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 Mobile 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.
Arthur Madrid
CEO and co-Founder of Pixowl
Arthur Madrid is the 30 years-old founder and CEO of Wixi.com. Wixi is a web-based social media network where users interact by privately sharing media content — including photos, audio and video. His web career began in 2000 as founder of 1-Click Media 1-click.com (acquired by Ipercast in 2007) , a peer-to-peer video delivery software for television networks. Arthur expanded the product’s reach to serve many top European Video On-Demand Web sites. The 1-Click plug-in is used by more than one million people globally to speed downloads and significantly decrease bandwidth cost. Arthur can be found online at http://twitter.com/arthurmadrid and http://facebook.com/arthurmadrid. He currently lives in Buenos Aires where he runs the main Wixi office.
Follow Arthur Madrid:
About Pixowl, The Sandbox: Pixowl is working to build a big entertainment family brand on mobile.
_______
Ryan Breslow
Co-Founder and CEO of Bolt
Ryan is cofounder and CEO at Bolt, an end-to-end platform that replaces fragmented online shopping, payment, and fraud software. Ryan is also a thought-leader in the digital currency space, having cofounded the Beam currency and started the original Stanford Bitcoin Group. Mr. Breslow is a former Co-Founder and CEO at Sites by Hand. He studied Computer Science at Stanford University.
Follow Ryan Breslow:
About Bolt: Bolt is developing a checkout experience platform that helps retailers convert and retain more of their shoppers.
Daniel Curran
Founder & CEO of CustEx
57%+ / yr. liquid returns >>> https://danielcurran.substack.com/ Forbes #7 rank: bit.ly/2Oh7XhF **Only interested in start ups OVER $40k MRR w/o competition! Eqvista #5 rank: https://eqvista.com/top-100-active-angel-investors-list-for-startups/ Media/PR: https://billionairechronicle.com/daniel-curran-super-angel/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAUJzDCa3Q&t=2s https://angelconnect.libsyn.com/investor-connect-episode-122-daniel-curran-of-silicon-valley https://thesyndicate.vc/angel-investor-hit-4-unicorn-companies-using-simple-investment-framework-super-angel-daniel-curran/ https://borsen.dk/soeg/daniel%20curran Bad Ass x-Rocket Scientist Rock Star! Read my 110+ Founder recommendations below. We share deal flow with billionaire Family Offices, Midas List VC’s, and other Forbes superangels. Passions: stopping/reversing human aging/immortality/parabiosis, bci, brain emulation/download, quantum teleportation, & cryonics. CustEx launches website/app soon to help Biden Admin get voters’ demands right. Benefits corp innovation, BLM, prevents civil unrest, as THE place for ads and co-creation. 2020 EBRD-led B round: https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/31/allset-series-b/ 2017 Greycroft deal: bit.ly/2ylWbLB 2016 A16Z deal: bit.ly/2d67xJc Fortune 500 $16B WDC pivot from $2.20 to $114/share! Relentless, visionary Tech entrepreneur builds $B companies that improve world. Founded 14 startups, invested cash in 178+, created 1k+ jobs, personally netted investors $170M in exits. Startups I endorse get oversubscribed by top vc’s fast! As Angel Investor: $1B+ cash exits < 1 year @decacorn Cruise @DollarShaveClub: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-curran https://angel.co/dcurran-custex-com https://fundersclub.com/danielcurran/ Claims to Fame: -Founder/CEO, USLab NASDAQ IPO in 1998: raised $130M -VP & acting COO@Western Digital Silicon Valley sub [$40M sale to Brocade/PMCS/Snap, 2001], -Founder/CEO of 1st company [AlaStor, 2003] to converge IP+FC SAN, adopted by Cisco Systems [Andiamo], -Founder/CEO of CustEx Internet Platform [2012] Experienced ramping up companies using innate ability to quickly size up a company’s position & execute pro-customer action + cash-flow results. Began career at large companies as a software engineer and morphed into a business entrepreneur/CXO at startups with responsibility for up to 250 teammates Made sales ramp from $2M to $100M in 8 months as VP & acting COO of Western Digital’s Silicon Valley Connex Unit. Earned multiple top eng. school master's degrees (Illinois-PhD dropout, USC-cert, Penn State)
Follow Daniel Curran:
About CustEx: If Google’s a nice-to-have, CustEx is a must-have. Try living without a voice.
David Moss
Co-Founder and CEO of StrongBlock
David Moss is a blockchain expert, keynote speaker and strategic advisor. He has the distinction of holding two prominent roles in the creation of EOS, the decentralized blockchain operating system: as SVP of Technology Operations at Block.One leading EOS technology development; and directing the EOS mainnet launch with the worldwide Block Producer community. Previously David was the founder of a technology and management consultancy for Fortune 100 companies, the founder of a predictive crowd analytics platform, the founding CIO of Edmunds.com, and President of an entertainment production company working with top international artists for major label and television networks.
Follow David Moss:
About StrongBlock: StrongBlock is a team of highly experienced blockchain, governance, security, and database technology experts.
Kristian Segerstrale
CEO of Super Evil Mega Corp
Kristian Segerstrale is the Co-founder of Initial Capital and Board member of Supercell, as well as the Co-founder and CEO of Playfish. Kristian has been at the forefront of the rapidly transforming game industry since 2001. He was a co-founder of mobile gaming pioneer Macrospace – today Glu Mobile (Nasdaq: GLUU) in 2001 through the successful IPO in 2007. He left to co-found Playfish, the social gaming pioneer, where he served as CEO through the company’s rapid growth to 60 Million players and the subsequent acquisition by Electronic Arts for $400M in 2009. After a period as EVP Digital at Electronic Arts driving the aggressive transformation of the company from packaged goods to digital, Kristian left in March 2013 to focus on startups. Today Kristian leads seed stage investments with Initial Capital and serves on the board of Supercell, the #1 iOS game company. Kristian has previously served on the board of LOVEFiLM, the European streaming video pioneer until its acquisition by Amazon.com.
Follow Kristian Segerstrale:
About Initial Capital, Super Evil Mega Corp: Super Evil Megacorp is developing core games for tablet, mobile, and emerging platforms.
Paul Davison
Co-Founder and CEO of Clubhouse
Paul Davison is the Co-Founder and CEO of Clubhouse. Davison is a San Diego native who graduated from Stanford and then earned his MBA from Stanford Business School. He had an internship at Google between degrees. Davison worked at consulting firm Bain and Co. before joining database startup Metaweb, which was acquired by Google in 2010. Previously he was an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark Capital.
Follow Paul Davison:
About Clubhouse, Clubhouse: Clubhouse is an audio-based social app that allows users to spontaneously join group chats.
Abraham Shafi
Founder and CEO of IRL
Abe attended UC Berkeley and studied the intersection of computer engineering, business, cultural anthropology and sociology before starting his first company, getTalent, a highly acclaimed social recruiting platform, prompting him to leave school. The platform was born of out a personal experience while job hunting and realizing there was improvements to be made with the resume-sorting process. The platform leveraged data science to take away the biases from the hiring process, thus helping organizations hire the best talent. getTalent had global clients including Walmart, JetBlue and Viacom, and was later sold to Dice in 2013. In 2018, Abe founded IRL because he was personally driven to build an app that would bring people together. He found his addiction to social media was related to his own depression and left him close to quitting social media all together. This propelled him to make a social product that could help people feel connected in a way that felt healthier and less addictive. Since inception, the app has brought friends together over 600M times. IRL has eleven employees and is based in San Francisco, California. In Abe’s spare time, he likes playing piano and composing music. Currently, he is most interested in merging electronic music with classical leveraging deep folkloric music from around the world, blending with archeologic tunes of humankind’s musical history.
Follow Abraham Shafi:
About IRL: Groups, Chats, Events
Brad Bao
Co-founder & CEO of Lime
Brad Bao is a Co-Founder and CEO at Lime (formerly LimeBike), the largest and leading micromobility company. He also currently serves as the Managing Director of Kinzon Capital (Fosun Group), a cross-border fund that investing in early-stage technology companies in both US and China, focusing on mobile and internet-related investments. Believing in the synergy between the two largest market and innovation of US and China, Kinzon Capital is positioned to bridge the gap and bring them together. Investments include: Volta Discord Doc.ai AirMart Alcove Cabana Circle (smart gym) ePal Firefly Flex (Female product) Founders Suite Zero & (Zero And, previous EnjoyFuji.com) Gotit Kiwi Drop Lyte (powerbank sharing) Made Renovation On Deck Shackle Spout Clinic TellUs (real-estate investing & saving) Velo Bikes (adam’s startup) Visdom (financial planning saas) WorkStream Prior to joining Kinzon Capital, Brad served as the General Manager of Tencent America, and VP of BD of Tencent Games for over 8 years, during that time Brad built the Tencent US branch from scratch, and was responsible for the overall P&L including investments, strategy, globalization, BD, and overall operation. He led and participated in investments including Hi-Rez, Fireforge, Zam, and more, and served as board member of several. Brad obtained bachelor degree in International Marketing from Wuhan University, and received his MBA from Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Follow Brad Bao:
About Lime: Lime helps people move around their cities in an affordable and convenient way while eliminating their carbon footprint.
Wayne Ting
Chief Executive Officer of Lime
Wayne Ting is Lime’s Chief Executive Officer. Wayne joined Lime in October 2018 as Global Head of Operations and Strategy and has been instrumental in the company’s drive towards operational excellence and path to profitability. Before joining Lime, Wayne spent more than four years at Uber, serving in various roles including Chief of Staff to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and General Manager of Uber’s Northern California business. Wayne previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor on the White House’s National Economic Council under President Obama where he focused on housing finance reform. Prior to the White House, Wayne worked at Bain Capital and at McKinsey & Company. Before that, he co-founded CampusNetwork.com, the first college-based social networking site (started close to 6 months before Facebook). Wayne is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Business School.
Follow Wayne Ting:
About Lime: Lime helps people move around their cities in an affordable and convenient way while eliminating their carbon footprint.
Toby Sun
Co-Founder and CEO of Lime
Toby Sun is the CEO and Co-founder of Lime, the leading global micromobility company that has revolutionized the first and last-mile transportation challenge. Lime has raised $777 million and is backed by world-leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, GGV, IDG, DCM, Franklin Templeton, Section 32, AME Cloud Ventures, Stanford Start-X, Kevin Durant, etc. Prior to Lime (formerly LimeBike), Toby was an investment director at Fosun Kinzon Capital, a $400M US-China cross-border venture fund backed by Fosun Group, focusing on early and growth-stage investment in consumer internet and IoT space. Toby invested in Tapingo, Grubmarket, Usens, Ding’Ding Smart Lock, and was involved in the board duties. Prior to Fosun, Toby was a Product and Marketing Manager at PepsiCo and managed a large US-China cross-border team, where he launched Gatorade in China and managed 7UP ($300M annual sales). Toby also worked as a management consultant at Monitor Group and Deloitte Consulting’s San Francisco office. Toby holds an MBA from Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, and is a frequent guest speaker.
Follow Toby Sun:
About Lime, Lime: Lime helps people move around their cities in an affordable and convenient way while eliminating their carbon footprint.
Jack Dorsey
Co-Founder & CEO of Square
Jack Dorsey is the Co-Founder & CEO of Twitter Ventures
Follow Jack Dorsey:
About Cash App, Square, Twitter Ventures: Block is a merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company that aims to simplify commerce through technology.
Timi Ajiboye
CEO & CTO of Buycoins
Follow Timi Ajiboye:
About Buycoins: Buycoins is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows Africans buy and sell cryptocurrencies instantly using their local currency.
Ron Hose
Founder and CEO of Coins.ph
Ron Hose CEO of Coins.ph, a company that delivers financial services over mobile to people in Southeast Asia. Prior to coins.ph, Ron was the CTO of the video communication service [TokBox](/organization/tokbox). He co-founded the company with Serge Faguet in 2007. Most recently, Ron was a founding partner at Innovation Endeavors, an early stage venture capital fund backed by [Eric Schmidt](/person/eric-schmidt). Ron graduated from Cornell University with a Masters degree in Computer Science.
Follow Ron Hose:
About Coins.ph: Coins.ph delivers financial services over mobile to people who are currently unserved by traditional banks.
Arsen Tomsky
CEO & Founder of inDriver
Arsen Tomsky is the founder and CEO of inDriver. He leads the company’s global team of more than 1500 employees and over 100 million-user inDriver ecosystem in 34 countries around the world. Arsen founded inDriver in 2013 and developed the business into the world’s fastest growing ride-hailing services. Arsen grew up in Yakutsk, Russia, and received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yakutsk State University. He is a passionate runner and finisher of the Chicago and Tokyo Marathons.
Follow Arsen Tomsky:
About inDriver: inDriver is the world’s fastest-growing ride-hailing service.
Sunmeet Jolly
Founder & CEO of GROTU
Founder and Patent holder – GROTU mobile app @ 101 Islands LLC. Angel investor in 40 pre-IPO technology startups. Frequently invited by accelerators and angel forums to Judge startup competitions and discuss technology innovation. Former IT Consulting industry executive who sold hundreds of millions of dollars in consulting services to Fortune 500 companies working for Cap Gemini, HCL, L&T, NTT data.
Follow Sunmeet Jolly:
About GROTU: Patented GROTU app provides a much needed “private” collection of productivity and communication tools for friends and family social groups
Garrett Camp
Founder and CEO of Expa
Garrett Camp is the Founder of Aero.
Follow Garrett Camp:
About Aero, Eco, Expa, Operator, Uber, Uber Eats, Uber India: Expa supports early-stage startups through expertise, access, and funding.
Greg Kidd
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer of GlobaliD
Believer that ones identity credentials should be truly portable and owned by individuals themselves rather than corporations or governments. The trade-off between security and privacy can meet the needs of both traditional institutions worried about compliance and risk, but also consumer protection advocates who care about the underserved and underbanked. Adviser/Investor via hardyaka.com for numerous startups in the exchange space including Shift, Ripple and 3taps, and previously Square and Twitter. Previously a director at Promontory Financial and a senior analyst for payments at The Board of Governor of the Federal Reserve. Senior Associate at Booz Allen. Founded and took Dispatch Management Services Corp public on the NASDAQ. Have worked as an instructor/leader for Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School. Specialties: Portable identity, digital currencies and exchange markets for goods, services, and information with functional emphasis on messaging, payments, and reputation/trust/risk. Well versed in visualizations for risk reporting and controls.
Follow Greg Kidd:
About Apto Payments, GlobaliD, Hard Yaka: Create and manage your own portable, digital identity with globaliD.
David and Daniil Liberman
CEO of Product Science
Follow David and Daniil Liberman:
About Brothers Ventures, Product Science: Performance management platform for mobile
John Riccitiello
CEO of Unity Technologies
Since joining Unity as CEO in 2014, John Riccitiello has been a driving force in the successful launch of Unity 5 – the company’s next-generation multiplatform engine and development tools. Previously serving as CEO of Electronic Arts, John played a critical role in the company’s transformation into a mobile, online, and digital gaming leader, with subsequent revenue growth exceeding $1.6 billion during that time. John is also an active private investor, serving on Unity’s board since 2013 as well as Syntertainment, Telltale Games, and a few other higher-ed and non-profit boards. In addition, he was an investor and advisor to Oculus.
Follow John Riccitiello:
About Unity Technologies: Unity provides multiplatform tools and services to developers of interactive content.
David Ko
Co-founder and CEO of Ripple Health Group
David Ko is the Co-founder and CEO of Ripple Health Group (RHG), an early stage healthtech startup focused on helping people experience healthier lives by connecting them to the care, support, and community they need. Prior to RHG, David was the President, COO and Board Member of Rally Health, a digital health company that develops online and mobile solutions that make it easy for consumers to take charge of their health and health care. Rally’s solutions are currently available to nearly 55 million people through health plans, care providers, and more than 200,000 employers. Prior to joining Rally, David oversaw all strategy, planning and operations as COO at Zynga, which he helped take public in December 2011. At the time of its IPO, Zynga was the largest social gaming company in the world with over 100 million daily active users. Prior to his work at Zynga, he spent 10 years at Yahoo! in various senior executive roles, including SVP of Yahoo!’s audience, mobile, and local businesses. David serves on the board of overseers at his alma mater New York University Stern School of Business where in 2016 he established the NYU Stern Venture Fellows program for aspiring entrepreneurs. He also works as an advisor and investor to a number of companies in Silicon Valley including Calm, the number one app for Sleep, Meditation and Relaxation.
Follow David Ko:
About Audax Health Solutions, Calm, Ripple Health Group: Ripple Health Group is a platform for the world’s most trusted healthcare solutions.
Alessandra Lezama
CEO of TOOTRiS
Alessandra Lezama is an entrepreneur and PE backed CEO, advocate for women pursuing careers in tech and other STEM fields, angel investor to San Diego-based early-stage companies and Founder and CEO of TOOTRiS, an on-demand Child Care technology platform that is reinventing how parents access and pay for affordable, high-quality Child Care. Passionate about technology, Alessandra has enjoyed an illustrious career of taking underperforming tech companies and turning them into scalable, high-performance powerhouses. Prior to founding TOOTRiS, Alessandra was the CEO for multiple technology companies, including AbacusNext, a San Diego-based company she stepped into with 29 employees and, in less than four years, transformed into a disruptive global technology organization with more than 500 employees across San Diego, Canada and the United Kingdom. Companies under Alessandra’s leadership have been recognized in Forbes and Inc., and in 2016 and 2017 she was named “Women Who Mean Business,” in 2018 as “Most Admired CEO of the Year” and in 2019 as “Most Influential” by the San Diego Business Journal. Alessandra is a member of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, serving on its board and management council. She serves on the board of Doors of Change, a non-profit that is helping to break the cycle and save the lives of runaway, homeless, and trafficked young people. She is a member of the California Preschool Business Advisory Council, supporting efforts to produce viable policy for high quality early education that gives a competitive edge for California’s businesses, both immediately and the future.
Follow Alessandra Lezama:
About TOOTRiS: TOOTRiS is a technology platform that allows parents affordable access to high-quality Child Care, anytime, anywhere.
Adolfo Babatz
Co-Founder & CEO of Clip
Adolfo Babatz is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PayClip Inc., a mobile payments platform for Emerging Markets. The company is based in Redwood City, California and Mexico City. Before Clip, Adolfo was responsible for Customer Engagement for PayPal LatinAmerica. Before moving into the product team Adolfo led the team that opened PayPal in Mexico. Right before PayPal, Adolfo studied his MBA at MIT where he specialized in Entrepreneurship & Economics of Information. Prior to MIT, Adolfo was part of the founding team at The Carlyle Group Mexico where he worked as an Analyst. Before joining Carlyle, Adolfo worked as an Advisor for the Executive VicePresident of GrupoDesc, one of Mexico’s largest industrial conglomerates.
Follow Adolfo Babatz:
About Clip: Clip is the leading digital payments and commerce enablement platform in Mexico.
Victor Lazarte
Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife Studios
Victor Lazarte holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from USP and École Centrale de Paris and a degree in Owner/President Management from Harvard Business School. He began his career at JP Morgan London but decided to return to Brazil in 2010 to start Wildlife with his brother Arthur. Victor has an active role in business strategy and organization building. He currently lives in the U.S.
Follow Victor Lazarte:
About Wildlife Studios: Wildlife Studios is a gaming company that develops and publishes mobile games.
Prerna Gupta
Founder & CEO of HOOKED
Prerna Gupta is the Founder & CEO at HOOKED.
Follow Prerna Gupta:
About HOOKED: HOOKED is redefining entertainment for the Snapchat generation.
Todd Dipaola
CEO and Cofounder of InMarket
Veteran entrepreneur Todd Dipaola co-founded inMarket in 2010 to bring the performance and accountability of digital marketing to the realm of retail . inMarket’s platform, including apps such as CheckPoints, List Bliss, and Extra Extra, reach consumers on their smartphones as they made critical purchase decisions. In 2011, inMarket announced the world’s largest mobile shopper network reaching over 20 million consumers. Under Todd’s leadership inMarket has partnered with brands including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever, among others. Todd previously co-founded and bootstrapped digital marketing agency Vantage Media at the inception of search advertising. Vantage ranked 31 on the Inc 500 and earned “The Fastest Growing Technology Company in Los Angeles” honors by Deloitte’s Fast50. In 2007, Todd exited the company at a valuation north of $100MM. Todd is also the CEO of Forefund Capital. Todd’s entrepreneurial experience is also rooted in philanthropy. In 2007, he created the Dipaola Foundation, which was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, to work on environmental and systemic societal issues. He sits on several boards including UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and California Common Cause. As Chairman of Common Cause, the organization succeeded in reforming redistricting to eliminate gerrymandering and activating online voter registration for the first time in history. Todd graduated as a Regents Scholar from UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology with emphasis in Immunology.
Follow Todd Dipaola:
About ForeFund Capital, InMarket, The Dipaola Foundation: InMarket offers a self-service location-based platform that captures accurate consumer location data, which drives campaign performance.
Tracy Chou
Founder & CEO of Block Party
Tracy Chou is an entrepreneur, software engineer, and diversity advocate. She spent five years at Pinterest as an engineer and tech lead and was an early engineer at Quora prior to that. She is a co-founder of Project Include, a non-profit working with tech startups on diversity and inclusion, and #MovingForward, a movement working with VC firms to establish and publish anti-harassment policies; and an investment scout and advisor for several Bay Area VC firms. In her latest venture she is CEO of Block Party, with a mission to solve online harassment and abuse.
Follow Tracy Chou:
About Block Party, Pinterest, Project Include: Block Party is a consumer app that tackles online harassment and puts you back in control.
Kevin Taweel
Founder & CEO of Asurion
Since co-founding Asurion in 1994, the company has grown from 40 to 10,000 employees becoming the world’s largest provider of technology protection services, partnering with the world’s top companies and brands and serving over 200 million customers. Previously, Kevin was chairman and president of investment firm Mill River Corporation and worked in mergers and acquisitions for Salomon Brothers. Kevin and his Asurion cofounder received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2001. Kevin is a faculty member at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he teaches entrepreneurship courses in the MBA program, from which he graduated in 1992. He is also a member of the school’s advisory council and has served on its management board. Kevin received a bachelor`s degree in mechanical engineering from McGill University. He serves on the board of directors for ResponseLink, a provider of medical alert systems and the board of trustees for the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Follow Kevin Taweel:
About Asurion, Stanford Graduate School of Business: Asurion helps people get the most out of their technology by providing expert help and product insurance and warranties.
Tony Detter
CEO of Asurion
Follow Tony Detter:
About Asurion: Asurion helps people get the most out of their technology by providing expert help and product insurance and warranties.
Walter Driver
Co-Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO of Scopely
Walter Driver is the co-founder, Chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer of Scopely, one of the fastest-growing mobile-first video game companies. Scopely creates and publishes a highly-diverse portfolio of top-grossing, immersive game experiences, including: the award-winning ”MARVEL Strike Force,” “Scrabble® GO,” “Star Trek™ Fleet Command” and”Yahtzee® With Buddies,” among others, which are played by hundreds of millions of players worldwide. Fueled by a world-class team, Scopely leverages its proprietary technology platform Playgami to bring directed-by-consumer, interactive experiences to audiences around the globe. Under Walter’s leadership, the company has achieved billions of dollars in lifetime revenue and attracted more than $1 billion in financing from leading venture capital firms, tech luminaries and cultural icons.
Walter has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Young Executives” by The Business Journal, “Visionary of the Year” by C-Suite Quarterly, “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young, a “Young Global Shaper” by the World Economic Forum, one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs and a “Dealmaker of the Year” by Variety. Under Walter’s leadership, Scopely has also received many recognitions, including: “Best-led Company” in 2021 by Inc. magazine, “Private Company of the Year” in 2021 by Los Angeles Business Journal, a four time “Best Places to Work” winner by Built In LA, and a two time “World’s Most Innovative Companies” winner by Fast Company. Scopely has also been recognized on top charts such as Deloitte’s “Technology Fast 500,” being named the second fastest-growing technology company in North America and in the Top 10 mobile app charts for consumer spend.
Walter is an investor and advisor to many private technology companies as well as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Los Angeles Technology & Innovation Council. Prior to Scopely, Walter founded and served as CEO of O Negative Media where he developed online social games. Before O Negative, he co-founded Ignition Interactive, one of the first developers of third-party applications for Facebook.
Walter holds a B.A. in English Literature from Brown University.
Follow Walter Driver:
About Scopely: Scopely is a global leader in interactive entertainment and mobile-first video games.
Javier Ferreira
Co-CEO & Board Member of Scopely
Javier Ferreira is the co-CEO of Scopely, one of the fastest-growing mobile games companies in the West. A longtime digital media and technology executive with 15+ years of experience in gaming, Javier joined Scopely in 2014 as Chief Operating Officer to expand its business operations, strategy, slate and partnerships. In 2016, he became President, overseeing all aspects of day-to-day operations and joined the Scopely Board. In 2019, he became co-CEO with co-founder Walter Driver. Since Javier joined the business in 2014, Scopely has scaled 35x with a highly-diverse, top-grossing games slate, including the award-winning MARVEL Strike Force, Scrabble® GO, Star Trek™ Fleet Command and YAHTZEE® With Buddies, among many others. Javier’s leadership has helped Scopely achieve accolades such as recognition in Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies” and Entrepreneur’s “30 Startups to Watch” as well as ranking #2 on Deloitte’s “Technology Fast 500” and #9 on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America. In 2019, Javier was also recognized by Variety as a “Dealmaker of the Year.” Prior to Scopely, Javier served as Senior Vice President of Games Publishing at Disney Interactive, where he oversaw a large slate of mobile, console and online digital properties—helping establish the brand as a world-class publisher with over 500 million downloads and $1 billion in revenue during his tenure. Earlier in his career, Javier served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Europe at JAMDAT Mobile, which was acquired by Electronic Arts during his tenure for $680 million. Javier helped build the JAMDAT business into a top mobile games publisher in Europe. Following the company’s exit, Javier served as Vice President of Publishing at EA where he drove the brand’s global strategy and technology investments across the EMEA region, as well as expanded international distribution and closed a wide range of strategic partnerships with major IP holders. Javier began his career in gaming at Telefónica Mobile as Head of Product, Games. Javier holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Warwick and a M.S. in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford.
Follow Javier Ferreira:
About Scopely: Scopely is a global leader in interactive entertainment and mobile-first video games.
Jesse Pickard
CEO of Elevate Labs
Jesse Pickard is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Elevate.
Follow Jesse Pickard:
About Elevate Labs: Elevate is a cognitive training tool designed to build communication and analytical skills.
Ian Heidt
CEO & Co-founder of Housecall Pro
Follow Ian Heidt:
About Housecall Pro: Housecall Pro is a developer of a mobile software platform used to connect back-end business operations and homeowners.
David Vivero
Co-Founder & CEO of Amino
David Vivero is co-founder and CEO at Amino, guiding the vision and direction of the company and its personalized, consumer-centric, and data-driven approach to health care. Previously, David was VP of Rentals at Zillow, responsible for the world’s largest online rental marketplace. He arrived at Zillow after the company acquired RentJuice, which he cofounded in 2008. David is also a General Partner at Red Swan Ventures, a seed investment fund that has supported Warby Parker, Birchbox, AltSchool, and dozens of other high growth companies. A Forbes “30 under 30” entrepreneur, David has a BA and MBA from Harvard University.
Follow David Vivero:
About Amino, Red Swan Ventures: Amino is an all-in-one healthcare financial wellness platform for employees.
Michael Heyward
CEO of medialab
Serial entrepreneur Michael Heyward co-founded Whisper with Brad Brooks in 2012 with the mission of giving people a place to freely and authentically express themselves. Whisper is one of the fastest-growing media companies, generating over 17 billion content views per month. Prior to Whisper, the LA native worked in different roles related to consumer-based marketing at startup TigerText. As a teenager, Michael was an avid Formula One Racing fan and secured the United States commercial rights for the sport. In 2016, Michael was named one of AdWeek’s “Young Influentials”. In 2014, he was named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.” Michael is a frequent keynote speaker and has spoken at a number of prominent conferences, including WSJ D, Fortune Tech Brainstorm, TechCrunch Disrupt, and Business Insider Ignition.
Follow Michael Heyward:
About medialab: medialab is a media & technology company that engages in acquiring and growing internet brands.
Jonathan Matus
Founder & CEO of Zendrive
Jonathan Matus Prior to Redpoint, Jonathan Matus spent 6 years at Facebook and Google, where he’s been focused on various mobile and speech-recognition projects. At Google, one of the early Android team members, Jonathan managed product marketing for the platform’s software releases and device launches globally. During his tenure, the OS grew from zero to global best-selling mobile platform. In his role as Head of Product Marketing in Asia Pacific Jonathan lived in Tokyo and jumpstarted regional device launches and relationships all over Asia. Jonathan received the Google Founders Award and Android Founders Award in recognition for his contributions.
Follow Jonathan Matus:
About Zendrive: Zendrive leverages mobile sensor data to provide actionable insights that improve safety for passengers and drivers worldwide.
Jae Hoon Choi
CEO & Co-founder of Podo Labs
Jae Hoon Choi is Co-founder and CEO of Podo.
Follow Jae Hoon Choi:
About Exide Life Insurance, Podo Labs: We make Podo, Jack, Belle, and a whole lot more to come.
Omar Siddiqui
Co-founder, CEO of Kiwi, Inc.
Omar Siddiqui is the CEO and co-founder of Kiwi, a start up mobile entertainment company based in Palo Alto and founded in August 2011. Prior to Kiwi, Omar served as the Vice President of Product and Executive Producer at Disney Playdom, building and leading the studio that produced a number of the company’s social game hits including Gardens of Time, a top Facebook game in 2011. He also previously served as the CEO and founder of Trippert Labs, a top iOS developer with numerous Top 10 Free applications that was acquired by Playdom. His prior work experience includes IDEO, Bain Capital, and McKinsey. Omar received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and an AB honors degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.
Follow Omar Siddiqui:
About Graph Ventures, Kiwi, Inc., Stanford University: Kiwi is a mobile entertainment company building mobile games and tools for the Android developer ecosystem.
Hamza Zia
Founder & CEO of GitStart
Founder and CEO at GitStart (YC S19) Y Combinator-backed startup that helps engineering-focused companies be more agile, scale feature deployment faster, and reduce management complexity. Passionate about technology and programming from a very young age, I have built technology-based businesses globally and scaled high-performance teams across San Francisco, Zurich, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Worked closely on the core Microsoft Azure team at Shanghai, helping improve their cloud platform, and was recognized as an outstanding individual contributor.
Follow Hamza Zia:
About GitStart: The modern way to scale your tech team
Ruzwana Bashir
Founder & CEO of Peek
Ruzwana Bashir is Co-founder & CEO of Peek.com. She is a travel junkie, having navigated her way through 40 countries. She previously worked at Gilt Groupe, Art.sy, the Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs. Ruzwana has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and a BA in Economics from Oxford University, where she was President of the Oxford Union.
Follow Ruzwana Bashir:
About Peek: Peek is a booking software and marketplace for delightful things to do such as wine tours, watersports, skydiving, and art classes.
Rajeev Shah
Founder and CEO of Celona
Rajeev Shah is the Founder/CEO of Celona.
Follow Rajeev Shah:
About Celona: Celona accelerates adoption of digital automation and critical apps on enterprise wireless.
Torri Shack
CEO / Co-Founder of Twella
Energetic and innovative Business Development Executive with more than 10 + years of experience in building and managing highly motivated sales and delivery teams. Flair for developing and growing market penetration through strategic partnerships, creative marketing and sales campaigns. Track record of building substantial sales and marketing teams and systems. PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY • Strong leadership skills with a proven history of building motivated and focused teams by investing in people through listening, coaching, training and mentoring. • 15 years’ experience in selling across a variety of platforms including outbound phone sales, cold calling, qualifying and converting leads, presentations, networking and managing a geographically distributed sales force. • Broad sales and business development experience across various industries including: property, mortgage, real estate, wellness, and technology. • Experienced in designing and implementing targeted focused sales and marketing campaigns with a track record of rapidly growing and maintaining market share. • Well-developed analytical and problem-solving skills. • Broad social media and technology experience with an innate understanding of what will work best on which platform. • Managed and exceeded KPI’s across various and diverse industries. • Strong financial management, budgeting and forecasting skills. • Highly organized with great time managements skills with the ability to focus on detail without losing sight of the bigger picture.
Follow Torri Shack:
About Tangible Movement, Twella: A mindful approach to mental wellness
Nick Hedges
CEO of MomentFeed
A 20-year veteran of the Internet and software as a service (SaaS) industry, Nick comes to MomentFeed having been President and CEO of Velocify, the leading consumer sales acceleration platform. Nick helped orchestrate the successful sale of the company to Velocify partner and leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, Ellie Mae. A widely recognized thought leader on organization transformation, technologies, and sales strategies, Nick has held senior positions at Bain & Company, Accenture.com, and Ogilvy. He was named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management. A Fulbright Scholar, Hedges holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree with first-class honors from Manchester University.
Follow Nick Hedges:
About ICE Mortgage Technology, MomentFeed, uberall: MomentFeed is a platform that helps multi-location brands optimize for proximity search in order to connect customers with brands.
Hock Tan
President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom
Hock Tan is Broadcom President, Chief Executive Officer and director. He has held this position at Avago, now Broadcom, since March 2006. From September 2005 to January 2008, he served as chairman of the board of Integrated Device Technology. Prior to becoming chairman of IDT, Hock. Tan was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Circuit Systems from June 1999 to September 2005. Prior to ICS, Hock Tan was Vice President of Finance with Commodore International from 1992 to 1994, and previously held senior management positions with PepsiCo and General Motors. Hock Tan served as managing director of Pacven Investment, a venture capital fund in Singapore from 1988 to 1992, and served as managing director for Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988.
Follow Hock Tan:
About Broadcom, Broadcom Wireless Infrastructure Backhaul Business, Micro Networks, Sandburst Corporation: Broadcom is a designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of analog and digital semiconductor connectivity solutions.
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.
Follow Michael Ritter:
About Fantasy Baseball Arbitration, Maple Media: Maple Media is a mobile media, advertising, and technology company that acquires and operates category-leading, consumer apps.
Ted Krantz
Chief Executive Officer of App Annie
Ted has over 25 years of senior-level experience leading high-growth sales organizations across the technology industry. Most recently he served as CRO for global marketing software provider Kenshoo, where he led global sales and customer operations for three years. Prior to Kenshoo, he held senior-level sales positions at SAP and PeopleSoft. Ted holds an M.B.A, International Business and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas.
Follow Ted Krantz:
About App Annie: App Annie is a mobile data and analytics platformthat delivers data and insights to succeed in the app economy.
Brian Grey
CEO of Remind
Brian Grey serves as the Executive in Residence for Polaris Venture Partners. Grey moved to Polaris from Fox Sports Interactive, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager.
Follow Brian Grey:
About Remind, Spright: Remind is a communication platform that helps every student succeed.
Allen Chen
CEO & Co-Founder of Fitbod
Allen is the Co-founder & CEO of Fitbod.
Follow Allen Chen:
About Fitbod: Fitbod allows users to maximize the use of indoor gym equipment and confidence to train effectively for strength.
Joshua Gordon
President and CEO of Red Pocket Mobile
Joshua Gordon is the president and CEO of Red Pocket Mobile.
Follow Joshua Gordon:
About Democracy Council, Red Pocket Mobile: Red Pocket Mobile is a different kind of wireless company.
Diishan Imira
Founder & CEO of Mayvenn
Diishan Imira is the founder and CEO of Mayvenn, a technology company that re-shapes how sale retail products are distributed. Graduating from Georgia State’s business school in 2010, Imira has a vast background in international trade, logistics, and investment. Straight out of college, Imira lived in China for two years and built a successful import/export company, running it profitably for about four years. Imira has lived and worked in several countries, including China, France, Brazil, and Ethiopia. Imira also speaks conversational Mandarin. Imira founded Mayvenn in 2012 with co-founder Taylor Wang. The company empowers the 95 percent of African American salons that do not retail products. Their commerce solution eliminates a salon’s inventory cost and opens a new revenue stream for their business. In April 2013, Mayvenn was accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator program. When they got to the program, other entrepreneurs were confused — questioning the probable success of the startup in Silicon Valley. It was unlike anything they had seen before. But that was only half the battle for the startup geared predominantly towards black consumers. During the summer of 2013, Imira and Wang stayed in Mountain View, Calif. where they immersed themselves into the cut-throat culture of the Valley and introduced their product to several investors. By August, they had raised $750,000 in investment funding and in October 2013, Mayvenn was officially launched. As of 2015, the company had raised $3 million in venture capital funding and has a network of over 25,000 stylists. With the continued mission to involve hair stylists in the process of buying and selling products, Imira and Wang’s goal is to eventually expand Mayvenn into an online platform that sells not only hair extensions but other hair care products, as well.
Follow Diishan Imira:
About Mayvenn: Mayvenn enables Stylists to sell products directly to their clients without the upfront costs and burdens of holding inventory.
Andrew Wilson
Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts
As CEO of Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson has aligned the company around three core strategic pillars: putting players first, driving a digital transformation and operating as one team. During Andrew’s tenure as CEO, EA has launched groundbreaking new games and services, reached record player engagement levels across its global franchises, and transformed into one of the world’s leading digital entertainment companies. Andrew has held several positions during his over 15 years at EA, providing leadership on product and brand development for both packaged goods and digital services. Prior to being appointed CEO in 2013, Andrew served as executive vice president of EA SPORTS and Origin where he oversaw all aspects of the EA SPORTS business and development, as well as EA’s digital PC service. Andrew has also led EA’s Online Organization overseeing the direct-to-consumer business, Asia Online Publishing as well as the EA studio in Seoul, Korea. In addition, he previously served as vice president and executive producer of all EA SPORTS FIFA games, growing the property into one of the largest videogame franchises of all time.
Follow Andrew Wilson:
About Electronic Arts: Electronic Arts delivers games, content, and online services for internet-connected consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets.
Oren Kaniel
Co-Founder and CEO of AppsFlyer
Oren Kaniel is the CEO & co-founder of AppsFlyer, the market leader in Mobile Attribution Analytics. Oren holds a BA in Computer Science, Cum Laude, from the Technion, and an MBA from IDC, as part of an exchange with the Wharton Business School.
Follow Oren Kaniel:
About AppsFlyer: The world’s top brands use AppsFlyer to build great products, create exceptional experiences, and preserve customer privacy.
Derek Ting
CEO of TextNow
Derek Ting is the co-founder and CEO of TextNow.Prior to that, Derek served as a software engineer at Qualcomm and Phoenix Interactive Design Inc. Derek founded WoolNet LLC.
Follow Derek Ting:
About TextNow: Our mission is to break down the barriers to communication and free the flow of conversation for people everywhere.
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.
Follow Brad Griffith:
About Gametime: Gametime sells last-minute tickets to the most popular events in sports, music, and theater.
Timothy Li
Founder and CEO of Fluid Credit
Timothy has been working in FinTech and Marketplace Lending industry for the past decade. He has launched various marketplace lending platforms and held c-level positions at RealtyMogul.com, loanDepot.com, Quick Bridge Funding, Think Finance and JPMorgan Chase. Timothy also co-founded LendFoundry.com, KuberFinancial.com MaxDecision.com. He also sits on various advisory boards such as Ziero Finance, Solar Mosaic, Blinker Inc., Docitt and CreditExchange.in. Timothy holds various degrees from Harvard Business School, University of Southern California and San Jose State University.
Follow Timothy Li:
About Alchemy, Fluid Credit, kuber, MaxDecisions, University of Southern California: Fluid Credit provides university students with credit and personal finance education.
Jeff Green
CEO of The Trade Desk
Jeff Green is founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, Inc., a demand-side platform that powers the desks of the world’s most advanced buyers in online advertising. Green built The Trade Desk as second-generation demand-side platform, positioning it at the center of online advertising’s trading future by offering efficient, transparent technology. Since its inception in 2009, the company has grown on pace with the now-$3B RTB industry, having been included as an alpha partner in Facebook’s launch of the Facebook Exchange, and having been recently being named one of OnMedia’s “35 [Private Companies] to Watch.” By focusing on the technology of the buy-side, Green has shaped The Trade Desk into one of the fastest growing companies in ad tech. He was a finalist for the Ernst & Young 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Los Angeles. Prior to The Trade Desk, Green founded AdECN, which he built in 2004 as the world’s first online advertising exchange. As COO, he led all strategy, product, and business development. AdECN was acquired by the Microsoft Corporation within three years of launch. At Microsoft, Green not only oversaw the AdECN exchange business, but also all reseller and channel partner business. Additionally, he advised the all-up strategy for the Online Services Division. In 2009, Green left to launch The Trade Desk. Green has also played a leadership role in the ad tech industry, having served on the Networks and Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines Committee for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) from 2011-2012. Green led working groups that established rules and best practices for acquiring inventory, and set data transaction standards.
Follow Jeff Green:
About The Trade Desk, Trade Desk Inc.: The Trade Desk is an online demand-side platform that provides buying tools for digital media buyers.
Jesse Zhang
CEO and Founder of Lowkey
Follow Jesse Zhang:
About Camelot.ai, Lowkey, Lowkey: The home for watching and creating short gaming videos
Keyvan Mohajer
Founder & CEO of SoundHound
Keyvan leads the company’s management, corporate strategy and operations. He is also the principal executive responsible for SoundHound’s technology development. With more than 12 years of executive experience as a visionary entrepreneur
Follow Keyvan Mohajer:
About SoundHound: SoundHound is an innovator of invoice-enabled AI and conversational intelligence technologies.
Sanchali Pal
Founder & CEO of Joro
Sanchali Pal currently works as the Founder and CEO for Joro App. She previously worked at Tesla as the Market Access Intern.
Follow Sanchali Pal:
About Joro: Joro is an app that tracks the users’ carbon footprint and develops a climate action practice.
Matt Marshall
Founder and CEO of VentureBeat
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded \”Journalist of the Year\” by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
Follow Matt Marshall:
About VentureBeat: VentureBeat is an online technology news platform that is engaged in technology publication and events business.
Ekechi Nwokah
Co-Founder and CEO of Migo
Ekechi Nwokah has 20 years of experience building distributed systems and data center infrastructure. He was a visiting professor at Purdue University before leaving academia to join SGI and NASA, where he built large parallel Altix and Origin machines, and was tech lead on COLUMBIA, the fastest supercomputer in the world in 2004. He is also an expert in cloud infrastructure and security, having spent several years at Amazon AWS building cloud services. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University.
Follow Ekechi Nwokah:
About Migo: Migo is a cloud-based platform that allows customers to use loans, make purchases, and withdraw cash without the need for plastic cards.
Ryan Chan
Founder and CEO of UpKeep
Founder @CEO at UpKeep. Angel Investor
Follow Ryan Chan:
About UpKeep: UpKeep is a platform developed for technicians and maintenance workers that provides them with a computerized maintenance management system.
David Glickman
CEO of Ultra Mobile
David Glickman is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Mint Mobile.
Follow David Glickman:
About Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile: Branded mobile carrier offering cost-effective unlimited talk, text and data services in the US market.
Venky Balasubramanian
Co-founder and CEO of Plivo
Venky is the co-founder and CEO of Plivo.
Follow Venky Balasubramanian:
About Plivo: Plivo is a leading cloud communication platform that helps companies quickly program voice and SMS capabilities into their applications.
Alfred Kelly
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Visa
Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Company, the entity created to raise funds for and host Super Bowl XLVIII, from April 2011 to August 2014. Previously, Alfred Kelly held senior positions at the American Express Company, a global financial services company, for 23 years, including serving as President from July 2007 to April 2010, Group President, Consumer, Small Business and Merchant Services from June 2005 to July 2007, and Group President, U.S. Consumer and Small Business Services from June 2000 to June 2005. Prior to joining American Express, Alfred Kelly was the head of information systems at the White House from 1985 to 1987. Mr. Kelly also held various positions in information systems and financial planning at PepsiCo Inc. from 1981 to 1985. Alfred Kelly currently serves on the board of directors of MetLife Inc, and previously was a director of Affinion Group.
Follow Alfred Kelly:
About NY / NJ Super Bowl, Visa: Visa is a multinational financial services company that facilitates electronic payment systems throughout the world.
Susan Brazer
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of LionShare Media
Susan is a commercial visionary with a 2020’s view. She’s led the successful development, launch and scale of consumer-facing platforms, apps and services for world-leading media, tech and telecom companies: Apple, DirecTV, SES Astra, FIFA World Cup, Viacom, Virgin Mobile, and Nokia. Susan is the CEO of LionShare Media, which is launching the THIN/AIR™ Metaverse, a 5G cloud-native, blockchain-enabled distribution platform for premium entertainment and immersive media. Previously, Susan was VP, Strategy and Business Development at Nokia, and VP, Corporate Development and Entertainment Services at Virgin Mobile USA). Prior to this, Susan was EVP, Corporate Development at KirchMedia’s Venture Fund for the FIFA World Cup, where she raised $50M+ for interactive TV, gaming and mobile app ventures. Susan was the SVP, Networks & Marketing for Viacom’s Showtime service in the Middle East and Africa, overseeing a P&L and operations for MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, TV Land, Bloomberg, Paramount, Style and Discovery. Susan led the launch of DirecTV as VP, Marketing at Compression Labs and the migration of 85M European TVHH to digital satellite and cable services for SES ASTRA. The genesis of Susan’s product development and UI/UX expertise began at Apple Computer, where she launched its 1st portable computer, the Newton, and Knowledge Navigator (prototype for the iPAD and Siri). She was also served as an M&A analyst at PepsiCo and International Treasury Analyst at Phillip Morris. Susan holds a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and attended the London School of Economics. Susan is on the Board of Global Women in Blockchain, a UN Delegate for Media for Social Impact and a mentor at Princeton University’s Keller School of Engineering for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Follow Susan Brazer:
About LionShare Media: LionShare Media develops a media distribution platform-as-a-service to harness the power of converging and emerging technologies.
Derek Collison
Founder & CEO of Synadia Communications
Derek Collison is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Synadia Communications. An industry veteran and pioneer in large-scale distributed systems and enterprise computing, Derek founded Apcera and has held executive positions at VMware, Google and TIBCO Software. Derek created NATS.io and CloudFoundry as well as TIBCO’s messaging systems. As Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect of Cloud Application Platforms at VMware, he co-founded the cloud computing group and designed and architected Cloud Foundry, the industry’s first open PaaS. During Derek’s time at Google, he co-founded the AJAX APIs group. Prior to Google, Derek spent more than a decade at TIBCO, where he designed and implemented a wide range of messaging products, including Rendezvous and EMS. As TIBCO’s Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Derek led technical and strategic product direction and delivery. Derek is a sought after speaker and collaborator. Derek holds more than 20 software patents and is a recognized leader in distributed systems design and architecture, as well as emerging cloud platforms. Derek earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.
Follow Derek Collison:
About Covaxx, Heavybit, NATS, Savonix, Synadia Communications, Vicarious, Xperiel: Powering the secure connective technologies to drive cloud and edge native
Hao Li
CEO & Co-Founder of Pinscreen
Hao Li is Founder and CEO of Pinscreen, Inc., and Distinguished Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, Director of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, a visiting professor at Weta Digital and a research lead at Industrial Light & Magic / Lucasfilm. For his contributions in non-rigid shape registration, human digitization, and real-time facial performance capture, Hao received the TR35 Award in 2013, recognizing him as one of the top 35 innovators under the age of 35, from the MIT Technology Review. He was named Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair in 2015, and was awarded the Google Faculty Research Award and the Okawa Foundation Research Grant the same year. He won the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award in 2018. He is best known for his work on dynamic geometry processing, facial animation, and data-driven techniques for making 3D human digitization and facial animation accessible to the masses. During his PhD, Hao co-created the first real-time and markerless system for performance-driven facial animation based on depth sensors. The team later commercialized a variant of this technology as the facial animation software Faceshift (acquired by Apple Inc. in 2015 and incorporated into the iPhone X in 2017). He was brought on as visiting professor at Weta Digital to build the high-fidelity facial performance capture pipeline for reenacting the deceased actor Paul Walker in the movie Furious 7 (2015). His recent research focuses on combining techniques in Deep Learning and Computer Graphics to facilitate the creation of 3D avatars and to enable true immersive face-to-face communication and telepresence in Virtual Reality.
Follow Hao Li:
About Pinscreen, University of California Berkeley: Revolutionizing digital communication and online human interactions with user-generated and personalized 3D virtual avatars.
David Siegel
Co-Founder and CEO of Glide
David Siegel is the co-founder and CEO of Glide. He previously worked at Microsoft. He also held positions at Xamarin, Futureproof, and X1 Technologies. David holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and computer science engineering.
Follow David Siegel:
About Glide: Build powerful apps from spreadsheets without code, in minutes.
Vijay Chattha
Founder and CEO of VSC
Vijay Chattha joined VSC Consulting as Founder / CEO in 2002.
Follow Vijay Chattha:
About BlackMahal, The100kPledge, VSC, Wareness.io: We are a band of strategists, storytellers and data nerds obsessed with helping Davids crush a sea of Goliaths.
Srinivas Balasubramanian
CEO of Photon
Srinivas Balasubramanian is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Photon, the leading Cloud to Consumer UX™ Company. Srinivas Balasubramanian has a track record of building category dominating, highly profitable companies with significant market value. Since 2007 when he took over as full time CEO at Photon, the company has worked with hundreds of customers including a significant percentage of the Fortune 100 and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Prior to taking over as CEO of Photon Infotech, Srinivas Balasubramanian was a Senior Vice President at webMethods, a Nasdaq listed middleware technology company reporting to the CEO. Prior to that, Srinivas Balasubramanian was Founder, President and CEO of Infravio Inc, a Cupertino, CA based company which was a leading provider of Web Services and SOA infrastructure software that coined the term and created the category “SOA Governance”. Infravio was acquired by webMethods for $38mn in cash in 2006. Srinivas Balasubramanian served in various capacities at Infravio – initially as founding CEO responsible for raising the initial institutional Venture capital round in 2000. Thereafter, he served as Chief Strategist of the company between 2001 and January 2005 where he was responsible for closing a strategic financing round from NetIQ Corp and for closing a large number of the early customers. In January 2005, Srinivas Balasubramanian took over as CEO of Infravio. As CEO, he replaced the executive management team and drove the company to a thought and customer leadership position in the emerging Web Services and SOA market until its ultimate sale to webMethods in September 2006, which he architected. Srinivas was earlier an equity and derivatives trader at JP Morgan and Credit Lyonnais Securities at Mumbai, India. At Credit Lyonnais, he headed the largest institutional trading in the country that won almost every award on offer at the time he ran it. Srinivas has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta and is a graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.
Follow Srinivas Balasubramanian:
About Photon: Photon is a technology corporation that provides Strategy Consulting, Creative Design, and Technology Services to global enterprise.
Adam Pettit
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Kandji
Adam Pettit is the founder and chief executive officer at Kandji.
Follow Adam Pettit:
About Kandji: Kandji is a management platform for apple devices such as macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS.
Daniel Machock
CEO of Outspoken
Follow Daniel Machock:
About Appetize, Outspoken, Outspoken: Outspoken is the most experienced SMS and MMS messaging platform in the US.
Philip Fung
Founder / CEO of Kit.com
Founder/CEO @Kit.com, Engineer #15 @Facebook
Follow Philip Fung:
About Kit.com: Kit.com is a home medical exams, delivered. Kit makes health testing simpler, easier and more reliable for your patients.
Chase Harmer
Chief Executive Officer of PayCertify
Integrity, honesty, and longevity. Those are the qualities that have shaped Chase Harmer, a successful entrepreneur, leader, speaker, and innovator. For 15 years, Chase has built businesses, led companies, created products, and helped bring the best out of his employees. As a merchant services professional, Chase has launched several companies and products—such as MLS Hotel, Power Payments, Payment Reservations, and Pay Certify—that focus on hotel and e-commerce verticals. His companies process transactions and create software products that help increase cash flow and longevity of merchant accounts in those industries.
Follow Chase Harmer:
About PayCertify: The PayCertify Companies Inc. is an All-In-One payments co and digital wallet with a family of brands and services in the US, EU and CA.
Drew Perkins
Co-Founder and CEO of Mojo Vision
Follow Drew Perkins:
About Mojo Vision: Mojo Vision is developing Mojo Lens, the world’s first AR smart contact lens with a built-in display that delivers Invisible Computing
Vitaly Alexandrov
CEO & Founder of Food Rocket
Currently nominated for Forbes 30 under 30, two-time winner of the Oxford’s Fund scholarship. In 2019, together with partners, Vitaly launched the Foody startup to optimize the restaurant procurement process in the U.S. Three months later, Foody was showing a monthly growth of 20%. In 2021 due to the pandemic, the startup pivoted and launched San Francisco’s first 10-15-minute grocery delivery service called Food Rocket. Previously, Vitaly was the CEO and founder of the international CRM marketing agency Out of Cloud that provides consumer data analysis and helps companies build personalized marketing. The agency’s clients include Puma, Panasonic, Nikon, Alfa Bank and Pfizer. The agency won the Best Use of eCRM category at Tagline Awards in 2017 and Best Use of Analytics in Loyalty Programs at Loyalty Awards in 2018. At 27, Vitaliy wrote the Email Marketing Strategy book that was a bestseller at Ozon.
Follow Vitaly Alexandrov:
About Food Rocket: Food Rocket is an application that provides customers with on-demand 10-15 minute free grocery delivery.
Ham Serunjogi
Co-Founder & CEO of Chipper Cash
Ham Serunjogi is a co-founder and CEO at Chipper Cash.
Follow Ham Serunjogi:
About Chipper Cash: Chipper Cash is a fintech platform that offers mobile, cross-border money transfer services.
Bobby Srinivasan
Co-Founder, Board Member & CEO of Mobileum
Bobby is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Roamware. His earlier assignments with the company include CEO and President from 2006 to 2011, and Executive Vice President – Global Sales and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 to 2005. Over the last seven years he has been instrumental in transforming the company from a startup into a global leader in roaming and value added solutions. During his tenure as a CEO, the company received several industry recognitions. Most recently Roamware was named a Top 50 Startup in the 2011 Tie50 Awards. Earlier recognitions include the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in 2006. In 2007, Roamware won the Red Herring 100 Most Promising Private North American Technology Companies in 2007. Roamware also won the Deloitte’s 2007 Wireless Fast 50. Bobby Srinivasan was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, 2010 Award Finalist for Northern California.
Follow Bobby Srinivasan:
About Mobileum: Mobileum provides voice and data roaming solutions and mobile financial services.
Oisin O’Connor
Co-founder & CEO of Recharge
Oisin O’Connor currently works as the co-founder and CEO for ReCharge. He previously worked at Bootstrap Heroes as the co-founder.
Follow Oisin O’Connor:
About Recharge: Recharge offers subscription management software for e-commerce businesses.
Brady Brim-DeForest
CEO of TheoremOne
Brady Brim-DeForest is the Chief Executive Officer of Theorem.
Follow Brady Brim-DeForest:
About Codex, Halmos Ventures, International Academy of Web Television, International Academy of Web Television, TheoremOne, TheoremOne: We are an engineering and innovation firm. We solve complex business problems through optimization of process, technology, and culture.
Charles Prober
CEO, Board of Directors of Tile
Charles “CJ” Prober is CEO of Tile. He is an entrepreneurial leader who has a broad mix of operational, strategic and transactional experience with a strong track record of success over the past 20 years. I have a passion for building and operating consumer experiences that are at the cutting edge of hardware, media and technology.
Follow Charles Prober:
About Tile: Tile creates devices connected to a mobile app, helping users locate their personal items.
Michael Boswell
Co-Founder, CEO of Cue
Co-Founder and CEO of Cue. Previously an Entrepreneur in Residence at Khosla Ventures; Design Lead at Facebook, Google and Coatue. Founding member of several products with successful exits including Jobr, Pagemodo, and ContactMe.
Follow Michael Boswell:
About Cue: The world’s first social calendar
Stephen Meade
Founder and CEO of MagMo
Over the course of the last decade and a half, Stephen Meade has contributed to the creation of 11 successful technology-based companies. The founder of Cenoplex, a company dedicated to more effective and intelligent customer messaging and communications for wireless operators, Stephen also serves as chairman and resident rainmaker at BigBamboo LLC, a holding company which incubates start-up companies. At BigBamboo, he guides the future of companies including MonetaPro, RONAStar, ComCom and OrionNation. His roster of successful businesses includes the founding and selling of SiteVisions.com, a website and database development company sold in 2000, and VirtualSeller.com, started in 1996, which became an innovator for an ecommerce-based transaction processing system that proved to be an early precursor to PayPal. Prior to venturing into entrepreneurial world, he was a regional vice president with Travelers Group, a fortune 500 financial services company. Stephen frequently speaks at executive leadership conferences such as CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), Founder Institute, and Opportunity Green. He is also the author of three books in the field of finance/credit improvement and business networking, a guest lecturer at universities including MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, PKI, UMKC, USC , and UCLA, and serves as an advisor to numerous companies and organizations. His “Isolation Is A Good Thing” seminar trains executives how to isolate exactly what and who they need to be for success.
Follow Stephen Meade:
About BigBamboo LLC, MagMo: MagMo, “Magazine Moment,” is a photo sharing app that creates short stories using pictures and text for brands using social media
Chris Hulls
Cofounder / CEO of Life360
Chris is the cofounder and CEO of Life360. Before doing the whole startup thing, he did a stint in banking at Goldman Sachs and spent a few years in the Air Force. He went to college at UC Berkeley, and was about to start class at Harvard Business School when he had a last minute change of heart and decided to pioneer the trend of being an ivy league pre-dropout. In his time off, Chris likes to do anything that involves machines that move–like building drones, driving cars, flying planes, and piloting hovercraft. He is also widely credited with coining the term App Store Optimization.
Follow Chris Hulls:
About Life360: Life360 creates a mobile app for families that helps families feel closer together.
Kartik Chandrayana
CEO / Co-Founder of Twin Prime
Follow Kartik Chandrayana:
About Twin Prime: Twin Prime, a company that came out of stealth this week
Mike Chen
CEO, Co-Founder of Magic
Mike Chen is the CEO at Magic
Follow Mike Chen:
About Bettir, Magic: Magic provides a 24/7 SMS based on-demand personal assistant service.
Gower Smith
CEO & Co-Founder of Swyft
Gower Smith is the founder of ZoomSystems and Co-Chairman of the Board. Prior to starting the company in 2002, Gower founded and led several other successful technology startups, including ComputerLand (a retailer of PC and technology products, acquired by Random Access), CGF Electronics (Australian distributor for Apple computer products), Archives Computers (a networking and software company, acquired by Impact Systems), and Boomerang Imaging Supplies (a leading printing supplies business, acquired by TCR). Gower completed his radio technician certificate with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, and studied microprocessors at the Melbourne Institute of Technology and Caulfield Institute of Technology.
Follow Gower Smith:
About Swyft: Swyft sells great products from leading brands in strategic high profile locations, serving customers.
Cristiano Oliveira
Founder + CEO of Olivia
Follow Cristiano Oliveira:
About Olivia: Olivia is an AI financial assistant that learns your spending patterns, predict your purchases and recommend ways to get more for your money
Brian Hamachek
Co-Founder, CEO of Nearby
Brian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nearby.
Follow Brian Hamachek:
About Nearby, Social Foundry, LLC: Meeting new people is hard. We wanted to create something to help.
Aasim Saied
Chairman & CEO of Akyumen Industries Corp.
Follow Aasim Saied:
About Akyumen Industries Corp.: Non-Profit
Afnan Rahman
CEO of OpenNode
Follow Afnan Rahman:
About OpenNode: OpenNode offers accessible way for e-commerce businesses to process bitcoin payments.
Jonathan Gray
CEO and Co-Founder of Encore Music Technologies
Jonathan Gray, founder and CEO of Cask, is an entrepreneur and software engineer with a background in startups, open source, and all things data. Prior to founding Cask, Jonathan was a software engineer at Facebook where he drove HBase engineering efforts, including Facebook Messages and several other large-scale projects, from inception to production. An open source evangelist, Jonathan was responsible for helping build the Facebook engineering brand through developer outreach and refocusing the open source strategy of the company. Prior to Facebook, Jonathan founded Streamy.com, where he became an early adopter of Hadoop and HBase and is now a core contributor and active committer in the community. Jonathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
Follow Jonathan Gray:
About Encore Music Technologies, Orcada, The Apache Software Foundation: Encore is an interactive live music mobile-based platform aiming to help artists monetize their connections with fans.
Tomas Campos
CEO and Co-Founder of Spinwheel
Tomás Campos is the CEO and Co-Founder of Spinwheel.
Follow Tomas Campos:
About Spinwheel: Transform how your business and your customers see, understand, and act on debt with our industry-leading debt APIs and drop-in modules.
Adam Mosseri
CEO and Head of Instagram
Adam Mosseri is a VP at Facebook and leads the product and engineering teams responsible for News Feed and Sharing. Before this role Adam was the PM director for News Feed and before that the design director for the Mobile product group, where he was responsible for the design of all of Facebook’s mobile apps. Prior to Facebook he worked at TokBox as the company’s first designer. Adam began his career founding a design consultancy in 2003 with offices in New York and San Francisco that focused on graphic design, interaction design and exhibition design. Adam holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Study from the Gallatin School of Interdisciplinary Study at NYU where he studied Information Design and Media. He and his wife Monica are proud parents of sons, Nico and Blaise
Follow Adam Mosseri:
About Instagram, Meta: Instagram is a free photo-sharing application that enables its users to take photos, apply filters, and share them on social networks.
Paolo Privitera
Co-Founder and CEO of Evensi
Follow Paolo Privitera:
About Doochoo, Evensi, Lombardstreet Ventures: Evensi is a platform to discover, experience, ideate, and promote events.
Deborah Kilpatrick
Chief Executive Officer of Evidation Health
Deborah Kilpatrick is the Chief Executive Officer of Evidation Health.Prior to this role, she served as the Chief Commercial Officer of genomic diagnostics company CardioDx. Earlier in her career, Deborah held multiple leadership roles at Guidant Corporation, including Research Fellow, Director of R&D, and Director of New Ventures in the Vascular Intervention Division. She serves on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Deborah is a co-founder of the MedtechVision Conference, now held annually in Silicon Valley. She holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering with a bioengineering focus from Georgia Tech.
Follow Deborah Kilpatrick:
About Evidation Health, MedTech Women: We enable and empower everyone to participate in better health outcomes.
Derrick Ko
CEO & Co-founder of Spin
Derrick Ko is co-founder at Skinny Labs, also known as Spin. Prior to this, he was a product manager at Lyft and the first employee at Kicksend.
Follow Derrick Ko:
About Spin: Spin is a stationless electric scooter company that provides dockless mobility systems.
John Beatty
Founder and CEO of Clover
John is co-founder and CEO of Clover Network, Inc. (a First Data Company). Previously, he was an EIR at Sutter Hill Ventures and a founding engineer at Bix (acquired by Yahoo!). He also built distributed systems at BEA and Sun and got his start in consulting at Cambridge Technology Partners. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Brigham Young University.
Follow John Beatty:
About Clover: Clover is a cloud-based open business operating system, powered by Android-based devices.
Maci Peterson Philitas
Founder & CEO of On Second Thought
Maci is the co-founder and CEO of On Second Thought, a messaging app whose patented technology lets users take back text messages before they get to the other person’s phone. She was recognized on Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30 List” of 2016, and Washington Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 List” of 2015. In addition, Maci has been identified as “Tech’s Newest Innovator” by Essence Magazine, a rising leader in technology by Revolt TV, one of the “29 People You Should Know” by BET, and one of the “25 Black People in Tech You Should Know” by The Huffington Post. Maci began On Second Thought after winning 1st Place in the #StartupOasis pitch competition at South by Southwest in 2014. Maci is a member of the Internet Marketing Association’s Women Leaders Group. She was a member of the Founder’s Council at the 1776 Incubator in Washington, D.C., and an alumna of the MindShare Class of 2015. She has been invited to speak at a variety of leadership and business conferences including South by Southwest, The White House Initiative on HBCUs’ National HBCU Week Conference, Inc Magazine’s GrowCo, IdeaFest and Cox Communications’ Tech Summit.
Follow Maci Peterson Philitas:
About On Second Thought: On Second Thought is a messaging app that enables its users to undo and edit messages before they get to the recipient’s phone.
Gerard Cunningham
Founder & CEO of Winistry
Gerard is a Blue Chip & Startup CEO, Board Member, Adviser and Investor. He is a former CMO, with expertise in strategy, operations, Big Data, AI, Digital Transformation, Mobile.
Follow Gerard Cunningham:
About Winistry: The Intelligent Mobile App Platform: “WordPress for Mobile Apps, plus AI”
Jordan Brown
Founder, CEO of Lugg
Jordan Brown is the Founder, CEO at Lugg
Follow Jordan Brown:
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.
