Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based CEO’ operating in the Media and Entertainment space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Falon Fatemi
Co-Founder and CEO of Fireside
Falon Fatemi is Founder and CEO of Node and Fireside.
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About Fireside, Forbes Magazine, Node: Fireside is where the world’s greatest creators go to bring the audience into the story through live, interactive, virtual shows.
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Steve Gatena
Founder & CEO of Pray.com
Steve is the founder of pray.com, the digital destination for faith. Steve is an American Entrepreneur, Media Producer, and NCAA Champion. In 2019, Steve was honored as a CSQ 40 Under 40 Visionary. Steve has also received an Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the United Nations in a program sponsored by Dell & Intel, and been named #8 on the Forbes list of Famous Multi-Generational Entrepreneurs.
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About Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Pray.com: Pray.com is the #1 app for daily prayer & faith-based audio content
Guru Gowrappan
CEO of Verizon Media
Guru Gowrappan is CEO of Verizon Media, a powerhouse of trusted media and technology brands, including Yahoo, HuffPost, and TechCrunch. Prior to this role, he was Global Managing Director of Alibaba where he focused on international expansion and e-commerce for key consumer and enterprise products. Gowrappan began his career co-founding two start-ups in India and has since held multiple leadership roles at Quixey, Zynga, and Overture. He has an M.S. in computer science from the University of Southern California and was in the business bridge program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
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About Verizon Media, Verizon Media: Verizon Media offers services in content, advertising, and technology with its brands such as Yahoo, TechCrunch, and more.
Jake Paul
CEO & Founder of TeamDom
Jake Paul is the Founder and CEO at TeamDom. He dropped out of high school and relocated to Los Angeles at 17, without a single meeting lined up. Jake became a Viner before becoming a Vloger. Also Jake has racked up over 15 million social media followers, and 3.5 billion video views, categorizing him as one of the top 20 social media influencers and a leading brand ambassador. Jake also lends his efforts to the acting world — starring as “Dirk” on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, “Lance” in the YouTube Red Original Movie Dance Camp and “Dugan” on Fox Digital’s new movie Mono.#Bloodynosegang
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About TeamDom: TeamDom is a media conglomerate that builds brands, stories, celebrities, and businesses around teen entertainment and media.
Richard Bernardino
Founder & CEO, Software Architect of Orchidware Studios
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About Orchidware Studios, Project Blue Butterfly, Project Shrub, Project Umami: Fun, exciting, fascinating video games for players of all ages to enjoy.
Jack Conte
Co-Founder & CEO of Patreon
Jack Conte is the Co-Founder and CEO of Patreon.
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About Patreon: Patreon is an online platform connecting musicians and other artists with their fan base.
Jeff Zheng
Co Founder & CEO of NewsBreak
Jeff Zheng is the Co-Founder and CEO at NewsBreak.
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About NewsBreak: News Break is the Nation’s #1 Intelligent Local News Platform
Damon Wayans, Jr
Founder and Co-CEO of Special Guest App
Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, most widely known for starring as Brad Williams in the ABC comedy series Happy Endings and as Coach in the Fox comedy series New Girl. In 2014, he starred in the comedy film Let’s Be Cops and provided the voice of Wasabi in Big Hero 6. In October 2018 Damon will star in his own sitcom “Happy Together” on CBS.
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About Special Guest App: Special Guest App makes it dead simple for anyone, anywhere to discover and book live entertainers.
Farhad Massoudi
CEO & Founder of Tubi
Farhad Massoudi founded adRise with a vision that the future of TV advertising will be targeted, measurable and interactive ads, just like the web on TV. Farhad holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
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About Tubi: Tubi is the world’s largest ad-supported video on demand (VOD) service. Available on Connected TV devices, Mobile, and the Web.
Gil Hirsch
Co-Founder & CEO of StreamElements
Gil Hirsch is an angel investor. Gil has over ten years of experience in software architecture, product and general management in computer technology. Before co-founding face.com, Gil held multiple R&D, Product and Sales executive roles at Amdocs, Xacct Technologies and Telrad Networks. Gil is also the co-founder of the garage geeks community in Israel to drive non-commercial innovation activities.
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About StreamElements: StreamElements provides content creators the tools they need to engage, grow, and monetize their audiences.
Halsey Minor
Founder and CEO of Live Planet VR System
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About Live Planet VR System, VideoCoin Network: Live Planet’s VR System is the first end-to-end solution for easily capturing, storing, streaming, and recording immersive VR video
Michael Ritter
Founder & CEO of Maple Media
Michael Ritter is the Founder and CEO of Maple Media, a mobile apps and games company backed by private equity firm Shamrock Capital. Maple Media is a mobile media, advertising and technology company that acquires, manages and operates mobile applications focused on the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. Popular titles include Snowboard Party: World Tour, Skateboard Party, Minesweeper Classic, Sudoku 🙂 and CalConvert. Previously he was SVP of Business & Corporate Development for Jam City, a large social and mobile game company based in Los Angeles where he oversaw mergers & acquisition activities, publishing, licensing, distribution, sales, legal and partnerships for social and mobile games. Michael was also the Founder and Publisher of Saturday Night Magazine, which at the time, he built into the largest circulated monthly collegiate lifestyle and entertainment magazine in the country.
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About Fantasy Baseball Arbitration, Maple Media: Maple Media is a mobile media, advertising, and technology company that acquires and operates category-leading, consumer apps.
Arjun Mehta
Founder & CEO of Moment House
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About Moment House, Trakfire: Social live media platform for creators.
Brad Griffith
Chief Executive Officer of Gametime
Brad Griffith After nearly missing a San Francisco Giants NLCS game because he didn’t have access to print his tickets, Brad Griffith reimagined a simpler process for buying tickets on the go. Focusing completely on the mobile experience, Brad wrote v1.0 of the Gametime iOS application in 2012 and now leads a passionate team focused on mobilizing the ticket buying process for fans. He’s fascinated with fan experience – answering the question: How can we make it faster and easier to attend games? Brad is a Santa Cruz native and huge S.F. Giants, Golden State Warriors and 49ers fan. After earning an Engineering degree from Stanford, he followed his dreams to work in sports by helping the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox (2005 World Series Champs!) build statistical infrastructure to analyze player value. In 2010, he helped launch Zappedy, which delivered customer analytics for local businesses (sold to Groupon in 2011). At Gametime, he’s able to combine his love of sports and analytics to help fans attend more games and connect with their communities.
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About Gametime: Gametime sells last-minute tickets to the most popular events in sports, music, and theater.
Ari Emanuel
CEO of Endeavor
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About Endeavor, WME: ENDEAVOR is a global media company in the fields of sports, events, media and fashion.
Ryan Dotters
Chief Executive Officer of Full Swing Golf
Ryan Dotters has spent the majority of his career in the golf industry and joined Full Swing Golf in September 2013 as a Business Development Consultant to oversee new corporate partnerships and establish a new ownership group. In January 2015, Ryan took over as CEO while simultaneously signing a partnership deal with Tiger Woods. Ryan led the acquisition of Virtual Green in March of 2015 and has successfully led significant growth of Full Swing Golf. Previous to Full Swing, Ryan held key positions at Graphite Design(SVP Sales and Marketing), Taylor Made / Adidas Golf (Sales), Adams Golf (Regional Sales Manager – North East), and Callaway Golf (Corporate Sales). Ryan has been able to balance his passion for golf with his love for business.
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About Full Swing Golf: Full Swing Golf is the Worldwide Leader in Golf Simulation.
Michael Rapino
President and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation President and CEO, Michael Rapino, has led Live Nation since it separated from Clear Channel Communications in August 2005. During his tenure at Live Nation, Rapino oversaw the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010 to form Live Nation Entertainment, now the leading concert promoter and live entertainment company in the world. He is also a Director at Sirius XM Holdings Inc, and has served as an Executive Producer on Live Nation Film projects, including A Star is Born and Believer. As Live Nation’s President and CEO, Rapino has led the company through a series of acquisitions and investments to grow the brand’s reach and capabilities. One of these investments was in C3 Presents, the promoter behind prominent music festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. Rapino has also supported a number of initiatives that help make live music and entertainment more available to people around the world, increasing Live Nation’s reach to more than 40 countries and nearly 100 million fans each year. Prior to Live Nation, Rapino began his career at Labatt’s Breweries of Canada where he spent ten years working in various marketing and entertainment roles. After leaving Labatt’s, Rapino co-founded Core Audience Entertainment, which was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 1999. After the acquisition, Rapino served as the head of several divisions at Clear Channel Communications before becoming President and CEO of Live Nation in 2005. Rapino’s work has earned him recognition by several top publications, such as Forbes and Variety. In 2017, he was listed as one of Forbes’ Global Game Changers and one of Variety’s 500 Influential Business Leaders. He was named one of Los Angeles Business Journal’s 500 Most Influential People in Business in 2018. Billboard has recognized Rapino in their Power 100 list every year from 2012 to 2018, with him leading the rankings in 2018. Rapino is a Thunder Bay, Ontario native. He studied business at Lakehead University and graduated with a bachelor’s of administration in 1989. He currently resides in California with his wife and three children.
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About Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster: Live Nation Entertainment is the live entertainment and eCommerce company.
David Nussbaum
Founder and CEO of PORTL Hologram
David Nussbaum is the Founder and CEO at PORTL Inc.
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About PORTL Hologram: PORTL Hologram offers at-home hologram machines.
Michael Lynton
Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Michael Lynton is CEO of Sony Entertainment, where he oversees Sony’s global entertainment businesses, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Lynton is also Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), managing the studio’s overall global operations, which include motion picture, television and digital content production and distribution, home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, and the development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lynton has focused on digital transformation, worldwide growth, content diversity and financial discipline, leading the studio through an era of innovation and success, putting Sony Pictures on the cutting edge of an industry experiencing rapid technological and global change. Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group has enjoyed a remarkable run in the past several years, releasing such hits as Best Picture Oscar® nominees American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and The Social Network, as well as blockbuster franchises like The Amazing Spider-Man, Grown-Ups, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Smurfs. Between movies and TV, SPE received 26 nominations for the 2014 Golden Globes® and won seven awards, more than any other studio. Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, around the world and for a multitude of platforms. In addition to one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. In addition to its U.S. production business, SPT has 19 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 13 countries. SPT’s worldwide media networks include 150 channel feeds available in 178 countries, reaching more than 1.3 billion cumulative households worldwide. Popular channel brands include AXN, Animax, and SET (Sony Entertainment Television), as well as the studio’s ad-supported VOD service, Crackle. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment distributes Sony Pictures produced and third-party acquired theatrical and non-theatrical product on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and other digital media globally. Among the more than 3,500 titles in SPHE’s catalog are the Spider-Man and Men In Black franchises, the Seinfeld TV series, and film classics on such as Lawrence of Arabia, Taxi Driver and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Sony Pictures is also home to Imageworks, the only major studio Academy Award®-winning in-house visual effects unit. Under Lynton, Sony Pictures has been an industry leader in the migration to digital entertainment, from production and distribution to the introduction of new formats. The studio championed the industry’s UltraViolet digital entertainment format, helped re-introduce 3D to the entertainment industry and is deeply engaged in the rapidly expanding 4K marketplace. Prior to joining Sony Pictures, Lynton worked for Time Warner and served as CEO of AOL Europe, President of AOL International and President of Time Warner International. From 1996 to 2000, Lynton served as Chairman and CEO of Pearson plc’s Penguin Group, where he oversaw the acquisition of Putnam, Inc. and extended the Penguin brand to music and the Internet. Lynton joined The Walt Disney Company in 1987 and started Disney Publishing, serving as its President. From 1992 to1996, he served as President of Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. Lynton holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and literature from Harvard College and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Lynton is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the American Film Institute, the Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Harvard Board of Overseers, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, USC School of Cinematic Arts and the RAND Corporation. In addition, he sits on the board of directors of Snapchat and Ares Management, L.P. Lynton resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Elizabeth Jamie Alter Lynton, and their three daughters, Eloise Lynton, Maisie Lynton and Lucinda Lynton.
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About 25Madison, Sony Pictures Entertainment: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation.
Tom Ryan
CEO & Co-Founder of Pluto TV
Tom Ryan is CEO and Co-Founder of Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in America that is also available in 22 countries across Europe and Latin America. Pluto TV carries and programs more than 250 live channels and thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows in partnership with hundreds of major TV networks, movie studios, publishers, and digital media companies. Each month over 36 million viewers tune in to watch premium news, TV shows, movies, sports, live events, cartoons, and trending digital series on mobile, web, and living room devices. Pluto TV is a top free app on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android mobile, and also powers built-in streaming television services on Vizio LG, and Samsung smart TVs. Earlier in his career, Tom served as CEO of Threadless (a popular crowdsourced design and e-commerce company), SVP of Digital Strategy at EMI Music as well as co-founder of Cductive (an early digital music retailer company that he merged with eMusic). He holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from INSEAD in France.
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About Pluto TV: Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service in America.
Binu Girija
Founder & CEO of Way
Mr. Binu Girija is the Founder and CEO at Way.com, Inc. Mr. Binu is responsible for building products that meet the changing demands of Way.com’s users and partners. Prior to Way.com, he was an Enterprise Architect at BEA Systems, Oracle Corp and Computer Sciences Corp., and led the Enterprise Infrastructure, ERP, CRM and Database team. He has started multiple successful software companies that continue to grow and thrive today. He has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Computer Science.
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About Way: The No.1 Car Insuretech, Fintech Super App
Jay Peterson
Founder and CEO of Matador
Jay Peterson founded Matador in 2013 and in the past two years has produced a wide range of programming, from Lip Sync Battle on Spike and Nail’d It on Oxygen to the HBO documentary Banksy Does New York and A&E’s Country Buck$. Prior to starting Matador, Jay served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Production and Development at Original Media, an Endemol Company. During his tenure at Original, Jay developed and produced several hit television series, including History’s Swamp People, Spike’s Inkmaster, AMC’s Comic Book Men and Discovery’s Dual Survival. He expanded Original’s portfolio into new categories such as sports (MMA Uncensored Live), talk (The Gayle King Show), music (Unplugged) and live television (Nokia’s Rihanna Live for MTV, VH1 and Palladia), and strengthened the franchises and economics of existing shows such as Storm Chasers, LA Ink and The Rachel Zoe Project. Before joining Original, Jay was the President of K2 Pictures, where he served as Executive Producer on numerous projects, including the Showtime feature documentary Same Sex America, the daily ESPN series Classic Now and the Kennedy Center’s 9/11 memorial special, Concert for America (NBC).
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About Matador: Matador is a full-service content production company with offices in New York and Los Angeles.
Jordan Brown
Founder, CEO of Lugg
Jordan Brown is the Founder, CEO at Lugg
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About Lugg: Lugg provides anything moved with the push of a button. Download Lugg on the App store and instantly get connected to a truck and 2 movers.
Billy Hawkins
CEO & Co-founder of Arsenic
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About Arsenic, Narrate: Arsenic Magazine is a by-the-people, for-the-people, online lifestyle and culture magazine based in the Arts District.
Jon Vlassopulos
Founder & CEO of Tribalist
Jon Vlassopulos is the founder and CEO of Trailerpop, where he leads a mission to revolutionize the way people discover entertainment and engage with advertising. Jon has spent the last 17 years building businesses in and around the mobile, entertainment and advertising industries and as a founder, senior executive, investor and advisor, his work has driven hundreds of millions of dollars worth of innovation and delighted tens of millions of consumers. Prior to founding Trailerpop, Jon has served as CEO of award winning mobile entertainment studio skyrockit, where he managed major US carrier content platforms for companies like Sprint and built innovative branded entertainment products and experiences for companies like GAP, Intel, Coca Cola, Kraft and Zippo. Dubbed a digital media and advertising visionary by The Hollywood Reporter, Jon has created successful industry firsts in the areas of mobile, games, advertising, TV and music. Before skyrockit, Jon was the SVP of digital media and branded entertainment for Endemol, the world’s largest independent production company, where he was responsible for its worldwide digital & advertising business. Jon is credited with launching interactive TV in the US with shows like Deal or no Deal and 1 vs. 100 and with creating some of the first live, multi-platform game formats for networks like BET and TBS. He also produced games that were successful on multiple platforms including Xbox, online, and mobile and sold and produced some of the first online web series. Jon served as senior director of business development & strategic partnerships at AT&T Wireless, establishing the first phase of messaging and mobile data. At AT&T Jon ran the mobile content business and mobile marketing where he established the first mobile marketing campaigns with major brands and led the youth marketing team responsible for tracking and implementing new applications and business models Early in his career Jon was at Bertelsmann, where he helped to create BMG’s global digital strategy and held multiple executive positions with other Bertelsmann divisions in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Jon has served on the board of NATPE, the Producer’s Guild and was a founding member of the Mobile Marketing Association. He holds a degree from Durham University and is fluent in French, Spanish and Mandarin. Jon got his start as a DJ and radio host, from where he nurtured his love of music & entertainment, building a career that blended interests in original content, emerging platforms and marketing innovation.
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About A-Force Ventures, Fabric, Roblox, Tastemates, Trailerpop, Tribalist: Tribalist is a site that offers the best entertainment & lifestyle lists from top publishers to help people discover new things to do.
Chris M. Willliams
Founder & CEO of pocket.watch
Chris M. Williams is the Founder & CEO at pocket.watch.
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About pocket.watch, pocket.watch: Pocket.watch is a new studio creating global franchises from the YouTube stars and characters loved by Generation Alpha.
Sean Doherty
CEO of Wurl
CEO at WURL, Inc.
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About Wurl: The Wurl Network connects the world’s largest digital brands with the world’s largest streaming services.
Austin Criden
Co-Founder, CEO of Palm Tree Crew
Austin Criden is the Co-Founder & CEO at Palm Tree Crew Holdings.
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About Palm Tree Crew: Palm Tree Crew operates and invests in companies at the intersection of consumer, entertainment, and technology.
Renee Wang
Founder & CEO of Castbox
Renee Wang is the CEO and Founder of Castbox, an award-winning global podcast platform that enables anyone to easily find, access, create and enjoy spoken audio content. Prior to founding Castbox, Renee was a global app monetization expert at Google in user acquisition, optimization, and publisher engagement where she contributed to 42% of Google’s new app revenue. Renee holds a BS degree from Peking University, with a double major in Psychology and Mathematical Statistics.
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About Castbox: Castbox is a global podcast platform that enables anyone to easily find, access, create and enjoy spoken audio content.
Suren Markosian
Co-Founder & CEO of Epic
Suren is the CEO and co-founder of Epic!, the first all-you-can-read e-book service built specifically for school-aged readers. He is a successful, serial entrepreneur and founder of several consumer tech startups, including CrowdStar, which rose to become one of the largest social gaming companies with over 200M users, second only to Zynga. Having created and successfully scaled large entertainment and e-commerce businesses to serve hundreds of millions of customers, Markosian is an expert in product design, gamification, technology, scalability, consumer growth and marketing.
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About Epic: Epic is an internet company that specializes in books, eBooks learning, and educational technology.
Angelica Nwandu
Founder, CEO & Owner of The Shade Room
Angelica Nwandu is the founder of The Shade Room, an Instagram-based media empire reaching over 15+ Million active followers (“Roommates”) and a highly-engaged website. Founded in 2014, The Shade Room (TSR) is anchored on celebrating Black culture and entertainment but transcends all celebrity news and society. Serving viral posts daily, Angelica and her company offer a range of content from breaking headlines, exclusives and feel-good posts (TSR Positive Images, Morning Inspiration, Daddy Duties for an unmatched balance of entertainment, and enlightenment. Angie Nwandu, named to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list and called, “the Oprah of our generation,” byRefinery29, is enlightened herself. She is open about her spirituality and often refers to a scripture in the Bible that helped carry her through TSR’s early stage, specifically, a section that advises to not despise small beginnings.
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About The Shade Room: The Shade Room is a media company that offers celebrity and entertainment news on an hourly basis.
Michael Golomb
Founder and CEO of FanVestor
A hands-on company builder, Michael’s background as an entrepreneurial CFO with three exits behind him, is the culmination of twenty years of senior management experience across a broad spectrum of industries. His expertise has been successfully applied across verticals ranging from startups to large public corporations including Blockchain, manufacturing, digital health & medical devices, consumer electronics & hardware, software/SaaS, and real estate. In addition to Michael’s global experience in raising equity though variety of public and private equity/debt instruments, as well as experience in handling complex M&A transactions, he also brings exceptional knowhow of Blockchain technology to DASAN Zhone Solutions. Earlier in 2017, (prior to joining DASAN) together with the other Blockchain industry veterans, Michael co-founded the ICO Governance Foundation, a non-profit decentralized global organization with a protocol-based global community mission that performs a self-regulatory function for ICOs in decentralized capital markets. In Oct 2016, Michael founded EdenCoin – a global cryptocurrency quantitative market-maker start-up with offices in San Francisco and New York: a proprietary liquidity aggregation platform to consolidate trading volume and data from major cryptocurrency market sources to run algorithmic market-making and liquidity provisioning, as well as other, quantitative strategies. From June 2015 to May 2017, while CFO at Breathometer, a hyper-growth digital health and medical device company, he helped take that company from pre-revenue to shipping in the FDA regulated space, forming OEM partnership with Philips, raising capital from venture capital firms and global strategic investors, as well as successfully achieving the ISO13485:2003 Certification milestone. Prior to Breathometer, Michael was the first employee (CFO, Board Member, and Head of SF Office) at BitFury, and helped build the market leading full-service Blockchain technology company, and one of the largest private infrastructure providers in the Blockchain ecosystem, taking it from zero to over $500M valuation and from 3 to over 120 employees in 7 countries between December 2013 through April 2015. Other notable roles include: ” Co-Founder and Co-President at Mayak RE, where he led the formation of JV with Morgan Stanley and MCP Private Equity Fund in Europe. ” CFO of Sistema Hals, he directed a highly successful London/LSE IPO with market capitalization at $2.7B. ” Head of Compliance / Sr. Finance Manager at Trimble, he effectively implemented global Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program, participated in private debt placement, as well as acquired/integrated several international technology companies. Michael received MSc in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2013, his MBA from Santa Clara University in 2000, and his B.A. with double major in Economics and Diplomacy & World Affairs from Occidental College in 1996. He is also a CPA (inactive) in California.
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About FanVestor: FanVestor is a FINRA-regulated crowdfunding platform that enables entertainment and sports celebrities to capitalize on their fanbases.
Victor Gajendran
Co-founder and CEO of Ticketmaster
Co-founder and CEO at Gento.
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About Gento, Ticketmaster: Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket marketplace and the global market leader in live event ticketing.
Andy Dinh
Co-Founder and CEO of Blitz App
Andy Dinh is the founder and CEO at Blitz App.
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About Blitz App, Team SoloMid: Your personal gaming coach for League of Legends, Valorant, CSGO, Fortnite and more— powered by AI and built with professional players.
Bertram Meyer
Co-founder and CEO of ONEDOME
Bertram is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Onedome. Prior, he co-founded Taulia and led it as CEO for 7 years. He has raised $100M+ for various companies and had a successful exit in 2006 as one of only 5 executives and equity holders in Ebydos (sold to Readsoft which was then acquired by Lexmark). Bertram is passionate about impactful and mission-driven businesses…and in showing that they can be very profitable at the same time.
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About ONEDOME: ONEDOME is a location-based entertainment and immersive media company.
John Shahidi
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Shots Studios
John Shahidi is CEO and Co-Founder of Shots Studios, a global entertainment company at the center of a new age of media and content. Along with his brother, Sam, Shahidi’s leadership guided Shots’ transition from a successful selfie-sharing app to an original comedy and music production studio. In 2018, Billboard called Shahidi an “internationalist” for his role in dance music’s expansion. He was also recognized by Billboard as a part of “music’s new power generation” as an innovator for launching Venezuelan-American digital creator Lele Pons’ music career, introducing Brazilian superstar Anitta to new markets, and propelling Swedish producer Alesso to new heights.
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About Shots Studios: Shots Studios is a Los Angeles-based, data-driven entertainment company that produces online comedy and music videos.
Eli Dawson
Co-Founder and CEO of StatMuse
Co-Founder, CEO at StatMuse.
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About StatMuse: StatMuse is a sports statistics website that allows users to search for players and view customizable statistics.
Charles Kim
CEO of CRAVE Global
Charles Kim currently works as Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Crave Global, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Extol Capital, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Black Kestral Group, and is a Steering Committee Member of the White Kestral Summit.
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About Black Kestral Group, China Renaissance, CRAVE Global: CRAVE Global is a full-service celebrity platform that represents celebrities, influencers, sports, and entertainment properties in China.
Brian Graden
Founder and CEO of Brian Graden Media
For generations of young people, the name Brian Graden might not ring a bell. A glance at his resume certainly will. This longtime production pacesetter has spent a career developing and fostering cutting-edge television as well as steering the programming divisions of major entertainment networks: with his talented hand, some of the most forward-thinking, edgy, and plain entertaining television of the past 25 years has come to life. His accomplishments each stand on their own as signposts of a career that’s anticipated every major turn. From his earliest days as a junior executive overseeing the trailblazing COPS and America’s Most Wanted, to his guiding hand in the development of South Park, to transforming the formerly staid VH1 into a pop culture powerhouse, Brian Graden’s work has consistently helped to define it’s time while also pointing to what’s next. During his time as MTV Networks President of Entertainment, he oversaw the creation of a new canon of young people’s programming with shows like TRL, Pimp My Ride, Punk’d, Jackass, Jersey Shore, and countless others. Striking out on his own, Brian started Brian Graden Media in 2013. BGM’s forays into the digital world have continued the success he started on television, garnering an Emmy award for the genre-bending interactive show HitRecord on TV, and developing a suite of YouTube Original programming and unconventionally fascinating cable shows, each tuned into what’s driving views and clicks in today’s evolving media landscape. With his track record, it’s hard to bet against BGM. It’s not entertainment alone that defines Brian Graden. A passionate advocate for equality, Brian personally spearheaded MTV’s Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence campaign while at the network. He’s been the recipient of numerous awards for his advocacy including the GLAAD Media Vito Russo Award for Excellence in Media, the EQCA Award for Commitment to Advancing LGBT Equality, and the Equality Forum’s National Role Model award. He’s also delivered keynote addresses at the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus Annual Commencement, the Reaching Out MBA Conference, and the Cellcom Media Conference. When he isn’t working, Brian is an avid musician, having manned the keyboards for cover band Ace Oxygen and the Ozones in high school before turning his ambitions towards Hollywood. Today, his musical tastes are as varied and diverse as his shows’ audiences. Brian Graden currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
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About Brian Graden Media: Brian Graden Media an Emmy award-winning television production company based in Hollywood, CA.
James Norman
CEO / Co-Founder of Pilotly
James Norman is the Founder & CEO at Pilotly .James Norman is a serial entrepreneur who at the age of 16 built his first online company, an aftermarket automotive e-commerce site called MJH Sound.com. While previously he may have been known as a visionary in automotive product planning, over the past 9 years in the media and entertainment industry he has become a thought leader in over-the-top media and consumer video consumption behaviors. In 2008, James founded Ubi Video, one of the first aggregators of all things streaming video. After a MVPD offered to acquire Ubi’s technology, he moved on to develop GroupFlix, an a-la-carte streaming service. By cleverly bundling EST content, allowing users to select the shows they love in a low monthly subscription, GroupFlix was the first viable a-la-carte TV model. His latest venture, Pilotly, is a consumer insights platform that enables content creators to get feedback from audiences at scale. Today, the platform provides insights to the NBCUniversal family, Ovation TV, OtterMedia and others. James earned his BSE in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan and is a proud member of the 500 Startups family. He was given the OTT Genius Award by the OTT Executive Summit in 2014. He has also been recognized for excellence in special automotive projects by Mazda Design North America and Sony Gran Turismo
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About Black Operator Ventures, Pilotly, Transparent Collective: Enabling content creators to get feedback from audiences at scale
Perkins Miller
CEO of Fandom
Perkins Miller is the CEO of Fandom.
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About Fandom: Fandom is a developer of a global entertainment media platform designed for fans to explore, contribute to, and celebrate.
Julia Enthoven
Co-Founder and CEO of Kapwing
Julia Enthoven is the Founder of Kapwing.
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About Kapwing: Online editor for modern videos, GIFs, and images
Luke McDonough
Founder, CEO of AIR.TV
Luke McDonough is Founder & CEO at AIR.TV.
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About AIR.TV, IFILM: AIR.TV enables the distribution and monetization of viral videos on websites.
Kirill Avery
Founder & CEO of fjklw
Entrepreneur, Software Engineer Forbes 30 under 30 Nominee at 17 y.o.
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About fjklw, Lalabox: aa
Maverick Carter
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of SpringHill Entertainment
Carter, CEO of SpringHill Entertainment and its premiere digital media company UNINTERRUPTED, oversees the expanding entertainment companies’ overall strategic direction, spearheads their new business and content development partnerships, and guides their growing multi-platform global distribution efforts. In addition, Carter plays a vital role in all project, partner and talent developments, leveraging key relationships and providing unique insight to create original, exclusive, and authentic content across a variety of mediums. With a steadily expanding portfolio of innovative projects, Carter has quickly become an influential figure in the media and entertainment industry. One of SpringHill Entertainment’s fastest growing ventures is UNINTERRUPTED, the multimedia content network created by Carter and James in 2015 that provides unique personalities in sports and entertainment the platform to develop and amplify their stories. Since its debut, UNINTERRUPTED has forged partnerships with a growing list of industry-leading companies including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Facebook, and Verizon to create and distribute its unique, creative and captivating content globally across multiple platforms with a particular focus on mobile, web, and social distribution streams.
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About PureBrands, SpringHill Entertainment: They pride ourselves on incubating, developing, and producing work that speaks to a cross-cultural audience.
Meg Whitman
CEO of Quibi
Meg Whitman has served Hewlett-Packard as Chairman of the Board since July 2014, as President and Chief Executive Officer since September 2011 and as a member of the Board since January 2011. From March 2011 to September 2011, Whitman served as a part-time strategic advisor to Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, a private equity firm. Previously, Whitman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay Inc., from 1998 to 2008. Prior to joining eBay,Whitman held executive-level positions at Hasbro Inc., a toy company, FTD, Inc., a floral products company, The Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company, The Walt Disney Company, an entertainment company, and Bain & Company, a consulting company. Whitman also serves as a director of The Procter & Gamble Company.
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About Gen Cap America, Quibi: Quibi is a media company developing short-form media content designed for smartphones.
Ishaan Sutaria
Co-Founder, Co-CEO of Wave Sports + Entertainment
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About Wave Sports + Entertainment: Wave Sports + Entertainment is a media company built for the next generation of digital superfans.
Wared Seger
CEO & Co-Founder of Parrot Analytics
Operating at the intersection of science, technology and entrepreneurship. Author of the world’s first quantitative thesis on founder succession in technology firms. 2017 Variety 30 Under 30 Hollywood Leaders. 2018 Broadcasting & Cable 40 Under 40 Media Execs / 2018 NYC TV Week Awards. Bringing to life The Wisdom of Crowds.
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About Parrot Analytics: Parrot Analytics is a data science company that measures and predicts global demand for content, across all platforms, around the world.
Jon Van Caneghem
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of VC Mobile Entertainment
Jon Van Caneghem is a computer game designer and producer. He is most recognized for creating the Might and Magic role-playing game series and its strategy spin-off Heroes of Might and Magic. Van Caneghem founded New World Computing in 1983. The company was acquired by The 3DO Company in 1996. When 3DO went bankrupt in 2003, New World Computing also disappeared. In 2004, Van Caneghem joined NCSoft. Shortly after, he was inducted into Computer Gaming World’s Hall of Fame. In 2005 he left NCSoft. On September 25, 2006 it was announced that Van Caneghem, together with Lars Buttler, former vice president of Global Online at Electronic Arts, formed a new company named Trion World Network, headquartered in Redwood City, California, that would “leverage all the inherent capabilities of broadband, provide original entertainment, and define the future of media in the global broadband era” As of 2009, Jon Van Caneghem Is no longer part of Trion Wold Network
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About Tencent, VC Mobile Entertainment: VC Mobile Entertainment develops mobile, PC, console, and online games.
Ben Antier
CEO of Publica
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About Publica: Publica is a technology company focused on internet-connected TV advertising.
David G. Martin
CEO of RiffTrax
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About RiffTrax: RiffTrax features funny audio commentaries by Michael J. Nelson and other stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Douglas Colbeth
Founder & CEO of MedCircle
Douglas Colbeth became president and chief executive officer of Kinaxis in March 2003. As one of the true visionaries of the Internet explosion in the mid 1990’s, he envisioned the opportunity to be a leader in delivering an on-demand supply chain management service. He then came across what he describes as a “gang of supply chain geniuses” in Canada, who had already developed very powerful modeling and collaboration technology. After going public in 2014 – Kinaxis has a market capitalization of approximately $2 Billion. Doug understood what the Internet’s influence on consumer behavior would be and how it would dramatically increase demand volatility. The problem of effectively responding to consumer demand would be further exacerbated by the dramatic market shift of outsourced manufacturing operations. Under Doug’s leadership, Kinaxis developed a world-class offering which enables companies to build better supply chain plans and quickly respond to constant changes in demand, supply and product — driving breakthroughs in customer service and operations performance. Today, the Kinaxis RapidResponse® cloud service empowers front-line decision makers at brand name companies and contract manufacturers with multi-enterprise visibility and collaborative analysis tools to effectively respond to change across an entire distributed supply chain. Prior to Kinaxis, Doug was chief executive officer of Spyglass Inc., a leading provider of Internet software technologies. Spyglass technologies are utilized inside millions of products including PCs, televisions, telephones, and other hand-held devices. Most notably, Spyglass technology is the foundation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. In June 1995, Spyglass became the first Internet software company to conduct a successful Initial Public Offering. In March 2000, Doug negotiated its merger with OpenTV Inc., at a value of $2.4 Billion. Outside of his work with Kinaxis, Doug and his wife Margaret are pioneer philanthropists in the area of juvenile brain diseases. Established in 2000, the Colbeth Clinic is operated by the University of Illinois Medical Center and serves inner city children in the Chicago area. This state of the art clinic employs a multidisciplinary approach to treating a wide range of brain diseases including: autism, depression, bipolar, OCD, ADHD, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Doug holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and studied Quantitative Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.) in Troy, New York. While attending R.P.I., Doug was awarded a research grant from Texas Instruments Inc. to develop modeling software for various Texas Instruments products.
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About MedCircle: MedCircle is a San Diego based company redefining the mental health care market
David Hyman
Chief Executive Officer of Chosen
David Hyman, a self-proclaimed music junkie, is CEO of Chosen, a next generation competition platform for performers, launching q1 of 2015. Prior to Chosen, David was CEO and Founder of the award-winning music subscription service, MOG, which he sold to Beats Electronics in 2012. A true music industry innovator, David aims to turn the performance and competition world on its ear and re-invent the genre of performance competition and free it from the constraints of linear based television MOG Inc. was founded in 2005, and under his leadership, David’s company offered an award-winning, unlimited, on-demand subscription music service that provides access to a vast library of over 11 million songs from over one million albums through its mobile apps, online, & on streaming entertainment and consumer electronic devices. MOG Inc., was also provider of The MOG Music Network (MMN), the premier destination for music content online & largest music focused advertising network consisting of over 1700 music sites, reaching over 46 million people each month. Prior to MOG Inc., David served as CEO of Gracenote, the world’s largest music database & music-identification service, which sold to Sony for $260 million in 2008. Previously, he was SVP of Marketing at MTV Interactive, & co-founded Addicted to Noise, the webzine that pioneered multimedia music reporting & around-the-clock music news. Finding himself at the intersection of music and technology, David is a frequent speaker at conferences such as SXSW, CES and Midem. In 2008, he founded Musica Tecnomica, a regular gathering of music-focused innovators in San Francisco.
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About Chosen, Unagi Scooters: Chosen is a video based, crowd judged, competition platform.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Co-founder & CEO of HitRecord
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s acting career spans the last three decades, and ranges from television (3rd Rock From The Sun) to arthouse (Mysterious Skin, Brick) to multiplex (Inception, 500 Days Of Summer, Snowden). He made his feature screenwriting and directorial debut with Don Jon (Independent Spirit Award nomination, Best First Screenplay). He also serves as the CEO of HITRECORD, a “community-sourced”, online creative platform for collaborative art and media projects of all kinds. HITRECORD’s online community of over 750,000 artists emphasizes creative collaboration over self-promotion, producing content for partners ranging from LG to Ubisoft to the ACLU, and winning an Emmy for its variety show HITRECORD ON TV.
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About HitRecord: HitRecord is an online community working together as a production company.
Rian Bosak
Founder, CEO of Superbam
Rian Bosak began his career in digital media as a co-founder of style haul. From there, he moved to fullscreen, where he oversaw network operations and rights management, capturing millions in revenue for media companies and independent content creators. Since starting superbam, rian has extended his expertise to even more creators and media outlets who are looking to take control of their content.
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About Fullscreen, Superbam: Superbam is a digital rights management provider.
Niko Vuori
Founder & CEO of Drivetime
Founder & CEO Drivetime, co-founder & COO of Rocket Games, product at ToyTalk & BranchOut, GM Zynga Poker, founder & CEO Informifi.
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About Drivetime: Drivetime provides an online platform designed to help users play games while they drive.
Jack Davis
CEO & Founder of Crypt TV
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About Crypt TV: Crypt TV is an operator of an online video platform intended to produce and distribute scary video content.
Bill Lee
CEO of Millennium Entertainment
William Lee (Bill) is Senior Vice President Research at Gilead. Bill joined Gilead as Director of Pharmaceutical Product Development in August 1991, became Vice President, Pharmaceutical Product Development in January 1995 and in February 2000, was promoted to Vice President, Research and Pharmaceutical Development. Bill was promoted to Senior Vice President, Research in November 2000. Prior to joining Gilead, Bill was Department Head of Drug Delivery and Formulation at California Biotechnology, Inc. from 1986 to 1991. From 1985 to 1986, Bill was a research scientist at Syntex Corporation. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego and did postdoctoral work at the Ecole Polytech Federal Lausanne and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
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About Gilead Sciences, Millennium Entertainment: Millennium Entertainment – Theatrical Film/Movie Distribution Company based in Los Angeles, CA
Daniel Raffel
CEO @ Snapguide of ABC News
Daniel Raffel is the CEO of Heavy Bits, producers of Snapguide. Snapguide is a simple, beautiful way to share and view step-by-step how to guides. Discover new things to cook, build, wear, play and more. Create your own guides and share what you love making with your friends on Twitter, Facebook and more. Discuss your interests with other people who share your passions Previously, he was the Director of Product Management at [Pioneers of the Inevitable](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/pioneers-of-the-inevitable), working on [Songbird](http://www.crunchbase.com/product/songbird), an open-source customizable music player. Before joining Songbird he worked at Yahoo where he served as the Product Manager that helped create [Pipes](http://pipes.yahoo.com), a web based composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web. Also during his tenure at Yahoo, Daniel contributed to helping launch Yahoo Messengers VoIP efforts. Prior to joining Yahoo, Daniel worked in a variety of technology roles at ABC News Online, bthere.tv, CondeNet, and NYU’s Innovation Center lab. In another life, Daniel co-founded two record labels [Lucky Kitchen](http://www.luckykitchen.com) and [Apartment B](http://www.apartmentb.com). He has performed live under various aliases at venues around the world and has released recordings on over a dozen labels. In yet another life, Daniel’s passion for food led him to pursue a culinary degree which culminated in a stint as a chef in the kitchen of Thomas Keller’s NYC restaurant [per se](http://perseny.com). Daniel received a Masters degree from the [Interactive Telecommunications Program](http://itp.nyu.edu) at NYU.
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About ABC News, Google: ABCNews is a breaking news resource for top stories, videos, photos, blogs, special reports, and exclusive celebrity interviews.
Romesh Wadhwani
Chairman and CEO of SymphonyAI
Romesh Wadhwani founded Symphony Technology Group in 2002 for one reason: he is passionate about building companies. After a 30-year career as an entrepreneur in the enterprise software sector, Romesh launched STG to lend his expertise and passion to investing. Before starting STG, Romesh was the founder, chairman and CEO of Aspect Development, Inc. until 1999, when the company was acquired by i2 Technologies. For nearly a decade, Romesh grew Aspect Development into a leader in business-to-business commerce software, which culminated in the merger of Aspect with supply chain software company i2 Technologies. At that time, this combination was one of the largest enterprise software mergers.
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About ConcertAI, National Entrepreneurship Network, Symphony RetailAI, Symphony Summit, Symphony Technology Group, Symphony Technology Group, SymphonyAI, Terarecon, Wadhwani AI, Wadhwani Foundation: SymphonyAI is an enterprise AI company focused on delivering AI solutions for vertical sectors
Richard Botto
Founder and CEO of Stage 32
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About Stage 32: Stage 32 is the world’s largest online platform connecting and educating the global entertainment industry.
Sly Lee
Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Emerge
Sly is a first generation American Entrepreneur & Scientist who is passionate about creating positive global impact through design and exponential technologies. He is co-founder & CEO of Emerge, a teleportation company with a vision to connect people’s emotions and feelings, on the path to ultimately “teleporting” our presence. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2018 recipient, a Singularity University Global Solutions Program 2015 Alumnus, World Economic Forum Global Future Council Member for AR/VR, has presented at the Skoll World Forum, and can be found surfing Venice Breakwater most mornings.
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About Emerge: Emerge is a virtual connection company that develops a device where users can have virtual gatherings with tactile effects and interactions.
Isaac Castro
Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Emerge
Isaac Castro is an immigrant entrepreneur and co-founder & co-CEO of Emerge, a Los Angeles-based company bringing touch and emotion to the metaverse. Emerge’s mission is to empower those who are separated to feel more present when it is not possible to be physically together. Isaac believes in a future where technological progress brings us closer together and where nobody is left behind. He is an MIT Technology Review ‘Innovator Under 35’ recipient for the invention of a medical device for more effective cancer treatment. As a World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper, he actively worked on inspiring youth and fostering peace and reconciliation with former FARC guerrilla members in Colombia, work for which he was invited to participate and speak at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Isaac holds a master’s degree in telecommunications engineering, and he is a graduate of Google X and NASA sponsored Global Solutions Program at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley.
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About Emerge: Emerge is a virtual connection company that develops a device where users can have virtual gatherings with tactile effects and interactions.
Eugene Lee
Founder and CEO of Creator Cash
Eugene Lee is a Founder and CEO of Creator Cash.
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About ChannelMeter, Creator Cash: Creator Cash provides insights on earnings and revenue and helps creators manage their youtube channels.
Grace Chen
Co-Founder & CEO of Common Networks
Grace is the CPO and co-founder of Common Networks. She was previously at Square, where she was the Director of Product on the flagship Square Register product and managed a team of 70+ engineers, product managers, and designers. She alo led teams responsible for the launches of Square Japan and Australia, Square Invoices, new Square card readers, Instant Deposits, and numerous retail, restaurants & services features.Before Square, Grace was at Google PMing the Offers product and working on Sales Strategy and Operations. She started her career as a Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. Grace has a BS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
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About Common Networks: Common Networks is a wireless internet service provider that brings fiber-class internet to homes.
Diane Ding
Co-Founder & CEO of ShengFM
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About CALA, Ding Ventures, ShengFM: ShengFM creates and develops podcast media content about the business industry.
David Cole
Co-founder, CEO & Chairman of the Board of NextVR
David Cole co-founded NextVR in 2009 and currently leads intellectual property development and advancement of NextVR’s immersive virtual reality platform. With nearly three decades at the forefront digital imaging, electronic educational technology and stereoscopic research and development, Cole has co-authored 26 patents related to virtual reality and stereoscopic technology and three patents in adaptive computer learning technology. Before NextVR, Cole was CEO at LearningSoft, an educational technology company. Early in his career he founded Studiotronics, a digital imaging company that produced Colorset scanning software. Studiotronics was acquired by Chinon America, a subsidiary of Kodak, where Cole served as board member and EVP of research and development. He has served on the board of Marineland Florida, the world’s first oceanarium.
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About NextVR: NextVR is a technology company that captures and delivers live and on-demand virtual reality experiences.
Jason Freeland
CEO & Founder of Outlook Amusements
Jason Freeland has an extensive background in business operation, production, direct marketing, Internet development, and the New Age marketplace. In 1992, Freeland began producing numerous infomercials and direct response commercials, including the Psychic Friends Network. Other infomercials he was involved with include Barbara DeAngeles’ Making Love Work, and Get Married Now. Freeland has also written and directed the feature film adaptation of James Ellroy’s Brown’s Requiem. His second feature, Garden Party, was theatrically released in the summer of 2008 to critical acclaim. Freeland holds a bachelors degree from University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from USC’s School of Film and Television.
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About Outlook Amusements: Outlook Amusements is a marketing and media company that produces new age, metaphysical, and psychic entertainment services.
Matthew Adell
Co-Founder and CEO of OnNow.tv
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About MetaPop Inc., OnNow.tv: Discover, Share and Promote Livestreams
Bill Simmons
CEO and Founder of The Ringer
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About The Ringer: The Ringer is a digital platform that covers pop culture, technology, and sports.
Charles Chao
CEO of SINA Corporation
Charles Chao is the chairman and the CEO of Sina, an online media company providing mobile value added services to local and global Chinese communities. Having joined Sina in April 2002, Chao has held several prominent positions in the company including executive vice president from April 2002 to June 2003; Co-Chief Operating Officer from July 2004 to September 2005; Chief Financial Officer from February 2001 to May 2006; the Chairman of the Board from August 2012; and the Chief Executive Officer since May 2006. Prior to Sina, Chao served as an audit manager at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP, an accounting firm and as a news correspondent at Shanghai Media Group Chao is currently the Co-Chairman of E-House, a real estate services company; a director of Focus Media, an out-of-home media and advertising network company; and the director of NetDragon Websoft Inc., game development company. Chao holds a Master of Professional Accounting degree from University of Texas at Austin, a master in arts degree in journalism from University of Oklahoma and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
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About SINA Corporation: SINA Corporation is an online media company and MVAS provider in the people’s republic of china and for the global Chinese communities.
Thiru Arunachalam
CEO of Peel
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About Peel: Peel is the leading universal home control and video content discovery platform w/ 130M+ users worldwide, generating 140B+ remote commands
JM Yujuico
Founder & CEO of Vicarious, Inc.
J.M Yujuico is a 3-time founder that has built large scale companies from the ground up in varying industries. A sci-fi fan and lover of media and technology led him down the VR rabbit hole and to founding Vicarious. He sees the path to large scale consumer adoption coming from a product that leverages the most ubiquitous digital behavior (sharing photos and videos online) and marries it with VR’s ability to put you into the experience of another person. Live Vicariously on Vicarious.
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About Vicarious, Inc.: Sharing your life’s moments in VR by using your media mixed with 3D animated stickers, particles, environments, 360 media and audio.
Benoit Vatere
CEO, Co-Founder of Mammoth Media
Always at the intersection of technology, mobile entertainment and monetization, Benoit Vatere is the CEO/Co-Founder of Mammoth Media, the first studio lot building entertainment experiences for the mobile-first generation. In his current role, Vatere oversees the strategic vision and execution for the company. Previously, he served as CEO and General Manager of Playhaven, a mobile gaming monetization platform that employed deep user segmentation. Additionally, Vatere has co-founded technology companies magnify360 and Popular.fr.
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About Mammoth Media, Science: Mammoth Media produces and delivers original short-form premier content that entertains and connects global audiences on their smartphones.
Grant Johnson
CEO & Co-Founder of Interpret
Grant is the President and Co-Founder of Interpret, a market research and consulting firm focused on the convergence of new media, entertainment, technology and advertising. Grant has 15+ years of academic and consumer-based research experience across global video game, consumer electronics, mobile, home entertainment, theatrical, and music while at Nielsen Entertainment, Lieberman Research Worldwide, and Coleman Research. Prior to co-founding Interpret, Grant was instrumental in launching Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, a unit that achieved profitability in its first year through Grant’s integration of innovative methodologies and advanced analytics. Grant also served as VP of Nielsen NRG International Theatrical and Home Entertainment operations, returning the International division to profitability in less than one year. Grant is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Oregon, majoring in philosophy, holds a Master’s in Psychology from Brandeis University, and conducted doctoral research in clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
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About Interpret: Interpret provides custom market research services such as measurement and planning tools.
Kevin B. Howard
CEO of AWM Smart Shelf
Kevin launched AWM utilizing AI and deep learning with the intent of making Smart Shelf the go-to retail platform for customer engagement and shopper behavior/store operations analytics. As CEO he is responsible for AWM’s long-term vision and global strategy. Prior to AWM, Kevin was the CEO of ICG, a full-service digital media firm. Under his leadership, ICG grew from a shared office with two desks to a digital format leader serving globally known Fortune 500 brands, college and professional sports venues and even government agencies. Prior to this, Kevin was an executive at Wells Fargo, UBS Financial, and Smith Barney, specializing in technology, asset management, capital raises and corporate guidance. Kevin has also owned businesses in a wide spectrum of sectors ranging from alternative energy to a professional motocross team.
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About AWM Smart Shelf: AWM Smart Shelf reinvents the online experience for the in-store market place.
Neville Spiteri
Co-Founder and CEO of WEVR
Neville Spiteri is co-founder and CEO of Wevr, the leading virtual reality studio and distributor. As one of the top software engineers and creative executives in the industry, Neville has been at the forefront of interactive storytelling for two decades, from his time at Electronic Arts to his early days at Digital Domain. Under Neville’s leadership, Wevr produced the award winning virtual ocean experience theBlu: Encounter, which earned partnerships with the Smithsonian, OceanElders, Samsung and HTC. Neville read his first book on Virtual Reality in 1991.
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About WEVR: WEVR is a developer of a technology platform used to offer virtual reality content.
Tyler Williams
CEO & Founder of Nextbeat
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About Bubl, Nextbeat: Nextbeat is an interactive video platform that lets you hang out with your favorite creators and your fellow fans in real time.
Ernest Lee
Co-CEO of AmazeVR
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About AmazeVR: AmazeVR is a virtual concert platform for the highest quality VR content creation and mass distribution using the proprietary technologies.
Steve Lee
Co-CEO & Co-Founder of AmazeVR
Steve Lee is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at AmazeVR.
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About AmazeVR: AmazeVR is a virtual concert platform for the highest quality VR content creation and mass distribution using the proprietary technologies.
Ruben Vardanyan
Founder & CEO of Joomag, Inc.
Dr Ruben Vardanyan is an innovative and result-driven leader with more than a decade of experience in building hi-tech companies. He is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joomag, a US based SaaS company that provides integrated solution for creating interactive digital publications. Under Vardanyan’s guidance the company developed a series of revolutionary products and became an industry leader. He has extensive experience working with SMBs as well as large enterprises including Fortune 500 companies. He is an angel investor, advisor and serves as a board member for various tech startups. Prior to his Joomag experience, he was the founding CEO of mobile app development company Magy. The company produced several best-seller and award winning apps. In addition to being a master strategist, Vardanyan is an aficionado of all aspects of computer programming, security, databases, software, protocols and web servers. In fact, he co-authored “Principles of C++” and authored “Programming in Macromedia Flash Action Script.” Along with his Executive Education from Harvard, Vardanyan holds a PhD in Computer Science and maintains active involvement in workshops, trainings and is a guest speaker at several international conferences.
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About Joomag, Inc.: Joomag is the all-in-one platform empowering businesses large and small to create, distribute, track, and monetize their interactive content
Richard Gillam
CEO of Direct Sports Network
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of DeskSite, Richard has been a lifelong entrepreneur, dropping out of high school to launch his first technology company. In his most notable business triumph, he envisioned, architected, and monetized the world’s first narrowband securities trading system, enabling direct execution on NASDAQ with just a PC and a 56k modem. Overnight, this revolutionized the way electronic stock exchanges operated, and brought “day trading” to the masses. His successes have led to numerous appearances on national television, from CNBC to the X-Show. Richard is a former US Marine
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About Direct Sports Network: Direct Sports Network is a media company developing a network of app-based video entertainment portals.
Sercan Isik
CEO & Co-Founder of Scorp
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About Scorp: Viral video machine for brands with a social aspect.
Charles King
Founder & CEO of Macro
Charles D. King is founder and CEO of MACRO. Launched in 2015, MACRO is a newly formed venture that sits at the intersection of content, technology and brand curation. With a focus on creating film, television and digital content for African-American, Latino and Multicultural consumers (ALM), the company is perfectly positioned to capitalize on the explosive growth in this important market. Formerly, King was Partner/Agent in the Motion Picture Department at William Morris Endeavor (WME). His career as an agent spanned over 15 years, during which he was known for his innovative deal making and strategy in developing brands for and around his clients. King has been featured in many national media outlets and publications, including NPR, Essence, The Weekly Variety, and the Los Angeles Times. Fortune Magazine has named him one of the nation’s most influential Latino, Asian or African-Americans in their 2005 Diversity Issue, and he was recently included in the 2014 Ebony Power 100 List. King is an active angel investor in synergistic ventures at the nexus between the technology sector and the media content business. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and the Howard University School of Law, he resides in Los Angeles, CA with his wife Stacey, a fashion designer/executive and their two young sons, Noah and Julian.
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About MaC Venture Capital, Macro: Macro is a disruptive media company focused on the multicultural market.
Sarah Harden
CEO of Hello Sunshine
Sarah Harden is President of Otter Media, The Chernin Group’s (TCG) venture with AT&T which manages, invests in and operates businesses in the media, entertainment and consumer internet industries. Prior to Otter Media, Harden joined TCG as Executive Vice President in September 2013 where she played key roles in TCG’s majority stake acquisition of Crunchyroll, a leading global subscription and ad-supported video platform for Japanese anime; the formation of Otter Media with AT&T; and Otter Media’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Fullscreen, a leading global youth media company. Prior to TCG Harden was Group Director, Partnerships and Development, Asia, at News Corporation where she was responsible for overseeing News’ joint ventures, investments and growth initiatives in Asia. Before moving to Asia, Harden spent four years in the role of Senior Vice President of Business Development for Fox Networks Group in Los Angeles; spent time at Ascent Media identifying and driving new business initiatives in the US, UK and Asia and was a co-founder at venture-backed Linkscape software in San Francisco. Harden began her career as a Senior Associate with The Boston Consulting Group in Melbourne, Australia. She is a graduate of University of Melbourne (Bachelor of Arts, Hons) and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where she graduated as a Baker Scholar. Harden currently sits on the boards at Crunchyroll and Fullscreen.
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About Hello Sunshine: Hello Sunshine is a media company that is dedicated to female authorship across all storytelling platforms.
Olivier Chastan
Founder & CEO of Iconoclast
Olivier Chastan is the founder and CEO of Iconoclast, a company acquiring and managing the intellectual property of iconic entertainment artists, creators, and brands. Olivier has 20 years of experience in the entertainment business with a strong focus on intellectual property and media/entertainment technology acquisitions and investments. An active venture investor, Olivier is also a consultant and/or board member to several technology and entertainment companies including Big Deal Music, Songspace, and Exactuals among others. In his last position, Olivier was head of Corporate Development and Rights Management at INgrooves, the leading technology music company and digital distributor in the world. While at INgrooves, Olivier engineered the company’s entry into rights management (music publishing and neighboring rights) while working in partnership with Shamrock Capital on acquiring properties for its $250M entertainment intellectual property fund. Prior to joining INgrooves, Olivier was President of VP Records and Greensleeves Publishing, one of the largest independent record label in the USA. During his 10 year tenure, Olivier transformed a family-owned independent record label into a global, diversified brand with interests in records, merchandising, live events, music publishing, and food distribution. Along the way, he worked on multiplatinum projects for Sean Paul, The Black Eyed Peas, No Doubt, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, DJ Diplo and Rihanna among others. Olivier started his career as a musician and record producer before joining Sony Music International and BMG International. He holds a Masters in International Business & Finance from Columbia University and a B.A. from Haverford College.
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About Iconoclast: Entertainment IP management and acquisition
Kevin Yeaman
President and Chief Executive Officer of Dolby Laboratories
Kevin Yeaman is President and Chief Executive Officer of Dolby Laboratories. Under his leadership, the company has built on its rich heritage of technologies that transform storytelling, expanding its focus to produce new sight and sound experiences that unleash the potential of entertainment and communications. Before being named CEO in 2009, Kevin served as Dolby’s Chief Financial Officer, developing the financial infrastructure to support growth and expansion. Prior to Dolby, Kevin was the Chief Financial Officer of E.piphany and Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations at Informix. Kevin was inducted as a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2014. He holds a BS degree in commerce from Santa Clara University.
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About Dolby Laboratories: Dolby creates surround sound, imaging, and voice technologies for cinemas, home theaters, PCs, mobile devices, games, and more.
Helen Bui
CEO & Co-founder of Notorious
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About Notorious: Notorious is the intersection of Gen Z, Art & Design and Asian Pop Culture.
David Meltzer
CEO of Sports 1 Marketing
David Meltzer is CEO of Sports 1 Marketing, host of “The Playbook” podcast, judge of the #1 digital business show “Elevator Pitch”, and investor in the eSports franchise Splyce. He is also the former CEO of the PC-e Phone, the world’s first smartphone.
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About Sports 1 Marketing: Sports 1 Marketing, LLC provides sports and entertainment marketing services.
Jes Wolfe
CEO of Rebel Girls
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About Hoodline, Pixel Labs, Rebel Girls: Rebel Girls is amulti-platform empowerment brand dedicated to helping raise the most inspired and confident generation of girls.
Jon Karafin
CEO and Founder of Light Field Lab
Jon Karafin joined Light Field Lab as CEO and Founder in 2017.
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About Light Field Lab: Light Field Lab is a breakthrough technology startup that builds an innovative holographic ecosystem.
Sheldon Owen
Founder and CEO of Vana
Sheldon is a proven entrepreneur and senior business operator with over 20 years of experience developing emerging technology companies. Sheldon is the Founder of Digital Tower, Inc. (dba Muncheez) and the Co-Founder of Unified. Prior to starting Muncheez, Sheldon was the founding CEO of Unified for nearly five years. During his tenure as CEO, Unified successfully raised over $60 million in venture financing, grew to hundreds of customers and 150 employees, made two successful acquisitions, won countless awards, and became one of the industry’s most recognized marketing technology startups. Prior to co-founding Unified, Sheldon held many senior executive roles throughout his career including Vice President at CA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CA), EVP/General Manager at Connexus and Founder of tmpSocial, an early Facebook Marketing Partner. Sheldon is an active startup advisor, mentor, board member, speaker and angel investor. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), an advisor for Techweek, and an advisor to hedge funds and professional investment firms on industry trends in software, marketing technology, mobile, digital advertising, and social media.
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About Vana: Leading recommendation engine and compliant marketing platform for the legal cannabis and CBD industry
Jason Brahms
CEO of VideoGorillas
Jason Brahms has 20+ years experience launching B2C and B2B platforms in the media/content industry. He currently the CEO and Managing Partner at Video Gorillas (VG), a media-focused product and services company that develops state-of-the-art video technology incorporating machine learning, neural networks, visual analysis, object recognition, and live streaming. In this role Jason is responsible for defining and executing sales, marketing and product strategies across all VG products and services. Prior to VG, Jason was Vice President of Innovation and Advanced Solutions, where he oversaw product design, research, development and engineering for Sony Media Cloud Services cloud-based SAAS collaborative applications for creative professionals and content creators. Jason joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1998 starting in Corporate Development focusing on evangelizing and incubating ideas related to disruptive technology and new business models, including helping design, develop and launch the first IP VOD service, Movielink, where he assumed the role of Director of Content Acquisition and Operations. Jason has held multiple roles across various Sony business units since, including Director of Content for Playstation Network, Vice President, Technology and Operations for Sony Pictures, and Vice President, Advanced Platforms for Sony Pictures where he effectively worked as an “entrepreneur in residence” developing and evangelizing new production and post-production technology solutions. Jason is also a songwriter/music producer whose songs have been featured in numerous television series (e.g. Ugly Betty, Monk, ER, etc.).
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About VideoGorillas: Saas – A.I. Solutions for Media
Cedric Rogers
CEO/Co-Founder of Culture Genesis
Cedric Rogers is a co-founder and CEO of Culture Genesis.
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About Culture Genesis: Culture Genesis is a digital studio, focused on remixing digital technology for urban multicultural audiences.
JT Nguyen
CEO of Gameflip
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About AdvanceClub, Gameflip: Gameflip is creating the commerce engine for the gaming Metaverse
Leila Khalil
Founder, CEO of Lover.ly
Leila Khalil is a Founder at Lover.ly
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About Engage Media Group, Lover.ly: Loverly is an online media platform and free wedding planning newsletter helping savvy couples plan their dream wedding.
Joshua Pendrick
Chief Executive Officer of Rypplzz
Joshua Pendrick is the Co-Founder and CEO at Rypplzz.
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About Rypplzz: Rypplzz /rip·uhlz/ is the spatial engineering company behind Interlife™, an all new world that entangles the digital and physical.
Jay McGraw
President and CEO of Stage 29 Productions
CEO of Stage 29 Productions. Executive Producer of The Doctors, Daily Mail TV, Face the Truth, Bull.
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About Doctor On Demand, Stage 29 Productions: Stage 29 Productions is a film company that focused on scripted series, publishing and app development.
Todd Herschberg
CEO/Founder of Veriscouts
Todd Herschberg is a seasoned entrepreneur and marketing executive with a heavy emphasis on branding, ecommerce and digital marketing including SEO, SEM and social media. In addition to his frequent speaking engagements and consulting practice, he is one of the most-connected people on LinkedIn, one of FastCompany’s 50 Most Influential People Online for 2010 (#33) and is the founder of 3 of the 10 largest community groups on Groupsite.com Mr. Herschberg has also founded and managed a number of start-up tech firms where he was instrumental in the development and refinement of several search engine technologies and marketing programs. He was also one of the founders of Albert’s Ambry (alberts.com) one of the internet’s first specialty software search engines, where he helped to develop both their search algorithms and fraud control filtering systems. He has additionally been involved with several other major search engines over the years, ranging in capacities from beta tester for Digital’s AltaVista search systems to senior second-tier editor for the NewHoo project (now DMOZ) to Director of SEO for Like.com (now owned by Google). He also had creative input into Australia’s WebWombat search engine. Currently, Mr. Herschberg sits on several boards: Digital Media Center’s Business Incubator (Consulting Advisor) Glueper.com DishClips.com (Winner 2012 Irvine Entrepreneur Forum) MyLawsuit.com MyAdStrategy.com YouTern.com DesiYou (Winner 2010 Irvine Entrepreneur Forum) Macada Design Group, Inc
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About Fiddlehead, OCEAN – Orange County Executives & Networkers, Veriscouts: Platform as a Service
Jonathan Strauss
Co-Founder and CEO of Create Music Group
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About Create Music Group, CreateTV, INC: Create Music Group is a music and media technology company
