Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Los Angeles, California based Founder operating in the Software space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Fatima Dicko
Founder & CEO of Sugar
Prior to founding Jetpack at Stanford University, Fatima worked as the youngest senior engineer on a product innovation team at Procter & Gamble focusing on products 3-10 years away from market. Having been awarded several corporate innovation awards such as ‘Most Transformative Product Design’ and the ‘P&G Global Innovation Seed Fund’, her key competencies include designing simple solutions to complex problems. Fatima holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University, where she received a Gold King’s Crown Leadership Award and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Follow Fatima Dicko:
About Sugar: Sugar builds community and transforms the residential experience by integrating with technology stacks that power modern buildings.
_______
Damon Wayans, Jr
Founder and Co-CEO of Special Guest App
Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, most widely known for starring as Brad Williams in the ABC comedy series Happy Endings and as Coach in the Fox comedy series New Girl. In 2014, he starred in the comedy film Let’s Be Cops and provided the voice of Wasabi in Big Hero 6. In October 2018 Damon will star in his own sitcom “Happy Together” on CBS.
Follow Damon Wayans, Jr:
About Special Guest App: Special Guest App makes it dead simple for anyone, anywhere to discover and book live entertainers.
Rustin Kretz
Founder, Chief Product Officer, Chairman of the Board of Scorpion
Rustin Kretz is the Founder, Chief Product Officer, and Chairman of the Board at Scorpion. Scorpion is the product of Rustin’s vision. His dedication and leadership have been the driving force behind Scorpion and the foundation for its unprecedented growth and innovative approach to digital marketing for local businesses since 2001.
Follow Rustin Kretz:
About Scorpion: Scorpion exists to better local small businesses and the communities they serve.
Walter Driver
Co-Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO of Scopely
Walter Driver is the co-founder, Chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer of Scopely, one of the fastest-growing mobile-first video game companies. Scopely creates and publishes a highly-diverse portfolio of top-grossing, immersive game experiences, including: the award-winning ”MARVEL Strike Force,” “Scrabble® GO,” “Star Trek™ Fleet Command” and”Yahtzee® With Buddies,” among others, which are played by hundreds of millions of players worldwide. Fueled by a world-class team, Scopely leverages its proprietary technology platform Playgami to bring directed-by-consumer, interactive experiences to audiences around the globe. Under Walter’s leadership, the company has achieved billions of dollars in lifetime revenue and attracted more than $1 billion in financing from leading venture capital firms, tech luminaries and cultural icons.
Walter has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Young Executives” by The Business Journal, “Visionary of the Year” by C-Suite Quarterly, “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young, a “Young Global Shaper” by the World Economic Forum, one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs and a “Dealmaker of the Year” by Variety. Under Walter’s leadership, Scopely has also received many recognitions, including: “Best-led Company” in 2021 by Inc. magazine, “Private Company of the Year” in 2021 by Los Angeles Business Journal, a four time “Best Places to Work” winner by Built In LA, and a two time “World’s Most Innovative Companies” winner by Fast Company. Scopely has also been recognized on top charts such as Deloitte’s “Technology Fast 500,” being named the second fastest-growing technology company in North America and in the Top 10 mobile app charts for consumer spend.
Walter is an investor and advisor to many private technology companies as well as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Los Angeles Technology & Innovation Council. Prior to Scopely, Walter founded and served as CEO of O Negative Media where he developed online social games. Before O Negative, he co-founded Ignition Interactive, one of the first developers of third-party applications for Facebook.
Walter holds a B.A. in English Literature from Brown University.
Follow Walter Driver:
About Scopely: Scopely is a global leader in interactive entertainment and mobile-first video games.
Grant Miller
Founder & CEO of Replicated
Follow Grant Miller:
About Replicated: Replicated provides a platform for delivering and managing Kubernetes applications in any environment.
Jonathan Anderson
Co-Founder & CEO of Candu
Jonathan Anderson is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Candu.
Follow Jonathan Anderson:
About Candu: Candu is a product experience platform for software teams who want to design, refine, and personalize their application’s user interface.
Morgan Mercer
Founder, CEO of Vantage Point
Morgan Mercer is the founder of the VR-based enterprise training company, Vantage Point. Vantage Point’s suite of immersive training tools is initially aiming at tackling Anti-Sexual Harassment and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training. Mercer was recently regarded as one of the Top 10 Female Tech Innovators [in history] by TechRadar and has been featured in 4+ dozen publications including WIRED, NPR, The Economist, Vogue and more. Mercer was regarded by the UN Women chapter as a “Champion of Change” in the ‘Era of Equity’.
Follow Morgan Mercer:
About Vantage Point: We create experiences that change the way you think. Vantage Point is the future of workforce learning.
Karan Talati
Co-Founder & CEO of First Resonance
Karan Talati is a co-founder and CEO at First Resonance.
Follow Karan Talati:
About First Resonance: First Resonance builds ION, the Factory Operating System that manufacturers trust for speed, collaboration, and visibility.
Ryan Chan
Founder and CEO of UpKeep
Founder @CEO at UpKeep. Angel Investor
Follow Ryan Chan:
About UpKeep: UpKeep is a platform developed for technicians and maintenance workers that provides them with a computerized maintenance management system.
Allen Gruber
Co-Founder, Executive Vice President, Board Member of Brain Corp
Allen Gruber is a neuroscientist, physician, and founder of several successful technology companies. In 1993, Gruber co-founded INTERVU, Inc, a streaming video provider, which went public and was sold to Akamai Technologies, Inc.(NASDAQ: AKAM) for $2.8 billion. He founded Kintera, Inc., in 1999, and later served as Executive Vice President in charge of Engineering for Kintera, Inc., an online fundraising and marketing platform for nonprofit organizations. Kintera reached a market capitalization of $500 million and was sold to Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB). Gruber graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Biochemistry and also with an MD. He attended Washington University for clinical and research training and was on the faculty of the University of Texas. Gruber was a Senior Fellow in the Institute of Neural Computation at UCSD in 2007. His professional memberships include the American Academy of Neurology, the Society for Neuroscience, and IEEE.
Follow Allen Gruber:
About Brain Corp, Intheon: Brain Corp develops core technology for the robotics industry.
Brad Brooks
Co-Founder, CEO of TigerConnect
Brad is the Co-Founder and CEO of TigerConnect and a Co-Founder of Whisper. He previously ran DIC Entertainment as President for 6 years after working for Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette as an Investment Banker. After acquiring the company with Bain Capital from the Walt Disney Company in 2000, he helped grow the company from less than $10mm of revenues to over $80mm in 2005 when he took the company public on the London Stock Exchange at a $200mm valuation. Brad received his BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Follow Brad Brooks:
About TigerConnect, Whisper: TigerConnect is a healthcare collaboration platform that streamlines clinical workflows and systems.
Jerry Greenberg
Co-Founder of Samesurf
Follow Jerry Greenberg:
About Publicis Sapient, Samesurf, SapientNitro, SUSHI NOZAWA LLC: Samesurf is a cobrowsing platform that provides the ability for screen sharing from anywhere.
Chris Milk
Co-Founder, CEO and COO of Supernatural
Chris Milk is the Co-Founder, CEO, and COO of Supernatural. He is an artist, director, and technologist.He is the founder and CEO of [Vrse](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/vrse#/entity). Milk has gained recognition as a music video director, working with Arcade Fire, U2, Kanye West, Green Day, Johnny Cash, Gnarls Barkley, Chemical Brothers, John Mellencamp, Courtney Love, and Modest Mouse. He has been honored with the top industry awards for his music video and commercial work, including the Grand Prix Cannes Lion, the D&AD Black Pencil, the Grand Clio, and SXSW’s ’Best of Show’, as well as multiple Grammy nominations, MTV Moon Men, and the UK’s MVA Innovation Award. Milk’s short film, Last Day Dream, played at film festivals around the world, and he directed the second unit of A Mother’s Promise, the film that introduced Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards recognized his work in design and art in 2011. The Wilderness Downtown was named as one of TIME Magazine’s 30 Best Music Videos of all time, and was exhibited at MoMA in NY for 6 months in 2011. Milk builds multiple projects with Virtual Reality as the canvas. The collaboration with Beck called “Sound & Vision” has been exhibited in an Oculus Rift at the Future of Storytelling Summit, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, and Tribeca Film Festival. Chris Milk was born in New York.
Follow Chris Milk:
About Here Be Dragons, Supernatural, Within (VR/AR): Supernatural is an immersive, virtual reality fitness experience that combines music, coaches, destinations, and movements.
Will Jessup
Founder, Head of Services of TheoremOne
Follow Will Jessup:
About TheoremOne: We are an engineering and innovation firm. We solve complex business problems through optimization of process, technology, and culture.
Alex Yurkowski
Co-Founder & CTO of ClickUp
Follow Alex Yurkowski:
About ClickUp: ClickUp offers a customizable workplace productivity platform that serves all departments across an organization.
David Nussbaum
Founder and CEO of PORTL Hologram
David Nussbaum is the Founder and CEO at PORTL Inc.
Follow David Nussbaum:
About PORTL Hologram: PORTL Hologram offers at-home hologram machines.
Alex Hofmann
CEO and Co-Founder of 9 Count
Hofmann most recently held the role of musical.ly’s President in North America, where he led expansion efforts to build the world’s fastest growing entertainment social network. Within three months of Hofmann joining the team, app downloads increased from 200 to 400,000 per day. musical.ly hit the top of the app chats in 21 countries and has grown to over 200 million users globally. During his time at musical.ly, Hofmann helmed the company’s global content, brand, entertainment, and talent partnerships, in addition to heading all corporate functions for North and South America. He oversaw the closure of deals with all three major music labels and publishers. Under his leadership, the company closed its largest product partnership with Apple Music, as well as original content partnerships with Viacom, NBCU, and Hearst Digital. Hofmann also orchestrated partnerships with top artists like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Jason Derulo and 250+ other artists worldwide. In early 2018, Hofmann announced he was moving on from musical.ly to pursue new ventures following the company’s successful merger with Chinese tech giant, Bytedance. He is currently investing in and advising new startups. He remains an ally and advisor to musical.ly. In 2017, Hofmann was chosen by Variety as one of “30 Execs to Watch” for its Digital Entertainment Impact Report and featured by Billboard on its Digital Power Players List: Guiding the Future in Music and Tech. Most recently, he accepted the WSJ Technology Innovator Award. A German native, Hofmann currently resides in Los Angeles.
Follow Alex Hofmann:
About 9 Count: 9count exists to create products that help and connect people
Jernej Barbic
Co-Founder and CTO of Ziva Dynamics
Jernej Barbic is the co-founder and CTO at Ziva Dynamics.
Follow Jernej Barbic:
About Ziva Dynamics: Ziva Dynamics is a software company that specializes in character creation and human simulation.
Bruce Merrill
CEO and Founder of Cleverly | #1 LinkedIn Lead Generation Agency
Passionate about business, obsessed with progress, and continuously learning. “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Follow Bruce Merrill:
About Cleverly | #1 LinkedIn Lead Generation Agency: Scale your leads on LinkedIn and predictably drive more revenue. Check our out client reviews here: https://www.cleverly.co/reviews
David Sackman
Co-Founder of AppliedVR
David Sackman is the Co-Founder and Chairman at AppliedVR.
Follow David Sackman:
About AppliedVR, Material: AppliedVR offers virtual reality-based therapeutic treatments that address the complexity of chronic pain.
Kosala Hemachandra
Founder and CEO of MyEtherWallet | MEW
With 8 years of experience as a computer engineer under his belt, Kosala dabbled in crypto during his senior year at college. He later applied his technical programming skills to develop a storage solution for Ether which became MEW: one of the most popular and widely used cryptocurrency wallets in the space.
Follow Kosala Hemachandra:
About MyEtherWallet | MEW, Nanopuppet: MyEtherWallet is a free, open-source, client-side tool for easily and securely interacting with the Ethereum blockchain.
Peter Kellis
Founder & CEO of TRAY
Peter Kellis is the Founder & CEO at TRAY.
Follow Peter Kellis:
About TRAY: TRAY® is a complete point of sale system for the enterprise that specializes in self-service ordering.
Michael Silton
Managing Director and Founder of Act One Ventures
Follow Michael Silton:
About Act One Ventures: Act One Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage fund that leads rounds in business software.
Alejandro Guerrero
General Partner and Founder of Act One Ventures
Alejandro Guerrero is a General Partner at Act One Ventures, a community focused, early-stage micro-vc fund based in Los Angeles. He and his partner Michael Silton have been working together since 2013, when Alejandro was a Volunteer Associate and Michael was the Managing Director at UCLA Ventures. They joined forces again in 2015 to create Act One Ventures.
Follow Alejandro Guerrero:
About Act One Ventures: Act One Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage fund that leads rounds in business software.
Ted Price
Co-Founder & CEO of GovInvest
Follow Ted Price:
About GovInvest: GovInvest helps governments visualize and understand complex actuarial data.
Jasmine Nachtigall
Co-Founder & President of GovInvest
Follow Jasmine Nachtigall:
About GovInvest: GovInvest helps governments visualize and understand complex actuarial data.
Joshua Lee
Founder of Ardius
Follow Joshua Lee:
About Ardius: Ardius is a rethinking tax with automation, AI, and technology.
Chad Loder
Co-Founder & CEO of Habitu8
Chad Loder is the Co-Founder & CEO at Habitu8.
Follow Chad Loder:
About Habitu8, IANS, Masks For Docs: Habitu8 mission is to educate and empower every enterprise worker to protect themselves and their company from cyber security threats.
Jason Hoenich
Founder and Chief Product Officer of Habitu8
Jason is a recognized leader in the security awareness industry, having built and run the awareness training programs for some of the world’s largest media companies including Disney and Sony Pictures.
Follow Jason Hoenich:
About Habitu8, Habitu8: Habitu8 mission is to educate and empower every enterprise worker to protect themselves and their company from cyber security threats.
Chris Kantrowitz
CEO, Founder of Gobbler
Chris is a serial entrepreneur in gaming, technology, and music. At age 14, he founded his first company– a game testing business for clients like Sony Imagesoft. After university, he co-founded 3D Groove, online gaming technology company that powered the first online 3D games at sites like shockwave.com and nickelodeon.com. In 2003, he started ODVD games, whose premiere title, “Shout!â€, a pop culture interactive DVD trivia game,was distributed globally by Hasbro and is returning in 2011. In 2006, Chris combined his passion for creative and technology and co-founded Frank the Plumber, a leading concert design and production company creating digital and live experiences for such artists as Akon, The Strokes, Lady Antebellum, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Madonna and brands like Ford, Apple and AOL. Most recently, he founded his third technology company, Gobbler, along with his sister Jamie. Gobbler is a purpose built cloud for media creators and the software companies who provide tools to them.
Follow Chris Kantrowitz:
About Gobbler, Mootral: The largest marketplace for subscription pro-audio plugins.
Roman Tsunder
Co-Founder & CEO of PTTOW!
Driven by a passion to influence culture on a global scale, Roman Tsunder serves as Co-Founder and CEO of PTTOW!, an invite-only, member network for today’s most creative CEOs, CMOs and Icons from all 70 major industries who are shaping our world. Members include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Shaun White, Kerri Walsh Jennings, David Blaine, Quincy Jones, will.i.am, Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and David Guetta as well as top executives from VICE, GM, Apple, Red Bull, GoPro, Google [x], Coke, YouTube, the U.S. State Dept., Facebook, Instagram, Warner Bros and many more. Inspiring social impact has also been at the forefront of Roman’s career as he was a founding member of Gen-Next.org and co-founder of Movements.org, which brought together leading youth movement activists to empower young people to mobilize against violence and oppression. A professional dreamer with a piercing vision for the future of culture, Roman most recently launched WORLDZ, the first and only future-focused summit and community uniting today’s superstars with tomorrow’s rising stars to ignite a cultural revolution.
Follow Roman Tsunder:
About Access 360 Media, AccessSportsMedia.com, PTTOW!, WORLDZ: PTTOW! is an invite only membership for CEO’S, CMO’S, and ICONS from all 70 Industries shaping tomorrow’s culture.
Jed Simon
Founder & CEO of FastPay
Jed Simon is the founder and CEO of FastPay, providing liquidity and financial workflow solutions to the digital media industry. Formerly, Simon was an investment banking analyst program at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York working on IPOs, debt finance transactions, and M&A for media companies. After joining DreamWorks SKG in 1996, Simon managed aspects of its finance, distribution, marketing, and new media businesses, and was a senior executive at DreamWorks Records before assisting in the sale of the company to Universal Music Group. His last position with DreamWorks was Vice President of International Distribution and Marketing for DreamWorks Pictures, based in London.
Follow Jed Simon:
About DreamWorks Studios, FastPay: FastPay is the definitive financial platform for digital media.
Brandon Foo
CEO and Co-Founder of Paragon
Brandon Foo is co-founder and CEO of Paragon. He previously co-founded and was CEO of Polymail.
Follow Brandon Foo:
About Paragon: Paragon makes it easy to integrate your product with the SaaS apps your customers use.
Michael Greenberg
Co-Founder & Board Member of Retina AI
Follow Michael Greenberg:
About Retina AI, ScaleFunder: Retina uses artificial intelligence to turn enterprise data into insights.
Brad Ito
Co-Founder & CTO of Retina AI
Follow Brad Ito:
About Retina AI: Retina uses artificial intelligence to turn enterprise data into insights.
Ali Sammour
Founder of FLATLAY
ali sammour joined FLATLAY as founder in 2016.
Follow Ali Sammour:
About FLATLAY: The end to end social commerce automation platform for brands, customers & creatives.
Chris Handman
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of TerraTrue
Chris Handman is a Co-Founder and COO at TerraTrue. He was the General Counsel at Snap Inc. and Partner at Hogan Lovells.
Follow Chris Handman:
About TerraTrue: TerraTrue is a privacy platform designed to work with product development.
Casey Adams
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of MediaKits
Casey Adams is founder of PodSwipe, and the host of the business podcast “Rise of The Young”. Casey has interviewed world class individuals such as the broadcasting legend Larry King, the owner of the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets Tilman J. Fertitta, Billionaire founder of Shutterstock Jon Oringer, record executive Rick Ross, author Robert Greene, former Federal Bureau of Investigation hostage negotiator Christopher Voss, Maye Musk, among many other notable figures. Over the past three years Casey has traveled all over the United States sitting down with high level entrepreneurs, executives, and musicians.
Follow Casey Adams:
About MediaKits: A simple and easy to use platform for influencers to create a custom media kit online with real-time data and analytics
Steve Jillings
Founder & CEO of Signal Automotive
Steve has more than 30 years of business-building experience, specifically in the areas of corporate finance, sales, marketing and technology. He has been responsible for eight startups throughout his career, taking them from inception to commercialization and in several cases leading to successful liquidity events. Most recently as CEO at TeleSign, Steve raised $79MM in growth capital and lead TeleSign to become the #1 Company in the Two Factor Authentication and Digital Identity category. Starting with 12 employees and single digit millions in revenue, TeleSign grew to 300 employees and more than $100MM in profitable annual revenue. Steve was also chairman and CEO of Vantage Media, an online digital marketing firm, where he and his investment partners raised $80MM to acquire in Vantage February 2007. Vantage Media grew into one of the largest performance-based online marketers in the country. As president and CEO of FrontBridge Technologies, Steve took the company from a startup to a global leader in SaaS email security services. Raising a total of $28MM of funding, this allowed the team to build a broad portfolio of services combined with the largest global distribution footprint in the email security category. This lead to the successful sale of FrontBridge to Microsoft in August 2005 for more than $200MM. Specialties: – Helping start-ups grow fast – Ensuring that the Go-To-Market strategy is the right one. – Raising money (I’ve raised more than $200m) – Product strategy – Sales and marketing strategy – Attracting the right people to win
Follow Steve Jillings:
About Signal Automotive: Signal is a technology-enabled automotive wholesale platform that employs data to optimize wholesale dealer trades.
Adil Virani
Co-Founder of Blitz App
Adil Virani is the Co-Founder at Blitz.
Follow Adil Virani:
About Blitz App: Your personal gaming coach for League of Legends, Valorant, CSGO, Fortnite and more— powered by AI and built with professional players.
Andy Dinh
Co-Founder and CEO of Blitz App
Andy Dinh is the founder and CEO at Blitz App.
Follow Andy Dinh:
About Blitz App, Team SoloMid: Your personal gaming coach for League of Legends, Valorant, CSGO, Fortnite and more— powered by AI and built with professional players.
Santanov Chaudhuri
Co Founder and Executive Chairman of HST
An avid solar enthusiast, Santanov Chaudhuri is a co-founder of HST Solar. Santanov brings specific experience as a former solar power developer himself. He founded one of the first solar power developers active in one of South Asia’s solar power tariff schemes and led the process of trying to procure the right tracking and racking systems to boost IRRs. He founded HST Solar in the hopes of creating a technology company that could solve the need in the market that he had faced personally. He has executed over $100m in renewable energy transactions and investments globally, including in the US, Europe and Brazil. Previously he served as a banker at Goldman Sachs, where he worked on several pioneering clean energy transactions among other deals. He brings experience as a Venture Capitalist at Trivella Investimentos S.A., and as an energy hedge fund investor at Davidson Kempner Capital, a $12B hedge fund. He also brings experience working for NASA from his time at the GOODS project. Chaudhuri holds a BS from Yale University and a MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Follow Santanov Chaudhuri:
About HST: We drive the world forward towards its clean energy future.
Zev Eigen
Founder, Chief Data Scientist of Syndio
Zev J. Eigen is a data scientist focused on cutting edge applications in HR, labor and employment law, and legal services. A former professor at Northwestern, and visiting professor at Yale and NYU, Dr. Eigen was honored as one of “40 Under 40 Rising Legal Stars” by the National Law Journal, and is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on big data and predictive analytics.
Follow Zev Eigen:
About Syndio: Syndio is a technology company that helps companies measure, achieve, and sustain workplace equity.
Jeff Harris
Co-Founder of Parchment
Jeff Harris is the Co-Founder of Parchment.
Follow Jeff Harris:
About Parchment: Parchment enables learners, educators, associations, and employers to securely send and receive academic credentials online.
Gabriel Halimi
Co-Founder & CEO of Flo Technologies
Gabriel is a former law partner turned corporate operations executive, with extensive startup experience, including in business development and brand marketing.
Follow Gabriel Halimi:
About Flo Technologies: Flo prevents water damage and unnecessary water waste in homes with its Flo by Moen smart home water monitoring and leak protection system.
Henry Halimi
Co-Founder, Chairman of Flo Technologies
Follow Henry Halimi:
About Flo Technologies: Flo prevents water damage and unnecessary water waste in homes with its Flo by Moen smart home water monitoring and leak protection system.
Adam Roe
Founder and CEO of Zero Labs Group
Founder, CEO and Product Architect for Zero Labs Group – a privately held Southern California based business incubator and idea development firm for business and retail strategies, product ideation, business model architecture and exit strategy. ZLG has a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Digital Retail, Snowsport Equipment and Conservation sectors. Adam competed as a skateboarder for 14 years. With a background in Advertising and design, and inspired by skateboardings energy and creativity, he started Lunchbox Studios in 1991 as an type-foundry, advertising and design company landing MTV as his first client. After, Adam went on to produce advertising and branding for hundreds of top level clients, founded New York’s Pavement Magazine, Reelhouse Footage and FX. Along with former partners, Adam reopened the Los Angeles office of Lunchbox in 2004 as the agency CEO to develop business solutions for Walmart, Unilever, P&G, Time Warner and Viacom. Adam also is a Licensed Master practitioner Neuro Linguistic Programming, Licensed Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified NLP Communication Skills Master, Time Line therapist and has certifications from Society of NLP, American Institute Hypnotherapy and American Board Hypnotherapy among others.
Follow Adam Roe:
About Zero Labs Group: Private Business Incubator/Lab with a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Retail, and Conservation technology.
Mike Hurst
Co-Founder & CEO of Exactuals
Mike Hurst is a Co-Founder & CEO at Exactuals.Mike is a software industry veteran who spent many years at Oracle helping traditional software companies launch Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. During his time as a senior manager at Oracle, Mike was exposed to the inefficiencies surrounding residuals distribution in the media and entertainment industry, and he began to develop the relationships and insights that would form the basis for Exactuals. He incubated the business model over the course of his time at Stanford Graduate School of Business with guidance from some of Silicon Valley’s most trusted advisors. Mike holds degrees from Santa Clara University and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Follow Mike Hurst:
About Exactuals: Exactuals is a SaaS payments company that focuses on royalty/residual based markets.
Phineas Walton
CSO, Co-Founder & Engineer of Giggl
Phineas Walton is a co-founder of Giggl, redefining the way we collaborate and connect online through multiplayer browsing. Phineas started programming when he was 10 years old, and by the age of 15, he started working for The Nations, until pivoting and building his own companies.
Follow Phineas Walton:
About Giggl, Hiven, The Nations: Watch and browse together with your friends and teams. Your new portal into the internet.
Ashley Crowder
CEO & Co-Founder of VNTANA
Ashley Crowder is the co-founder and CEO of VNTANA, an industry leading augmented reality platform for creating and distributing premium mixed reality experiences. Prior to co-founding VNTANA she graduated from USC with a bachelors and masters in engineering and gained valuable manufacturing experience at Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman and BP. She leverages her engineering background to guide VNTANA’s overall direction and technology development. Ashley was featured as one of USC’s leading engineering CEOs of 2016. Ashley is a part of the Microsoft Early Developer Program along with the Microsoft Bizspark Plus program. Ashley has been a speaker at SXSW, Digital Summit, Internet Summit, Augmented World Expo, TEDx Venice, the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies & Technology Pioneers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, The Montgomery Summit, Siemer Summit, Digital LA, and others.
Follow Ashley Crowder:
About VNTANA: Democratizing 3D for the world through the only automated 3D Collaboration Platform.
Ben Conway
COO/Co-Founder of VNTANA
Follow Ben Conway:
About VNTANA: Democratizing 3D for the world through the only automated 3D Collaboration Platform.
Jason Hardi
Founder & CEO of Muzik
Jason Hardi is the visionary founder & CEO of Muzik, a hardware & software (“Smartware”) platform that is powering a new generation of connected, intelligent, wearable ambient technology. Jason and his team have created the worlds first smart headphone that seamlessly integrates with 3rd party apps and controls all connected devices. He invented the first motion controlled peripherals that send motion tracking data in real time without any latency. Over the last 5 years Jason has invented & designed many disruptive consumer electronic products, received 5 CES Innovation Awards, and has been issued several patents. In 2016, Jason and his team successfully launched and sold out of their first product (Muzik One) in Best Buy, Amazon, Brookstone, and Jet. He was the keynote speaker at the Microsoft Developer Build Conference in 2015 & 2016, and has been featured in Huffington Post, Billboard, Rolling Stone, TechCrunch, USA Today, Innovation & Tech Today and many other media outlets. Jason has successfully raised over $80 for Muzik, funded by some of the most strategic partners, industry leaders, celebrities, professional athletes, and Twitter. Jason graduated with a Bachelor of Science from NCSU, with concentrations in finance and marketing.
Follow Jason Hardi:
About Muzik: Creators of The Worlds First Smart headphones designed to connect artists, fans, and brands like never before.
Ryan Ogle
Co-Founder of Ripple
Ryan Ogle is the co-founder of Ripple and former CTO of Tinder. Engineer-turned-entrepreneur. He passionate about creating new products – like Ripple – and building businesses around them.
Follow Ryan Ogle:
About Ripple: Ripple is a mobile-first alternative to LinkedIn that addresses some of the problems common to the aging.
Milana Lewis
Co-Founder & CEO of Stem Disintermedia
Prior to founding Stem, Milana spent the last five years as a Digital Media Agent at United Talent Agency (UTA). Rabkin represented top digital creators, and sourced investment opportunities for UTA’s VC division. She has been recognized as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders by Variety and was named one of the “30 under 30” most influential young executives by Refinery29 in 2012.
Follow Milana Lewis:
About Stem Disintermedia: Stem Disintermedia helps creators, artists, and musicians collect digital revenue and enables them to track and share their earnings.
Thomas Kramer
COO, Co-Founder of Paladin
As Co-Founder and Head of Product at Paladin, Thomas focuses on building enterprise software for next-generation media companies. Prior to Paladin, Thomas served as VP of Product at Bent Pixels and as the Senior Director of Content Strategy and Optimization at Maker Studios (The Walt Disney Company), a top multi-channel network (MCN). At Maker, Thomas led a team focused on audience development strategy consulting for many Disney brands (Marvel, ESPN, Disney Animation, and Disney Parks) and online video creators (PewDiePie, GameGrumps, and the Shaytards). Thomas has rich experience working with brands, agencies, and content creators on multi-platform video strategy. He is a co-founder of Ready Influence, an advisory initiative for content creators, and has spoken at several conferences, including Media Summit New York. Thomas is a graduate of the University of Oregon.
Follow Thomas Kramer:
About Measure Studio, Paladin: Paladin is the essential influencer marketing platform for brands and agencies.
Eric Manlunas
Managing Partner and Founder (US & SE Asia) of Wavemaker Partners
Eric is a co-Founder and Managing Partner with Wavemaker Partners, a cross border early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore. He is a two-time start-up entrepreneur turned venture capitalist with a strong passion for early-stage investing. Eric co-founded Wavemaker following its merger with Frontera Group, a prior early-stage boutique venture capital firm he founded in 2003. Eric has a proven track record as an early investor in over 230 early-stage ventures, of which half remain active and growing. Those companies have collectively received over $1B in growth capital. Eric also served in a concurrent capacity as a Partner of a Los Angeles-based value hedge fund from late-2002 until its sale to a San Francisco-based commercial bank in mid-2006. Prior to Frontera, Eric founded Sitestar in mid-1999. Sitestar is an Internet service provider in the rural markets of the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Upon helping steer Sitestar in becoming one of the largest independent ISPs in the region, Eric successfully divested his remaining ownership stake in December 2002. Prior to that, Eric’s first startup was Interfoods, an online specialty foods venture he founded in early 1997. Within 3 years, Interfoods grew to become a mid-sized specialty foods provider in its market and was successfully acquired in late 1999. Eric began his career as a consulting associate with Arthur Andersen’s retail management consulting division from 1991-1995. He earned a B.S. in Communications from Florida International University and an M.B.A from Pepperdine University. Eric is currently a member of the board of a number of emerging companies. He is also a Trustee of the Philippine Development Foundation, an organization committed to social development initiatives in the Philippines, Eric’s country of origin.
Follow Eric Manlunas:
About Wavemaker 360, Wavemaker Partners: Wavemaker is a crossborder early-stage VC firm that focuses on early-stage tech startup opportunities.
Robert Smithson
Co-Founder of CrowdScores
Follow Robert Smithson:
About CrowdScores, Genius Sports, Just Auto Insurance, PythonAnywhere: CrowdScores is a live football scores application that features quick updates from leagues and competitions around the world.
Jeff Eigenbrood
Co-Founder & COO of TruLiv
Jeffrey Eigenbrood is a Co-Founder and COO of TruLiv.
Follow Jeff Eigenbrood:
About TruLiv: TruLiv is an end-to-end multifamily investment platform
Nick Marino
Co-Founder & CEO of TruLiv
Nick Marino is a Co-Founder & CEO at TruLiv Co.
Follow Nick Marino:
About TruLiv: TruLiv is an end-to-end multifamily investment platform
Vahe Kuzoyan
President & Co-Founder of ServiceTitan
As co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Vahe is the principal domain expert and product visionary behind ServiceTitan’s innovations. Vahe’s father is a plumber, and Vahe built ServiceTitan as a “thank you” to his dad and fellow contractors. Vahe holds degrees in Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Follow Vahe Kuzoyan:
About ServiceTitan: ServiceTitan is a service management software that helps home services businesses generate more leads and close more sales.
Nick Galbreath
CTO/Founder of Signal Sciences
Follow Nick Galbreath:
About Fastly, Signal Sciences: Signal Sciences is a software as a service platform providing security monitoring and defense for your web applications.
Josh Bruno
Co-Founder & CEO of Path
Josh Bruno is the Founder & CEO of Path. Prior to Path, he founded Hometeam when his family struggled to care for his 93-year-old grandfather. He believes that home care should go beyond the basics to provide a safe, reliable, and interactive service that creates happier days for seniors. Prior to Hometeam, Josh worked as an investor, operator, and engineer at companies like Bain Ventures, Bain & Co, and Yahoo. Learn More: www.pathccm.com
Follow Josh Bruno:
About Path: Path makes it easy to find a world class mental health provider that’s covered by your insurance.
Gabriel Diop
Co-Founder & Head of Partnerships of Path
I enjoy working hard, being scrappy, and bringing people together. Whether it is prospecting clients for a sale or candidates for an all-star team, I enjoy connecting with people on a personal level. Learn More: www.pathccm.com
Follow Gabriel Diop:
About Path: Path makes it easy to find a world class mental health provider that’s covered by your insurance.
Reza Abbaszadeh
Founder of Abbaszadeh Enterprises
Reza Abbaszadeh is a successful Iranian-German entrepreneur, self-made millionaire, business owner, best-selling author and philanthropist whose journey inspired many young people in Europe and other places. Forbes Magazine has awarded him with the tag of The Youngest Iranian Businessman in 2019 when he has just started his 20s. He owns and operates Abbaszadeh Enterprises which has 4 different companies and multiple divisions within its venture portfolio with more than $100 million in assets under management in 2021. Abbaszadeh Enterprises is circulating the money according to Reza’s Wealth Formula which is the best possible way to do what a billionaire does in order to make financial freedom in due course. Reza showed his enthusiasm to do business right from his childhood. He knew that a great business is all about scarcity, innovation and pipeline. In 2016, Reza emigrated to Hungary in order to run away from compulsory military service in Iran, where active duty lasts up to 24 months because he could not let 2 years of his life go to waste. After his immigration, he made it to study medicine at the University of Vienna. But Reza was more passionate about sales and lucrative businesses, so for the sake of his real interest and hunger to succeed in business, he dropped out of the university to do something bigger in his life. Reza Abbaszadeh consults for multiple-fortune 9 investment banking companies worldwide along with helping boards and entrepreneurs on M&A transactions and capital raising across a broad range of industries. He also manages relationships with corporations, entrepreneurs, private equity firms and government entities.
Follow Reza Abbaszadeh:
About Abbaszadeh Enterprises, BaxBeauty: Abbaszadeh Enterprises Is A Conglomerate Of Companies That Helps Businesses And Individuals Succeed In Every Aspect Of Life.
Sandeep Kella
Co-Founder, CEO of assembly
Co-Founder and CEO of Assembly.
Follow Sandeep Kella:
About assembly, FranchiseHelp, Metric Collective, SmallBusinessPost: Assembly is an eCommerce growth platform powered by software, community, and data.
Wared Seger
CEO & Co-Founder of Parrot Analytics
Operating at the intersection of science, technology and entrepreneurship. Author of the world’s first quantitative thesis on founder succession in technology firms. 2017 Variety 30 Under 30 Hollywood Leaders. 2018 Broadcasting & Cable 40 Under 40 Media Execs / 2018 NYC TV Week Awards. Bringing to life The Wisdom of Crowds.
Follow Wared Seger:
About Parrot Analytics: Parrot Analytics is a data science company that measures and predicts global demand for content, across all platforms, around the world.
Rem Darbinyan
CEO and Founder of SmartClick
A serial entrepreneur, angel investor, seasoned advisor, author, and keynote speaker with an investment portfolio of 40+ startups. Being an entrepreneurial executive myself, I founded SmartClick, which builds deep tech innovations based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. As a customer-driven product leader, I’ve been dedicated to building technologies that are innovative and bring new value to the market. My 20+ years of technology industry expertise and executive management experience in scaling products from conception to large-scale ROI have been proven at both startups and large enterprises alike. My mission is to help companies thrive in this fast-changing world using technologies powered by Artificial Intelligence. Through active involvement in the IT community in Armenia, I’m well known for discovering and mentoring high-potential entrepreneurs, evaluating investment opportunities, and helping newly developing startups. As for my academic degrees, I hold a Master’s Degree in Business Risk Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Financial Planning.
Follow Rem Darbinyan:
About ProDiagnose, SmartClick, SmartPush: SmartClick is a full-service software provider delivering artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions for Enterprises.
Kunal Anand
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Imperva
Kunal Anand is Co-founder and CTO of Prevoty, a next-generation application security platform. Prior to that, he was the Director of Technology at the BBC Worldwide, overseeing engineering and operations across the company’s global Digital Entertainment and Gaming initiatives. Kunal also has several years of experience leading security, data and engineering at Gravity, MySpace and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work has been featured in Wired Magazine and Fast Company. He continues to develop the patented security technologies that power Prevoty’s core products. Kunal received a B.S. from Babson College.
Follow Kunal Anand:
About Imperva, Imperva: Imperva provides activity monitoring, real-time protection, and risk management solutions for critical business data and applications.
Steven Yu
Founder & CEO of StandDesk
Steven Yu is the founder and lead product developer for StandDesk, Inc., a innovative company poised to change the way people stay healthy, happy, and productive. From a very young age, Steven and his father (mechanical engineer) have designed, maintained, and repaired complicated machinery, like automative engines and transmissions. Although he received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, he later applied his engineering talents during his International Masters Program in Beijing. Steven took on a project to develop the most affordable electric powered actuating system. Armed with his childhood mechanical engineering skills and married with his unique business flare, Steven completed the project in record time and now is poised to provide an affordable sit-to-stand desk solutions to the world.
Follow Steven Yu:
About StandDesk: A Wellness Company That Makes Awesome Standing Desks
Manish Goyal
Founder & CEO of friendbuy
Manish is founder & CEO of Friendbuy, where his deep e-commerce experience is put to good use. Prior to Friendbuy, Manish managed behavioral targeting solutions for Zappos, Ticketmaster and AT&T U-verse. A serial entrepreneur, Manish was also Founder & VP of Isovia, a provider of mobile solutions to large enterprises. When he’s not starting companies, Manish acts, writes and produces independent films such as the festival darling Kissing Cousins and the short-film comedy Call Center. Manish graduated from MIT with a Bachelors & Masters of Engineering in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Follow Manish Goyal:
About friendbuy: Powering referral marketing for the hottest companies in e-commerce.
Nanxi Liu
CEO & Co-Founder of Enplug
Follow Nanxi Liu:
About Enplug, Nanoly: Enplug is a software company that built the first open platform for digital displays everywhere.
John Hui
Founder and Chairman of Fuhu
John Hui is the Founder and Chairman of Fuhu.
Follow John Hui:
About Fuhu: Fuhu is a designer and seller of cloud-served software, apps and products and services for children.
Bryan Cheung
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Liferay
Bryan Cheung steers the company’s strategic direction and worldwide business development efforts as one of the founders serving with the company since its inception in 2004. Drawing on his technical experience, understanding of customer needs, and a passion for end users, Bryan leads Liferay in meeting its commitment to deliver focused and effective business solutions to its customers and its community. Bryan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Computer Science, and is a sought-after keynote speaker at major IT and open source industry events.
Follow Bryan Cheung:
About Liferay: Liferay makes software that helps companies create digital experiences on web, mobile and connected devices.
Brian Kim
Founder & Chief Operating Officer of Liferay
Brian Kim, Chief Operating Officer and a founding partner, leads the company’s Professional Services Organization and orchestrates the ongoing operations of a fast-growing global organization. He is also managing the strategic growth of the company’s partnership network. Prior to Liferay, Brian worked alongside upper management at HubbardOne on internal company operations. He is also an alumnus of Accenture where he worked with marquée clients within the financial services sector. Brian holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago.
Follow Brian Kim:
About Liferay: Liferay makes software that helps companies create digital experiences on web, mobile and connected devices.
Edward Churchward
CTO & Co-Founder of Arch Platform Technologies
Follow Edward Churchward:
About Arch Platform Technologies, Solstice Studios: Plug and play creative facilities as a service. The Arch SaaS Platform creates cloud infrastructure for collaborative teams in all markets.
Saujin Yi
CEO and Founder of Liquid
Follow Saujin Yi:
About 79 Studios, Liquid: Liquid is a global vendor and freelancer payments platform providing agile SMBs consolidated payments, automation and business controls.
Chase Perkins
Founder & CEO of Impervious.ai
Founder & CEO of Impervious.ai
Follow Chase Perkins:
About Impervious.ai, Thoughtly: Impervious is building Layer 3 of Bitcoin via IMP API – A programmatic layer for developing censorship-resistant, P2P streaming services.
Josh Payne
Co-Founder & CEO of StackCommerce
Josh Payne is the Founder & CEO of StackCommerce, the leading native commerce platform. With a network reach of over 500 million monthly visitors across more than 750+ publisher partners, the company provides turnkey solutions to monetize and engage online audiences through the seamless integration of content + commerce.
Follow Josh Payne:
About StackCommerce, StackSocial: StackCommerce is a native commerce platform with turnkey solutions that increases user engagement, growth, and monetization.
Matt Stern
Co-Founder & COO of Mira
Matt Stern is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Mira. He is also one of the thirty inaugural students in Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young’s Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at USC.
Follow Matt Stern:
About Mira: Mira is an operator of a mobile augmented reality company used to provide industrial-grade wearables and hands-free software technologies.
Benjamin Taft
Co-Founder & CEO of Mira
Follow Benjamin Taft:
About Mira: Mira is an operator of a mobile augmented reality company used to provide industrial-grade wearables and hands-free software technologies.
Shiraz Akmal
CEO & Co-Founder of Spaces
CEO & Co-Founder at SPACES Inc.
Follow Shiraz Akmal:
About SABH’s Big Adventure, Spaces: SPACES designs VR, AR and MR experiences for theme parks, retail, and other public locations worldwide.
Elizabeth Braman
President, Co-Founder of JoyHub
Elizabeth is an investor, executive, and an advisor in the fintech, proptech, and commercial real estate space. She is the co-founder of JoyHub, which provides technology for landlords to communicate more effectively with tenants in rental properties. Elizabeth has been a founder and an early executive at five startups in the technology and commercial real estate industries. She works with startup entrepreneurs to provide guidance on the capital raising process. She is licensed to practice law in Washington DC and the Commonwealth of Virginia, holds her law degree and MBA in finance from The George Washington University and carries her Series 7 and 63 as a registered representative of North Capital Private Securities, member FINRA and SIPC.
Follow Elizabeth Braman:
About JoyHub: Real estate data company, providing solutions to rental property operators
Lea Endres
Co-Founder & CEO of NationBuilder
Lea Endres is the Co-Founder & CEO at NationBuilder.
Follow Lea Endres:
About NationBuilder: NationBuilder is a community organizing software platform that helps people organize and build community-based relationships.
Jim Gilliam
Founder & Executive Chairman of NationBuilder
Jim Gilliam is the founder and CEO of 3dna, a startup building internet tools to shake up a broken political system. Previously, he co-founded Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films, building a non-profit grassroots media company of a million members and producing four documentaries. In the late 90’s, he launched Business.com as its Chief Technology Officer, and worked at Lycos, one of the first internet search engines.
Follow Jim Gilliam:
About NationBuilder: NationBuilder is a community organizing software platform that helps people organize and build community-based relationships.
Jonas Frost
Founder and CTO of FRST
Follow Jonas Frost:
About FRST: FRST provides unique datasets and professional-grade tools to digital asset traders.
Cody James
Founder of Open X
Cody James is a Forbes 30 under 30 in Manufacturing and Industry, formerly the Boeing Company’s youngest robotics programmer and currently the founder of Open X and a consultant in Aerospace.
Follow Cody James:
About Open X: Open X helps people learn advanced skills, then helps them find a great career at leading companies
Casin Ward
Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer, and COO of Hoo.be
Casin Ward is the COO, CMO, and co-founder of hoo.be.
Follow Casin Ward:
About Hoo.be: Hoo.be is a social media platform allowing users to filter their favorite content in one place.
Marcin Kurc
Founder – CEO of Nobl9
marcin kurc is the Chief Executive Officer at Meshmark.
Follow Marcin Kurc:
About Nobl9: Nobl9 is a service level objective platform that connects reliability metrics to business goals via a modern engineering workflow.
Jordan Ramer
Founder and CEO of EV Connect
Follow Jordan Ramer:
About EV Connect: EV Connect provides enterprise-class, electric vehicle charging software, and solutions.
Walter O’Brien
Founder & CEO of Scorpion Computer Services, Inc.
Walter O’Brien (hacker name: “Scorpion”) was designated a child prodigy after scoring 197 on an IQ test at age nine. At 13 years old, he started his company Scorpion Computer Services at first to service local businesses and financial institutions and navigate their introduction to analytics, computerization, and the internet. At 16, O’Brien ranked first in Irish national high-speed computer problem solving competitions. At 18, he competed in the World Olympics in Informatics and has ranked as high as the sixth-fastest programmer in the world. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence with honors from Sussex University in the United Kingdom. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security certified Scorpion as being of National Interest to the United States economy and granted him an “Extraordinary Ability” EB 1-1 Visa (also granted to Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill). O’Brien is a frequent public speaker for IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and teaches as a mentor with the Founder Institute, the world’s largest idea-stage incubator. O’Brien has worked with the world’s largest mutual fund company, Fujitsu, Microsoft-Trados, Oracle Corporation, Baltimore Technologies, and Critical Path. Walter serves as chairman or board member for Strike Force Solutions, Talentorum Alliance, Lawloop, Pantheon Energy and previously has served on the boards of American Environmental Energy, Starglobe and Toin Corp. In addition, O’Brien is frequently called on by news media, the government, and the federal court system for his technology expertise.
Follow Walter O’Brien:
About Scorpion Computer Services, Inc., Scorpion Studios: Advanced Problem Solving Solutions
Jonathan Zweig
CEO / Co-Founder of AppOnboard
Jonathan Zweig is Founding CEO of AppOnboard Inc – the Premium Private Platform for Full-Fidelity App Demos & Next-Gen Heat-Map Analytics. Zweig, creator of 14 of the first 100 native iOS games in 2008 — was previously CEO and President at AdColony, which he also founded and sold to Opera in 2014 for $350M Jonathan Zweig was the Founding CEO/President of AdColony which sold to Opera for $350 Million in June 2014. AdColony is the largest independent mobile advertising platform in the world. AppOnboard is his new company focused on monetization through download-less app technology and playable ads with patent-pending fraud protection. Jonathan has also was Founding CEO of Jirbo, Inc which developed 14 of the first 100 games ever on the iPhone AppStore: https://www.macworld.com/article/1134395/jirbo.amp.html Under his guidance as CEO, Jirbo would eventually put out over 200 games and apps for ESPN, Sony Music, Universal, Kaplan Test Prep, and many more global brands. Jirbo would eventually pivot to become AdColony, the largest independent mobile ad network in the world.
Follow Jonathan Zweig:
About AdColony, AppOnboard, Literati Labs, Inc.: AppOnboard is a software company that empowers creators to build businesses without any programming experience.
Andy Powers
Co-Founder – CEO of Clique API
Andy Powers is a coach, coder, business builder, and entrepreneurial philanthropist. Inspired by the presence of big problems and inevitability of simple solutions, he has spent his career designing the future. He’s an avid basketball fan and, at an early age, played at a very high level leading to multiple scholarship offers out of high school. Andy began building computers in high school and, as his basketball career stalled due to injuries, he began his entrepreneurial endeavors in college with RCSI. The company was at the beginning of the Cloud Computing revolution and was instrumental in the inception of web based applications and the creation of NFUSE (acquired by Citrix). After RCSI, Andy was a part of a number of startups both as investor and founder and in 2003 he founded Reggie Software. With Reggie, Andy built protocols to allow for HTML enabled apps and first became engaged with Roy Feldings Representational state transfers (REST API). Andy found himself obsessed with the information sharing possibilities that were made available by the API, specifically in the communications industry. Inspired to enable project teams to communicate more efficiently, Andy sold Reggie to Blue Phoenix Solutions (MDSYF), and teamed up with two communications experts to start CommuniClique in 2006. The company began with a product focus with a vision to connect distributed teams on demand. In 2008 CommuniClique spun out the product (which became known as Speek, (acquired by Jive)) and pivoted its focus to the REST API strategy and the new vision of connecting people to conversations that matter began to take form. Today, the company is a world leader in enterprise collaboration and helped pioneer both the CPaaS space, and the API economy as a whole. Clique currently delivers 500mm minutes a month of seamless voice solutions, and 9 petabytes of Chata, to its 3000 enterprise customers. Andy oversees Clique’s overall operations, but, especially enjoys creating the future of communication at CliqueLabs, and focusing on an innovative wellness program for the company’s employees and partners. He has also developed the TWO-EIGHT-O initiative – a platform to give the 28mins/day that we all waste waiting for conference calls back to the 2.8bn people without connectivity. 280’s first initiative is a system for the world’s 60mm displaced to seamlessly connect with their each other, their loved ones, and aid workers. Concurrently, Andy is a founding partner of Sabotage Institute – a DC based startup laboratory focused on building the future by breaking the conventions of the present. An avid tech investor, Andy has participated in the early rounds of 100s of companies; including Uber, GroupMe, and ArmorText through his investment office, Empower Investments as well LP relationships with multiple funds. He is also director of the Empower Foundation, through which he invests in organizations that promote efficient governance, unencumbered communication, universal human dignity, and his under-connected neighbors in DC metro area. Andy lives in California with his wife, five kids, and two dogs. He has run over 20 marathons, trains daily with a professional boxer, and spends much of his spare time making funny tee shirts for friends, or coding. His only allergy is to Patagonia vests. Andy Powers is a convicted Felon, convicted of 6 counts of fraud and defrauding investors out of $25 million dollars. On July 15, 2020, Powers was sentenced to 150 months in a federal prison.
Follow Andy Powers:
About Clique API, Sabotage: Clique API provides web-based voice and text application programming interfaces.
Patrick Stavro
Founder of Tixr
Founder at Tixr
Follow Patrick Stavro:
About Tixr: Tixr leverages unique technology to redefine the fan experience and evolve the way large-scale event creators do business.
Jack Dangermond
Founder, CEO, and President of Esri
Jack Dangermond is the founder, CEO, and president of Esri.
Follow Jack Dangermond:
About Esri: Esri is the global market leader in GIS, pioneering problem solving to help you see what others can’t. We build ArcGIS.
ShivaKumar Chandrasekaran
Co-Founder & CTO of Dentulu
Founder and member of the Board of Directors for CA Infotech India Private Limited, has served as President and CEO since the division’s inception in 2005. Shiva is a proven leader whose entrepreneurial spirit has led him to successfully create and sustain high level of competition and market fluctuations. Currently Shiva is running successfully his operations in various IT enabled services around the globe. Dentulu being his new venture.
Follow ShivaKumar Chandrasekaran:
About Dentulu: Dentulu is a provider of teledentistry and mobile dentistry technology solutions to existing non-profits around the world.
Arash Hakhamian
Co-Founder & CEO of Dentulu
Dr. Arash Hakhamian, known as “Dr. Arash”, is a widely recognized and respected doctor of dental surgery focusing his time and energy in teaching dentists advanced clinical procedures and providing life-changing dentistry to his patients locally and internationally. Dr. Arash also serves as a consultant and teacher to current dentists on how to improve the efficiency and standards of their practice to better serve their patients.
Follow Arash Hakhamian:
About Dentulu: Dentulu is a provider of teledentistry and mobile dentistry technology solutions to existing non-profits around the world.
Daniel Giovacchini
Co-Founder of Tango
Daniel Giovacchini is the Co-founder at Tango.
Follow Daniel Giovacchini:
About Tango: Tango is a web browser extension for automatically capturing screenshots for training guides, workflows, and how to’s
Jason Alvarez Cohen
CEO & Co-Founder of Popl
Jason Alvarez-Cohen is a tech entrepreneur and Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. He is the CEO, Co-Founder and chief engineer at Popl, a technology company based in Los Angeles that is building the next generation business card.
Follow Jason Alvarez Cohen:
About Popl: Popl allows users to share their social media and contact info with a tap.
Nick Eischens
COO and Co-Founder of Popl
Nick Eischens is the COO and Co-founder at Popl.
Follow Nick Eischens:
About Popl: Popl allows users to share their social media and contact info with a tap.
Troy Pospisil
Founder, CEO of Ontra
Troy Pospisil is a Founder and Chief Executive Officer at InCloudCounsel. Prior to IncloudCounsel, He was an Investment Professional at H.I.G. Capital and Management Consultant at Deloitte. Mr. Pospisil received a bachelor’s degree in Economics at New York University.
Follow Troy Pospisil:
About Ontra: Ontra is a provider of technology and services for contract automation and intelligence.
