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 Partner operating in the Information Technology space. If you think a Partner 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.
Sriram Krishnan
SVP Product, Marketing & Partnerships of HeadSpin
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About HeadSpin: HeadSpin is a developer of a digital experience intelligence platform used to provide flawless digital experiences.
Wei Guo
Founding Partner of UpHonest Capital
Wei Guo, managing partner of UpHonest Capital and founder of Wei Fund, was recognized in the 2016’s Top 20 Global Cross-Border Early Stage Chinese Investors by China Venture and one of the Most Active Silicon Valley Chinese Angel Investors by China Angel Investing Summit in 2016. Washington Post called him one of “China Whispers.” Over the past three years, Wei Fund has invested in 120+ Silicon Valley startups, including six exits, and more than half have secured the next round of financing. Investors of Wei Fund include institutions such as Banyan Capital, New Horizon Fund, iResearch, LeBox Capital, Pagoda Investment and NCM China, and individual investors such as Sheng Fu, Shanyou Li, and executives from Tencent and Alibaba.
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About UpHonest Capital, UpHonest Capital, Wei Fund: UpHonest Capital is an international venture capital firm that specializes in providing investment capital to early-stage startups.
Anthony Saleh
General Partner of WndrCo
Anthony Saleh is an investor in all spectrums of life and technology, music executive, artist management, branding specialist, and strategic partnership specialist. He has been awarded the Billboard 30 Under 30 Top Music Executive and the Hollywood Reporter Top 35 Under 35 Music Executive.
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About Emagen Investment Group, Inc., Humble Beginnings, QueensBridge Venture Partners, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Uncle Sam Loves Me, LLC, VCAP Investment Group, Inc., WndrCo: WndrCo is a holding company that invests in, acquires, develops, and operates consumer technology businesses for the long term.
Ann Daly
Co-Founder, Managing Partner of WndrCo
Ann Daly is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at WndrCo. Ann is a long-time entertainment industry leader and innovator. Prior to co-founding WndrCo, she served as President and COO of DreamWorks Animation, where she was responsible for business strategy, creative, production, technology, and operating business units, helping build the company into the world’s largest animation studio as well as a center of production technology innovation.
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About DreamWorks Animation, WndrCo: WndrCo is a holding company that invests in, acquires, develops, and operates consumer technology businesses for the long term.
Sujay Jaswa
Founder & Managing Partner of WndrCo
Sujay Jaswa is founder and managing partner at WndrCo, a holding company that invests in and acquires consumer technology businesses. He serves as Chairman of Aura, Twingate, VPN Super, and is a Director of The Infatuation. Board member of Vy Global Growth (Nasdaq: VYGG). Advisor at Seven1 Sports & Entertainment Agency. He is also a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He formerly served as business founder, vice president of business, and CFO of Dropbox from 2010 to 2015. At Dropbox, Sujay created and led the global business and finance organization. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About Pango, WndrCo: WndrCo is a holding company that invests in, acquires, develops, and operates consumer technology businesses for the long term.
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Co-Founder, Managing Partner of WndrCo
Jeffrey Katzenberg is the Founder, Managing Partner at WndrCo.
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About Quibi, WndrCo: WndrCo is a holding company that invests in, acquires, develops, and operates consumer technology businesses for the long term.
ChenLi Wang
General Partner of WndrCo
ChenLi Wang is the Chief Product Officer at Aura.
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About WndrCo: WndrCo is a holding company that invests in, acquires, develops, and operates consumer technology businesses for the long term.
Raj Dhamodharan
EVP Blockchain / Digital Asset Products & Partnerships of Mastercard
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About Mastercard: Mastercard provides payment processing products and solutions, and related consulting services.
Leigh Amaro
SVP, Enterprise Partnerships of Mastercard
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About Mastercard: Mastercard provides payment processing products and solutions, and related consulting services.
Jenny Lefcourt
General Partner of Freestyle
Jenny Lefcourt is a General Partner at Freestyle. Jenny earned her B.S. in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 1998 she left Stanford to found Wedding Channel.com (sold: XOXO). In 2003 she co-founded Bella Pictures (sold: CPI). In 2014 Jenny joined Freestyle, and was promoted to GP in 2015. Some of Jenny’s notable investments include BetterUp, Crexi, Daily.co, Embark, Ridwell, Narvar and WELL Health. She is also a founding member and board member of All Raise. Jenny is an angel investor in Discord, MainStreetHub and Minted.
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About All Raise, BetterUp, Crexi, Discord, Freestyle, Narvar, Well Health: Freestyle is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies.
David Samuel
Founding General Partner of Freestyle
David Samuel is an experienced executive, serial entrepreneur, and Internet pioneer in software & media. Today, Dave is co-founder of Freestyle Capital, an early-stage Internet & technology venture capital firm, with investments in over 66 companies. Prior to Freestyle, Dave co-founded Crackle.com in 2004 (acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment for $65 million in 2006) and founded Spinner.com in 1996 (acquired by AOL for $320 million in 1999). Dave graduated from MIT with a degree in Electrical Engineering, is an SF Giants fan, enjoys both wake boarding and snowboarding, and lives in Marin with his 4 children.
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About Freestyle, Toi Labs: Freestyle is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies.
Steve Reale
CFO & Venture Partner of Ulu Ventures
Steve Reale joined Ulu Ventures as CFO and Venture Partner in 2019.
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About Aria Systems, Kauffman Fellows, Madison Bay Capital Partners, Midwestern Bioag, ShotSpotter, Ulu Ventures: Ulu Ventures provides early-stage investments to enterprise cloud and smart data companies.
Dominik Andrzejczuk
Managing Partner of Atmos Ventures
Dom has been involved in technology startups since the beginning of his professional career. He cofounded mobile payments startup Nooch, in 2010 and has since been involved in the fin tech vertical. Most recently, he was the Product Lead at the Virtual Currency startup Sohalo, where he established global relationships with Fortune 500 companies, and developed the core social loyalty product. Dom holds a degree in Physics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
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About Atmos Ventures: Atmos Ventures is focused on investing, nurturing, and growing Seed and Series A-stage European firms, in Quantum Computing, AI & Deep Tech
Alex Salazar
Partner of Neotribe Ventures
Alex Salazar Before starting Stormpath, Alex was a senior sales executive at IBM where he managed $30M+ accounts at ESPN, Viacom, Bloomberg, NBC/Universal, and Government. Prior to IBM, Alex was an enterprise software developer. He has a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Stanford.
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About Neotribe Ventures: Neotribe Ventures is an early stage-venture capital firm which invests in breakthrough technologies that stretch the imagination.
Patrick Mathieson
Partner of Toba Capital
Early stage (seed/A) B2B software investor at Toba Capital. Also occasional angel investor.
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About Anagram, Luxury Presence, Samply, Toba Capital: Toba Capital is an investment firm committed to helping create incredible technology companies.
Sumant Mandal
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of March Capital
Sumant is Managing Director and cofounder of LA-based March Capital Partners, in addition to being cofounder of two leading technology incubators in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Hive, which focuses on AI and Blockchain driven companies, and The Fabric, which focuses on cloud, IoT and network infrastructure companies. Sumant invests in Cloud Computing, IoT, AI/ML, and Network Infrastructure as well as companies focused on the Indian market. Sumant currently serves on the boards of numerous market leading companies, including BillDesk, The Rubicon Project, CarTrade, IoTium, and Xage Security. In his nearly two decades of venture capital, Sumant has generated multiple meaningful exits in companies he has either incubated or been the first institutional investor. Most recently, Sumant played an integral role in VMWare’s acquisition of cloud networking startup VeloCloud, as well as Cisco’s acquisition of machine-learning startup Perspica, both in late 2017. As an active board member, and investor in both companies, Sumant fostered their development and growth since their formations at The Fabric and The Hive, respectively. Other companies that he has incubated and helped lead to a successful exit include The Rubicon Project (NYSE:RUBI), Kosei (acquired by Pinterest), Appcito (acquired by A10 Networks), Deep Forest Media (acquired by Rakuten), Kazeon Systems (acquired by EMC), Mimosa Systems (acquired by Iron Mountain), Ankeena Networks (acquired by Juniper), Cetas (acquired by VMware), and Apture (acquired by Google). In 2000, Sumant joined Clearstone Venture Partners where he went on to become a Managing Director four years later. In 2014, he cofounded March Capital Partners, which has since grown to $500M under management. Prior to Clearstone, Sumant spent more than eight years as an entrepreneur, starting companies in both India and the United States. Sumant has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University. He is a Charter Member of TiE.
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About Clearstone Venture Partners, March Capital, The Fabric, The Hive: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Wes Nichols
Partner of March Capital
Wes Nichols is a Board Partner at Upfront Ventures and an active technology investor and advisor. Wes is serial entrepreneur and an industry authority in predictive analytics, AI/Machine Learning, and attribution, creating and scaling solutions for global brands. Wes is the author of the Harvard Business Review cover story, Analytics 2.0, on next-generation analytics to drive more predictive CMO decision-making. Most recently, Wes was the Chief Strategy Officer at Neustar (NYSE: NSR), the leading company in authenticated identity for marketing and security. Neustar acquired his company, MarketShare, where he was co-founder and CEO. MarketShare’s analytics SaaS solutions are used by companies globally to drive resource allocation decisions and marketing investments, and is now the dominant market leader in the field of analytics, with its clients directing over $80 billion in marketing this year. MarketShare, recently acquired by Neustar for nearly a half a billion dollars, was backed by FTV Capital, Elevation Partners and Silver Lake, the world’s largest technology investor. Prior to starting MarketShare, Wes was with Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC) as President and CEO of TBWA’s digital business, working with Nissan, Sony, Pfizer, and other brands. Prior, he was the founder and CEO of Direct Partners, building from scratch one of the industry’s first data-driven analytics companies, which was acquired by Omnicom Group. Wes is a member of the Board of Directors of TrueCar (NASDAQ: TRUE) and BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ: BJRI), the LAPD Foundation, and a Trustee of Randolph-Macon College. Wes is an active member in both Young Presidents Organization (YPO) as well as the Pacific Council on International Policy.
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About March Capital: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Gregory Milken
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of March Capital
Gregory Milken is Managing Director at March Capital Partners, where he focuses on investments in digital media, gaming and esports. Gregory has led March Capital’s investments in broadcasting solution Genvid Technologies, game mastery platform Dojo Madness, and game developers nWay and Wavedash. Gregory has over 15 years of entrepreneurial and operational experience. He was the co-founder and COO of AltEgo, a cloud-based technology and gaming company. Prior to his work in technology, he worked in strategy and operations for Knowledge Universe Education, new business development at Warner Bros. in Hong Kong and London, and at Twentieth Century Fox. Gregory received his M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a M.A. in international policy studies from Stanford University. He also received a B.A. in international relations and Asian studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About AltEgo, March Capital: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Jamie Montgomery
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of March Capital
Jamie Montgomery is a Founder and Managing Director of March Capital Partners. Prior he was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Montgomery & Co, a leading Los Angeles-based investment bank where he advised and financed over 1000 leading technology companies over a 25 year period. He is the founder of The Montgomery Summit, an annual conference that attracts over 1,000 leading entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives for a celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation to Santa Monica. Jamie received his M.A. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
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About March Capital: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Jim Armstrong
Founding Partner of March Capital
A successful and experienced early stage venture investor across a variety of enterprise and consumer facing technology companies, Jim has established himself as a leading investor based in Southern California. Jim has applied his experience and industry contacts to help companies deliver a strong record of venture performance. Jim’s invests nationwide and focuses on information technology investments, with particular interest in consumer Internet, application software, and Internet enabled market places. On several occasions, Forbes Magazine has recognized Jim on its “Midas List” as one of the top Venture Capitalists in the United States. Jim co-founded March Capital in 2014 and has been at Clearstone Venture Partners since 1998. Jim worked with Idealab, the incubator, in the late 90s and started his career at Austin Ventures in 1995. Jim’s investments at March Capital Partners include Branch, SpyCloud, Lexicon and Vyng. Jim led Clearstone’s ACTIVE investments in SupplyFrame, Vast, and UserTesting, and is on the board of two incubators – The Hive (big data) and The Fabric (cloud networking). Jim actively represented Clearstone’s early stage, “pre-revenue,” investments in former portfolio companies PayPal (acquired by eBay as a public company), United Online (NASDAQ: UNTD), Internet Brands (NASDAQ:INET before being taken private), Integrien (acquired by VMWare), Jump Networks (acquired by Microsoft), Comet Systems (acquired by Miva), TriVida (acquired by BeFree) and Composite Software (acquired by Cisco). Jim is an angel investor in and advisor to many companies, and he sits on the board of the Los Angeles Venture Association. Jim holds a BA in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and an MBA from the McCombs School at the University of Texas at Austin.
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About Clearstone Venture Partners, March Capital: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Jed Leidheiser
Partner of March Capital
At March Capital Partners, Jed invests in and works with passionate entrepreneurs. He previously focused on enterprise investing at Work-Bench Ventures in NYC. Earlier, Jed was a Senior Manager at Accenture and long-term consultant for Goldman Sachs. Jed received his MBA from UCLA Anderson and his BS from the University of Virginia, where he double-majored in Economics and Computer Engineering.
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About March Capital: March is committed to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great tech companies and scale them globally.
Tetsuya Nakamura
Partner Solutions Architect of Amazon Web Services
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About Amazon Web Services: Amazon Web Services provides information technology infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services.
Mike Dauber
General Partner of Amplify Partners
General Partner at Amplify Partners.
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About Amplify Partners: Amplify Partners invests in technical founders solving technical problems for the enterprise.
Lenny Pruss
General Partner of Amplify Partners
Lenny Pruss is a Partner of Amplify Partners. He has more than eight years experience working alongside and on behalf of entrepreneurs as an advisor, mentor, and investor. Lenny works with technical founders solving complex problems across cloud infrastructure, developer tools, cybersecurity, and emerging enterprise technologies. Prior to joining Amplify Partners, he was a Principal with Redpoint Ventures where he led the firm’s investments in Hashicorp and a stealth application performance monitoring company. Lenny began his career with RRE Ventures in New York where he shaped the firm’s enterprise investment thesis and backed companies including Datadog and WhipTail Technologies (acquired by Cisco). He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a founding partner of Rock Venture Partners, a student-led seed investment fund, and a B.S. with honors from UC Berkeley.
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About Amplify Partners, Cockroach Labs, Lenny For Your Thoughts: Amplify Partners invests in technical founders solving technical problems for the enterprise.
Sarah Catanzaro
Partner of Amplify Partners
Sarah is a Principal at Amplify Partners, where she focuses on startups that apply for technological advances in machine intelligence and enterprise infrastructure to solve real-world problems. She started her career in the smoke-filled rooms of the military-industrial complex after graduating from Stanford University as a Center for International Security and Cooperation Honors Scholar. In her first position as a Research Director for the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS), she and her team used advanced statistical models to predict the behavior of covert organizations, including Somali pirates, illicit charcoal traders, and jihadist insurgencies. She subsequently leveraged computational methods to help public agencies ranging from the US Joint Forces Command to the Secret Service anticipate and disrupt complex threats. Upon joining Mattermark as Head of Data, she applied similar approaches to incomplete and uncertain datasets on private companies. Like insurgencies, startups rarely broadcast information about their growth trajectories; however, Sarah’s team used sophisticated data science and machine learning techniques to help VCs understand startup dynamics. As one of the first Data PMs, Sarah also played an instrumental role in developing frameworks for data strategy and data team operations. At Canvas Ventures, where she started her venture career, Sarah utilized similar methodologies to source the firm’s investments in Fluxx, Platform9, and Kinetica. She also worked with Canvas portfolio companies to implement data strategies aligned with their broader organizational goals. Although these days she’s no longer involved in hostage negotiations, Sarah still enjoys a heated game of Battleship and debate on military strategy and its applications to business. She also tempers her interest in topics related to war and violence by exploring modern and contemporary art and through long walks on the beach with her Cavapoo, Bixby.
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About Amplify Partners, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL): Amplify Partners invests in technical founders solving technical problems for the enterprise.
Sunil Dhaliwal
Founder & General Partner of Amplify Partners
Sunil Dhaliwal is a General Partner of Amplify Partners. He has 18 years of experience as an early-stage investor and mentor to entrepreneurs. Sunil backs founders with unique insights into distributed systems, data infrastructure, or information security. He has helped founders build companies from concept to IPO, and his passion lies in defining and positioning winning products. Prior to founding Amplify Partners, Sunil was a General Partner at Battery Ventures where he spent 14 years investing in category-defining IT infrastructure companies such as Chef, Netezza (acquired by IBM), Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK), CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing), and @stake (acquired by Symantec). He has been named to both the Forbes Midas List, which ranks the top 100 venture capitalists around the world, and the AlwaysOn Top 100 list of VCs. Prior to his work as an investor, he was a member of the technology investment banking team at Alex. Brown & Sons, Inc. Sunil graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Finance and International Business.
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About ActionIQ, Amplify Partners, Datadog, Enlitic, InterVenn, mabl, PicnicHealth: Amplify Partners invests in technical founders solving technical problems for the enterprise.
David Beyer
Partner of Amplify Partners
David is a Partner at Amplify Partners and focuses on machine learning and analytics startups, as well as new ventures in cloud infrastructure. Before joining Amplify Partners, David spent time as both a venture-backed entrepreneur and an early-stage investor. He began his career in technology as the co-founder and CEO of Chartio.com, a pioneering provider of cloud-based data visualization and analytics. He was subsequently part of the founding team at Patients Know Best, one of the world’s leading cloud-based personal health record companies. David has been a prolific investor and advisor to entrepreneurs. He has personally invested in more than 50 early-stage companies, including Zymergen, Skycatch, Caribou Biosciences, Rigetti Computing, Casetext, Ginkgo Bioworks, Function of Beauty, Cruise Automation, and Bugcrowd. In addition, he currently serves on the advisory council of Bayes Impact, a nonprofit organization that deploys data science to solve important social challenges.
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About Amplify Partners: Amplify Partners invests in technical founders solving technical problems for the enterprise.
Sanjay Katyal
Global Vice President, Business Development and Partner Sales, Integrated Systems Business Unit of VMware
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About Druva, VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Matthew Weiner
Director, Technology Partner Engagement Services of VMware
Matthew Weiner is an 8 year veteran at VMware and the leader of the Technology Alliance Partner program (TAP), the VMware PKS Solution Competency and the Master Services Competency – Cloud Native.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Marcus Phipps
Director, Partner Go-to-Market and Sales Acceleration of VMware
Marcus Phipps serves as director of partner sales acceleration at VMware.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Alain Debost
Director, Global Partner Development Funds of VMware
Alain Debost is the Director of World-Wide Development Funds at VMware. He is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in global IT companies in Finance, Marketing, Go-To-Market, Partner Sales roles to bring disruptive products and solutions, both hardware and software, and Programs to market.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Frances Wong
Cloud Partner Solution Architect of VMware
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Kendra DeCoste
Director, Global Partner Marketing of VMware
Kendra DeCoste serves as director of global partner marketing at VMware.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Kendra DeCoste
Director, Global Partner Marketing of VMware
Kendra DeCoste serves as director of global partner marketing at VMware.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Bob Goldsand
Senior Staff Partner Enterprise Architect of VMware
Bob Goldsand is a senior staff partner enterprise architect at VMware.
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About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
Masha Drokova
Founder and General Partner of Day One Ventures
Masha is the Founder and General Partner at Day One Ventures. Before launching Day One, she was an angel investor and founder of a PR studio that worked with companies like Houzz, HotelTonight, Gett, and Toptal. She was named to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 List, and as a Top 50 PR Pro in Tech by Business Insider. Masha has a deep love for our earth and serves as an advisor to Oceanic, a non-profit using VR to bring attention to issues impacting our oceans
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About Day One Ventures: Day One Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that backs customer-obsessed companies and spearheads their communications.
Luke Roush
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Sovereign’s Capital
Luke Roush co-founded 410 Medical alongside Dr. Piehl in 2013. He is currently a Managing Principal of Sovereign’s Capital, the venture capital firm which he co-founded in 2012. Previously, Luke has twelve years of experience in global commercialization and business development at venture-backed and Fortune 500 companies. He was Vice President for Sales, Marketing, and Business Development at TransEnterix, a medical device company that developed and commercialized a minimally invasive surgical system in the US, Europe, and Middle East. Prior to joining TransEnterix, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Liquidia Technologies, a nanotechnology company focused on biopharmaceutical applications. Mr. Roush was also global marketing manager for Boston Scientific’s neurovascular stroke business. Mr. Roush graduated summa cum laude from Duke University, and earned his MBA from The Fuqua School of Business.
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About 410 Medical, Sovereign’s Capital: Sovereign’s Capital provides growth capital for consumer SaaS, B2B tech, healthcare IT, and med devices.
Henry Kaestner
Managing Principal, Co-Founder & Partner of Sovereign’s Capital
Henry Kaestner is the Chairman, Co-Founder and previous CEO of Bandwidth.com, a company that together with his business partner, David Morken, he has grown from $0 to $200 million in revenue. The values of Bandwidth.com have always been: Faith, Family, Work and Fitness (in that order). Bandwidth.com was the 4th fastest growing privately held company in the country from 2003 through 2007, a position it achieved without acquisition or institutional funding. Prior to co-founding Bandwidth.com Mr. Kaestner founded Chapel Hill Brokers (a predecessor to ICAP Energy), an institutional energy derivatives broker that became the top ranked electricity broker in the country. Mr. Kaestner has also been involved in a number of ministry and philanthropic activities. He co-founded and serves as Chairman of the Board of DurhamCares, sits on the Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Board of Directors of Praxis, an accelerator committed to helping Faith driven entrepreneurs. He serves as an elder in the Presbyterian Church of America and lives in Saratoga, CA with his wife Kimberley and their three sons.
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About Faith Driven Investor, Sovereign’s Capital: Sovereign’s Capital provides growth capital for consumer SaaS, B2B tech, healthcare IT, and med devices.
William Norvell
Venture Partner of Sovereign’s Capital
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About AMDG Capital, Sovereign’s Capital: Sovereign’s Capital provides growth capital for consumer SaaS, B2B tech, healthcare IT, and med devices.
Russell Bjorkman
Venture Partner, General Counsel of Sovereign’s Capital
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About Lighthouse, Sovereign’s Capital: Sovereign’s Capital provides growth capital for consumer SaaS, B2B tech, healthcare IT, and med devices.
Fred Thiel
Managing Partner of Navigate Ventures LLC
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About Graham Partners, Marathon Digital, Marathon Patent Group, Navigate Ventures LLC, YPO: B2B Enterprise SaaS & Internet, Early/Mid Growth Capital, Operational and Sector Expertise
Ivan Nikkhoo
Managing Partner of Navigate Ventures LLC
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About Chief Executives Organization, N3 Capital, LLC, Navigate Ventures LLC, Pacific Council on International Policy, The National Venture Capital Association, USC Marshall School of Business, YPO: B2B Enterprise SaaS & Internet, Early/Mid Growth Capital, Operational and Sector Expertise
Paulo Marques
Founding Partner and CTO of Feedzai
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About Carnegie Mellon University, Feedzai, Forbes Technology Council: Feedzai develops risk management tools to prevent fraud and money laundering in transactions.
Nancy Pfund
Founder & Managing Partner of DBL Partners
Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm whose goal is to combine top-tier financial returns with meaningful social, environmental and economic returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests. Nancy is also the Founder of DBL Investors. As a leading player in the growing field of “impact investing”, DBLhas helped to reveal the power of venture capital to promote social change and environmental improvement, and Nancy Pfund writes and speaks frequently on this topic. Nancy Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) on both the audit and compensation committees, and is chair of the corporate governance committee; Farmers Business Network, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Off-Grid Electric, Primus Power, The Muse, and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora. Prior to founding DBL Investors, Nancy Pfund was a Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan, having started her investment career at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984. Previously, Nancy Pfund worked at Intel Corporation, the State of California, Stanford University and the Sierra Club. Nancy Pfund was recently featured in 2016 Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business list; featured #17 in the 2014 FORTUNE Inaugural World’s Top 25 Eco-Innovators; is Chair of the Advisory Council of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University; a member of the Advisory Board of: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab); and the UC Davis Center for Energy Efficiency, and a Trustee of the National Geographic Society. She has been a Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Yale School of Management; and is a C3E Ambassador to the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy. She is also a founding officer and director of ABC2, a foundation aimed at accelerating a cure for brain cancer. Nancy Pfund is the author, along with Benjamin Healey of the widely cited report on the history of U.S. energy subsidies entitled, “What Would Jefferson Do? The Historical Role of Federal Subsidies in Shaping America’s Energy Future”, co-authored with Michael Lazar, “Red, White & Green: The True Colors of America’s Clean Tech Jobs”, co-authored with Noah Walker, “Ask Saint Onofrio: Finding What Has Been Lost in A Tale of Two Energy Sources”, co-authored with Anand Chhabra, “Renewables Are Driving Up Electricity Prices: Wait, What?”, and co-authored with Kristofer Holz, “The 2017 Inauguration: Empowering a Clean Energy Nation”. Nancy Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBAfrom the Yale School of Management
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About DBL Partners: DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Mike Dorsey
Managing Partner of DBL Partners
Mike Dorsey is a Managing Partner of DBL Investors. Previously he was a Managing Director at JPMorgan. Prior to his affiliation with the Bay Area Equity Fund, Mr. Dorsey worked for 20 years as an investment banker to technology companies. For six years, Mr. Dorsey served as Head of Technology Investment Banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Cowen & Co., primarily operating out of their Bay Area offices. During his tenure at Cowen & Co. he built the technology investment banking practice from a level of seven transactions per year in 1991 to 55 transactions per year in 1995. Mr. Dorsey established his own financial advisory and investment business in March 1999. In this capacity, Mr. Dorsey advised Signatures Network in its management buyout from Sony Music and in its subsequent sale of a controlling interest to CMGI. He served as Acting CEO of @pos, a publicly-traded company which has been acquired by Symbol Technologies Inc. Mr. Dorsey has been a resident of the Bay Area for 30 of the past 34 years. Mr. Dorsey is a Director of the United Way of the Bay Area, and a member of the Stanford Athletic Board and the Parents Advisory Boards of Stanford and Duke Universities. via: [DBL](http://dblinvestors.com/mike-dorsey.php)
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About Bay Area Equity Fund, DBL Partners: DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Cynthia Ringo
Senior Partner of DBL Partners
Cynthia Ringo is a Managing Partner of DBL Investors, which she joined in April of 2008. Cynthia Ringo currently sits on the board of directors of Solexant and View and works with Livescribe, Kateeva and Ecologic. Cynthia Ringo was formerly a Managing Director of VantagePoint Venture Partners from 2002 to 2008 where she was Group Leader of the Communications, Systems, Internet and Media Practice. Cynthia Ringo served as a Board Member of the following VantagePoint portfolio companies: Entrisphere, Klipsh, Tymphany, Widevine, Livescribe, Provina and Meriton. Prior to VantagePoint Venture Partners, Cynthia Ringo served as the CEO of Coppercom, a next-generation network switching company, from 1998 to 2001 and was the Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2002. While at Coppercom Cynthia Ringo took the company from pre-revenue and five employees to an industry leader in two new communications markets. Coppercom was acquired by Heico Corporation in 2003. Prior to Coppercom Cynthia Ringo was the SVP of Corporate Development and Business Units at networking company Madge Networks from 1993 to 1997. While at Madge Networks Cynthia Ringo had P&L responsibility for 3 business units with $400 million revenue and 500 staff, and identified and negotiated acquisitions worth over $500 million. Cynthia Ringo was the VP Marketing and Sales at data warehousing software company Red Brick Systems from 1990 to 1993. From 1980 to 1990 Cynthia Ringo held various legal, sales, marketing, business development, and consulting roles.
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About Broadway Angels, DBL Partners: DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Ira Ehrenpreis
Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners
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About DBL Partners, National Association of Corporate Directors, Technology Partners, The National Venture Capital Association, Western Association of Venture Capitalists: DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Mark Perutz
Partner of DBL Partners
Mark Perutz is a Partner at DBL Investors. Previously he was an investment professional at JPMorgan helping to manage the Bay Area Equity Fund from 2003 through the spin-out of the Bay Area Equity Fund from JPMorgan and the founding of DBL Investors in January 2008. He is on the board of Revolution Foods and has worked with the following portfolio companies: Primus Power, Solaria, SolarCity, Tesla Motors, PowerLight, eMeter, Solexant, Labcyte, XDx, Bentek and ReShape. Previously, Mark was an equity research analyst at Robertson Stephens. At Robertson, Mark focused on the enterprise software sector, where his area of coverage included companies such as: BEA Systems, Inktomi, Documentum, Interwoven, BroadVision, Allaire, SilverStream, Iona, Persistence and iManage. Mark has also worked in business development at Interwoven, a web content management company; performed technology and market research at the Tower Group; and built computer systems as a systems integration consultant for Accenture. Mark received a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and received a MBA from the Sloan School of Business at MIT.
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About DBL Partners, ReShape: DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Robert John Rodriguez
Partner and Co-Head of Media & Investment Banking of Silverbear Capital
Robert Rodriguez is Partner and Co-Head of Media & Real Estate Investment Banking at Silverbear Capital Inc and Managing Partner/Producer at American United Entertainment. He is also the Managing Partner at IFA Distribution and Managing Partner/CFO/Producer at American United Media. LLC. Robert is an executive with a 25-plus year career as a strategist, operator and brings a unique blend of creative passion and fiduciary diligence to every project. Mr. Rodriguez is a former West Coast Director at National Eagles and Angels Association and CIO – Chief Investment Officer at Aldamisa Entertainment, LLC. Robert graduated from California State University-Los Angeles with a bachelor of applied science in Computer Science.
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About Silverbear Capital: Silverbear Capital company research & investing information.
Jill Williams
Communications Partner of Prosus
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About Prosus, Prosus & Naspers: Prosus is a consumer internet group and a technology investor that operates and invests in markets with long-term growth potential.
Morgan Aitken-Young
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ventures Program Manager – Marketing, Partnerships, Business Development of Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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About Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an industry technology company that enables customers to go further and faster.
Kabir Misra
Managing Partner of SoftBank Group
Kabir Misra is a Managing Partner at SoftBank Capital and is responsible for the PrinceVille Growth Equity Fund. He is also President of SB China and India Holdings, which manages SoftBank’s Bodhi Fund, an early-stage fund primarily focused on Asia. In addition to being on the board of Gilt, Kabir sits on the boards of uStream, PayActiv, and IP Ventures; he is also an observer on the board of RenRen. Additionally, as Vice President of SoftBank Inc., Kabir assists SoftBank Corporation with numerous direct investments and other business development activities on the West Coast and globally. Prior to joining SoftBank, Kabir was an investment banker focused on the Internet and technology sectors, most recently with Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong and Goldman Sachs in Menlo Park. Kabir holds a BA with honors in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. He lives with his wife and their two children in Atherton, CA.
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About RPS Ventures, Softbank China & India Holdings, SoftBank Group: SoftBank Group is a holding company focused on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
Erin Collard
Partner of Conversion Capital
Erin Collard is a Partner at Conversion Capital.
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About Blend, Conversion Capital, Perpetua, SentiLink: Conversion Capital is an asset management firm focused on internet and software investments.
Tom Serres
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Animal Ventures
Founder of Rally, Founder of Animal Ventures, Managing Partner at Warburg Serres. Spending my days investing in legendary founders.
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About Animal Ventures, Rally, Warburg Serres Investments: Partnering your company with the hottest startups and emerging tech companies coming onto the market.
Andrew Solimine
Managing Partner of Script Capital
Managing Director of 122WEST, a San Francisco based early-stage venture capital firm. Former co-founder and CEO of Nitrous, cloud development platform w/ over 350,000 developers that raised $7.5M+ from Bessemer Venture Partners, Crunchfund, Tim Draper and Facebook Co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
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About : Script Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage internet and software investments.
Ted Ridgway
General Partner and Co-Founder of Launchpad Digital Health
Ted is a Co-Founder of Launchpad Digital Health, a leading venture firm making early stage investments in companies transforming healthcare. Earlier in his career he held executive finance, operations and management roles at companies as CFO and COO. Prior to these roles, Ted was an investment banker for 15 years and was involved in more than 100 healthcare and technology transactions with an aggregate value of more than $6 billion. Ted has an MBA from UCLA and a BA from UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.
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About Launchpad Digital Health: Launchpad Digital Health is an early-stage investor and mentor in digital health
Marlon Nichols
Co-founder & Managing General Partner of MaC Venture Capital
Marlon Nichols is the founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital (formerly Cross Culture Ventures), which finds entrepreneurs who are building the future for the rest of America. He’s a former Kauffman Fellow and Investment Director at Intel Capital, with an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment. Marlon’s unique eye for global trends and shifts in consumer behavior has helped him capture many high-potential investments and companies that reflect overlooked markets, including Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Thrive Market, PlayVS, Fair, LISNR, Mayvenn, Blavity, and Wonderschool. Marlon is the recipient of MVMT50’s SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity’s Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award and was a TechWeek 100 winner. He was named Pitchbook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch in 2018 and 2019 and one of Silicon Republic’s 26 VC professionals spearheading change. He’s been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Blavity and NBC, and is adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.
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About Airspace, Codeverse, Fair, MaC Venture Capital, Macro, Mahmee, PlayVS, Ready, Ryff, SoLo Funds: MaC Venture Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious.
Alyson DeNardo
Partner of MaC Venture Capital
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About MaC Venture Capital: MaC Venture Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious.
Ossama Hassanein
Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Rising Tide
Ossama is an entrepreneur, mentor, and venture capitalist. Over the last 35 years, he has managed over $1 billion of international technology funds in diverse leadership roles including EVP of Berkeley International in San Francisco, Chairman of Technocom Ventures in Paris, President of Newbridge Networks Holding in Canada, and Chairman of the Rising Tide Fund in Silicon Valley. In the eighties, he led the mezzanine financing of 80+ Silicon Valley based IT companies that became spectacular successes including: Adaptec; Cirrus Logic; Atmel; PMC-Sierra; LSI Logic; Linear Technologies; and Oracle. Combined market value today exceeds $200 billion. In the last 15 years, he was chairman or co-founder of six leading-edge digital communication startups in the US, UK and France including ACC in Santa Barbara (routers, acquired by Ericsson), Algety in Lannion (soliton transmission, acquired by Corvis), HighDeal in Caen (rating engines, acquired by SAP), Highwave in Bretagne (fiber optic amplifiers, Listed on Euronext), NetCentrex in Paris (VoIP, acquired by Comverse), nCipher in Cambridge UK (encryption, listed on LSE), and Zong in Menlo Park (acquired by eBay). Combined market value at exits: $2.2 billion. Currently, he is director of Bank of the West, and chairman of the Rising Tide Fund in Silicon Valley. He has served on the Board of Advisors of Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies and of UCSF Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine in San Francisco. He also served on the Board of Directors of Relief International, a non-profit, focusing his efforts on social entrepreneurship and women development in the Middle-East. He is currently chairman of the board of the Egyptian American Society and of TechWadi, the largest network of Arab American high technology executives in Silicon Valley. He is a charter member of the C-100, a Silicon- Valley based association dedicated to mentoring and angel financing Canadian entrepreneurs. He is also a member of the Board of PSD, an NGO focused on providing one Netbook per child for up to 280,000 Palestinian children in need of education. Dr. Hassanein is the Willard Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor at AUC (American University in Cairo) School of Business, where he is also member of the Board of Advisors. He lectured on Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University and the University of San Diego, and on international business at UC Berkeley and Santa Clara University. Ossama received his B.Sc. (first class honors) in electrical engineering from the University of Alexandria Egypt, his MBA, M.Sc. and PhD requirements in Electrical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Born and raised in Alexandria, Dr. Hassanein is married, has two children, and resides in Silicon Valley.
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About Newbury Ventures, Rising Tide: Rising Tide is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm funding entrepreneurs that help carry the founders’ visions.
Tamer Hassanein
Partner of Rising Tide
Tamer Hassanein is the General Partner at Rising Tide.
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About Foghorn Games, Newbury Ventures, Rising Tide, Timeline: Rising Tide is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm funding entrepreneurs that help carry the founders’ visions.
Craig Klemp
Senior Director of Global Partnerships of Evernote
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About Evernote, EZ Texting: Evernote is a suite of software and services that allow users to capture, organize, and find information across multiple platforms.
Bruce Leak
Co-Founding & General Partner of Playground Global
Bruce Leak is a Founding Partner at Playground Global.From an early age, his intellectual curiosity led to a fascination with computers and emerging technology, and later informed his career path which took him from the frontier days of Apple and Microsoft, to entrepreneurship, to his time at Playground investing in complex ideas with the potential to change the world. With a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, Bruce spent two summer internships at Microsoft. There, he tested an early prototype of Microsoft Word for the original IBM PC and later worked on the first versions of Microsoft’s Macintosh applications. His first full time role was with Apple’s System Software team where he led the company’s efforts on 32-bit Color Quickdraw which became the foundation of true color display on Mac screens and led to the birth of Quicktime. Bruce spent five years at Apple expanding the Quicktime team, shipping several versions of the product and speaking at developer conferences. Bruce was later recruited by Steve Perlman to General Magic, and they set out to build a color version of the platform for gaming. In 1993, Bruce joined forces with Peter Barrett and Steve Blank to form Rocket Science Games, where he hired many members of the Quicktime team, supported developers, and built the gaming platform. Bruce’s next venture was WebTV, which he founded with two General Magic alumni, Steve Perlman and Phil Goldman. WebTV was acquired by Microsoft and the company went on to ship the first DVR products for Echostar and DirectTV. After founding several startups selling technology and services to mobile phone operators and automotive OEMs and traveling the world, Bruce joined Andy Rubin, Peter Barrett, and Matt Hershenson to found Playground Global—the venture capital firm they wish existed when they were building their own companies. From robotics to quantum computing to groundbreaking medical advancements, Playground’s true north is leaving a lasting impact for generations to come. Bruce lives in Palo Alto and can still be found adventuring outdoors by kayak and by land. He is passionate about wildlife conservation, preserving natural habitats, and supporting animal sanctuaries.
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About CloudCar, Playground Global: Playground is an early-stage firm investing in science companies working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and automation.
Laurie Yoler
General Partner of Playground Global
Laurie Yoler is an ambitious problem-solver and prolific connector by nature, who has decades of experience operating, scaling, and advising companies from seed startups to multinational corporations. After spending time at Accenture and PwC, Laurie worked at Visa for four years where she helped create a new division focusing exclusively on debit cards, which eventually yielded the groundbreaking Visa Check Card. Next, she was at Sun Microsystems, where she helped the company emerge as the go-to server platform for software in the internet age. Next, Laurie was a founding team member at Packet Design, focusing on incubating networking and security companies. Laurie served as a Founding Board Member of Tesla, serving on the board of directors, and later on the board of advisors as the company went public. She also served on the board of Interactive Investor International in London through taking the company public. She became a founding managing director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners, advising entrepreneurs, completing M&A transactions and raising funds. Laurie was also President of Qualcomm Labs and SVP of Business Development for Qualcomm, driving new innovation, and closing new strategic partnerships and joint ventures. In addition to Zoox, Laurie currently serves on the board of directors of Bose, Church & Dwight, and the Computer History Museum, and on the advisory boards of Accenture, Platform Science, AI4All, and the Washington State Frank Fellows Entrepreneurship Program. At Playground, Laurie is applying her decades of experience and learnings to help early-stage tech companies grow and thrive.
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About Broadway Angels, Playground Global: Playground is an early-stage firm investing in science companies working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and automation.
Matt Hershenson
Co-Founder and General Partner of Playground Global
Matt Hershenson, a Founding Partner at Playground Global, knew he was going to be an engineer from an early age. As a teenager, he had an after-school job at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, where his size made him ideal for running cables under the raised floors in labs and machine rooms and above the dropped ceilings in the offices. He also learned how to repair and maintain the Computer Science Department’s Xerox Altos. His earliest professional experience was at Apple, where he worked first in manufacturing engineering in Apple’s “Mac Factory” and later worked in the PowerBook group on the design of Apple’s line of PowerBook laptops. In 2000, Matt co-founded Danger, which went on to produce the first consumer smartphone. After creating nine versions of the T-Mobile Sidekick and beginning the process of going public, Danger was purchased by Microsoft. Matt stayed at Microsoft for two years after the acquisition, serving as a Partner in Hardware Engineering. Leveraging his mobile hardware experience, Matt joined Google’s Android team as Director of Hardware. At Google, Matt built the Android hardware team to span all aspects of hardware development – from chip design to regulatory compliance and everything in-between. Matt and his team shipped over 10 generations of devices across phones, tablets, and streaming receivers. In late 2014, Matt joined up with the founding team to start Playground. The idea was to invest in transformative companies with multigenerational impact, while working side-by-side with portfolio companies to help them advance faster than if they were on their own. Today, Matt is still unafraid of technological risk. His reasoning is: if you’re going to go through the trouble, you might as well create something with significance. Matt lives in the Bay Area with his wife of over 20 years and three children.
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About Danger, Playground Global: Playground is an early-stage firm investing in science companies working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and automation.
Jory Bell
General Partner of Playground Global
Jory Bell is a General Partner at Playground Global, having joined the firm as Vice President in 2015. Jory grew up in Rochester, N.Y. and went on to attend MIT where he earned three undergraduate degrees in architecture, literature and earth atmosphere & planetary studies. After graduation, Jory worked as a researcher as part of the joint MIT/ Wood Hole Oceanographic Institute climate change program where he designed, built and deployed autonomous deep sea robotics. Drawn to the Bay Area by his passion for entrepreneurial technology, Jory spent six years at Apple as a laptop designer. In 2000, Jory left Apple to found OQO, a computer hardware and software manufacturer credited by the Guinness World Records as having created the world’s smallest Windows PC. Upon joining Playground, Jory discovered his passion for working with brilliant technical founders using science and technology to build massive companies to address large-scale societal needs. Jory sourced some of the firm’s earliest investments including Nervana Systems (acquired by Intel) and subsequently led the firm’s investment efforts in deep tech areas including advanced manufacturing, aerospace, genomics and synthetic/computational biology. Outside of work, Jory and his wife can be found practicing acrobatics and tiger parenting their young daughter.
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About Playground Global: Playground is an early-stage firm investing in science companies working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and automation.
Peter Barrett
Co-Founder & General Partner of Playground Global
Peter Barrett is a founder and CTO of Playground Global. Peter believes the computing revolution—and arguably even the industrial revolution—haven’t happened yet. He is drawn to the toughest challenges at the boundaries of deep tech and hard science. Peter has been writing software since he was a teenager. At 19, his first security program caught the attention of the NSA. From his first company, Rocket Science Games, he’s had an adventurous career in technology from creating the first widely used video codec in the early 90s, building the world’s most popular IPTV platform at Microsoft, cloud intelligence for automotive at CloudCar and now quantum and optical computing, robotics and artificial intelligence at Playground. He holds over 100 patents. At Playground, Peter delights in the opportunity to deeply collaborate with entrepreneurs and help create transformative companies with multigenerational impact. He thrives on technologies that lie somewhere between improbable and impossible and companies whose success will help move civilization forward. Peter lives in Palo Alto with his wife, two children, a surly cat, and a friendly dog.
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About Playground Global: Playground is an early-stage firm investing in science companies working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and automation.
Clint Chao
Co-Founder & General Partner of Moment Ventures
Clint Chao is a founding General Partner of Moment Ventures. Moment is a Palo Alto based early stage VC firm investing in the Future of Work: startups bringing technology into and across other industries to transform the business or labor operations in areas such as logistics, food, oil & gas, education, healthcare, construction and more. Clint has invested in companies including Flowspace, Pod Foods, Swing Education, Validere, TARA AI, Netsil (acq by Nutanix), Skyward (acq by Verizon), and Payable (acq by Stripe). Prior to Moment, Clint was a co-founding Managing Director at Formative Ventures, an early-stage VC firm. During his time at Formative, Clint invested a third of the fund’s capital in early-stage technology startups, focusing on software infrastructure, web services, cloud computing applications and advanced semiconductors. Clint’s investment and board leadership experience include Mashery (acq by Intel), SOASTA (acq by Akamai), Silicon Clocks (acquired by Silicon Labs), Vungle (acq by Blackstone) and Zyray Wireless (acquired by Broadcom). Clint is an experienced technology executive who brings more than 20 years of start-up operating experience including marketing, sales and business development to Formative Ventures. Prior to co-founding Formative Ventures, Clint served as the first Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Business Development at SkyStream Networks (acquired by Tandberg TV), a leading provider of video routing solutions. Under his leadership, SkyStream became the worldwide leader in MPEG routing solutions to the broadcast, networking and enterprise markets. Prior to joining SkyStream, Clint served as Senior Director of Marketing at C-Cube Microsystems where he was responsible for marketing for the PC Division, a group he co-founded and grew to run rates exceeding $50M in sales annually. Clint began his tenure at C-Cube as the first Salesperson for the company, where he created the company’s sales representation network around the country. While there, C-Cube became the dominant supplier of digital video and imaging compression chips to the consumer electronics, computing and communications markets. Before joining C-Cube, Clint held numerous sales and sales management positions at Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector, where he was recognized as one of the company’s top salespeople. Clint earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
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About Formative Ventures, Moment Ventures, PANTASTIC: Moment Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of work.
Ammar Hanafi
Co-Founder & General Partner of Moment Ventures
Ammar Hanafi joined Alloy Ventures as a general partner in 2005. At Alloy, he focuses on investments in communications and IT infrastructure, as well as internet-enabled consumer and enterprise applications and services.Operating experience:Ammar has over a decade of financial and operational management experience in the communications and technology industry. He previously served as vice president of new business ventures at Cisco Systems, where he led new product efforts in the enterprise datacenter market. From 2000 to 2002, he was vice president of corporate business development, and in that capacity, he was responsible for Cisco’s acquisitions, acquisition integration, investment, and joint venture activity on a global basis. He joined Cisco in 1997 as a member of the Corporate Business Development Group. During Ammar’s tenure at Cisco, he helped the company complete over 100 investment and M&A transactions, including 50 successful acquisitions and over $750 million in venture capital investments. Leveraging his deep industry expertise, he helped lead Cisco into a number of major new businesses, including optical networking and integrated voice and data infrastructure and applications.Prior to Cisco, Ammar held leadership positions at PanAmSat Corp., a global satellite services provider, and the investment banking firms of Morgan Stanley and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.Ammar received a BS in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University (1988) and an MBA from Stanford University (1995). Current board seats:Ammar serves on the board of directors of 3Leaf Systems, YouSENDit, Retrevo, Mavenir Systems, GigaOM, Qwaq, Infineta Systems and Moxsie. He also led Alloy’s investment in Cortina Systems. Ammar also serves on the board of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, a non-profit.
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About Alloy Ventures, Moment Ventures: Moment Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of work.
Ambi Moorthy
Global Head of Partner Development of Zoho
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About Zoho: Zoho offers a suite of business, collaboration, and productivity applications.
Jeff Bocan
Partner of Okapi Venture Capital
Prior to joining Okapi Venture Capital as a Partner, Jeff Bocan was the original venture capital investor in Mophie and served on the board before being asked by Mophie’s founders to join the Executive team full time in 2013 to help manage the company’s rapid growth and global expansion. Jeff invested in Mophie when it had revenues just over $10 million in 2010 and worked with the team to help drive revenues to $250+ million in 2015, and the eventual sale of the company in early 2016 to a strategic acquirer, ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG). As Mophie’s Senior Vice President, Jeff worked in a COO-like role, with a primary focus on strategic initiatives and partnerships, business development and managing the global sales team as well as working across many areas of Mophie’s operations including: marketing, corporate development, product development, legal and human resources. Prior to joining Mophie, Jeff was a venture capitalist for 13+ years, last serving as a Managing Director at Beringea where he sourced, led or managed the technology and media investments for 35 of Beringea’s portfolio companies and served on 22 corporate boards across several of Beringea’s $50 – $150 million venture funds; including such companies as Mophie (Acquired: ZAGG), Mergermarket (Acquired: Pearson), eSpotting (Acquired: FindWhat), Steak Media (Acquired: Dentsu) and Sakti3 (Acquired: Dyson). His work prior to Beringea included an early-stage tech VC in London (Saffron Hill Ventures), and marketing roles for BMW of North America and startup beverage company, Honest Tea. Jeff also served as a Lead Instructor of the National Science Foundation’s i-Corps Program, teaching at Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Additionally, during his venture capital career, Jeff was a contributing blogger for The Huffington Post where his series focused on technology and venture investing in the Midwest. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-bocan/ Jeff earned a B.A. in Government and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; and a Master of Business Administration with high honors from the University of Virginia. Jeff currently resides Newport Beach, CA with his wife and four children.
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About Okapi Venture Capital: Okapi Venture Capital provides long-term capital and management support to emerging businesses in the information technology and life.
John Waller
Partner of Okapi Venture Capital
John Waller is the Partner of Okapi Venture Capital.
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About NowRx, Okapi Venture Capital: Okapi Venture Capital provides long-term capital and management support to emerging businesses in the information technology and life.
Andy Jenks
Partner of Drive Capital
Andy has worn multiple hats throughout his career. Prior to being an angel investor, Andy has written code, raised money, built sales teams, led marketing teams, managed hundreds of people, and grown businesses from incubation to acquisition.
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About DisruptOps, Drive Capital, Finite State, Meroxa, Stateless: Drive Capital is a private investment firm that partners with entrepreneurs in building long-term, sustainable businesses.
Jonathan Ebinger
General Partner of BlueRun Ventures
Jonathan Ebinger is a General Partner at BlueRun Ventures where he focuses on mobile, enterprise software and fintech. Prior to BlueRun, Jonathan was a marketing executive at Qwest Communications, Bell Atlantic and MCI Communications. He has also started e-commerce businesses as an entrepreneur. He brings his operations and startup experience to early stage startups and has led investments in Coupa, Kabbage, Radius, Verve Mobile, ZeeMee and others. Jonathan received his M.B.A. from Darden Graduate School of Business at University of Virginia and also has a B.S. from Virginia Tech. He currently serves as an advisor to The Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UVA.
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About BlueRun Ventures, Transform Capital: BlueRun Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on opportunities across mobile software, services, and financial technology.
Jeff Tannenbaum
Partner of BlueRun Ventures
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About BlueRun Ventures, Launchpad LA, UpWest: BlueRun Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on opportunities across mobile software, services, and financial technology.
John Malloy
General Partner & Founder of BlueRun Ventures
John Malloy, Partner, co-founded BlueRun Ventures and is based in Menlo Park. John has successfully invested in a broad spectrum of technologies and services. John focuses on software and services opportunities across Internet, Media and Mobile. John was an early investor in PayPal, Waze, Topsy, and Slide. Prior to starting the firm, John spent more than 15 years in management and executive roles at Nokia, MCI and a communications services start-up. He holds a J.D. from George Mason School of Law and a B.A. from Boston College.
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About BlueRun Ventures: BlueRun Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on opportunities across mobile software, services, and financial technology.
Tim Hsia
Venture Partner of Digital Garage
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About Digital Garage: Digital Garage covers web business advice, research, web creation and enhancement, and customer database marketing.
Louis Samson
Partner of Platinum Equity
Louis Samson leads Platinum Equity’s New York-based investment team, manages the operations of the New York office, and is a member of the Investment Committee. In his role, Louis Samson oversees all financial, operating, tax, and legal aspects of M&A transactions executed by his team. Additionally, together with the Operations Team, he provides oversight to the portfolio companies for which he led the acquisition. Louis Samson and his team led the acquisitions of American Commercial Lines, Maxim Crane Works, The San Diego Union-Tribune, PBH Marine Group (the successor company to Genmar), NESCO, BWAY, BlueLine Rental (formerly Volvo Rents), MACtac and PAE. Louis Samson and his team also led a number of add-on acquisitions to these platforms, including Ropak (BWAY), Triton Boats (PBH Marine Group), Penske Utility (NESCO), Crane Rental Corp, assets from Barnhart Crane & Rigging and LJ Crane (Maxim Crane Works), AEP River Operations (American Commercial Lines), Trico Lift (BlueLine Rental) as well as a number of refinancings. In 2008, Platinum Equity won the “Deal of the Year” award for its acquisition of Maxim Crane Works and in 2010, won the “Financing of the Year” award for its refinancing of The San Diego Union-Tribune from The M&A Advisor Magazine. Louis Samson has 20 years of Mergers and Acquisitions experience and has completed transactions in a variety of industry sectors. Prior to joining Platinum Equity in 2007, Louis Samson was a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at CIBC World Markets and was an M&A lawyer with Stikeman Elliott. Louis Samson is a graduate of Ottawa University Law School and Le Petit Seminaire de Quebec College.
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About Platinum Equity: Platinum Equity is a private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies.
Jacob Kotzubei
Partner of Platinum Equity
Jacob Kotzubei is a Partner and member of Platinum Equity’s Investment Committee, leads a Los Angeles-based investment team and has oversight responsibility for investment teams in Europe and Asia. In addition, Mr. Kotzubei plays a substantial role in raising capital from limited partners for the firm’s investment funds. Jacob Kotzubei and his team led the acquisitions of or investments in SourceOne Healthcare (formerly Diagnostic Imaging), CompuCom Systems, Turf Care Supply (formerly a division of Lesco), ESM Group, PNA Group, SDI, Canwel Building Products (formerly Broadleaf Logistics, a division acquired from Weyerhaeuser), Ryerson, Keystone Automotive, SCM Metal Products and Ecka Granules, Ahern Rentals, Canvas Systems, KEMET Corporation, Pomeroy, Schutt Sports, Aquilex, Neovia Logistics (formerly Caterpillar Logistics Services) and Artesyn Embedded Technologies (formerly Emerson Embedded Power and Computing), including related financings and refinancings. Jacob Kotzubei is a member of the board of directors at both KEMET Corp. (NYSE: KEM) and CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd. (TMX: CWX). Jacob Kotzubei has more than 20 years of M&A experience, including substantial complex carve-out and public-to-private experience, in numerous industries and countries. Prior to joining Platinum Equity in 2002, Mr. Kotzubei was a Vice President of the High Tech Group at Goldman Sachs and was head of the East Coast Semiconductor Group. Previously, he was an M&A attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. Jacob Kotzubei received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. He is a retired member of the New York State Bar
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About Platinum Equity: Platinum Equity is a private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies.
Robert Wentworth
Partner of Platinum Equity
Robert Wentworth participates in senior level merger and acquisition activities for Platinum Equity and is a member of the Investment Committee. Robert Wentworth was previously President and Chief Executive Officer for the North American operations of Platinum portfolio company NextiraOne, where he led its formation and served as its CEO since its inception in 2001. Prior to joining Platinum Equity in 1997, Robert Wentworth was President and Chief Executive Officer at Alden Electronics, Inc. where he also served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Robert Wentworth served as a certified public accountant for fourteen years with Ernst & Young. Robert Wentworth grew up in Massachusetts and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at Bentley College.
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About Platinum Equity: Platinum Equity is a private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies.
Mark Barnhill
Partner of Platinum Equity
Mark Barnhill manages functions connected to capital raising, fund administration, investor relations and corporate and external affairs for Platinum Equity and Platinum Equity Capital Partners.Mark Barnhill is responsible for strategic planning and administration of the firm’s private equity fund vehicles. Mark Barnhill leads Platinum’s capital raising activities and is its senior relationship manager with investors, who comprise a diverse cross-section of public and private pension funds, financial institutions, foundations and family offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Mark Barnhill is responsible for working with the firm’s M&A&O® teams on the capital structure and drawdown of investment capital for individual transactions. Mark Barnhill also oversees functions related to quarterly and annual reporting and audit, compliance with contractual and regulatory matters related to the funds, and coordination with the funds’ Limited Partner Advisory Committees. In addition to his fund responsibilities, Mark Barnhill holds leadership functions connected to strategic planning, recruiting and retention, transaction sourcing, corporate communications and external affairs for Platinum Equity and its operating companies. Mark Barnhill was formerly a Senior Partner at Fleishman-Hillard Inc., where Mark Barnhill directed the firm’s corporate practice in Los Angeles and managed both domestic and international accounts. Before that he was a senior executive at the Los Angeles Daily News, where Mark Barnhill served as Assistant Managing Editor, City Editor, and Washington Bureau Chief. Mark Barnhill also spearheaded development of the newspaper’s interactive business and first online site.
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About Platinum Equity: Platinum Equity is a private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies.
Bob Wymbs
Partner of Platinum Equity
Bob Wymbs leads two M&A teams at Platinum Equity, both of which are key differentiators for the firm.On the buy side, Bob Wymbs is head of Platinum Equity’s Lower Middle Market (LMM) M&A group that targets businesses with up to $250 million in annual revenue across North America and Europe. The LMM team is nested inside Platinum Equity’s broader organizational structure and draws upon the entire firm’s experience, track record, capital base and operational resources. Bob Wymbs also leads Platinum Equity’s dedicated, in-house sell-side team. In that capacity, he is responsible for managing a broad range of strategic divestiture opportunities throughout Platinum Equity’s portfolio. As part of his sell-side responsibilities, Bob Wymbs has led and negotiated numerous transactions, including full or partial sales of NextiraOne, Clipper Windpower, AEES, Contego, Alliance Entertainment, Acument, and many others. Bob Wymbs is a member of the Board of Directors at Megapath Corporation.Prior to joining Platinum Equity in 2000, Bob Wymbs spent four years at the Los Angeles Dodgers and three years at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. At the two firms, he held various positions in strategic development, business development, project management, operations and marketing. Bob Wymbs earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the Wharton School.
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About Platinum Equity: Platinum Equity is a private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout investments of established companies.
David Cremin
Founder & Managing Partner of Frontier Venture Capital
David Cremin is a Co-founder of Frontier Venture Capital and serves as its Managing Partner. David Cremin leads fund management, fundraising, and portfolio management efforts since 2002. Before that, he was a founding partner at Zone Ventures. He has helped lead investments in over 100 startups since 1998.
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About Frontier Venture Capital: Frontier Venture capital is a venture capital firm that finances early-stage media and technology companies.
Michael Tedesco
Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Cyber
Michael Tedesco is one of the top technology dealmakers of his generation, with over 20 years experience advising CEOs and boards of companies both large and small at all stages of their lifecycle. He has advised on 100+ completed M&A transactions with aggregate value in excess of $125 billion. Before founding Wellspring, Michael was the Head of US M&A and Global Technology M&A at Jefferies. He held a similar role at Citi Global Markets until 2010 in addition to serving as co-head of Americas Technology Banking. Michael has experience particularly in special situations advisory assignments, with complex Founder / Board / Investor dynamics. Such advisory roles were recognized five times for the IDD Technology Deal of the Year. Through Wellspring Growth Partners, he is an active direct investor in and advisor to disruptive companies across the technology and consumer products spectrum. Investments include FIGS, Westward Leaning, WriteLab, EnerAllies, The Influential Network, Duckworth Wool Co, Peep, Geoscale and MoxTV. Before earning his MBA Michael was a Project Engineer at Conoco and played a major role inthe Polar Lights joint venture, the first oilfield development project in Russia involving an American firm. Harvard MBA with High Distinction (Baker Scholar and John Loeb Finance Fellow) and BSci Industrial Engineering Montana State University
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About Momentum Cyber, Wellspring Growth Partners: Momentum Cyber is a financial advisory firm that provides mergers and acquisitions and strategic advice to the cybersecurity industry.
Eric McAlpine
Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Cyber
Eric McAlpine has spent over 20 years in the Technology industry as a strategic advisor to Boards, Founders & CEOs, a two-time founder, and award-winning engineer. He is a highly sought out speaker on the Cybersecurity market at major industry conferences, private events, and corporate gatherings sharing insights into M&A, capital markets, and industry trends. Eric is a Founder & Managing Partner at Momentum Cyber a firm he co-founded in 2018 along with Dave DeWalt and Michael Tedesco. Momentum Cyber is the premier trusted strategic advisor to the Cybersecurity industry providing bespoke high-impact advice combined with tailored senior-level access from incubation to exit. Eric is one of the top dealmakers in the Cybersecurity industry with a prolific M&A track record advising on and orchestrating deals with industry leaders such as ADT, Symantec, McAfee, Proofpoint, Mimecast, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Amazon, CenturyLink, Google, Intel, and many more. Prior to co-founding Momentum Cyber, Eric was Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Partners, the precursor to Momentum Cyber. Earlier in his career, Eric served as a Managing Director with Blackstone where co-founded Blackstone’s Silicon Valley office and led the firm’s Cybersecurity advisory practice. In 2010, Eric was recognized by Steve Schwarzman with the CEO Star Award and featured along with a profile on one of his transactions in Blackstone’s 25th anniversary Annual Report for extraordinary contributions to the firm. Eric began his Wall Street career at Salomon Smith Barney and Citi where he served as a senior member of the Enterprise Software Investment Banking team leading sector coverage in Security. Prior to a career on Wall Street, Eric served his country as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force where he was honored as the Military Engineer of the Year in 2000 for his engineering contributions to the Joint Strike Fighter Program, which included saving taxpayers $80 Million through an innovative stealth recoating design. Eric earned an MBA with Distinction from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management where he was a 2-year Wade Fetzer Scholar. He also earned a BS Civil Engineering from Purdue University on an Air Force ROTC Scholarship as well as his MS in Engineering Management from the University of Dayton where he was a Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute scholar – both full ride scholarships. Eric lives in Ross, California with his family and is an avid world traveler, die hard Cubs fan, collects vintage vinyl records, and loves art, music, wine and fine food.
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About Momentum Cyber: Momentum Cyber is a financial advisory firm that provides mergers and acquisitions and strategic advice to the cybersecurity industry.
Vivek Ladsariya
General Partner of SineWave Ventures
Vivek Ladsariya manages investments in the US and Southeast Asia for Fenox across sectors including digital health, big data, IT, IoT, and marketplaces. He works alongside entrepreneurs in product development, enterprise partnership, M&A exit, and entering international markets such as the US, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and India. Prior to his role at Fenox, Vivek was a serial entrepreneur having started and led two companies – a game rental company and an advisory business to early stage investors. He developed significant experience building product and companies and continues to use the expertise to support entrepreneurs. Vivek holds an MBA from Yale University and a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering. At Yale, he delivered a lecture series on venture capital for entrepreneurs.
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About SineWave Ventures: SineWave Ventures provides early-stage investment capital to technology companies across commercial and public sectors.
Marco DeMiroz
General Partner & Co-founder of The Venture Reality Fund/VRF
Marco DeMiroz has extensive experience in executive roles with leading technology companies and in global investments. He was a Managing Director of Evolution Media Partners and led its investment in JauntVR. He actively advises various media and technology companies in VR/AR sectors. Earlier, Mr. DeMiroz was President and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc. and sold PlayFirst to Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU). Marco DeMiroz obtained his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University; a post-graduate Engineer Degree in Aeronautics/Astronautics from Stanford University; an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University; and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
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About The Venture Reality Fund/VRF: The Venture Reality Fund invests in early stage AI, AR & VR startups defining the future of computing
General Partner & Co-founder of The Venture Reality Fund/VRF
Tipatat Chennavasin has extensive experience creating both interactive VR/AR and 360 video. He became convinced of the power of VR when he accidently cured himself of his real life fear of heights while developing in VR. He has established himself as VR/AR industry spokesperson and thought leader, and has contributed to many publications and presented at various industry events, He also has entrepreneurial experience as co-founder and CEO of mobile game startup Big Head Mode, Inc. that he sold to PlayFirst to focus on VR. He is an advisor for many VR companies as well as a mentor for VR incubators and accelerators around the world, including Tokyo VR Startups, http://tokyovrstartups.com/. He obtained his BS from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Human Computer Interaction.
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About The Venture Reality Fund/VRF: The Venture Reality Fund invests in early stage AI, AR & VR startups defining the future of computing
Wendy Grad
Expert Partner, Head of ADAPT EMEA of Bain & Company
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About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
Quinn Solomon
Partner of Bain & Company
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About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
Lori Sherer
Partner of Bain & Company
Lori Sherer is a partner in Bain & Company’s San Francisco office. She is a leader in Bain’s Advanced Analytics and Digital practices. As an expert in the field of applying advanced analytics to address business challenges, Lori brings a global perspective on state-of-the-art analytical methodologies and opportunities to her clients. At Bain, Lori leads case teams and collaborates with clients across a number of industries including retail, banking, insurance, telecommunications, media and technology. Her work addresses a variety of topics from strategy and organizational development to building and deploying analytics. She has also worked on projects focused on delivering decision science models for marketing, customer experience enhancement, loyalty, revenue enhancement, customer service, collections and risk management. Lori has more than 20 years of experience in the field of advanced analytics and decision science as an adviser, practitioner and entrepreneur. Prior to joining Bain in 2014, Lori co-founded and led McKinsey’s Insurance Solutions which designs, builds and deploys analytics solutions across the customer value chain. Lori honed her decision science experience as General Manager of the Enterprise Management division at FICO, a global analytics software and services company, and as Chief Strategy and New Applications Development Officer at RMS, a leading catastrophe risk modeling company Lori earned an MBA in marketing and finance from Babson College and graduated summa cum laude from New England College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and public administration.
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About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
Lori Sherer
Partner of Bain & Company
Lori Sherer is a partner in Bain & Company’s San Francisco office. She is a leader in Bain’s Advanced Analytics and Digital practices. As an expert in the field of applying advanced analytics to address business challenges, Lori brings a global perspective on state-of-the-art analytical methodologies and opportunities to her clients. At Bain, Lori leads case teams and collaborates with clients across a number of industries including retail, banking, insurance, telecommunications, media and technology. Her work addresses a variety of topics from strategy and organizational development to building and deploying analytics. She has also worked on projects focused on delivering decision science models for marketing, customer experience enhancement, loyalty, revenue enhancement, customer service, collections and risk management. Lori has more than 20 years of experience in the field of advanced analytics and decision science as an adviser, practitioner and entrepreneur. Prior to joining Bain in 2014, Lori co-founded and led McKinsey’s Insurance Solutions which designs, builds and deploys analytics solutions across the customer value chain. Lori honed her decision science experience as General Manager of the Enterprise Management division at FICO, a global analytics software and services company, and as Chief Strategy and New Applications Development Officer at RMS, a leading catastrophe risk modeling company Lori earned an MBA in marketing and finance from Babson College and graduated summa cum laude from New England College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and public administration.
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About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
David Hite
Managing Partner of B37 Ventures
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About B37 Ventures: B37 Ventures is a VC firm with a proprietary platform in which startups and multinational corporations exchange innovation and scale.
Amber Grewal
Managing Director & Partner, Global Talent of The Boston Consulting Group
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About The Boston Consulting Group: The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and an advisor on business strategy.
Jody Foldesy
Partner & Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group
Strategic advisor on topics of growth strategy, digital strategy, and M&A for leading global enterprises seeking to achieve breakout growth and deliver superior returns.
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About The Boston Consulting Group: The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and an advisor on business strategy.
Zia Yusuf
Senior Partner & Managing Director – Silicon Valley of The Boston Consulting Group
Zia Yusuf is the Senior Partner & Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
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About The Boston Consulting Group: The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and an advisor on business strategy.
John Perkins
Managing Director & Senior Partner of The Boston Consulting Group
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About The Boston Consulting Group: The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and an advisor on business strategy.
Meg Kedrowski
Managing Director & Partner of The Boston Consulting Group
Meg Kedrowski is the Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group.
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About The Boston Consulting Group: The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and an advisor on business strategy.
Roberta Gamble
Partner and VP of Frost & Sullivan
Roberta Gamble has over 17 years expertise consulting Global 1000 companies on market entry and expansion strategy, brand and demand, geographical expansion strategies and new market entry. She oversees a team of analysts and consultants with expertise across the energy and environment value chain, including oil & gas, power generation, power grids, energy storage, buildings, and water infrastructure. Her own research and expertise has focused on: •Thee convergence of IT and OT across oil & gas and power •Digital transformation of power grid and manufacturing •Smarter cities Roberta has headlined numerous key industry events and has been quoted and interviewed in national publications including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and NPR. She is a Partner and Vice President at Frost & Sullivan, and Global Business Unit Leader for the Energy and Environment team, which has over 100 analysts and consultants worldwide covering global energy, environment and infrastructure markets.
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About Frost & Sullivan: Frost and Sullivan is a business growth consultation company focused on increasing brand demand.
Reenita Das
Partner of Frost & Sullivan
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About Frost & Sullivan, Frost & Sullivan: Frost and Sullivan is a business growth consultation company focused on increasing brand demand.
Jack Xu
Founding Managing Partner of Seven Seas Partners
Jack is a pioneer in the Internet industry. As a Managing Partner of Seven Seas Venture Capital, Jack brought with him extensive experience and know-how in running start-ups and global companies to help entrepreneurs accelerate the growth of their business. Jack has served as the President and Chief Technology Officer of SINA Corporation, or SINA, a Nasdaq-listed company, from February 2013 to February 2015. He was responsible for Weibo, the most influential social network in China. Prior to joining SINA, Jack worked at Cisco as the Corporate Vice President of the Communications and Collaboration business unit. Previously, Jack served as Vice President of Engineering and Research at eBay from October 2002 to April 2008 and Chief Technology Officer at NetEase from May 2000 to July 2002. Jack led Excite’s search engine development in 1996, while pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California in Berkeley. He received a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Information Management from Sun Yat-Sen University. Jack is actively involved in entrepreneur organizations, he served as the Vice Chairman of HYSTA from 2007 to 2008. Jack Xu has served as Tuniu’s board member since the listing of the Company in 2014.
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About Seven Seas Partners: Seven Seas Partners focuses on the investment of early growth/growth enterprises of IOTH and high-technology.
Ivy Li
Partner of Seven Seas Partners
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About Seven Seas Partners: Seven Seas Partners focuses on the investment of early growth/growth enterprises of IOTH and high-technology.