5Lights Group - For us, Partner, is a verb

Be Brilliant.

5Lights partners with exceptional entrepreneurs and innovators in growing businesses to manifest their secret.

5Lights works with our partners through sleeves-up, elbows to elbows and hands-on collaboration to create iconic companies.

It Takes 5 Lights to Make an Icon

Iconic companies do not just arrive on innovation, hard work or large cash infusions alone. We believe sustained, significant growth, value creation and profit depend on five factors — five lights — all vital, that together unlock a company’s greatest potential.

Secret
Market
Model
Resources
Team

“Partner” for us, is a verb.

Why

We believe in what’s possible. Inventing destiny. The satisfaction of a healthy pursuit. The gratification of a success that is well-pursued. We partner only with those that exhibit unwavering mettle, are dedicated to a culture of optimization and innovation, and are well-steeped in sound business processes, but unbound by them.

Not Angels. Not Sharks. Not Consultants. Partners.

Who We Are

We are a team of entrepreneurs, business warriors, clear thinkers, compassionate leaders, fierce loyalists, capital guardians and innovation veterans with the ability to catalyze profit like few others can.

We bring sharp minds, keen eyes, listening ears, fierce hearts and capable hands to every project. We’re passionate about entrepreneurs, new inventions, and IP that can change the world.

Together, we hold the keys.

Charlie Horn

Chairman and Co-founder

Matt Muehlebach

SVP and General Counsel

Megan Wood

VP of Partnerships

Lucha Oceguera

Sr. Director of Business Operations, HR, and Compliance

Liam Maddock

VP of Marketing

Sherry Hoskinson

Consultant

Our Team Extensions

Capital investors
Executives in residence
Data scientists
Domain experts

C-Suites
Talent development
Culture development
Incubators
5Lights Capital

Partner Companies

Our nimble team starts with our core group selecting the right engagements and assembling the right team of resources for you.

The right partners for success in our collective process are management teams and commercialization partners with these essentials:

We love them.
They know their business’ secret.
Their value proposition can create a paradigm shift.
Their leadership team is cohesive and shares a resonating purpose to ours, and a pervasive, propagating culture committed to continuous improvement.
Their customers are evangelists.

Deep roots and premier leadership in entrepreneurship

5Lights SVP Sherry Hoskinson has been a recognized leader in university entrepreneurship for two decades, having served as the Director of the University of Arizona’s McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, a globally prominent entrepreneurship leader. Ms. Hoskinson continues deep interaction with the industry through university technology commercialization, and through her service on the executive boards of both the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers and the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and through annual publication of the Emerald Publishing series–Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Growth. Ms. Hoskinson has published numerous articles, developed curricula, created award winning models in entrepreneurship education, and has provided leadership to programs across the U.S., Mexico, in South America, Russia, Canada, and Europe.

5Lights SVP Matt Muehlebach is a passionate supporter of entrepreneurship education. Mr. Muehlebach’s former firm, Hecker & Muehlebach, PLLC, was the founding law firm of the University of Arizona’s Business / Law Exchange, in partnership with the Eller College of Management and Sherry Hoskinson. The Business Law Exchange is home of an industry changing approach to preparing leaders for the entrepreneurial economy through the Mock Law Firm Program. Mr. Muehlebach is committed to accelerating student potential, providing student coaching and advising, judging in business plans competitions, conducting business plan reviews, and providing robust network connections for students and recent graduates.

Learn more

5Lights Chairman Charlie Horn pioneered entrepreneurship education at the University of Delaware where he established the Horn Entrepreneurship Program. Not stopping at founding, Mr. Horn provides the program, university, and region with high level leadership and mobilizes excellence, growth, and leadership perspective from around the country and world. Mr. Horn regularly addresses students, enables network connections, advances student concepts, and encourages institutional support of entrepreneurship at both the University of Delaware and the University of Arizona.

About The University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship

5Lights Director Sherry Hoskinson has been a recognized leader in university entrepreneurship for two decades, having served as the Director of the University of Arizona’s McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, a globally prominent entrepreneurship leader. Ms. Hoskinson continues deep interaction with the industry through her service on the executive boards of both the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers and the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and through annual publication of the Emerald Publishing series–Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Growth. Ms. Hoskinson has published numerous articles, developed curricula, created award winning models in entrepreneurship education, and has provided leadership to programs across the U.S., Mexico, in South America, Russia, Canada, and Europe.

5Lights Vice President Matt Muehlebach are passionate supporters of entrepreneurship education. Mr. Muehlebach’s former firm, Hecker & Muehlebach, PLLC, was the founding law firm of the University of Arizona’s Business / Law Exchange, in partnership with the Eller College of Management. The Business Law Exchange is home of an industry changing approach to preparing leaders for the entrepreneurial economy through the Mock Law Firm Program. Ms. Passalacqua and Mr. Muehlebach are committed to accelerating student potential. Both provide student coaching and advising, judge in business plans competitions, conduct business plan reviews, and provide robust network connections for students and recent graduates.

What's New

UD Benefactor Charlie Horn Gets Pete du Pont Freedom Award

A University of Delaware graduate who started several successful companies and founded the school’s entrepreneurship program received the 2019 Pete du Pont Freedom Award last night. Charlie Horn created the nation’s first retail-based discount prescription drug program and 5Lights, LLC, a private equity business incubator and management firm. He and his wife Patty established the Horn Entrepreneurship program at UD… Read More

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5Lights IP Ventures embraces new inventions and discoveries by university researchers.

We bring our 5Lights model to create unique and powerful commercialization opportunities.
We bring our core team and expertise, alongside our expansive network, to identify the right pathway for select inventions.
We bring our wisdom, work, and wealth to make inventions a reality.

Our teams deep experience and understanding of intellectual property and successful commercialization based on university structure and researcher passion, enables 5Lights to move life, health, and world changing research to the world.