perdew attended graduate schools at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), earning a joint JD/MBA degree from the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, respectively, in 1995. [2] He chose not to practice law after graduation, although during law school he worked part-time at the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. [3]

The Apprentice

Perdew was 37 when participating in The Apprentice 2 and was the oldest candidate on the show. He was eventually chosen by Donald Trump to be his apprentice, nominally managing the construction of Trump Place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York while promoting it in reality. [4] It was also revealed in The Apprentice 3 finale that Perdew was an executive vice-president for Trump's brand of bottled water, Trump Ice.

Career

Kelly Perdew is the Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Moonshots Capital. [5]

Since 1992, Perdew has invested in and advised early-stage companies. [6] He has held board or advisory roles at LinkedIn, Pandora, TrueCar, Gretel, ID.me, Ustream, Bitium, Harvest.ai, eteamz, Scopely, and other startups. [7] Through Moonshots Capital, he has been involved in investments in companies such as Cart.com, GrubMarket, Apptronik, Red 6 Aerospace, Pacaso, Gretel, and xAI. [8]

Earlier in his career, Perdew founded TargetClose, served as CEO of Fastpoint Games [9] (acquired by WePlay in 2011), and was President of both ProElite.com [10] and eteamz (acquired by Active Network).

Perdew is the author of Take Command, [11] a book on leadership based on his military experience.

In June 2006, Perdew received a Presidential Appointment from President George W. Bush to the Council on Service and Civic Participation. [12] He currently serves on the board of advisors of the Code of Support Foundation, [13] a nonprofit military service organization.

References

  1. ↑ "Kelly Perdew. Co-founder & Managing General Partner of Moonshots Capital. LA, USA". Totalprestige Magazine. May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  2. ↑ Kelly Perdew ('95) Trumps NBC's "The Apprentice"
  3. ↑ Kelly Perdew Forum Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (discussion posting by Perdew), November 29, 2004.
  4. ↑ What's Second Prize? - Newsweek Business – MSNBC.com
  5. ↑ "Moonshots Capital Venture Capital | Austin TX | Los Angeles CA". Moonshots Capital. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Investing lessons from West Point to The Apprentice with Moonshots Capital's Kelly Perdew – Infinite Frontiers" . Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Kelly Perdew | LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Early Stage Investment Portfolio | Moonshots Capital | Los Angeles | Austin". Moonshots Capital. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Website Development & Analytics Agency". www.targetclose.com. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  10. ↑ Staff, MMA Junkie. "ProElite.com president Kelly Perdew resigns (updated)". MMA Junkie. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  11. ↑ Perdew, Kelly (December 2005). Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump: Perdew, Kelly: 9781596980006: Amazon.com: Books. Regnery. ISBN   1596980001.
  12. ↑ Smith, Derek (May 15, 2019). "Meet Kelly Perdew at Urban Tech Connect". Plug In Ventures. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  13. ↑ Support, Code of. "TRUSTEES". Code of Support. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
Preceded by The Apprentice Winners
Season 2 		Succeeded by
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