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 United States based Founder operating in the Local 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.
Ralf Wenzel
Founder and CEO of JOKR
Ralf Wenzel is the Berlin- and New York-based founder and CEO of JOKR, the global platform for instant grocery and retail delivery at a hyper-local scale. Email Johrenk7@gmail.com Ralf has an almost 20-year track record of building companies up from scratch, bringing their products to consumers globally, and leading diverse teams. Prior to founding JOKR, he built three companies, including foodpanda, one of the world’s most successful food delivery businesses across 40 countries, which he later merged with Delivery Hero and led through an initial public offering. He also built Skrill, the first e-wallet and leading online payments company in Europe, and Tocororo Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Ralf previously operated his businesses with a focus on emerging markets, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. He has also served as Managing Partner at Softbank. Wenzel holds a degree in computer science from Berlin University.
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About JOKR, SoftBank: JOKR is a grocery and delivery platform that provides hyper-local product delivery services.
Alvin Salehi
Founder, Co-CEO of Shef
Alvand “Alvin” Salehi is the co-founder of Shef.com. He previously served as a White House Technology Advisor under President Obama, where he founded Code.gov and led the development of the country’s first Federal Source Code Policy. Salehi also serves as a research affiliate at Harvard University and a Venture Partner at NextGen VP. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and World’s 100 Most Influential in 2018. Prior to joining the White House, Salehi helped lead the State Department’s efforts to expand Internet access to Africa and improve global market access for US technology companies. He also served at the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which invests in transformative, cutting-edge technologies on behalf of the federal government. Salehi was born and raised in Orange County, CA.
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About Harvard Law School, Shef: Shef is a homemade food marketplace that helps cooks make an income by cooking and selling food to their communities.
Joey Grassia
Co-Founder, Co-CEO of Shef
Joey Grassia is a co-founder and co-CEO at Shef.
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About KUTOA, Shef: Shef is a homemade food marketplace that helps cooks make an income by cooking and selling food to their communities.
Theodore Dziuba
Co-Founder, Developer of Milo
Ted Dziuba co-founded at [Milo](/organization/milo), an online/local shopping company acquired by eBay in 2009. He worked on several “internal startups” at eBay before leaving to join Oak Labs as the Vice President of Engineering, to build a software team to tackle retail innovation. After Oak, he co-founded Event6, an online marketplace for event planning. Today, he lives in Placerville, California and is a candidate for California State Senate, District 1.
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About Milo: Milo, a product search space, enables shoppers to research products online and buy locally while tracking real-time availability and price.
Christopher Sopher
Co-Founder and CEO of WhereBy.Us
CEO at WhereBy.Us.
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About WhereBy.Us: A platform that enables creators to build a media business for their community.
Bruce Pinchbeck
Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of WhereBy.Us
Bruce Pinchbeck is Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of WhereBy.Us which operates local media properties The New Tropic in Miami and The Evergrey in Seattle. He is an artist and producer who previously worked at New World Symphony, Philly.com, and NBC Comcast. Bruce got into the world of media production after meeting creatives from around the world when he was featured in publications like The New York Times, US Weekly, People Magazine, Oprah, and Good Morning America for a homework help website he created when he was nine years old. He went on to partner with DiscoverySchool before shifting into the world of media. While he won’t help you with your homework anymore, he’s always happy to geek out about media and technology.
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About WhereBy.Us: A platform that enables creators to build a media business for their community.
Rebekah Monson
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of WhereBy.Us
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About WhereBy.Us: A platform that enables creators to build a media business for their community.
Ken Ma
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AreaHype
Ken Ma is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at AreaHype.
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About AreaHype: We connect small businesses with clients.
Oindril Dutta
Chief Technology Officer and Founder of AreaHype
Oindril Dutta is the Chief Technology Officer and Founder at AreaHype.
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About AreaHype, Tara AI: We connect small businesses with clients.
Robert Jadon
Co-Founder & Director of Startup UCLA Accelerator
Robert is a technology investor and entrepreneur in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, with experience founding and scaling businesses, along with multiple, successful exits. Robert’s passion is working with great entrepreneurs and product developers, adding value both as an investor and an operator. Prior to joining Altpoint and leading it’s LA office, Robert co-founded ScaleFunder, the leading crowdfunding and online giving SaaS platform in higher education. ScaleFunder has helped numerous nonprofit institutions raise tens of millions of dollars through the platform, in addition to acquiring new donors and retaining existing ones. ScaleFunder was successfully acquired by Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a leader in the nonprofit fundraising and enrollment space. Robert’s first company, Micro Memory, was a leader in the signal processing and storage networking markets. . Split primarily between storage and mil-aero verticals, the company’s customers included EMC, Network Appliance, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and many others. Micro Memory was acquired by Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW). Robert has also worked with early stage companies for many years. Robert co-founded the Startup UCLA entrepreneurship and accelerator program at UCLA. The first of it’s kind in Los Angeles, the Startup UCLA program took best practices from the private sector, and applied them to UCLA students and alumni. The summer accelerator has spawned numerous companies, and has been the basis for best-practices at universities across the country and internationally. Robert has been an angel investor for many years, helping entrepreneurs with product and fundraising from the earliest stages. He formed the Dauntless Fund to focus on investments in consumer-facing startups. Robert is also an investor in and advisor to the Amplify.LA startup accelerator in Venice, Calif, and a former member of the Tech Coast Angels. Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UCLA.
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About NeuralX, Presence.Fit, Startup UCLA Accelerator: Startup UCLA Accelerator provides a workspace, guidance, legal services, and mentors to early-stage companies.
Larry Liu
Founder & CEO of Weee!
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About Weee!: Weee! is an online grocery delivery platform that offers Hispanic and Asian foods specialty products and everyday staples.
Tarik Sansal
Founder & CEO of Romio
Tarik Sansal is an internet entrepreneur. He is currently the founder and CEO of Romio, a smart social real estate search engine which leverages neighborhood networks (Romio is going live shortly). Previously, Tarik was the founder of onTargetJobs.com, currently #3 vertical job site behind Dice and Linkedin. Tarik created the original strategy for onTargetJobs.com and assembled the original management team by bringing in Allen Paschal as CEO and Curt Thompson as CFO. onTargetJobs.com is a Warburg Pincus backed company (WarburgPincus.com). Prior, Tarik started InvestmentPositions.com, a job site focused on recruitment of investment professionals which evolved into RecruitmentBox, a multi vertical recruitment technology provider to vertical publishers. Tarik started his careers in investments. He was the 1st investment analyst at Moon Capital (www.MoonCapital.com), the emerging markets hedge fund. He is passionate about leveraging socially conscious internet ventures to make a positive social impact. He also has ideas around new alternative investment models which leverage a socially conscious approach to deliver superior returns to investors. Tarik wrote white papers which were published and reference in financial media such as The Financial Times.
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About Romio: Romio let’s you book “trusted” local services (Housekeeper, Runner, Dog Walker…) through recommendations from local experts and friends
Cary Klein
Founder of Rue21
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About Rue21: Rue21 offers an online store that enables shoppers to find and buy clothing, perfumes, accessories, and more.
Suyu Zhang
Co-Founder & CTO of Chowbus
Suyu Zhang is the Co-Founder and CTO at Chowbus.
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About Chowbus: Chowbus is a delivery platform that provides authentic Asian food sourced from local independent restaurants and stores.
Farbod Shoraka
Founder & CEO of Promenade
Farbod Shoraka was the Co-Founder and CEO of Bloomnation. Farbod Shoraka is currently the CEO at Promenade Group.
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About Promenade: Promenade engages in empowering local businesses with technology, knowledge, and support.
Gregg Weisstein
Founder & COO of Promenade
With thousands of both florists and their products in the marketplace, Gregg is responsible for keeping BloomNation a well-oiled machine. A Business Economics and Accounting graduate from University of California, Santa Barbara, Gregg has consulted for market leaders and wholesalers for the majority of his professional career. Gregg’s favorite flowers are orchids.
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About BloomNation, Promenade: Promenade engages in empowering local businesses with technology, knowledge, and support.
Scott Owens
Founder / CEO of DoStuff Media
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About DoStuff Media: DoStuff Media is a network of local media properties for people looking to do awesome stuff.
Jason Hanold
Founder, CEO & Managing Partner of Hanold Associates, LLC
The founder, Managing Partner, and CEO of Hanold Associates LLC, in Chicago, Jason Hanold possesses a track record of success in conducting executive talent searches for key global firms in a range of industries. Focusing his efforts on human resources leadership positions, Hanold has placed learning officers, division leaders, talent management directors, and more with small and large companies in the public and private spheres alike. Since launching his firm in 2010, his team has served clients including Fossil, PG&E, CDW, ServiceMaster, Carnival Corporation, and Google. Jason Hanold assists clients by drawing on both his education and his considerable experience with notable firms. He completed his undergraduate studies at Illinois State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Interpersonal Communications. He also enrolled in the School of Communications at Northwestern University, where he obtained his Master of Science in Leadership Interaction and Influence. Additionally, Jason Hanold studied advanced management principles at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before founding his company, Hanold gained experience in executive-level human resources roles with Whirlpool Corporation, McKinsey & Company, Deloitte Consulting, and Russell Reynolds Associates. Recognized in the industry for his expertise, Jason Hanold has shared his insights with others in several capacities. For instance, he contributed the article “Rigorous OnBoarding Can Help Win the War for Talent” to an issue of Recruiting Edge, published by Authoria, Inc. In the article, Hanold discusses the advantages inherent in close communication between recruiters and new hires within the first year of employment. He also examines the importance of highlighting career goals from the start, which help move both companies and employees forward.
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About Hanold Associates, LLC: HR executive search firm with the speed, agility, and adaptability with relationships, reach and sophistication of the major multinationals.
Richy Orozco
Founder of Catholic Connect
Entrepreneur
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About Catholic Connect: A social networking platform designed to connect catholics to their local communities.
Nanxi Liu
CEO & Co-Founder of Enplug
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About Enplug, Nanoly: Enplug is a software company that built the first open platform for digital displays everywhere.
Alec Slocum
CEO/Co-Founder of Rentable
Alec Slocum started his first company, ABODO.com, in 2013 after graduating from UW-Madison.
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About Rentable: Rentable offers a web-based platform that specializes in online apartment search.
Venkat Krishnamurthy
President,CPO & Co-Founder of Alignable
Venkat Krishnamurthy is CPO & Co-Founder at Alignable.
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About Alignable: Alignable is a social network where small business owners gather to connect, collaborate, and succeed together.
Eric Groves
CEO & Co-Founder of Alignable
Co-Founder & CEO at Alignable & Board of Directors at More Than Words (MTW).
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About Alignable, Constant Contact: Alignable is a social network where small business owners gather to connect, collaborate, and succeed together.
George Frangos
Co-Founder & President of Farm Burger
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About Farm Burger: An Atlanta-based burger chain with locations in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and California.
Brian Timpone
Founder & President of BlockShopper
Brian Timpone, President of BlockShopper, founded the company in May 2006. Formerly a television reporter, Brian is the founding publisher of courthouse legal journals in Southern Illinois, South Texas and Charleston, WV, as well as LegalNewsline.com, a national news service covering state supreme courts and attorneys general. He also serves on the board of directors at Manifest Digital , an interactive web design and development agency based in Chicago. In 2003, he founded Greater Illinois Newsgroup, four community newspaper chain in Central Illinois. It was purchased by the Champaign News-Gazette in 2005. In 2001, Brian founded 1871 Media, a content management software provider for newspapers and associations. Brian is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He lives in Lincoln Park with his wife, Patricia, and three children.
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About BlockShopper: BlockShopper is a local news and market data service for current and seeking homeowners, home buyers, and home sellers.
Patrick Baynes
Founder & CEO of Nerdwise
CEO at Nerdwise.
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About 76 Forward, Nerdwise: Nerdwise accelerates each stage of the buying process from prospect discovery to outreach and acquisition.
Anthony Longo
Co-Founder & CEO of CO Everywhere
Anthony Longo is the VP of Marketing & Commercial Products at SIONYX.
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About CO Everywhere, CO Everywhere, Niche Collective, SiOnyx: CO Everywhere is a research and development lab and investment vehicle focused on building technology products and services.
Smith Yewell
CEO, Co-Founder of Welocalize
Smith Yewell co-founded Welocalize with his wife Julia in 1997, building it to one of the Top-10 localization firms in the industry. Both Smith and Welocalize have been recognized in many ways including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, Deloitte & Touche’s “Technology Fast 500” for 13 consecutive years and the Inc. 500/5000 award for 11 consecutive years. Smith holds a BA in English from Tulane University. Prior to starting the company, he served in the US Army as a Field Artillery Officer and received the Bronze Star for service in Operation Desert Storm during the first Persian Gulf War. Smith is also actively involved in philanthropic efforts and serves on the Advisory Boards of The Rosetta Foundation, The Aslan Foundation and Color Me A Cure Foundation. When Smith isn’t crunching numbers, motivating his 700+ employees worldwide or speaking at industry events, he’s usually playing his guitar. Yep, he’s the lead guitarist in what started out as the office band playing company parties. In a nod to the industry, their name is Fuzzy Match.
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About Welocalize: Welocalize provides translation supply chain management solutions that deliver market-ready, translated content.
Julia Yewell
Co-Founder of Welocalize
In 1997, Smith and Julia Yewell founded Welocalize, with Smith filling the role of CEO and Julia taking on the job of overseeing two crucial areas of the company: accounting and personnel. 16 years later, she is still productively working in the Finance Department and largely responsible for building Welocalize’s strong, versatile, and uniquely gifted workforce. Julia is an expert at bringing money in, but her true gift is in getting the right people. Julia comes from a very diverse background and is fluent in four languages and her special talent for understanding and connecting with others. She holds a BA degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of Latvia and the University of Heidelberg. Prior to co-founding Welocalize, Julia started her own successful company in Riga, Latvia, manufacturing and selling leather accessories. She is a mother, a wife and a caretaker; loves her dog and cherishes her friends and family. Her hobbies and interests reflect her eclectic view of life; from traveling to new and fascinating places, sharing and savoring favorite wines with friends, and reading whenever she has a free moment to do so. Her joie de vivre and appreciation of the talents, perspectives and the values that staff members and clients bring to the company are the major reasons Welocalize is able to do things differently – and better – than anyone else.
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About Welocalize: Welocalize provides translation supply chain management solutions that deliver market-ready, translated content.
Yong Kim
Co-Founder and CEO of Wonolo
Yong Kim is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Wonolo.
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About Wonolo: Wonolo is an on-demand staffing platform for businesses to fill their immediate labor needs.
Puneet Talwar
Founder, CEO & Director of Munch Ado
Founder, CEO & Director at Munch Ado.
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About AY Digital, Bravvura, Bravvura Ventures, Munch Ado: Munch Ado is a fully-managed marketing / e-commerce growth platform for restaurants.
Ippei Takahashi
President & CEO – Founder of RideGuru
Ippei has worked in web development and sales roles for over 15 years in the high-tech industry. Since founding Unleashed, LLC in 2007, he has designed products, developed strategy for the company, and led various initiatives as a project manager. As a passionate entrepreneur, he continues to build the vision for Unleashed, LLC and its future products.
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About RideGuru: RideGuru is the trusted resource, tool, and community for everyone engaged in ridehails, rideshares, limos, and taxis.
Carolyn Coquillette
Founder and CEO of Shop-Ware
Carolyn Coquillette is the founder, owner, and lead technician at Luscious Garage. She started the San Francisco-based auto shop in 2007. After seven years, Carolyn founded an online software for auto repair shops called Shop-Ware.
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About Shop-Ware: Shop-Ware offers an enterprise-grade SaaS platform to help the automotive aftermarket thrive and grow.
Eric Jaffe
Co-Founder and COO of ChowNow
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About ChowNow: ChowNow helps branded online ordering systems for independent restaurants through the restaurants’ own websites.
Christopher Webb
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ChowNow
Chris Webb, Co-Founder & CEO of ChowNow, an online ordering system and marketing platform for restaurants.
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About ChowNow, HuffPost: ChowNow helps branded online ordering systems for independent restaurants through the restaurants’ own websites.
Andrew Ballester
Co – Founder of Paygr
Andrew Ballester is the Co Founder at GoFundMe.
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About GoFundMe, GoFundMe.org, Paygr: Paygr enables individuals to buy local services, sell their skills and make money doing what they prefer.
Jarrod Cuzens
Co-Founder & CTO of Empyr
Jarrod Cuzens is Chief Architect at Figg.
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About Empyr, Empyr, Figg: Empyr is a card-linked offer engagement platform for national brands and digital publisher.
Bharat Pulgam
CEO, Co-Founder of Pikup
Bharat Pulgam joined Pikup as CEO, Co-Founder in 2018.
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About Pikup: Weekly neighborhood deliveries from your favorite local stores.
Paul Tasner
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of PulpWorks
Paul Tasner is a senior executive with more than 30 years of experience in all facets of supply chain management. He has held leadership positions in procurement, manufacturing, and logistics in ventures ranging from start-up to Fortune 100. His career focus has been on supply chain sustainability, strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management. His company affiliations include: The Clorox Company, Clif Bars, California Closets, Method Products, and Hepagen Vaccines. In 2008, Mr. Tasner founded and continues to lead the San Francisco Bay Area Green Supply Chain Forum – the first such assembly of supply chain executives anywhere. Mr. Tasner has authored many papers and presentations on supply chain sustainability and currently lectures on this timely topic in the MBA Program at San Francisco State University. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Boston University.
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About PulpWorks, TED Conferences: Pulpworks offers compostable products, molded from 100% post-consumer waste paper.
Elena Olivari
Founder and Chief Sustanibility Officer of PulpWorks
Elena has a background in Green Architecture and Design, Sustainability and Social Corporate Responsibility. Born in Vicenza, Italy, she has practiced for 20 years in the USA and internationally, including Hong Kong and Italy, managing projects of diverse complexity and scale and cultivating strong relationships with clients, consultants and general contractors. Given her long-standing interest in sustainability, Elena is skilled in the methodology of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting according to the rigorous Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. This systematic report development process includes researching, preparing, connecting, defining, and monitoring – and is most successful when compatible with an organization’s values. PulpWorks has these sustainable values profoundly ingrained in its culture. In fact, the sustainable mission of PulpWorks is the very reason for its existence, and Elena is indeed the chief steward of that mission. Elena has a M.A. from the Istituto Universitario diArchitettura di Venezia, Italy.
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About PulpWorks: Pulpworks offers compostable products, molded from 100% post-consumer waste paper.
Brian Litvack
CEO & Co-Founder of LeagueApps
Brian manages the LeagueApps team and works closely with product, marketing, acquisition and account management. Most importantly he orders pizza and/or trophies to mark company milestones. Brian has been a digital sports junky his whole career and previously worked in business development roles at CBS Sports, College Sports Television and the Official College Sports Network.
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About LeagueApps: LeagueApps is the operating system and professional community for the most enterprising youth and local sports organizers.
Steve Parker
Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of LeagueApps
Steve manages the overall product lifecycle process, aligning business strategy and objectives with product planning, design, implementation, and operations. Prior to co-founding [LeagueApps], Steve was principal consultant at OpenEvolve Inc, where he led projects in product strategy, architecture, and sw engineering for several Internet startups as well as large enterprises such as SAIC and the Washington DC Office of CTO. Steve holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.
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About LeagueApps: LeagueApps is the operating system and professional community for the most enterprising youth and local sports organizers.
Ethan Anderson
Founder & CEO of MyTime
Ethan is Co-founder and formerly CEO of [Redbeacon](/organization/redbeacon), the 2009 TechCrunch50 and Business Insider Startup 2010 grand prize winner that was acquired by The Home Depot. Prior to Redbeacon, he was a Product Manager at [Google](/organization/google) where he was responsible for launching and managing the [Google Video](/product/google-video) product outside the United States prior to the [YouTube](/organization/youtube) acquisition. He also was Google’s first Product Manager for the fast growing Southeast Asian emerging markets, and a Product Manager on [Google Image](/product/google-images) Search, the top image search product in the world. Before joining Google, Ethan worked in a number of internet strategy and marketing roles at The Clorox Company, Buy.com, and [McKinsey & Company](/organization/mckinsey-company). Ethan graduated with Honors from Harvard Business School and Magna Cum Laude from Duke University, where he earned a BA in Economics and Public Policy Studies. He was recently named to Business Insider’s Silicon Valley 100 and 16 Up-and-Coming Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs You Need to Meet.
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About MyTime: MyTime powers online scheduling, automated marketing and point of sale for mid-market and enterprise service retailers.
Colin Pape
Founder & CEO of ShopCity.com
Colin is a serial entrepreneur who founded the community commerce network, ShopCity.com. In 2011, Colin found himself mired in a battle with Google and realized that the world desperately needs a transparent and open search engine.
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About Presearch, ShopCity.com, Social Evolution: ShopCity.com is a website for local businesses to gain an online presence to compete against large corporations.
Jim Terry
Founder & CTO of ShopCity.com
Founder & CTO at SHOPCITY.COM
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About ShopCity.com: ShopCity.com is a website for local businesses to gain an online presence to compete against large corporations.
Frank Renfro
Founder of Naybur
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About Naybur: Referral sharing platform for Neighbors
Ajay Kori
Co-Founder & Chairman of UrbanStems
Ajay Kori is the Co-Founder and Chairman of UrbanStems.
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About Allay, UrbanStems: UrbanStems is an online gifting company that provides on-demand flower delivery services.
Jeff Sheely
Co-Founder of UrbanStems
Jeff Sheely is the founder of UrbanStems.
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About Allay, UrbanStems: UrbanStems is an online gifting company that provides on-demand flower delivery services.
Steven Cox
Founder & CEO of TakeLessons
Steven Cox is the Founder & CEO at TakeLessons.
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About TakeLessons: TakeLessons is an ed-tech company with a robust, engaging learning platform and community for lifelong learning.
Scott Burkhead
Co-Founder of List It Local, Inc.
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About List It Local, Inc.: Buy, sell and donate in your community.
Lindsay Burkhead
Co-Founder of List It Local, Inc.
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About List It Local, Inc.: Buy, sell and donate in your community.
Alex Hertel
Co-Founder & CEO of Xperiel
Alex Hertel is CEO and co-founder of Xperiel. He is an entrepreneur, academic, industry innovator, and inventor who is the author of many patents. Now based in Silicon Valley, he is an expert in the convergence of emerging immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) to make the physical world digitally interactive. Alex holds a PhD in theoretical computer science from the University of Toronto.
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About Intuit, Xperiel: Xperiel is making the physical world digitally interactive, bringing the Real World Web (RWW) to life
Eric Ly
Founder & CEO of Hub
Eric Ly is the founder and CEO at Presdo, a web application that helps people find the best time for getting together. Prior to that, Eric was a co-founder at LinkedIn, where he was the founding CTO and a VP. At LinkedIn, Eric helped create some of its core product features, which enabled the company to reach profitability and a quickly growing user base. You can find Eric’s profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ericly. Before that, Eric co-founded two other Internet companies in the time management, collaboration, and mobile areas. He enjoys working at the intersection of products, technologies and business models to create highly successful companies. Eric serves on the advisory board of Movoto.com, an online real estate company.
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About Hub, KarmaCheck: Hub is a blockchain based trust protocol that allows people to earn and carry their reputation data across Internet.
Brian Handrigan
Co-Founder & CEO of Advocado
Brian is a proven entrepreneur with a passion for expanding the intersection of technology and communication. He is a true innovator and has been a founder or co-founder of seven companies (in the US and UK). His talent to help clients see “beyond the known” and identify the real problem has resulted in some of the most creative cross channel solutions to date. Brian has over twenty years of experience working with domestic and international clients such as HP, CDW, AAFES, Rolex, Walmart and major health insurance companies.
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About Advocado, GRA MATR: Advocado is a real-time cross-media optimization & audience platform that makes advertising perform better.
Matan Gill
Co-Founder & CIO of LiveBy
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About LiveBy: LiveBy is a neighborhood discovery company that engages homebuyers through neighborhood matching and hyper-local content.
Cory Scott
Founder & CEO of LiveBy
Cory founded LiveBy a new B2B Real Estate Technology company in 2015. Their products match consumers and professionals with the best locations to live, build and grow. Cory graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan and the NMotion accelerator.
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About LiveBy: LiveBy is a neighborhood discovery company that engages homebuyers through neighborhood matching and hyper-local content.
Greg Harris
Founder of Meusu
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About Meusu: On demand task service focused on helping the community and the local businesses with-in it.
Michael Koch
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of HubKonnect
Michael Koch is the Co-Founder & CEO of HubKonnect.
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About HubKonnect, Koch Global Ventures, MIT – Sloan School of Management, QSR AI Research Lab: HubKonnect is the worlds #1 AI data-driven Local store marketing platform.
Kathy Hartman
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of HubKonnect
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of HubKonnect, an integrated local marketing work center for franchises and multi-unit organizations. She is a trading area expert and a builder of technology solutions supporting sales building and local marketing efforts. Kathy Hartman has led Local Store Marketing (LSM) for McDonald’s Corporation on both the agency and corporate level—supporting over 44,000 locations worldwide. In addition, she has worked with start-ups, multi-unit organizations and local businesses—all of whom depended upon LSM to drive their sales and customer counts. Training thousands of local marketers throughout her career; her passion and knowledge of LSM is unsurpassed. She is known as the Queen of LSM. She has been recognized by the multi-unit restaurant industry with the 2019 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Award.
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About HubKonnect: HubKonnect is the worlds #1 AI data-driven Local store marketing platform.
Raja Haddad
Co-Founder & CEO of Dolo (Tea Time Labs)
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About Dolo (Tea Time Labs): Dolo is a free location-based message board app for socializing and discovering what’s happening right around you.
Andy Mai
Co-Founder & CXO of Dolo (Tea Time Labs)
I’m a cat-loving UX designer and full-stack developer who has worked on projects across mobile, tablet, web, TV, automotive, and consumer hardware. I believe that the best experiences are created through the lens of psychology and anthropology; that only with an understanding of peoples’ behaviors, motivations, and habits can anyone create a delightful product. I’ve spent the better part of the last 13 years in multi-disciplinary roles serving as a force multiplier at startups and in small teams. My background includes experience working as QA engineer, Systems Administrator, Frontend Developer, Creative Director, Copywriter, and UX/UI designer. These days, my expertise and focus lies primarily in design however I do my best to stay current in all the related disciplines. – I have a patent for using audio recognition technology in interactive experiences—if you’ve ever used an app that tells you what song is playing, you’re welcome :P. – In 2011, I was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media for my work on ABC’s s Grey’s Anatomy. – I was awarded reddit’s Submitter of the Year title in recognition for my contributions as moderator of /r/malefashionadvice — helping to grow it’s readership from 5,000 to 400,000 people. My list of clients includes Adobe, AT&T, Ford Automotive, Fox, Honda, Live Nation, Major League Baseball, Nickelodeon, Nielson, NTT, Nvidia, Pandora, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, Sprint, Wikia, and Verizon to name a few. In my free time, I enjoy photography, the outdoors, and share a home with 4 cats.
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About Dolo (Tea Time Labs): Dolo is a free location-based message board app for socializing and discovering what’s happening right around you.
J.D. Gins
Founder, Brewmaster & COO of Texas Beer Company
JD has been an avid home brewer in Austin for years. He has been practicing his technique, admiring the great Brewers and has conducted extensive research regarding the brewing methods and set ups not only at microbreweries in Austin but across the country as well. He is passionate about brewing and hopes to join the ranks of craft brew revolution and help bring great beer to more and more Texans.
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About Texas Beer Company: Texas Beer Company is a locally owned brewery that loves everything about Texas.
HP Jin
Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Telenav
HP co-founded Telenav in 1999 and has led the company to become a global leader in location-based services (LBS), automotive navigation and location-targeted mobile advertising. Telenav was the first company to launch GPS navigation services for mobile phones to the world, and today its product reaches more than 100 countries on mobile phones and within vehicles. Telenav was also the first LBS company in the USA to IPO when it began publicly trading on NASDAQ in May 2010. Telenav has subsidiaries in US, China, Europe and South America. Prior to starting Telenav, HP served as a Senior Strategy Consultant for the McKenna Group and a Business Strategy and Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company. HP has also served as a Technical Director at LINCSS/Loral Space Communication. HP holds a Ph.D. in Guidance, Navigation and Control (Aeronautics and Astronautics department), a Ph.D. minor in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China.
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About Telenav: Accelerating towards a connected car future with smarter, easier, safer innovation.
Tarun Nagpal
CEO & Founder of Little Owl
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About Little Owl: Next-generation local search for parents
Eugene Shinn
CTO & Founder of Little Owl
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About Little Owl: Next-generation local search for parents
Eric Zdenek
CEO and Co-Founder of TSN Advertising
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About TSN Advertising: Truck-Side Advertising company with campaigns for dozens of Fortune 250 companies in 28 markets across the US and Canada
Aakash Barot
Founder of Alephants
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About Alephants: Alephants allows companies to find and hire local staff for temporary jobs.
Elery Pfeffer
Founder & CEO of Nift Networks
Elery Pfeffer is Nift’s founder and CEO. Nift is the first invitation-only network that helps neighborhood businesses get the right local customers to walk through the door. It’s the only network that guarantees businesses are discovered every time they thank their best customers. Nift, short for “neighborhood gift,” was founded in Brookline, Massachusetts and was developed in collaboration with the local businesses it was established to help. For more information, visit www.GoNift.com or follow @NiftNetwork on Twitter. Before Nift, Elery Pfeffer was Pursway’s founder CEO. Under his leadership as founder & CEO, the company grew from an idea, to product/market fit with seven figure annual sales to consumer facing fortune 100s and > $17m in venture financing. He earned his B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.
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About Harvard University, Nift Networks: Nift is the first invitation-only network that helps neighborhood businesses get discovered.
Steve Tate
Founder of Aleth
Founder at Aleth
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About Aleth, Rank & File: Trusted Video & Text Reviews
Tony Tateossian
Founder of Aleth
Founder at Aleth
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About Aleth: Trusted Video & Text Reviews
Todd King
Founder of Aleth
Founder at Aleth
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About Aleth: Trusted Video & Text Reviews
Simon Ru
Founder & CEO of UpNest
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About UpNest: UpNest is a realtor marketplace connecting home buyers and sellers with top agents competing for their business.
Angie Hicks
Co-Founder of Angie’s List
Since 1995, Angie Hicks has been dedicated to helping consumers get the real scoop on local service companies and health providers. Inspired by the frustrations her co-founder had trying to find reliable contractors in suburban Columbus, Ohio, she started Angie’s List to help homeowners find who they should hire and who they should avoid
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About Angi, Angie’s List: Angie’s List provides trusted reviews and information to help millions of consumers make hiring decisions in hundreds of service categories.
Alberto Gomez
COO & Co-Founder of Irys
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About Irys: Irys offers AI-driven tools that bring real-time visibility and data analytics for urban stakeholders.
Andrew Landis
Founder & CEO of LuckyDiem
Andrew Landis is the Founder & CEO of LuckyDiem.
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About LuckyDiem: The Largest Card-Linked Offer Platform with Gamified Loyalty and Rewards Program.
Payom Niazmandi
Founder & CEO of Unibui, Inc.
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About Unibui, Inc.: Unibui helps local businesses reach and convert students as physical customers with unique QR channels.
Andrew Gluck
Founder & CEO of Ox&Pen
Andrew Gluck is a Founder & CEO at Ox&Pen.
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About Ox&Pen: Ox&Pen is a mobile-based loyalty and rewards program, supporting local businesses to attract and retain customers.
Anthony Knierim
Co-Founder & COO of MoveSpring
Anthony Knierim is Co-Founder & COO of MoveSpring and leads operations and market strategy of the business. Anthony recently led digital strategy as the first employee of the digital news publishing company, Reboot Media Group (RebootIllinois.com), responsible for leading the digital strategy and digital operations of the business. Reboot Media Group is a venture backed political media and technology company backed by Anne Dias Griffin and Jim & Lester Crown. Specialties Branding and Identity, Social Networking, Human Capital, Sales Effectiveness, Web 2.0, Social Media, Market Penetration, New Business Prospecting, Business Growth and Development, Operational Excellence, Workforce Change and Performance, Corporate Communications, and Performance and Process Improvement
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About MoveSpring: MoveSpring is a fun, simple, highly engaging health platform enabling employers to educate and motivate employees toward better health.
John Contreras
CEO & Co-Founder of MoveSpring
John Contreras is the Co-Founder and CEO at MoveSpring.
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About MoveSpring: MoveSpring is a fun, simple, highly engaging health platform enabling employers to educate and motivate employees toward better health.
Mike Penrod
Founder & CEO of LegalClick
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About LegalClick: LegalClick developed a secure mobile document assembly platform for lawyers to sell & process fixed fee services direct to clients.
Anju Debnath
Co-Founder / CEO of HobbyJoint
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About HobbyJoint: Peer-to-peer marketplace for Buying/Selling & RENTING e-Commerce items. HobbyJoint uses optimized Sharing Economy model.
Emad Fanous
Co-Founder of YellowBot
Founder & CEO of Connectivity.
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About Connectivity, Control.My.ID, Weblocal.ca, YellowBot: YellowBot is a hyper-local search engine and community discussion resource.
Deuce Thevenow
COO & Co-Founder of Recess
Deuce is a Co-Founder of RECESS and a proud 2011 graduate from Indiana University, where he double majored in Entrepreneurship/Marketing. Previously Deuce was the Co-Founder of GLOWFEST, a touring festival held on college campuses launched while a student at Indiana University. Prior to GLOWFEST, he was the Marketing Manager and Assistant Talent Buyer at The Bluebird Nightclub for more than 3yrs, where he worked on more than 500+ shows. Deuce enjoys the outdoors, eating & cooking (especially anything with Siracha), and helping college students turn their dreams into a reality. Go Hoosiers!
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About Recess: Recess unlocks the power of event marketing with stress-free, programmatic planning.
Jack Shannon
CEO & Co-Founder of Recess
Mr. Jack Shannon is Co-Founder at Recess LLC.
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About Recess: Recess unlocks the power of event marketing with stress-free, programmatic planning.
David Moosman
CEO/ Co-Founder of ToMarket
David Moosman is CEO/ Co-Founder at To Market Ltd.
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About ToMarket: ToMarket is an online platform for chefs and purveyors that connects ordering, marketing, and invoicing all in one place.
Lubo Smid
Co-Founder & CEO of STRV
Startup-minded entrepreneur with deep technical background in software development and huge interest in cutting-the-edge technology, especially mobile. Lubo is co-founder & COO of STRV, the preferred software development partner of many successful startups and well established brands across the United States. His main duty is scaling the business and crafting the processes that help STRV to stay ahead of the game. Lubo lives in Los Angeles and constantly travels between other STRV’s offices in San Francisco, New York and Prague. He enjoys running, crossfit and high quality entertainment. His approach to lifestyle is often described as living on the edge, in other words taking the most of all the opportunities.
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About STRV: STRV is a software design & engineering company. We use technology to unlock business opportunities.
James Vincent
Founder & CEO of FNDR
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About FNDR: FNDR sends you alerts about things that interest you – when you are near them.
Joah Spearman
Founder & CEO of Localeur
Joah Spearman is the co-founder and CEO of Localeur, a community of locals who share recommendations on their favorite local places. Launched in Austin during SXSW 2013, Localeur was named the Best New Startup by Austin Monthly in 2013 and has recently been named a top new travel app on “The Today Show”, and by Forbes, TIME and Mashable. Localeur spans 18 major U.S. cities and has served more than 700,000 users while securing $1.5mm in funding from WPEngine CEO Heather Brunner, Bazaarvoice founder Brett Hurt, Spredfast co-founder Ken Cho, Sweet Leaf Tea & Deep Eddy Vodka founder Clayton Christopher and a group of high-level executives from Facebook.
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About Localeur: Localeur is a global community of locals who help travelers experience local by sharing their favorite local places to eat, drink, and play.
Michael Landry
Co-Founder and CEO of Grabit
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About Grabit: Grabit is an on-demand pickup and delivery service. Order anything from anywhere, anytime!
Nic DiChiara
Co-Founder & CTO of Grabit
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About Grabit: Grabit is an on-demand pickup and delivery service. Order anything from anywhere, anytime!
Tai Dang
Chief Logistics Officer & Co-Founder of Covet Shipping
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About AURATE, Covet Shipping: Same Day and Next Day Delivery, tailor made for leading brands.
John Hope Bryant
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Promise Homes
John Hope Bryant is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE, Inc. the largest not- for-profit and best-in-class provider of financial literacy, financial inclusion and economic empowerment tools and services in the United States for youth and adults; chairman and chief executive officer of Bryant Group Ventures and The Promise Homes Company, the largest for-profit minority-controlled owners of institutional-quality, single-family residential rental homes in the U.S., and co-founder of Global Dignity. The last five U.S. presidents have recognized his work, and he has served as an advisor to the last three sitting U.S. presidents, from both political parties. He is responsible for financial literacy becoming the policy of the U.S. federal government. In January 2016 Bryant became the only private American citizen to inspire the renaming of a building on the White House campus, when the U.S. Treasury Annex Building was renamed the Freedman’s Bank Building. The Freedman’s Banks’, founded by President Abraham Lincoln, legacy has become the narrative of the work of Operation HOPE—to help all people in the ‘Invisible Class’ become fully integrated into our nation’s economy. In April 2017, a historical marker, also inspired by Bryant, to honor the final flight of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis on April 3, 1968, was installed at the Memphis International Airport 49 years to the day that Eastern Flight 381 arrived from Atlanta.
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About Bryant Group, Promise Homes, The Forum of Young Global Leaders: One of the largest minority-controlled owners of institutional-quality, single-family residential rental property in the United States.
Raja Appachi
Founder and CEO of DoWhistle
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About DoWhistle: A platform that connects people and businesses for hyperlocal business model.
Prakash Palakkarai
Founder of DoWhistle
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About DoWhistle: A platform that connects people and businesses for hyperlocal business model.
Prakash Palakkarai
Founder of DoWhistle
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About DoWhistle: A platform that connects people and businesses for hyperlocal business model.
Kathryn Tucker
Founder and CEO of RedRover
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About RedRover, The Commons Project Foundation: RedRover is a curated event listing platform that enables users to discover information on local activities and purchase tickets.
Alpesh Parikh
Founder & Transformative Mindfulness Coach of Summit Mindfulness
Alpesh ‘Al’ Parikh is an independent teacher and coach of mindfulness. He offers a number of training programs incorporating basic and advanced practices of mindfulness in a workplace or community setting. His programs are tailor-made for groups or individuals. His journey into mindfulness started in 1991 when he attended his first Vipassana retreat outside of Mumbai. Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. This comprised of a rigorous residential mindfulness training over 10 days. Since that time he has attended a number of such retreats. He has been able to translate many insights from this training and to apply them in corporate America settings. He works for PeaceHealth; a Vancouver, WA based not-for-profit Catholic health system offering care to communities in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. He specializes in Healthcare Information Technology. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Florida and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from University of Mumbai.
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About PeaceHealth, Summit Mindfulness: Empowering individuals to transform their lives through the practice of mindfulness.
Gaurav Garg
Founder & CEO of Grabb-It
Gaurav Garg is Founder at Grabb-It Inc.
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About Grabb-It: Grabb-It is a location based advertising platform that allows advertisers the opportunity to reach the consumers near the point of purchase.
Shaz Shaukat
CoFounder & CPO of MyShoperoo
Passionate product leader, engineer and entrepreneur helping organizations grow and scale great products, collaborate with development teams, strategize and execute on go-to-market and cross-functional team leadership. Has a keen interest in taking products from infancy to scale in SaaS environments. Enjoy geeking out on startup books, and continuously learning about growing companies fast.
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About MyShoperoo: Digital last-mile logistics platform where optimization meets on-demand services
Lisa Gopala
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Vixlet
Lisa Gopala is CEO at Vixlet.
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About Vixlet: Vixlet develops and operates a social platform linked to sports leagues, teams, and entertainment companies.
Krishna Gopala
Co-Founder of Vixlet
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About Vixlet: Vixlet develops and operates a social platform linked to sports leagues, teams, and entertainment companies.
