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 Founder operating in the Marketplace space. If you think a Founder 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.
Devon Townsend
Co-Founder & CTO of Cameo
Devon Townsend is a co-founder and CTO at Cameo.
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About Cameo: Cameo is a marketplace where fans can book personalized video shoutouts from their favorite people.
Martin Blencowe
Co-Founder of Cameo
Martin Blencowe is a co-founder and EVP at Cameo.
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About Cameo: Cameo is a marketplace where fans can book personalized video shoutouts from their favorite people.
Jeff Clavier
Founder and Managing Partner of Uncork Capital
Jeff Clavier Is The Founder and Managing Partner At Uncork Capital.
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About Uncork Capital: Uncork Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that focuses on SaaS, consumer, marketplaces, hardware, and new technology startups.
Andrew Gazdecki
Founder and CEO of MicroAcquire
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About Altcoin.io, Bizness Apps, MicroAcquire: MicroAcquire is a startup acquisition marketplace that helps startups find buyers and get acquired.
Andy Ruben
Founder & CEO of Trove
Andy Ruben is the CEO and Founder of Trove. The world’s most innovative brands trust Trove to run their resale platforms. Andy left his executive role at Walmart to pursue his dream of building the next generation of retail. Andy was hired by Walmart to work with the Board of Directors and build a strategy department for Walmart. He led a number of transformational efforts over his tenure, including launching Walmart’s heralded sustainability effort, re-imagining Walmart’s $20 Billion private brands business, and integrating online and stores.
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About Trove: Trove builds white-label technology and end-to-end operations that power circular shopping for premium and luxury brands.
Aakash Kumar
Founder & CEO of Shiftsmart
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About Shiftsmart: Shiftsmart is a labor-management marketplace connecting part-time workers with open shifts across multiple platforms.
Jeffrey Kolovson
Co-Founder and COO of Faire
Jeffrey Kolovson is the co-founder and COO of Faire.
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About Faire: Faire is a company that helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores.
Marcelo Cortes
Co-Founder & CTO of Faire
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About Faire: Faire is a company that helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores.
Max Rhodes
Co-Founder and CEO of Faire
Prior to starting Faire, Max was the first product manager for several key initiatives at Square, including Square Capital ($1Bn+ deployed) and Square Cash (Square’s only Top 50-ranked app in the iOS App Store). He first came up with the idea for Faire while introducing the Blunt Umbrella to the United States.
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About Faire: Faire is a company that helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores.
Daniele Perito
Co-Founder and Chief Data Officer of Faire
Prior to starting Faire, Daniele led Risk and Security for Square Cash, where he designed and implemented the anti-abuse and anti-fraud systems that have made Cash possible. He holds a PhD in Computer Science with a focus on security and machine learning.
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About Faire: Faire is a company that helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores.
Mohit Saxena
Founder & COO of Rizort
Mohit Saxena is the Founder of Rizort, Rizort is a first of its kind luxury vacation marketplace that enable users to plan and book a memorable vacation, designed and curated around specific intent and experience to create perfect memories. Prior to Rizort Mohit, was the Founder and Chief Technology Officer at InMobi. He oversaw all things tech, including infrastructure, application management, and IT during its growth and scale phase. Before InMobi, Mohit managed technology operations at Virgin Mobile, designing and deploying their post-paid billing system and their pre-paid revenue recognition system. Mohit earlier worked at AT&T and has contributed to many patents filed in the telecommunications area. Fascinated by small ideas that turned into global powerhouses, and innovation, simplicity, and the potential of technology have always been his passions. InMobi is a both a passion and a dream come true for him. Mohit has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Mohit’s passion for technology doesn’t stop at work and is always on the look-out for ways that he can use it to make his life easier.
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About InMobi, Rizort: Rizort is a luxury vacation marketplace that brings immersive vacation planning and booking services for travelers.
Sachin Kanodia
Founder and CEO of Rizort
Founder & CEO at Rizort.com.
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About Rizort: Rizort is a luxury vacation marketplace that brings immersive vacation planning and booking services for travelers.
Soul Htite
Founder & Executive Chairman of Dianrong
Soul Htite is the founder and CEO of Dianrong. Prior to co-founding Dianrong in 2012, Soul co-founded Lending Club, the world’s largest and benchmarking financial technology company. He served as the Head of Technology until 2011. Soul led all the design and development efforts of Lending Club’s award winning online lending platform. Soul spent the earlier part of his career building enterprise software at Oracle Corporation. His focus was in real-time online services and system design for high availability and fault tolerance. Soul holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the Université de Montréal. Specialties: entrepreneurship, internet, software, product design, innovation, creativity, product development, startups, investment
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About Dianrong, Upgrade: Dianrong is an online marketplace lending company that uses technology to transform the way China is financed to help enrich people’s lives.
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.
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About Peek: Peek is a booking software and marketplace for delightful things to do such as wine tours, watersports, skydiving, and art classes.
Rory Felton
Board Member / Co-Founder of Airmule
Rory Felton joined Feltone as Founder & Artist Manager/Partner in 2015.Rory began his career as a founder of a tech-savvy music & media company, The Militia Group, out of his USC dorm room. Within a few short years, utilizing innovative digital strategies and marketing programs, the company signed dozens of artists, grew to a team of ten, and became a partnership with Sony Music. He went on to sell millions of products, received an RIAA Certified Gold Record subsequently leading Sony to acquire the major assets.
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About Airmule, Appr.tv, Feltone: Airmule is an “On-Demand Shipping Platform” that allows users to connect and sell their unused luggage space with express shipping demand.
Sumir Meghani
Co-Founder & CEO of Instawork
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About Instawork: Instawork is the on-demand staffing app for gig workers and hospitality businesses.
Weiting Liu
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Codementor
Weiting Liu is the founder & CEO of Codementor, a live help marketplace for developers. Weiting is a serial entrepreneur and an alumnus of both Y Combinator (YC ’07 SocialPicks, ’12) and Techstars (Seattle ’13 Codementor).
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About Arc.Dev, Codementor, Global Social, Peeridea: Codementor is an online marketplace connecting developers with experts for on-demand 1:1 help via screen sharing, video, and text chat.
Anthony Citrano
Founder & CEO of Acquicent
Citrano is founder & CEO of [Acquicent](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/acquicent) and a mentor at [Amplify](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/amplify-la), a startup accelerator and multi-faceted entrepreneurial campus in Los Angeles. He is also an angel investor and photographer. He was VP Communications & Chief Evangelist for Verizon’s digital unit, a position created when [Verizon acquired EdgeCast Networks](https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/07/verizon-edgecast/), where he was a key executive. He co-founded fama PR, a Boston-based communications agency. He served as chief technology advisor to Maine Governor Angus King (now US Senator) and was a member of Barack Obama’s 2008 finance committee.
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About Acquicent: Acquicent provides a marketplace for investing in digital and real-world collectibles via NFTs.
Gregg Brockway
Co-Founder & CEO of Chairish
Co-founder and president of TripIt. Co-founder of Hotwire. This fearless leader is constantly leaning forward and pushing us to do what seems impossible, but somehow manages to miraculously occur. He’s a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, travel freak and former member of the 1980s US Ski Team (complete with Miami Vice-ish speed suit.) While his first love is turning good ideas into amazing products that become great companies, it turns out he also covets Palm Springs modern. Other current obsessions include Maker Faire, mountain biking and tangerine swivel chairs. Gregg earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB from Dartmouth College.
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About Chairish: Chairish is an online marketplace for high-end home furniture, art, and decor.
Andy Denmark
Co Founder and VP engineering of Chairish
Andy Denmark is the former Co-Founder & VP of Engineering of Chairish.
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About Chairish, Groupize: Chairish is an online marketplace for high-end home furniture, art, and decor.
James Berdigans
CEO & Founder of Printify
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About Printify: Printify is a marketplace connecting online merchants to major print on demand and dropshipping manufacturers worldwide.
Slava Kim
Co-Founder of Zora
Slava Kim is the Co-Founder of Zora.
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About Zora, Zora Labs: Zora operates as a crypto-driven marketplace.
Ethan Daya
Co-Founder of Zora
Ethan Daya is a Co-Founder at Zora.
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About Zora: Zora operates as a crypto-driven marketplace.
Tyson Battistella
Co-Founder of Zora
Tyson Battistella is a Co-Founder at Zora.
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About Zora: Zora operates as a crypto-driven marketplace.
Dai Hovey
Co-Founder of Zora
Dai Hovey is a Co-Founder at Zora.
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About Zora: Zora operates as a crypto-driven marketplace.
Ashton Braun
Co-Founder & CEO of Silo
Ashton Braun is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
Antonio Bustamante
Co-Founder and Head of Product & Design of Silo
Antonio Bustamante is the Co-Founder and Head of Product and Design at Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
Ashvin Kumar
Co-Founder & CEO of Tophatter
Ashvin Kumar Co-founded Blippy Inc. in 2009 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Ashvin Kumar served as the Vice President of Engineering at Affinity Circles, where he managed an engineering team across Development & QA, Operations, and Technical Support. Ashvin Kumar graduated from Stanford in 2005 with a degree in computer science.
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About Tophatter: Tophatter is revolutionizing the e-commerce landscape with a discovery shopping app that’s truly one-of-a-kind.
Chris Estreich
Co-Founder & CTO of Tophatter
Chris Estreich Co-founded Blippy Inc. in 2009 and serves as its Chief Technology Officer. Chris Estreich served as a Senior Software Engineer at Oodle helping build the platform that powers MySpace, Walmart, and Facebook Classifieds. He graduated from Stanford in 2005 with a Degree in Computer Science.
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About Tophatter: Tophatter is revolutionizing the e-commerce landscape with a discovery shopping app that’s truly one-of-a-kind.
Chris Grouchy
President and Co-Founder of Convictional
Chris Grouchy is the president and co-founder of Convictional. He is also a guest lecturer at Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. Chris previously worked at Shopify Plus.
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About Convictional: Convictional is a supplier enablement platform that helps enterprise B2C retailers and B2B distributors build and scale digital marketplace.
Daniel Chu
CEO and Co-Founder of MakersPlace
Daniel Chu is the CEO and co-founder at MakersPlace. He is a product and engineering leader with a passion for applying technologies to drive real-world change.
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About MakersPlace: MakersPlace is an authentic and unique digital creation platform powered by blockchain technology for digital creators.
Gabriel Luna-Ostaseski
Co-Founder of Braintrust
As a founder, operator, advisor and angel investor, Gabe has helped numerous companies launch, navigate growth and scale. Before starting Upshift, Gabe led Co-Founded CalFinder Group and bootstrapped sales to $20m in sales. Calfinder continues to be one of the fastest growing marketplaces in home services. Prior to Calfinder Gabe sold his first company at 21 years old. Gabe serves on the boards of Calfinder and Metta Institute. In addition to investing and helping founders scale sales he is also actively involved in incubating additional businesses.
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About Braintrust, Upshift Partners: Braintrust is a blockchain-powered freelancer marketplace that connects skilled tech experts with clients.
Brian Flynn
Co-Founder of Braintrust
Brian is a private investor and serial entrepreneur focused on the software, internet/digital media and mobile sectors. Brian co-founded and/or invested in 22 private companies. Of that group, 9 exited, 10 are independent and 3 were shut down. Some of his private investments include AdMovate (sold to Yahoo!), IMsecure (sold to Checkpoint), Pixoart Design (sold to 51.com), Ultris (sold to Saba), Fotolog (sold to Hi-Media), Qpod (sold to Groupon) and other companies which are independent (Relevad, Wheelhouse, Mixbook, Meltwater, iDentalSoft, Cleanshelf, Pinkoi, Chairish, Markable, CFOPlans). He is also an LP in Infinity Venture Partners, a Japan-China mobile Internet fund. Brian spends his philanthropic time mentoring early stage technology entrepreneurs in Ghana, Africa. He currently serves on the Board of the Meltwater Foundation which runs MEST (Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology). Earlier in his career, Brian served as Head of Corporate Development at Macromedia where he managed strategy, investments and acquisitions and facilitated the sale of the company to Adobe for $3.9 billion. He also was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Co. and Robertson Stephens where he closed more than 40 mergers, acquisitions and financings. Specialties: Entrepreneurship, early stage investments, M&A, corporate development and strategy. Software, internet/digital media and mobile.
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About Braintrust, Wheelhouse: Braintrust is a blockchain-powered freelancer marketplace that connects skilled tech experts with clients.
Adam Jackson
Founder & CEO of Braintrust
Adam is a serial technology entrepreneur and investor that has spent his career creating and deploying capital into software systems that make complex tasks simple and intuitive. He’s started 4 VC-backed companies and an asset management company over the last 16 years. Since August, 2017 he has served as Managing Partner & CTO of Cambrian Asset Management, a blockchain asset management company. He is also co-founder and CEO of Freelance Labs, Inc., the company building a new tokenized talent network called Braintrust which raised a $5m seed round in 2018. In 2012, he co-founded and served as CEO of Doctor On Demand, a healthcare service that provides Video Visits with board-certified physicians and psychologists. Doctor On Demand delivers services through employers, health systems, health plans, and directly to consumers and has raised $165M in VC. His previous business, DriverSide was founded in 2007 and was acquired by Advance Auto Parts in September of 2011. His first venture-backed business, MarketSquare, founded in 2004, was the first online local shopping destinations on the Internet. It was acquired by Intuit in September of 2006. He is an angel investor in 45+ companies/projects, including: LTSE, Seated, Bolt, Placer, Aktana, Skale Labs, Protocol Labs, JCTurbo, Apero Health, Rapportive, MyTime, Automatic, Womply, Superhuman and Zenefits.
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About Braintrust, Cleanshelf, Womply: Braintrust is a blockchain-powered freelancer marketplace that connects skilled tech experts with clients.
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
Bhumi Bhutani
Co-Founder, VP of Sales of Way
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About Way: The No.1 Car Insuretech, Fintech Super App
Vlad Panchenko
Founder & CEO of DMarket
Volodymyr Panchenko is private merchant of digital games in the world. He is founder of skins.cash — 2nd biggest virtual items marketplace. He is also founder and CEO of Suntechsoft.
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About DMarket, DreamTeam, Suntechsoft: DMarket is a marketplace for NFTs trading and technology for building metaverses.
Douglas Feirstein
Co-Founder of Hired
Douglas Feirstein is also known as Doug, is a Co-Founder of Hired, Inc. Douglas Feirstein served as the Chief Executive Officer of Money4Gold Holdings, Inc. since May 7, 2009. He co-founded LiveOps, Inc. in March 2000 and served as its Advisor. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of usell.com, Inc. (formerly, Upstream Worldwide, Inc.) from May 7, 2009, to July 10, 2012. From March 2000 to January 2004, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of LiveOps, Inc. In 2005, Douglas Feirstein founded Pink Package, LLC, d/b/a My Gold Envelope a predecessor to MGE, and since the date of MGE’s acquisition of My Gold Envelope and served as its Manager. He served as an Executive Officer of MGE. Prior to LiveOps, he was involved in developing call center operations and technologies for catalog and electronic retailing organizations. Douglas Feirstein was selected as a Director for his proven track record of success and his extensive experience managing the growth of young companies from start-up through to maturity. He served as a Director of usell.com, Inc. since May 7, 2009. He served as a Director of LiveOps, Inc. since March 2000 and Money4Gold Holdings, Inc. since May 7, 2009. He holds Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Florida.
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About Hired, Jeevz, Liveops, uSell: Hired is a career marketplace that matches tech talent with innovative companies.
Tom Villante
Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder of YapStone
Tom co-founded YapStone, Inc. in 1999 and serves as its Chairman of the Board. Villante served as the Chief Executive Officer of YapStone, Inc. He served as a Partner of The Seidler Company (“TSC”), a leveraged buyout firm in Los Angeles.
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About YapStone: YapStone is a global provider of online and mobile payment solutions for global marketplaces and large vertical markets.
Donny Hall
Co-Founder & CEO of SureSale
Donny helped build successful SoCal tech companies including LowerMyBills.com, HomeLoanCenter.com and Leadpoint.com prior to building one of the largest DTC auto warranty sellers in the US which he sold to Innovative Aftermarket Systems.
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About SureSale: SureSale’s Certification as a Service platform and marketplace allow dealers and private sellers to certify and market used vehicles.
Dmitry Pistolyako
Founder of LinguaTrip
Founder at LinguaTrip
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About LinguaTrip: LinguaTrip Book language courses and student accommodation worldwide.
Edward Kinsey
Founder of Impel
Ed is a serial entrepreneur and was previously a co-founder of Ariba, Inc., a leading provider of spend management solutions focused on business-to-business commerce, where he led one of the most successful IPO’s in Silicon Valley. Between Ariba and founding Impel, Ed was a start-up venture capital investor through his fund Determination Ventures, LLC.
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About Impel: The Intelligent Marketplace for Consumer Service Commerce.
Chris Kantrowitz
CEO, Founder of Gobbler
Chris is a serial entrepreneur in gaming, technology, and music. At age 14, he founded his first company– a game testing business for clients like Sony Imagesoft. After university, he co-founded 3D Groove, online gaming technology company that powered the first online 3D games at sites like shockwave.com and nickelodeon.com. In 2003, he started ODVD games, whose premiere title, “Shout!â€, a pop culture interactive DVD trivia game,was distributed globally by Hasbro and is returning in 2011. In 2006, Chris combined his passion for creative and technology and co-founded Frank the Plumber, a leading concert design and production company creating digital and live experiences for such artists as Akon, The Strokes, Lady Antebellum, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Madonna and brands like Ford, Apple and AOL. Most recently, he founded his third technology company, Gobbler, along with his sister Jamie. Gobbler is a purpose built cloud for media creators and the software companies who provide tools to them.
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About Gobbler, Mootral: The largest marketplace for subscription pro-audio plugins.
Sebastian Rymarz
CEO and Co-Founder of Heyday
As the Chief Business Officer, Sebastian oversees sales, marketing, business and corporate development. An early U.S. hire, he brings rich experience in financial services and credit risk management. Prior to Fundbox, he was VP at TPG Special Situation Partners and an investment professional at Sageview Capital. Sebastian began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs after graduating with a BS in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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About Heyday: Heyday offers a digital marketplace space built for sellers to accelerate consumer product brands.
Roger Chen
Co-Founder and CEO of Computable
Roger Chen is working on a new venture and cochairs the O’Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference. Previously, he was a principal at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), where he invested in and worked with early stage startups primarily in the realm of data, machine learning and robotics. Roger has a deep and hands-on history with technology, having spent a past life as an engineer and scientist prior to working in venture capital. He developed novel nanotechnology as a PhD researcher at UC Berkeley and spent stints as an engineer with Oracle, EMC and Vicor. Roger holds a BS from Boston University and a PhD from UC Berkeley, both in electrical engineering.
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About Computable: Computable build a decentralized data marketplace for artificial intelligence applications.
Bharath Ramsundar
Co-Founder and CTO of Computable
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About Computable: Computable build a decentralized data marketplace for artificial intelligence applications.
Will Pacio
Co-Founder and CEO of Pared
A veteran in the restaurant industry. Will started as a cook at Per Se in New York and went on to run IT for Thomas Keller’s restaurants. He was founder and CEO of Spice Kit, a popular fast-casual concept. Studied at Stanford. Trained at the French Culinary Institute.
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About Pared: Pared is a market network for hospitality professionals.
Will Patterson
Founder and CEO of CareRev
CEO & Founder CareRev.
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About CareRev: CareRev is an online technology platform where hospitals and outpatient facilities can directly access per diem medical staff.
Elliot Kroo
Founder and CTO of Getaround
Elliot Kroo is the CTO and Founder of Getaround.
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About Getaround: Getaround is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent out their cars.
Sam Zaid
Founder & CEO of Getaround
Sam is Founder & CEO at Getaround.
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About Arconex, Getaround: Getaround is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent out their cars.
Kjerstin Erickson
CEO and Co-Founder of Public Market
KJ has 14 years experience as an entrepreneur, having been backed by top VCs including Greylock, Foundation Capital, Norwest, and Maveron. Her Y Combinator-backed company, Simbi, is the world’s largest services marketplace run on a digital currency. A graduate of Stanford University and Oxford Business School, KJ has received numerous awards, including being named by Rolling Stone as one of “25 People Shaping the Future”, by CNN as a “Person You Should Know”, by the New Leaders Council as a “Top 40 Leaders Under 40”, and by Bill Clinton as a Clinton Foundation Honoree. To Public Market, KJ brings her entrepreneurial and managerial skills honed from 14 years of building companies up to 200 employees, her passion for building intuitive consumer-facing web products, her experience building marketplaces backed by alternative currencies, and her training in economics and game theory.
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About Public Market: Public Market is a decentralized eCommerce platform.
Alyssa Ravasio
Founder and CEO of Hipcamp
Alyssa Ravasio is the founder and CEO of Hipcamp. Prior to joining Hipcamp, Alyssa spent more than nine years with the Outdoor Industry Association as a recreation advisory council. Alyssa also worked with Xola as the director of operations.
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About Hipcamp: Hipcamp unlocks access to private land for camping and outdoor recreation.
Vincent Ning
Founder & CEO of Nabis
Vincent Ning co-founded Nabis and is its Chief Executive Officer.
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About Nabis, Pioneer Fund: Nabis is a licensed cannabis wholesale marketplace that distributes cannabis products to retailers.
Jun S. Lee
Founder & President of Nabis
Jun is a co-founder and President of NABIS, a software-enabled cannabis distributor based in Oakland and Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Applied Mathematics with a focus in Computer Science. Jun is passionate about optimizing complex systems and building visually stunning products. Previously he’s worked at Facebook as a software engineer, Google Zurich and Google Korea as an intern, and 5Rocks (now acquired by Tapjoy) as a product manger.
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About Nabis: Nabis is a licensed cannabis wholesale marketplace that distributes cannabis products to retailers.
Sam Nasserian
Founder & CEO of Cozymeal
Founder & CEO at Cozymeal.
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About Cozymeal: Cozymeal is the #1 marketplace for culinary experiences from cooking classes to team building events with top-rated local chefs.
Elton Chung
Co-Founder of NEXT Trucking
– 12 years’ experience in trucking and logistics – Founder of iDC Logistics, the largest TV distribution center in West Coast – Founder of Megatrans Logistics, acquired – 5 years’ investment banking experience at Citi Group
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About NEXT Trucking: NEXT’s proprietary platform and digital freight marketplace connect shippers with freight capacity across drayage, transload, and OTR.
Diego Saez-Gil
Co-Founder & CEO of Pachama
Diego Saez-Gil is Co-founder & CEO of Pachama, a company focused on restoring the forests to solve climate change. Prior to Pachama, Diego co-founded Bluesmart (acquired by TravelPro) and WeHostels (acquired by StudentUniverse). Diego was awarded MIT 35 Under 35 and was selected High Impact Entrepreneur by Endeavor.
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About Pachama: Pachama is an AI-powered marketplace for nature carbon removal credits.
Pablo Schwarzbeck
Founder & CEO of ProducePay
Pablo Schwarzbeck is the Co-Founder and CEO at ProducePay.
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About ProducePay: ProducePay is an agriculture fin-tech start-up providing financing, analytics, and marketplace tools for the fresh produce market.
Conrad McKinnon
Founder of Mavis
Conrad McKinnon was the cofounder Mavis. Mavis’s goal was to bring higher quality care to seniors in their final days. We focused on developing solutions for geriatric care, palliative care, end of life care, hospice, and post passing care.
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About Mavis: Mavis helps seniors and their families live a quality life.
Manish Chandra
Founder & CEO of Poshmark
Manish Chandra is the founder and CEO of Poshmark, the largest social marketplace for fashion where millions of people come to buy, sell and share their personal style. Manish has always been passionate about building communities and founded the first social shopping company, Kaboodle, which was acquired by Hearst Corporation in 2007. With Poshmark, Manish has applied his understanding of technology to change the way women think about shopping, building a passionate community based around people’s love for fashion and each other. Manish received a BTech from IIT Kanpur, MS from UT Austin, and an MBA from Haas School of Business.
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About Poshmark: Poshmark is a social marketplace for fashion where anyone can buy, sell, and share their style with others.
Tracy Sun
Co-Founder, SVP New Markets of Poshmark
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About Poshmark: Poshmark is a social marketplace for fashion where anyone can buy, sell, and share their style with others.
Mark Fleming
Co-Founder of Creator Nova
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About Creator Nova: Creator Nova is a B2B marketplace that turns complicated business operations into inspiring beauty brands
James Tong
Co-Founder of Creator Nova
James Tong is a Co-Founder at Creator Nova
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About Creator Nova: Creator Nova is a B2B marketplace that turns complicated business operations into inspiring beauty brands
Sara Mauskopf
Co-Founder and CEO of Winnie
Sara Mauskopf is the CEO and Co-founder of Winnie, a marketplace for daycare and preschool helping over 4M parents across the United States. Sara has a background in consumer technology and product management. Prior to founding Winnie she was the Director of Product at Postmates, and prior to that held product leadership roles at Twitter, YouTube, and Google. She graduated with a Computer Science and Engineering degree from MIT. She’s also a mom of 2, soon to be 3, young children.
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About Winnie: Winnie is a marketplace for child care built on powerful data systems and backed by a trusted community of parents and providers.
Charlie Hernández
Founder & CEO of Crediverso
Charlie Hernández currently works as the Founder and CEO of Crediverso. He previously worked at Starwood Capital Group as the Summer Associate.
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About Crediverso: Crediverso is a financial marketplace where people can find credit cards, credit checks, and international money transfers.
Amanda Szabo
Founder & CEO of ResortPass
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About ResortPass: ResortPass is an online booking platform for access to resorts and hotels for the pool, spa, fitness, and amenities.
Michael DeGiorgio
Founder & CEO of Crexi
Michael DeGiorgio is the CEO & Co-Founder of CREXi.
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About Crexi: Crexi is a technology solution that consolidates commercial real estate tools into a single platform for brokers, investors, and tenants.
Luke Morris
Co-Founder of Crexi
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About Crexi: Crexi is a technology solution that consolidates commercial real estate tools into a single platform for brokers, investors, and tenants.
Vladimir Kozyrev
Co-Founder and CTO of Rainmakers
Vladimir Kozyrev is the co-founder and CTO at Rainmakers. He is a former software developer at theScore, Inc. and was the co-founder of ApptheGame. Vladimir holds a BS degree in computer science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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About Rainmakers: The career marketplace for top salespeople
Tim Saval
Founder & CEO of Plural.com
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About OnDeck, Plural.com: Plural is reinventing the way the world “works”.
Sherwin Sheik
Co-Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of CareLinx
Sherwin Sheik is the Founder and CEO of CareLinx. CareLinx is a trusted nationwide home care platform with over 300,000 professional caregivers that help improve health outcomes while reducing cost of care. Our innovative approach amplifies the effectiveness of clinical teams by using tech-enabled caregivers who serve as their eyes, ears, and arms in the homes of patients and members. CareLinx was Acquired by Generali Global Assistance in Sep 2017. Generali is the 3rd largest insurance company in the world with global operations generating over $80b in annual revenue. CareLinx is continuing to operate under its own established brand with Sherwin Sheik continuing to lead the company as CEO. Prior to founding CareLinx, Sherwin worked and invested in the healthcare industry for over ten years. His business interests centered on large healthcare corporations while working as a healthcare trader and analyst for a $900 million Equity Long/Short Hedge Fund, and in Investment Banking & Global Capital Markets.
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About CareLinx: CareLinx is a nationwide tech-enabled caregiver marketplace.
Vincent Dee
Technical Co-Founder & Lead Engineer of CareLinx
Vincent Dee is Technical Co-Founder & Lead Developer at CareLinx.
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About CareLinx: CareLinx is a nationwide tech-enabled caregiver marketplace.
Lisa Marrone
Co-Founder of Revel
Lisa Marrone joined August Capital in August of 2017. Lisa had previously worked with August Capital during the Summer of 2016 while completing her JD/MBA. Prior to joining August Capital, Lisa worked short stints at the White House for President Obama’s National Economic Council, and as director of strategic marketing for Lyndra, a biotechnology company in Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, she spent three years at Bain & Company in New York City.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Revel: Revel is a marketplace for women over 50 to host and attend small, local gatherings on topics of their choice.
Alexa Wahr
Co-Founder of Revel
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About Revel: Revel is a marketplace for women over 50 to host and attend small, local gatherings on topics of their choice.
António Trincão
Co-Founder, CEO, Investor of Youcanevent
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About Youcanevent: Is the first marketplace where you can visualize your next event in VR and book the vendors needed for your real-world event experience.
Michael Guirguis
Founder & CEO of SESO
Michael Guirguis is Co-founder and CEO at SESO.
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About SESO: SESO is a labor marketplace for agriculture.
Remco van den Elzen
Co-Founder and COO of Leap
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About Leap: Leap is a marketplace for Distributed Energy Resources to participate in the energy market.
Heini Zachariassen
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Vivino
Heini is Vivino’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Credited with bringing a technology revolution to the wine industry, Heini founded Vivino because he was frustrated by not knowing which wine to buy. It’s been his passion project ever since. During his tenure, Vivino has grown into a community of 46 million users, raised $72 million in funding, and rolled out a worldwide wine marketplace. Before starting Vivino, Heini co-founded several startups, including global internet and mobile security company BullGuard. Heini leads the team from Vivino’s European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Heini and Vivino’s story is featured in an independent documentary, “Disrupting Wine, The Life of an Entrepreneur.” Heini also hosts the YouTube series Raw Startup, which offers candid advice for entrepreneurs and startups.
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About Vivino: Vivino is a wine app and online wine marketplace that provides users tools to buy better wine based on their unique tastes.
Bobby Brannigan
Co-Founder & CEO of Mercato
Bobby is currently Co-Founder & CEO at Mercato, an online grocery marketplace that connects customers who want to do their food shopping at their convenience, with local merchants. He previously was Founder & CEO at ValoreBooks, an online marketplace for college textbooks. In 2002, while he was a student at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Bobby founded ValoreBooks.com. In 2012, ValoreBooks.com was acquired by Simple Tuition, Inc. In 2015, he co-founded Mercato.
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About Cafe X Technologies, Cannoli Ventures, DraftKings, Dreamcloud, influence.co, Mercato, NextGen Venture Partners, Paintzen, Reblaze, Swiftly, Twilio, Uber, Yieldify, YourMechanic: Mercato is an online grocery marketplace that connects consumers with local merchants.
Dallas Imbimbo
Founder of BigRentz
Mr. Dallas Imbimbo is Co-Founder of Kush Bottles, Inc. and served as its Chairman since December 2010 until November 18, 2017 and serves as its Director. Mr. Imbimbo Co-founded Bigrentz, Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer until April 6, 2017. He oversaw all aspects of BigRentz’s growth and works directly with large vendors and clients throughout the United States. He is instrumental in the growth of many businesses. Before establishing BigRentz, Mr. Imbimbo gained experience in senior roles at various startup companies. He also launched PackMyDorm. He is an Executive and Entrepreneur. he serves as Chairman of Bigrentz, Inc. He attended the University of California, Davis.
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About Kush Bottles: BigRentz is an online construction equipment rental marketplace with over 2,500 partners with 8,500 rental yards.
Nick Kovacevich
Founder of BigRentz
In his role as CEO for Kush Bottles, Nick directs all business relations and financial strategy for the company. Nick also oversees the organization’s senior management team. Nick has been integral in making critical strategic, growth, and financial decisions since the company’s inception. Nick holds a Bachelor of Science from Southwest Baptist University where he studied Sports Management and earned Academic All-American honors. While at SBU, Nick played small forward for the men’s basketball team, leading the Bearcats to the Sweet 16.
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About BigRentz, Kush Bottles: BigRentz is an online construction equipment rental marketplace with over 2,500 partners with 8,500 rental yards.
Robert Friedman
Co-Founder of Ten-X
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About Ten-X: Ten-X provides online real estate services.
Loic Le Meur
Founder & CEO of Leade.rs
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About Leade.rs: Leade.rs is a speaker and event marketplace that identifies new trends and the intriguing people behind them.
Lona Alia
Founder & CEO of Style Lend
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About Style Lend: Style Lend (formerly Stylend) is a fashion rental marketplace.
Max Coleman
Founder & CEO of Heal.me
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About Heal.me: Heal.me is a marketplace and booking platform that focuses on wellness practitioners.
Lisa Yu
CEO & Founder of OFFICEBOOK
Lisa Yu is a Venture Capitalist, Angel Investor, Entrepreneur, Startup Advisor, and Humanitarian. She is an advocate for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Her mission is to create a more sustainable world and equitable society.
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About Ark VC, Dream Teamers, OFFICEBOOK: Airbnb for Offices – Find & List Workspace
Brian Nickerson
CEO & Co-Founder of MagicLinks
Brian is Co-Founder and CEO of MagicLinks, which empowers YouTube creators with tools for authentic social commerce. Brian also founded Chippmunk, a coupon search engine, and built the Shopping Division of Internet Brands from 0 to 100 employees and $175M in value in 3 years. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Economics from Dartmouth College, and played third base in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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About MagicLinks: The leader in social commerce for video influencers and the world’s top brands
Christian Levy
Co-Founder and Head of Engineering of MagicLinks
Co-founder and head of development for Magiclinks.org. Helping YouTubers and other social media content creators monetize shopping trips they inspire through their content.
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About Chippmunk, MagicLinks: The leader in social commerce for video influencers and the world’s top brands
Sascha Mornell
Co-Founder & CEO of GetMyBoat
Sascha Mornell is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of GetMyBoat, ZigAir, and Phacil. Previously, he worked for register.com, where he served as SVP of Sales & Marketing. Mr. Mornell also worked at the National Basketball Association and Dreyer’s, Japan in Tokyo. Mr. Mornell has served as an advisor/investor to several small businesses, including Osmio (acquired by Aramark), Markmonitor, AW Media and others. Mr. Mornell graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About GetMyBoat, SaraGEO, ZigAir: GetMyBoat is the marketplace for boat rentals, yacht charters, and on-the-water experiences.
Raf Collado
Co-Founder of GetMyBoat
Rafael Collado is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of GetMyBoat, ZigAir, and Phacil. Mr. Collado has founded, built, managed and sold three companies, including: Inabox, a web-based software company dedicated to web site creation tools acquired by register.com in 2000, BERN Associates, Inc., a company that provided Internet consulting, network services and content development tools to telephone companies that was acquired by Prime Cellular in 1996, and Sigma Research, a software company acquired by FastComm Communications in 1993. Mr. Collado also founded and was CEO of Protocom Devices, which he took public in 1985.Mr. Collado was an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department of The Cooper Union Institute in New York, and he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn where he majored in Electrical Engineering.
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About GetMyBoat, Protocom Aviation, SaraGEO, ZigAir: GetMyBoat is the marketplace for boat rentals, yacht charters, and on-the-water experiences.
Dylan Pyle
Co-Founder, CTO of CALA
Dylan Pyle joined CALA as Co-Founder, CTO in 2016.
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About CALA: CALA is a marketplace that provides retail infrastructure for influencers and fashion brands to design and launch their own fashion brands.
Jeffrey Shaw
Founder & CEO of Underground Cellar
Founder and CEO of UndergroundCellar.com; Y Combinator W15
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About Underground Cellar: Underground Cellar is an online wine marketplace to discover, buy, and store premium wines.
Joshua Broggi
CEO & Founder of Woolf
Joshua is the founder of Woolf, a university project that makes it possible for qualified academics and institutions to create accredited courses and teach them. Previously, at Oxford, Joshua was a member of the Faculty of Philosophy, a member of Wolfson College, and a member of the governing Congregation of the University. He also held a Humboldt Fellowship, during which I worked on the definition and measure of human progress.
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About Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Oxford, Woolf: Marketplace, Market Network, EdTech, Higher Education
Jesse Lee
Founder, CEO of Basic Space
Founder/CEO of Basic Space
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About Basic Space, Dub Frequency Media: Mobile App, E-Commerce
Steve Bennet
Founder and Managing Director of Bodega
Steve Bennet is the founder and managing director of Bodega Partners and is an active participant in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem as start-up CFO, Angel Investor, and Professor. Over the past 20 years, he has been CFO, investor, and/or board member of over 50 technology start-ups, primarily in the software, Internet, and mobile sectors. CFO roles include Revel Systems, iControl Networks, Appstores (acquired by InMobi), Greystripe (acquired by ValueClick), Fliqz (acquired by VBrick Systems), Valchemy (acquired by IBM), GolfWeb (acquired by CBS Sportsline), Orbital Data (acquired by Citrix), TextDigger (acquired by Federated Media), and Pharmacy TV Network (acquired by RMG Networks). Some of these resulted in excellent financial returns to founders and investors, while others did not. Steve has a passion for both entrepreneurship and education. He has taught entrepreneurial finance since 1995 and is currently adjunct faculty at San Jose State University. Previously, he was a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley. His focus is on experiential education and has developed new courses at SJSU, including the Entrepreneurship Lab (ELAB), Venture Lab (VLAB), and the Silicon Valley Experience. He is also on the Steering Committee for the Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship and UCLA Venture Capital Fund. Prior to and concurrent with Bodega, Steve was a Venture Partner at Outlook Ventures, Board Member of Sand Hill Angels, Partner at Menlo Incubator and held various financial and management positions at Bay Logics, Digital Microwave, and Arthur Andersen. Steve earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. He blogs at www.professorvc.com and tweets @ProfessorVC.
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About Bodega, Qvivr, San Jose State University, Sand Hill Angels, Xenio Systems: Bodega is the world’s first virtual goods marketplace, which bridges the gap between diverse social networks and creates a synthesized
David Lord
Founder & CEO of Guidesly
David Lord serves as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at JumpStart Games.
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About Guidesly: Mobile App connecting outdoor enthusiasts with guides
Matthew Morrison O’Connor
Co-Founder of AdQuick
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About AdQuick: AdQuick is a marketplace to buy and sell outdoor advertising.
Connor Burden
Co-Founder of AdQuick
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About AdQuick: AdQuick is a marketplace to buy and sell outdoor advertising.
Josiah Gordon
Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Drinks
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About Drinks: DRINKS is disrupting the way wine is sold by bringing consumers the highest quality wine at the lowest prices, direct to their door
Jonathan Silber
CEO & Co-Founder of Purple Squirrel
Jon Silber is the Principal & Strategy at YouTube.
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About Purple Squirrel, YouTube: Purple Squirrel gives job seekers access to employees at the best companies in the world so that they can make friends in high places
Kelly Perdew
Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Moonshots Capital
Co-Founder & Managing General Partner at Moonshots Capital.
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About Moonshots Capital, TargetClose: Seed stage venture capital firm that invests in extraordinary leadership.
