Faisal Shah

Advisory Board Member

Faisal Shah was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the middle child of three. As a child he lived in Caracas, Venezuela and later in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After graduating from law school, Faisal moved to Los Angeles and became a partner at one of the top law firms in the nation – Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now known as Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).

In 1996, Faisal moved to Boise, Idaho and applied his legal and business expertise to co-founding technology and services companies that protect the online intellectual property assets of corporations and their customers. In 1999, he co-founded MarkMonitor, Inc, a company specializing in enterprise brand protection serving the Fortune 500. In September 2012, Thomson Reuters acquired MarkMonitor. He also co-founded FTF Technologies Inc. in Boise, Idaho (now known as First-to-File), an electronic document management company providing comprehensive patent management solutions to companies and law firms worldwide. In February 2013, CPA Global (a global IP management and technology company) acquired First-to-File. Faisal recently co-founded AppDetex, a Boise-based company that protects Global 2000 companies from online and mobile threats. AppDetex, an ICANN corporate domain registrar, focuses on developing best-in-class technologies and methodologies that detect unauthorized use of brands in social media, domain names, mobile apps, and marketplaces, among other areas.

Faisal is committed to helping others succeed in Idaho and meets regularly with entrepreneurs. In that vein, he is a co-founder of Trailhead Boise, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Boiseans start and scale businesses. Faisal continues to invest in numerous Idaho startups while mentoring young entrepreneurs in programs such as B|launched, a start-up initiative he founded with the Boise Young Professionals, an arm of the Boise Chamber of Commerce.

He serves on several boards including the Board of Trustees of the University of San Francisco. Faisal holds a B.S. in business from the University of Colorado, Boulder-Leeds School of Business and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.