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 Publishing 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.
Baron Davis
Founder of Baron Davis Enterprises
Baron Davis is the Founder at Baron Davis Enterprise.
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About Baron Davis Enterprises, Business Inside the Game (BIG), Business Inside the Game (BIG), Plus Capital, Sports Lifestyle in Culture, The Black Santa Company, UWish: Under BDE and its affiliated or managed entities, Baron Davis invests in operating companies with a focus on SIC sectors.
Alex Chung
Co-Founder & CEO of Giphy
Alex Chung is currently the founder and CEO of GIPHY. His latest startups include Artspace, a leading ecommerce destination for contemporary art, The Fridge, a private social network acquired by Google, and General Displays a GE venture developing GE’s next generation of HDTVs. He has also directed media technology for MTV, NBC, Comcast, Charter, and managed future technologies for Paul Allen’s R&D lab. He was one of the early architects of interactive television and started his career as a hardware engineer at Intel. He was named on Business Insider’s Top 25 most influential technologists in New York and has degrees in philosophy, electrical/computer engineering, and graphic design.
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About Giphy: Giphy is an online database and search engine that allows users to search, share, and discover GIFs.
Brian Sugar
Founder of POPSUGAR
Brian Sugar is the President at Group Nine Media.
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About Group Nine Media, POPSUGAR, Sugar Capital: PopSugar is an online network of websites that offers updates, trends, and tips in entertainment, fashion, parenting, fitness, and shopping.
Scooter Braun
Founder of SB Projects
Scooter Braun is one of the entertainment industry’s biggest entrepreneurs and innovators and the founder of SB Projects, a diversified entertainment and media company with ventures at the intersection of music, film, television, technology, brands, culture, and social good. Braun has a roster of the top pop culture icons under his management, record label, and publishing companies that include Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Zac Brown Band, and Karlie Kloss. Braun has broken more new artists than any other music executive in the last decade and has expanded his reach by establishing a fund, which invests in some of the largest management, media, and rights companies in the industry. SB Projects houses a film and television production division and also continues to impact new verticals under its tech incubator, Silent Labs, which holds investments in Uber, Spotify, Songza, Casper, Waze, and Pinterest. Braun also leads Ithaca Holdings LLC., a fully integrated holding company with interests across multiple verticals. The company has built an elite portfolio of acquisitions and partnerships including the acquisition of Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, Mythos Studios with Marvel Founding Chairman David Maisel, the acquisition of Atlas Publishing, and partnerships with management companies. Braun remains committed to SB Projects’ founding philosophy of giving back by serving on the boards of Pencils of Promise and Fuck Cancer, and he, his clients, and his companies have – together – granted more wishes for Make-A-Wish than any other organization in the history of the foundation.
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About SB Projects, TQ Ventures: SB Projects is a diversified entertainment and media company with ventures integrating music, film, television, technology and philanthropy.
Scott Galloway
Founder & Chairman of L2
Scott Galloway founded L2 after developing an algorithm to assess the digital competence of brands. Scott is a Clinical Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing. In 2012, Professor Galloway was named “One of the World’s 50 Best Business School Professors” by Poets & Quants. He is also the founder of Red Envelope and Prophet Brand Strategy. Scott was elected to the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow and has served on the boards of directors of Eddie Bauer (Nasdaq: EBHI), The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), Gateway Computer, and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He received a B.A. from UCLA and an M.B.A. from UC Berkeley.
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About L2: L2 is a digital innovation company providing research, curated events and targeted consulting engagements for brands.
Bill Apfelbaum
Co-Founder of SaysMe.TV
William Apfelbaum as Chairman, effective immediately. Apfelbaum, a renowned leader in the media industry, will be responsible for accelerating the success of Media Ventures Group and its growing client roster. In addition to his recent investment in the company, Apfelbaum has investments and holds board positions in more than 10 media based companies to complement his 30-plus years of high-profile marketing and media experience. “Bill is one of the most dynamic and accomplished leaders in marketing,” said Richard Yaffa, CEO of Media Ventures Group. “Bill brings the experience, strategic insight, value and relationships to take Media Ventures Group and our clients to the next level. We could not be more excited to welcome him to our leadership team and look forward to his contributions.” A media industry legend with an unprecedented record of guiding companies to success, Apfelbaum joins Media Ventures Group from Titan Worldwide, where he served as Chairman after cofounding the company in 2001. During his tenure, Apfelbaum saw the business become the fastest growing out-of-home advertising company in history. Prior to Titan Worldwide, Apfelbaum served as Chairman and CEO of TDI, the country’s largest diversified outdoor media company, which was ultimately acquired by Westinghouse/CBS. “It is an honor for me to contribute to the continued growth and success of Media Ventures Group at this seminal time for the company,” Apfelbaum said. “I look forward to joining the already stellar team that Rich has assembled and capitalizing on the opportunity for Media Ventures Group to become a true leader in the marketing and community-building space.” Active in the philanthropic community, Apfelbaum founded the Apfelbaum Family Foundation, through which he donates time and funds to various charitable organizations. He is also a respected guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, New York University, Columbia University, and the London Business School. He has been profiled in many leading publications, including Forbes, Advertising Age, and Chief Executive.
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About SaysMe.TV: SaysMe.TV operates as an online platform for people to buy advertising time on cable television.
Adi Kunalic
President & Co-Founder of Opendorse
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About Opendorse: Opendorse operates the leading SaaS-enabled Marketplace in the athlete endorsement industry.
Blake Lawrence
CEO and Co-Founder of Opendorse
Blake Lawrence is the CEO and co-founder of Opendorse, the athlete endorsement company. More than 75,000 athletes use Opendorse to understand, build, and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) value. Prior to Opendorse, Blake co-founded Hurrdat, a social media agency, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Over four years, Hurrdat grew from two to twenty-five employees, and was acquired in July 2014 by B2 Interactive. Prior to his journey as an entrepreneur, Blake was a member of the Nebraska football team. Lawrence was a highly recruited linebacker, who started at Linebacker in 2008 and 2009, before his career was cut short due to recurring concussions. Off the football field, Blake earned his marketing degree in just 2.5 years, and received his MBA from Nebraska in 2011.
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About Opendorse: Opendorse operates the leading SaaS-enabled Marketplace in the athlete endorsement industry.
David Fisch
Co-Founder & President of Turgo
A successful business leader and entrepreneur with 20 years of online, mobile and traditional experience. Expertise in digital media specializing in brand advertising, mobile, business development, marketing and operations. Extensive experiencing in building world-class sales and partnership teams. Strong track record of achievement within both corporate and start-up organizations.
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About Gallo Sales Company, GreenSpring, Mandalay Media, Miller Brewing Company, Miniclip, Shopkick, Turgo: Turgo is a key player in the video advertising and distribution industry.
Sharad Devarajan
Co-Founder & CEO of Graphic India
Sharad Devarajan is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Graphic India Pte. Ltd. since 2011. For Sharad, Graphic India is the culmination of his lifelong dream to launch characters, heroes and stories that tap into the unique creativity and culture of India but appeal to audiences worldwide. In the same way the West has created superheroes or Japan launched anime, Graphic India is transforming the perception of India in animation from being an ‘outsourcer” to being ‘the source.’ Sharad overseas all aspects of the business and has had nearly two decades of experience in the character entertainment industry. Sharad is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Liquid Comics, an entertainment company that uses the medium of graphic novel storytelling to develop original content for various media platforms. Sharad was previously the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of Virgin Comics LLC a company he co-founded, with Sir Richard Branson, authors Deepak Chopra, Gotham Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. Sharad is also a Producer / Executive Producer on a number of theatrical live-action film and television projects in development including The Leaves with Summit Entertainment; Ramayan 3392AD with Mandalay Entertainment; The Sadhu with producer Mark Canton (‘300’ ‘Immortals’); Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens with filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (‘Men in Black’ trilogy); Coming of Rage, with filmmaker Wes Craven (‘Scream’); Gamekeeper, with filmmaker Guy Ritchie (‘Sherlock Holmes’); and Marked, with Emmy-Award Winning writer James Manos Jr. (Sopranos, Dexter); Devarajan also worked with filmmaker John Woo (Mission Impossible 2; Face Off) as Executive Producer on the animated web series, “John Woo Presents: 7 Brothers. In 2010, Sharad led a project with the Open Hands Initiative, to bring together a group of American and Middle Eastern students with disabilities to work together and create a new superhero that reflected their shared challenges & values. The superhero, “Silver Scorpion,” received worldwide acclaim for promoting advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in the Middle East. President Clinton honored the students at the Clinton Global Initiative, stating that the comic book “will help to establish trust and understanding between cultures, to empower young people with disabilities.” In 2004, Sharad worked with Marvel as the creator of a new reinvention of Spider-Man as an Indian boy growing up in Mumbai, transforming “Peter Parker” into “Pavitr Prabhakar”. Unlike traditional translations of western characters into foreign markets, the new series, “Spider-Man: India” was heralded as one of the industry’s first “trans-creations.” For his activities, Sharad was featured as CNNfn’s ‘Maverick in The Morning’ and covered in numerous media including WSJ, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and NPR’s Fresh Air. He has been a speaker at various events including, TEDX Gateway, Fortune Magazine’s Global Forum, FICCI and Harvard Business School. Sharad holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MBA from Columbia University where he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School teaching, Media Marketing and Entrepreneurship; Transmedia & Transcreation; and Just Capital & Cause Driven Marketing.
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About Columbia University in the City of New York, Graphic India, Liquid Comics: Mobile Content & Character Entertainment Company
Matthew Milner
Founder, CEO of Crowdability
Matt is a Media & Technology executive with a Wall Street background, and a history of entrepreneurial success. A descendant of Russian immigrants, Matt’s ancestors arrived penniless in the New World and survived by peddling clothes on pushcarts. His great grandfather eventually scraped together enough capital to start a business selling an innovative new product: socks with elastic. With that one small business, he was able to provide for his growing family. Initially, Matt didn’t follow in his family’s footsteps of entrepreneurship. He headed to Wall Street — to global investment banks such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers — to learn how to invest and profit from the financial markets. By the time he was 30, however, he heard the call to start his own company. His first business struggled. Matt burned through his savings and eventually failed. He started a second company that also struggled initially, but this time, he figured out how to “pivot” and change course — and eventually, this company was acquired for a small sum. Relying on this small bankroll and the lessons from his failures and successes, he launched his third startup, a social media company. Finally, he struck gold. Hearst, the global media conglomerate, acquired the company for millions. After joining Hearst’s team to help launch and grow their online businesses, he further codified his rules for building successful early-stage companies. In addition to his work at Hearst, he became a mentor to young technology companies, helping them avoid the struggles that he himself encountered. He also started a venture capital fund and became an investor. In 2013, thrilled by the JOBS Act and the promise of equity crowdfunding to allow a broader range of people to invest in startups, Matt teamed up with Wayne Mulligan to found Crowdability. He wanted to share the knowledge he’d acquired over his career — from his years on Wall Street, to his experiences building, mentoring and investing in startups — to show ordinary citizens how to invest and profit from startups. Growing up, Matt heard inspiring stories about how his great grandfather provided for the family thanks to the power of small business and a little bit of innovation. With Crowdability, Matt aims to spread similar stories — and the power of startups — to everyone. Matt holds a B.A. from Cornell University, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
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About Crowdability: Crowdability is the source for data, research and education on the emerging equity crowdfunding industry.
Steven Ertelt
Founder and Editor of LifeNews.com
As the founder and Editor of LifeNews.com, Steven Ertelt has provided the pro-life community with news via the Internet since 1993. He also serves as the President of Colorado Citizens for Life, a statewide pro-life group, and a member of the board of directors of the National Right to Life Committee. He is the past president of Right to Life of Wyoming and previously served as the executive director of Montana Right to Life and the public affairs director for Indiana Right to Life. Mr. Ertelt is also a former president of Students for Life of America. A former radio announcer who has been interviewed on dozens of radio and television programs, Mr. Ertelt holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics from Hendrix College.
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About LifeNews.com: LifeNews.com is an independent news agency devoted to reporting news that affects the pro-life community.
Joshua J. Mark
Author, Editor, Researcher, Co-Founder, Director of World History Encyclopedia
Joshua J. Mark is the Author, Editor, Researcher, Co-Founder, and Director at World History Encyclopedia.
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About World History Encyclopedia: Non-profit organization publishing the world’s most-read history encyclopedia.
Anthony Morrison
CEO / Founder of Morrison Publishing, LLC
Anthony Morrison created the Success Connection in order to create a more rewarding relationship with his students. While the Internet is a great thing it also removes personal interaction which is something Anthony really enjoy. Through Anthony Morrison’s Success Connection training he is able to get to know his students, listen to their comments.
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About Morrison Publishing, LLC: Morrison Publishing provides digital training products for people around the world created by founder and CEO Anthony Morrison.
John R. Adler
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Scribd
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About Scribd: Scribd is an unlimited reading subscription that offers access to books, audiobooks, magazine articles, documents and more.
Stephen Gill
Co-Founder & CEO of Tiller
Stephen Gill is a visionary technology entrepreneur and leader, whose passion for the digital marketing space inspired him to found Tiller in 2015. His passion? To make advertising better. Stephen has spent the last ten years building yield optimization platforms and tools to help publishers maximize advertising revenue. Gill’s first foray in adtech began during college at Rowan University, where he built NoLimit Interactive Media, a digital marketing agency specializing in search, performance marketing and lead generation for a portfolio of major brands. The organization started from his dorm room and quickly grew into into a full service agency. The experience led him to found Red Online Marketing Group, a diversified technology and digital media organization. Today, the organization leverages its technology with hundreds of publishers. Their self-service ad platform helps advertisers to deploy and optimize complex digital marketing campaigns across multiple channels. The thrill of helping publishers better monetize their properties drove Stephen to launch Tiller, a patent-pending native advertising platform for publishers to manage, measure, and maximize their native advertising across multiple content recommendation partners. Stephen’s influence was also instrumental to the growth of digital marketing company Leadnomics, where he is a co-founder. His leadership landed the organization spot #26 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. Stephen is also an active angel and advisor to over 20 technology and e-commerce companies, which includes three exits. Stephen is a thought leader in advertising technology, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council, Vistage, and an active attendee of Summit Series. When he’s not working, Steve enjoys fitness, food (paleo) and travel — his latest adventures include Thailand, white water kayaking and biking through the Redwoods.
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About 50onRed, Leadnomics, RightAction, Tiller: Tiller is the leading optimization platform for native and recommended content.
Susan Feldman
Founder of In The Groove
Susan Feldman is the founder of In The Groove(www.getinthegroove.com), a new life-style destination for age-defying women. In The Groove is a community that celebrates and engages these women as the evolving and relevant women they are. Founded with a sense of humor, community, and self-awareness, In The Groove is on a mission to free women from rules, age limits, and expectations. Prior to In The Groove, Susan was the co-founder and visionary behind One Kings Lane, the go-to destination for home decor. One Kings Lane launched in March 2009 and an industry was disrupted. Today One Kings Lane is a daily source of shopping and design inspiration for millions of people both online and offline One Kings Lane was sold to Bed, Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) in June 2016. Susan remains a strategic advisor to the company. Susan has been featured in national publications including Elle Décor, House Beautiful, INStyle, New York Magazine, BusinessWeek, and The New York Times. She has appeared on Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators and NBC’s The Today Show. Susan was named to Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment” list twice in the past six years. Prior to co-founding One Kings Lane, Susan held executive positions in the apparel industry—at Ralph Lauren Swimwear, Polo Jeans, Warnaco/Authentic Fitness Corp., and Liz Claiborne. Susan has an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a BA from Stanford University. Since 2013 Susan has served on the Parson Board of Govenors.
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About Authentic Fitness Corp., In The Groove, Liz Claiborne, One Kings Lane, Ralph Lauren Corporation: content/ commerce
Jonah Peretti
Founder & CEO of BuzzFeed
Jonah Peretti is founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, the first true social news organization that provides a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and shareable content. Mr. Peretti, known for creating viral hits, tracking online social behavior and building technology to amplify buzz is also a co-founder of The Huffington Post. He has been called a “viral marketing hotdog” by the New York Times, “the poster boy of guerilla media” by AlterNet and a “computer-whiz” by The New Yorker. Fast Company named Mr. Peretti one of the “New Faces of Social Media” and named BuzzFeed as one of the “50 Most Innovative Companies” in 2012. Business Insider listed him as one of the “11 Rising Tech Stars to Watch in 2012.” Mr. Peretti is a graduate of the MIT Media Lab and has taught at NYU and the Parsons School of Design. His work has been covered by Time, the Economist, Fortune, and Business Insider and he has appeared as a guest on the Today Show, Good Morning America and CNN. In 2012, Mr. Peretti hired Ben Smith of POLITICO to lead as Editor-in-Chief. BuzzFeed reaches over 40 million monthly unique visitors and gets the majority of its traffic from social sources like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more.
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About BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed is a cross-platform digital media company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience.
Tom Kuegler
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Wasabi Ventures
Tom “TK” Kuegler is the co-founder and general partner of Wasabi Ventures. Wasabi Ventures is an venture capital, incubator, and consulting firm that specializes in building and advising early stage technology companies. In the last 10 years, Wasabi Ventures has built, financed, and advised over 200 start-ups including some wildly successful ventures like Right Now Technologies, PBworks, Ustream, and Etherpad. In the 1990s, TK was the co-founder of two successful Internet startups, SNT and SpinBox. TK is the author of all three editions of the highly acclaimed book Web Advertising and Marketing. He has authored dozens of articles about the Internet and been published in leading publications like inc.com and ClickZ. TK spends a great deal of time lecturing at colleges, seminars, companies, and conferences about the corporate benefits of utilizing interactive technologies. He currently sits on the Board of Sponsors of Sellinger School of Business at Loyola University Maryland. He has presented at hundreds of events on a wide array of topics about economics, entrepreneurism, technology, and management.
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About PBworks, Wasabi Ventures: Wasabi Ventures has planned, implemented, and maintained solutions for many early-stage startups.
Chris Yeh
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Wasabi Ventures
Chris Yeh was on the founding team of pioneering Internet companies such as United Online Services (Nasdaq: UNTD) and Merrill Lynch’s Intelligent Technologies Group. He has founded, advised, or invested in dozens of startups, including Ustream and PBworks. Chris is a much-quoted thought leader in the field of marketing and entrepreneurship; his research and publications have been incorporated into the Harvard Business School curriculum, while his projects have received press coverage in Fortune, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. He writes a popular blog on entrepreneurship and venture capital, Adventures in Capitalism and contributes to blogs such as TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Chris holds two degrees from Stanford University, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar (High Distinction). You can reach Chris by e-mail at chris@wasabiventures.com and follow him on Twitter or AngelList.
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About Dokkio, PBworks, TVLP Institute Silicon Valley, Wasabi Ventures: Wasabi Ventures has planned, implemented, and maintained solutions for many early-stage startups.
David Calvert-Jones
Co-Founder of Whilo
David Calvert-Jones is an Australian entertainment entrepreneur and private equity executive who has been based in Los Angeles for over a decade. He owns a number of companies including Los Angeles based film and television production company Everywhere Studios, Vancouver based 50° North Productions, global aerial filming company Helifilms USA, and is the former Managing Director of Australian Private Equity Firm Seafirst Australia.
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About Whilo: Whilo’s transformative technology is reshaping the way we shop, wish-list and gift designer products with brands and magazines.
Karina Calvert-Jones
Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Whilo
Karina Calvert – Jones is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Whilo.
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About Whilo: Whilo’s transformative technology is reshaping the way we shop, wish-list and gift designer products with brands and magazines.
Suroosh Alvi
Co-Founder of Vice Media
Suroosh Alvi launched VICE with Shane Smith and Gavin McInnes in Montreal in 1994. Originally a punk magazine, VICE has expanded and diluted to include a network of online video channels, including VICE.com, TheCreatorsProject.com, Motherboard.tv and Fightland.com, Noisey.com and Thu.mp), a television production studio, a record label, an in-house creative services agency and a book publishing division. Today VICE produces over 60[quantify] original video series, covering news to travel to music to arts to fashion, and has a network of correspondents and bureaus.
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About Vice Media: Vice Media is a North American digital media and broadcasting company.
Kamran Razavi
Chairman/Founder/Co-Owner of RGM Group
Kamran Razavi founded the RGM Group in 2004 and successfully built the company into the largest interactive media firm in the US, without any external funding until August 2nd 2012, when he partnered with RLH Equity to scale the model. Prior to starting the RGM Group, Razavi worked on the account management of Toyota at Saatchi & Saatchi. Razavi holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Miami University and has studied International Business and Marketing at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Razavi started his first business at the age of 14 in his hometown of Tiffin, Ohio. Razavi was named one of the top twenty entrepreneurs in their twenties by the Los Angeles Business Journal and frequently lectures at a number of Entrepreneurship classes at Miami University. When not focused on RGM, Razavi enjoys biking, hiking, boxing, pilates, lying on the beach in Bora Bora, fine dining, gardening, dreaming, inspiring, and loving life.
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About RGM Group: RGM Group is an online media firm that helps advertisers and publishers engage with targeted audiences.
Rich Antoniello
CEO & Founder of Complex
Rich Antoniello joined the company as CEO in 2003 and quickly established Complex magazine into a profitable powerhouse known for delivering a sharp editorial blend of pop culture and style trends. Recognizing that consumers were increasingly migrating online for content, Antoniello oversaw the company’s expansion onto the web with the launch of Complex.com. In 2007, Antoniello formed Complex Media, Inc., a collective of 110 sites that forms a formidable hub for one of the most hard-to-reach demographics – young males – and one primed to make purchasing decisions.
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About Complex: Complex is an online magazine that features articles about music, styles, pop culture, sports, and sneakers.
Suren Markosian
Co-Founder & CEO of Epic
Suren is the CEO and co-founder of Epic!, the first all-you-can-read e-book service built specifically for school-aged readers. He is a successful, serial entrepreneur and founder of several consumer tech startups, including CrowdStar, which rose to become one of the largest social gaming companies with over 200M users, second only to Zynga. Having created and successfully scaled large entertainment and e-commerce businesses to serve hundreds of millions of customers, Markosian is an expert in product design, gamification, technology, scalability, consumer growth and marketing.
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About Epic: Epic is an internet company that specializes in books, eBooks learning, and educational technology.
Kevin Donahue
Co-Founder of Epic
Currently, he is the co-founder of Epic!, the first all-you-can-read e-book service built specifically for school-aged readers.
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About Epic: Epic is an internet company that specializes in books, eBooks learning, and educational technology.
David Bailey
CEO & Co-Founder of BTC Media
As Chief Executive Officer of BTC Media LLC, David Bailey is an industry leader in the digital currency and blockchain space. After founding yBitcoin, the world’s leading publication about digital currency, David launched BTC Media, a corporate group including Bitcoin Magazine (bitcoinmagazine.com), the world’s first information outlet and news desk dedicated to digital currency, and Distributed (Distributed.com), a leading source for banking and corporate information on distributed ledger technology.
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About Bitcoin Magazine, BTC Media, BTC Media, Distributed, UTXO Management, yBitcoin: BTC Media is Bitcoin media group, providing education and information through its family of products and services.
Ben Barokas
CEO & Founder of Sourcepoint
Prior to founding AdMeld, Mr. Barokas was Vice President of Advertising for JumpTV. He also spent 6 years at AOL in a variety of online advertising leadership positions including senior manager on the team that developed and launched the AOL video platform. Mr. Barokas served on the IAB’s Broadband Committee.
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About Sourcepoint: Sourcepoint is the data privacy software company for the digital marketing ecosystem.
Elon Boms
Founder, Board of Directors of LaunchCapital
Elon Boms co-founded LaunchCapital in January 2008 to help entrepreneurs gain quick access to seed capital and mentorship. With a passion for working with industry disruptors and teams that have a strong business development focus, Elon has been involved in over 75 deals across a wide range of industries and geographies. He holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA in Economics from George Washington University. His prior work experience includes brand management, strategy consulting and finance. Elon lives in Connecticut with his wife, newborn daughter, and very shaggy dog.
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About LaunchCapital: LaunchCapital was founded in January 2008 with a mission to help entrepreneurs gain quick access to seed capital and mentorship.
Milan Kordestani
Founder of The Doe
Milan Kordestani is a 21-year-old social entrepreneur who’s currently the CEO and founder of three active companies: The Doe, a digital publication for anonymous narratives, Guin Records, a purpose-driven record label, and Dormzi, an online marketplace powered by college students.
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About Dormzi, Guin, The Doe: The Doe is a digital publication sharing anonymous stories to promote civil discourse.
Daniel Hayes
Lead Director & Co-Founder of Freethink Media
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About Freethink Media: Freethink Media is a creative media company for the people and ideas that are changing their world.
Dan Birdwhistell
Founder and CEO of Studio Publishing
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About Studio Publishing: Studio Publishing allows users to connect, find and share desired products through a portfolio of online communities.
David Smooke
Founder & CEO of HackerNoon
David Smooke is the Founder and CEO of HackerNoon, the technology publishing platform. He is a writer, designer, and entrepreneur.
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About ArtMap Inc dba HackerNoon, HackerNoon: Hacker Noon is a technology publishing platform.
Tim O’Reilly
Founder, Chairman & CEO of O’Reilly
Tim O’Reilly is the founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media Inc. Considered by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, O’Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the O’Reilly Open Source Convention, Strata: The Business of Data, the Velocity Conference on Web Performance and Operations, and many others. Tim’s blog, the O’Reilly Radar “watches the alpha geeks” to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim is also a partner at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, O’Reilly’s early stage venture firm, and is on the board of Safari Books Online, PeerJ, Code for America, and Maker Media, which was recently spun out from O’Reilly Media. Maker Media’s Maker Faire has been compared to the West Coast Computer Faire, which launched the personal computer revolution.
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About O’Reilly, Oreilly AlphaTech Ventures, Oreilly AlphaTech Ventures, POPVOX: O’Reilly provides technology and business training, knowledge, and insight to help companies succeed.
Dustin Curtis
Founder of Svbtle
Dustin Curtis is the Founder of Svbtle.
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About Svbtle: Svbtle, an invite-only blogging platform, combines traditional publishing and the internet to enable people to share and discover new ideas.
Caroline Ghosn
CEO & Founder of Levo
There is evidence that Caroline’s company Levo quietly closed down operations leaving invoices to vendors and creditors unpaid in 2019. As of 2019 and 2020, the company could not be reached when contacted for payment.
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About Levo: Levo is the largest and fastest-growing professional network for millennials.
Tom Florio
Founder / CEO of ENTtech
Tom Florio has spent his career in the entertainment and media industries becoming known as an innovative digital powerhouse. He began his foray into these two sectors initially with print media and thereafter evolving in cohesion with the realms digital media world. Some of the roles he has held include: President of The New Yorker (1994), Senior Vice President Publishing Director of Vogue Magazine (2002-2005) and Publishing Director of Vogue Magazine, Teen Vogue, Bon Appetite and Condé Taste Traveler (2009-2010). As the media world became increasingly digitized, Florio guided magazines like GQ, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair to an increase in both circulation and earnings. Indeed, under his direction at Condé Nast Florio was quickly catapulted into the fashion industry’s highest level. In 2014 he became CEO of Advanstar Fashion Group (a platform with 50+ trade magazines offering media and marketing solutions for the fashion, licensing, life sciences, and powersports sectors). While at the helm, the firm founded Shopthefloor.com which became the fashion world’s most substantive business network, with digital access to showrooms and offering top e-commerce functionality to producer. Florioalso led America’s largest apparel trade show (Magic) to acquiesce 7000 participating brands completing approximately $600 million dollars of business during the three-day conventions. In 2017 Florio founded ENTtech Media Group LLC where he is CEO. This entertainment-tech firm develops web- based written and video content, circulating it to large audiences via social architecture. PAPER media – its signature brand – is an invaluable avenue into wide ranging niches within the popular culture industry, such as: art, fashion, film, music and nightlife. PAPER media has thus become a solid structure with the capacity to support ENTtech’s broad media platform.
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About ENTtech: ENTtech is an entertainment technology ecosystem that delivers a shareable entertainment to a diversed group of audiences.
Kelly Carroll
Founder & Creative Director of Literati
Kelly is a writer, book artist, and designer. While completing an MFA in fiction at Brown University, she pursued interdisciplinary coursework in book arts at Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to graduate work, Kelly was Lead Designer at Hawaii Life. She earned a B.A. in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University. She is a recipient of the Weston Prize and Frances Mason Harris Prize for her writing. As a mother, Kelly wants to ensure that her son has a lifelong relationship to the alchemical space wherein literature, art and the book unite.
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About Literati: Literati is a curated book subscription service that brings profound stories and impactful discussions monthly to every reader
Jessica Ewing
Founder & CEO of Literati
Jessica is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied computer science, philosophy, linguistics and math. She spent five years building consumer products at Google, and was featured in Fast Company Magazine as one of Google’s “12 Most Innovative Minds.” She is also a creative writer, university lecturer, outdoor wilderness guide, and certified in emergency medicine. She believes the best way to learn is to follow whatever passion arises organically, which informs the product design of Literati.
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About Literati: Literati is a curated book subscription service that brings profound stories and impactful discussions monthly to every reader
Shannon Terry
Founder & CEO of 247 Sports
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About 247 Sports, ComicBook, Pop Culture Media: 247 Sports is an online platform for basketball and football fans and players to find updated news and sporting opportunities.
Pete Cashmore
Founder & CEO of Mashable
Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable, the leading source of news, information & resources for the Connected Generation. Pete founded Mashable in 2005 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland when he was 19. His passion for sharing how web tools and social networks were transforming human interactions and reshaping cultures drove him to create Mashable. Always an entrepreneur, Pete has continued to push Mashable to evolve from a tech blog to a global media company built around technology. He leads Mashable’s strategy and his innate sense of the web and its community, are core to the company’s operations and future growth. He has been described as the “Sage of Media” and considered one of the most influential voices of his generation– on and offline. Pete was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2012. He was featured on Forbes 30 under 30 list, named one of Ad Age’s 2011 influencers, and was named a Young Global Leader by The World Economic Forum.
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About Mashable: Mashable is a media company for the connected generation and voice of digital culture.
Tal Chalozin
CTO & Co-Founder of Innovid
Tal Chalozin is co-founder and CTO of Innovid, the leading connected TV and video advertising platform for advertisers to engage consumers across all screens and channels. Tal leads Innovid’s long-term technology vision, global product creation and implementation, and business development efforts, as well as identifying and developing emerging trends and opportunities for product innovation and digital TV/OTT collaborations. He has forged partnerships with Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Samsung, Roku and Hulu, amongst others, to help advertisers bring interactive video to viewers everywhere. Tal is a serial entrepreneur and tireless global leader in video technology. In addition to serving as Innovid’s CTO, Tal is a board member for the IAB’s Digital Video Center of Excellence and for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He has been named a 2018 inductee in the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement for his significant impact on the industry via mentorship, inspiration, volunteerism and training. Previous accolades include being named a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum, one of the “Best Young European Entrepreneurs” by Businessweek, a member of Multichannel News’ “40 Under 40” Class of 2016, and to Cynopsis Digital’s 2016 “It List.” Prior to Innovid, Tal co-founded GarageGeeks – a non-profit organization and one of Israel’s largest hacker spaces and innovation hubs boasting more than 8,000 members. Tal also served as an officer in an elite computer unit in the Israeli Air Force for over eight years where he led the development of several military products with high algorithmic complexity. Tal owns several global patents in digital video technology, and he is a regular speaker at global events, including Cannes Lion, CES, The Drum’s Programmatic Punch, IAB, MWC, NAB, TVOT, AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O, Broadcasting & Cable’s Advanced TV, Wired Magazine’s NEXTFEST, Le Web’s Digital Innovation Conference, Ars Electronica, and eConsultancy’s Creative Programmatic.
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About Garagegeeks, Innovid: Innovid is the only independent omni-channel advertising and analytics platform built for television.
Zvika Netter
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Innovid
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About Innovid: Innovid is the only independent omni-channel advertising and analytics platform built for television.
Alexander Kesler
Founder & CEO of INFUSE Media
Alexander is a visionary B2B marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in building highly successful organizations. As a Founder and CEO of INFUSEmedia, one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, he specializes in driving growth by focusing on solutions for B2B demand generation and omnichannel marketing, among others. Alexander is a graduate of Babson College with a degree in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and International Business.
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About FortifyIQ, Infotelligent, INFUSE Media, inSegment: INFUSE Media is aiming to bridge the flood of datasets, platforms, and marketing goals that advertisers.
Luke McDonough
Founder, CEO of AIR.TV
Luke McDonough is Founder & CEO at AIR.TV.
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About AIR.TV, IFILM: AIR.TV enables the distribution and monetization of viral videos on websites.
Anna Duckworth
Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Miss Grass
Anna Duckworth is a Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer at Miss Grass. She is a former Head of Content at Dosist and Co-Founder/Editor of buckslip.email. Ms. Duckworth graduated from McGill University with a bachelor of arts in Cultural Studies & Art History.
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About Miss Grass: Miss Grass is a modern and elevated online magazine with captivating content and an e-commerce destination for modern cannabis consumers.
Isaac Mashman
CEO/Founder of Mashman Ventures
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida Isaac Mashman is a businessman, podcast host, speaker, and private investor who first got involved in business in 2017. Coming from a rather “humble” family, through business Isaac realized that there was more to life than struggle and stagnancy. It was the perfect solution to his childhood problems. Since starting his journey he has had the opportunity to become the first person in his family to ever travel internationally, has been to multiple states and cities including New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami. He’s hosted two podcasts, and in April of 2020 he launched his very own company Mashman Ventures. One of the largest things he attributes to his success has been personal development. He recognized early on that if one was not growing as an individual the chances were, no other areas of his life would be growing either. This is why Isaac launched his newest podcast, “Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman” and has made it his goal to share his experiences, knowledge, and lessons he has learned along the way with as many people as possible, thus helping them become more capable and in return get the results they want in life. Isaac Mashman specializes in creating, growing and positioning personal brands through his public relations firm Mashman Ventures.
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About Mashman Investments, Mashman Ventures: Mashman Ventures is a public relations firm that specializes in personal branding.
Dedric Reid
Founder of HelloVR
Dedric Reid is Founder @ HelloVR
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About HelloVR, MetaWorld: A digital content studio creating shared immersive experiences.
John Biggs
Founder of Tech4Reporters
John Biggs is a writer, consultant, programmer, former East Coast Editor and current contributing writer for TechCrunch. He writes mainly about technology, cryptocurrency, security, gadgets, gear, wristwatches, and the internet. After spending his formative years as a programmer, he switched his profession and became a full-time entrepreneur and writer. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Laptop, PC Upgrade, Surge, Gizmodo, Men’s Health, InSync, Linux Journal, Popular Science, Sync, and he has written a book called Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age. He builds products, writes books, and consults with startups to help them make cool things. John Biggs runs the BWL family of blogs, SlushPile.net, Audiomonger, and WristWatchReview.com. Born in 1975, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Disclosure: Biggs owns and maintains cryptocurrencies in a private account and has been consulting with startups regarding blockchain-based products. He also edits and writes for startup clients.
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About Procodific, Tech4Reporters, TechCrunch, WristWatchReview.com: Tech4Reporters is a web project that links journalists with experts in the tech community.
William B. King
Founder, Chairman of Executive Committee of Bank Director
Bill King founded DirectorCorps, the publisher of Bank Director magazine, and heads the company’s executive committee. He served as Chairman of the company from its founding until 2014. He was chairman of Private Business, Inc. from its founding through its 1996 IPO, and has served on the boards of both New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq companies. Until its acquisition by Yahoo in 2007, he was chairman of Rivals.com. He serves on a number of private company boards including 247Sports, Magellan Press, StrategyCorps, Comicbook.com and Journal Communications, and is active with a number of non-profit organizations. Bill is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and holds a JD degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law.
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About Bank Director, ComicBook, StrategyCorps: An information resource for senior executives and directors of financial institutions.
Brian Rifkin
Co-Founder and SVP Strategic Partnerships of JW Player
At JW Player Brian is focused on driving growth through strategic partnerships and leads the JW Player Demand team, working with publishers and brands to maximize advertising revenue. He has worked in the online space since 1997, and until 2007 served as president of A Simple Internet, a media services firm he founded in 2001 specializing in performance-based marketing. Previously, he was senior vice president of Business Development at About.com. He holds a BS in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
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About JW Player: JW Player is a video streaming and analytics platform that offers an HTML5 video player for web content, publishing, and running video ads.
Dave Otten
Founder & CEO of JW Player
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About JW Player: JW Player is a video streaming and analytics platform that offers an HTML5 video player for web content, publishing, and running video ads.
John Cabell
Founder, Owner & CEO of Cue Ball, LLC
John Cabell is Founder & CEO at Cueball.
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About Cue Ball, LLC: Cue Ball, a management consultancy/brokerage firm, provides services to global publishing, media, technology, and entertainment industries.
Ed Lasky
News Editor & Co-Founder of American Thinker
Ed Lasky, news editor, is a former lawyer, and now a stock trader. He has degrees from Northwestern University (B.A., economics), University of Michigan Law School (J.D.), and J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University) (Master of Management). A read-aholic husband of one and a father of three wonderful kids (twin girls and a son), Ed is focused on politics, media monitoring, and foreign affairs. He started being concerned about the future when he had children. September 11, 2001 was a motivating factor as well. He feels fortunate to live in America. Ed has appeared on the Milt Rosenberg show in Chicago and a variety of other radio shows (including National Public Radio); has been mentioned in Newsweek and interviewed by the NY Times. Recently he appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.
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About American Thinker: American Thinker is a daily internet publication devoted to the thoughtful exploration of issues of importance to Americans. Contributors
Thomas Lifson
Editor and Publisher & Co-Founder of American Thinker
Thomas Lifson, editor and publisher, calls himself a recovering academic. After graduating from Kenyon College, he studied modern Japan, sociology, and business as a graduate student at Harvard (three degrees) and joined the faculty at Harvard Business School, where he began the consulting career that was to lead him away from academia. He also taught sociology and East Asian studies at Harvard and held visiting professorships at Columbia University and the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology. As a consultant, he has worked with major companies from the United States, Japan, Europe, Asia, and Australasia at the nexus of human, organizational, and strategic issues. A Democrat by birth, Thomas became more conservative in adulthood as reality taught him that dreams of perfecting human society always run smack into human nature. In 2003 he founded American Thinker.
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About American Thinker: American Thinker is a daily internet publication devoted to the thoughtful exploration of issues of importance to Americans. Contributors
Richard Baehr
Chief Political Correspondent & Co-Founder of American Thinker
Richard Baehr, chief political correspondent, is a management consultant in the health care field and is the president of Richard A. Baehr & Associates. He frequently serves as an expert witness in health care litigation cases involving planning and financial matters. Richard has a longstanding interest in the Middle East and American politics, and he is a frequent speaker and writer on these subjects. He has spoken at many Jewish organization meetings, synagogues, and colleges on various topics: Israeli-Palestinian relations, the war in Lebanon, American politics and Israel, the future of Israel and the Middle East, and American political trends. Richard was recently named a Visiting Fellow of the Jewish Policy Center, and he was a panelist for a Jewish Policy Center Forum along with Michael Medved, John Podhoretz, and David Horowitz. He has been a guest on many talk radio programs, including those of Michael Medved, Dennis Miller, and Milt Rosenberg. Richard also writes a commentary on the Middle East and American politics which is distributed by e-mail. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Kenyon College. He is married with two adult children.
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About American Thinker: American Thinker is a daily internet publication devoted to the thoughtful exploration of issues of importance to Americans. Contributors
Scott Kolb
Co-Founder of Longitude
Scott Kolb is the co-founder of Slader.
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About Longitude: Longitude provides programmatic advertising services and solutions.
Darin Buxbaum
Co-Founder, President & COO of WiderCircle
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About WiderCircle: WiderCircle is a provider of an in-personal social platform designed to connect older adults.
Pavan Bayyapu
CTO, Co-Founder of Regology
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About Regology: Regology is curating the world’s regulations to help businesses with compliance.
Mukund Goenka
Co-Founder, CEO of Regology
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About Regology: Regology is curating the world’s regulations to help businesses with compliance.
Dave Hagewood
CEO & Founder of Psyonix
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About Psyonix: Psyonix is a critically-acclaimed video game developer and leading experts in Unreal Engine technology.
Bhargava Adepalley
Co-Founder & CTO of Notion Press
Bhargava Adepalley If code is poetry, Bhargava is our resident poet. With an appetite for code, a thirst for Vanilla tea and an uncanny ability to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation, Bhargava brings a whole lot of development experience into the publishing industry. When he isn’t busy playing Farmville in real life or watching his favorite sci-fi movies, he heads the Notion Press development team.
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About Notion Press: Notion Press eBook, print book and book reviews free self publishing platform – Also, check the Notion Press Reviews at notionpress.com
Carll Tucker
Founder and Chair of The Daily Voice
Mr. Carll Tucker served as Chief Executive Officer of Daily Voice, LLC until October 31, 2011. Mr. Tucker founded Trader Publications in 1986 and served as its President until 1999, which published The Patent Trader newspaper and various Local Magazines, Newsletters and Programs for Cultural Institutions in Westchester, Putnam and Fairfield counties. He served as owner and publisher of Trader Publications. Mr. Tucker has been Chairman of Daily Voice, LLC since October 31, 2011. He served as Chairman of the Board of Northern Westchester Hospital Center from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Tucker serves as Trustee of Northern Westchester Hospital Center. He served as Director of Five Star Products Inc., since August 8, 2007. Mr. Tucker previously served as Director of Five Star Products Inc., from January 2002 to March 1, 2007. He is the author of a weekly newspaper column in the Westchester Patent Trader, ‘Looseleaves’, since 1983.
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About The Daily Voice, The Daily Voice: The Daily Voice is a local news organization.
Alex Zhardanovsky
Founder of LittleThings
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About LittleThings, Westwood Ventures: LittleThings is an publisher of content targeted at women.
Andy Sparks
Co-Founder & CEO of Holloway
Andy Sparks is the Co-Founder & CEO of Holloway, a publishing and technology company in San Francisco that publishes reliable frameworks for solving complex practical problems. Prior to Holloway, he co-founded Mattermark. He lives in San Francisco, CA and graduated from The Ohio State University.
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About Holloway: Holloway publishes comprehensive practical Guides, each researched, written, and refined by experts.
Jeremy Kauffman
Founder & CEO of LBRY
Jeremy knows how to build and scale a startup starting from day one. He knows how to deliver usable products and get those products in front of the right people. Jeremy is responsible for the packing, presentation, and strategy of LBRY, as well as some design aspects. He is a longtime supporter of decentralized technology and freedom of information. Jeremy founded TopScore, a startup that processes millions of dollars monthly in event and activity registrations. He also attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received degrees in physics and computer science.
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About LBRY, Odysee: LBRY, a content sharing and publishing platform that is decentralized and owned by its users
Alex Skatell
Founder and President of Independent Journal Review
While in college at Clemson, Alex developed iPhone applications including a top 25 application featured by Gizmodo and in the “What’s Hot” section of the iTunes app store. 4 years after graduating, Alex founded IJReview in a small apartment in Charleston, South Carolina, investing all his savings and weekly paycheck into one goal: reaching a part of America that next generation media companies miss. Today, IJReview is a top 50 website in the country, reaching over 35 million monthly readers and employing more than 50 reporters and writers covering politics and current events across the country. Adding to the business, Alex co-founded IMGE a full service digital agency in 2013. IMGE is based in Alexandria, VA with a team of over 35 working with some of the world’s largest brands and associations. In early 2014, Alex launched Liftbump.com a lifestyle vertical that today reaches over 10 million monthly readers and followed that in 2015 with the launch of Shuffle News — the winner of Mediaposts 2015’s best news application and reached the #1 most downloaded news app on the iTunes app store. Alex has been dubbed a “wunderkind” by the New York Times but his interest in journalism came from a simple lesson learned from watching his father: no one in the Skatell family was allowed to disturb Dad during the evening news. “Click here to view Alex’s post of 2016 Presidential Candidates Reacting to the ABC News / IJReview Debate Partnership.
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About Independent Journal Review, Independent Journal Review: The Independent Journal Review, an American news platform, provides its users with informative content such as political and cultural news.
Michael Wolf
CEO and Founder, Publisher, Editor in Chief of The Spoon
Michael Wolf is the creator of the Smart Kitchen Summit, host of the Smart Kitchen Show podcast and founder of NextMarket Insights a research and advisory firm focused on the connected home. He decided to put this conference together because he is fascinated by how technology will change the way we cook, eat and live. Mike has been advising companies large and small in the connected home, consumer technology and Internet of Things market verticals for over 15 years, and today he helps clients have used his advisory services to assist with product development, go-to-market strategy, marketing and advertising, and mergers and acquisition. Linkedin/Twitter
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About The Spoon: The Spoon provides daily analysis and reporting about the smart kitchen and food tech revolution.
Paulo Martins
CEO & Co-Founder of Arena.im
CEO & Co-Founder at Arena.im Arena.im is a cloud-based marketing platform for live experiences. Our mission is to empower media companies to take back ownership of their audience from social networks and grow their community in their website.
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About Arena.im: Arena.im is Live Chat for Streaming, Live shopping and CDP
Shai Rozen
Co-Founder & CPO of Suggestic
Human being, currently living on planet earth. Serial entrepreneur, growth hacker and product builder. Passionate about life and the quest for immortality.
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About 0BS, Suggestic: Suggestic operates as a personalized nutrition platform that utilizes AI to deliver food recommendations.
Adrian France
Co-Founder & Advisor of Odyssey
Being an entrepreneur and living the start-up life is all I know – and is certainly one I love. I am the Chief Creative Officer of Olympia Media Group, a company that I co-founded during my time at Indiana University. I am lucky to have surrounded myself with passionate, driven entrepreneurs like myself that constantly challenge and push me to do better and think bigger every day. Olympia Media Group is a millennial content and marketing company producing niche content connecting affluent and influential target demographics and brands by driving organic conversations. Olympia started in June 2009 at Indiana University by publishing The Odyssey – a weekly full-color newspaper delivered to the dining room tables of fraternity and sorority houses. Today, The Odyssey is located at 39 of the largest universities in the country with a presence via web, tablet, mobile, direct distribution print, user-generated videos and brand evangelists. With a digital presence at more than 85 locations by spring 2014 we will be creating more than 1,000 articles a week, more than 1,000 clients and 1,200 local team members. I am currently seeking entrepreneurial thought leaders with fraternity/sorority backgrounds that are passionate about content creation to add to our team to play a key role in our rapid expansion and content development as we strive to become one of the leaders in millennial content creation this year. Please connect or email me – adrian@olympiamediagroup.com – to hear more about our company, culture and goals.
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About Odyssey: Odyssey is an internet company that specializes in social media, publisher, and platform used to democratize content.
Brian Hanly
Founder, CEO of Bullish Studio
With more than a decade spent at the forefront of new media, Brian specializes in leading and building innovative partnership efforts across digital, social, experiential, TV, and agency services to grow brands and publishers. As an eight-figure, top international revenue contributor at VICE Media—which reached a $5.7 billion valuation during his tenure—he forged unique, culture-defining partnerships with global brands such as Airbnb, Google, and Unilever among others. Currently, Brian is the Founder and CEO of Bullish, a new money media company.
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About Bullish Studio: A creator focused content studio for the freshest voices in money and culture.
Alex Lieberman
Founder & CEO of Morning Brew
Alex is the Cofounder @ Morning Brew
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About Morning Brew: Morning Brew is a quick and quality daily e-mail newsletter for the millennial business professional.
Neil Young
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of N3TWORK
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About N3TWORK: Creating, publishing, and scaling the very best in mobile games.
Alan Yu
Co-Founder of N3TWORK
Alan Yu is a founder of N3TWORK, a creator and publisher of mobile games. He previously founded ngmoco:) which was acquired by DeNA in 2010. Many years ago, Alan was the director of GDC.
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About N3TWORK: Creating, publishing, and scaling the very best in mobile games.
Steve Detwiler
Co-Founder of N3TWORK
Stephen Detwiler is a co-founder of N3TWORK.
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About N3TWORK: Creating, publishing, and scaling the very best in mobile games.
Rick Rubin
Co-Founder of Def Jam Recordings
Grammy-winning record producer, named by Time Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,”
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About Def Jam Recordings: Def Jam Recordings is a music company.
John Lemp
Chairman, Founder & CEO of Powr
Revcontent Founder, John Lemp is an entrepreneur who has built two internet companies from the ground up into multi-million dollar businesses, and all with $0 in funding. John graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology. In 2013, John founded Revcontent, a content recommendation network. In 2018, John founded Powr OTT, the new standard in video advertising. He also is the Managing Partner at NextFund Capital Group.
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About NextFund, Powr: Powr is a video marketplace and syndication platform that connects video creators with premium publishers across the web.
Bob Young
Founder of Lulu Press
Bob Young is the founder and CEO of Lulu.com, a premiere international marketplace for new digital content on the Internet, with more than 300,000 recently published titles and more than 15,000 new creators from 80 different countries joining each week. Lulu.com, founded in 2002, is Young’s most recent endeavour. The success of this company has earned Young notable recognition; he was named one of the “Top 50 Agenda-Setters in the Technology Industry in 2006” and was ranked as the fourth “Top Entrepreneur for 2006,” both by Silicon.com. In 1993, Young co-founded Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the open-source software company that gives hardware and software vendors a standard platform on which to certify their technology. Red Hat is a Fortune 500 company and chief rival to Microsoft. His success at Red Hat won him industry accolades, including nomination as one of Business Week’s “Top Entrepreneurs” in 1999. Before founding Red Hat, Young spent 20 years at the helm of two computer-leasing companies that he founded. His experiences as a high tech entrepreneur combined with his innate marketing savvy led to Red Hat’s success. His book, “Under the Radar”, chronicles how Red Hat’s open source strategy successfully won wide industry acceptance in a market previously dominated by proprietary binary-only systems. Young has also imparted the lessons learned from his entrepreneurial experiences through his contributions to the books to “You’ve GOT to Read This Book!” and “Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul.” In 2000, Young co-founded the Center for Public Domain, a non-profit foundation created to bolster healthy conversation of intellectual property, patent and copyright law, and the management of the public domain for the common good. Grant recipients included the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Creative Commons, the Free Software Foundation, and the Future of Music Coalition. Young graduated from the University of Toronto in 1976 prior to beginning his career in the computer finance arena. In 2003, Young purchased the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League and currently serves as the league’s vice chairman. In addition to enjoying fly fishing, Young collects calculators and antique typewriters, a nod to his beginnings as a typewriter salesman and can usually be found sporting a pair of red socks. However, instead of red on his head, Young now tips his orange hat.
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About Elizabeth Bradley Designs, Lulu Press: Lulu Press operates is a web-based publishing company that allows customers to publish, print and sell books globally.
Ryan Urban
CEO & Founder of Wunderkind (formerly BounceX)
Ryan Urban is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bounce Exchange, Inc the leader in behavioral automation software and analytics. In 2015 he was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. In the same year, under his leadership, Bounce Exchange was ranked number one overall for both employee retention and career development by ComputerWorld, named one of the best places to work in NYC by Crain’s New York and honored as one of Fortune’s top three best places to work. Ryan was formerly Director of Acquisition at Bonobos and prior to that, Brickhouse Security. He has served on the advisory boards of both BabyAge.com and Bonobos. He holds an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
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About Wunderkind (formerly BounceX): Wunderkind enables the world’s top brands to better recognize their customers online, providing 1-to-1 marketing at scale.
Andreas Spartalis
Executive Conversion Director & Co-Founder of Wunderkind (formerly BounceX)
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About Wunderkind (formerly BounceX): Wunderkind enables the world’s top brands to better recognize their customers online, providing 1-to-1 marketing at scale.
Matt Halfhill
Founder/CEO of Nice Kicks
Matt Halfhill is the Founder + CEO of Nice Kicks
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About Nice Kicks: Matt Halfhill launched NiceKicks.com in 2006 to provide sneaker enthusiasts with the most up-to-date information and news on sneakers.
Matt Paulson
Founder of MarketBeat.com
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About MarketBeat.com: MarketBeat provides real-time financial data and objective market analysis.
Frederick Gale Ruffner
Co-Founder of GALE CENGAGE Learning
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About GALE CENGAGE Learning: Cengage Learning delivers highly customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government
Jordan Freeman
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of ZOOM Platform
ZOOM’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Jordan Freeman, conceived the ZOOM Platform project and built its first prototype. He also formed the Jordan Freeman Group development arm of the Company, which focuses on building franchises around ZOOM technology. These franchises are, and will be, published and distributed on ZOOM Platform. Before ZOOM, Freeman was Founder and Chief Technical Officer at Head 2 Head Gaming. (Net Worth: $10MM+)
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About Jordan Freeman Group, ZOOM Platform: ZOOM Platform aims to design, create, and publish traditional and interactive entertainment with a Generation X transmedia appeal.
Elliott Easterling
Co-Founder & CEO of TrueData
Elliott brings over 20 years of data-driven marketing experience to TrueData. Elliott most recently was founder and CEO of Red Bricks Media, a full-service digital marketing agency which he grew into an INC 500 company with offices in New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. Prior to those roles he headed sales and account management at Digital Impact (now Acxiom Digital) where he managed 60% of revenue and handled accounts like HP, Fidelity, Dell, and Palm. Elliott has a MA from UCSD in International Affairs and a BA from Amherst College.
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About TrueData: TrueData is a mobile data platform that works with app publishers who generate mobile data & the companies who need data for ad targeting
Nadav Shoval
CEO & Co-Founder of OpenWeb
Nadav Shoval is the CEO & Co-Founder of Spot.IM, an on-site community that brings the power back to the publisher. Prior to Spot.IM, Nadav has developed and founded 4 technology startups. Spot.IM is his fifth venture. Nadav is a technology erudite and a sports addict.
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About OpenWeb: OpenWeb is a social engagement platform for people to elevate an open exchange of ideas across communities online.
Justin Bailey
Founder & CEO of Fig
Mr. Bailey has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fig since he started the company in November of 2014. Mr. Bailey has been active in the video game industry from an early age, programming his first graphic adventure game in assembly at age 8. His first job was selling games at a software store called Babbage’s, which eventually became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the video game retailer now called GameStop Corporation. Mr. Bailey’s work in video games includes experience publishing a variety of free-to-play, premium and mobile games, such as Broken Age (FKA Double Find Adventures), Massive Chalice, Middle Manager of Justice, and Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter. Since 2008, Mr. Bailey has secured over $100 million in game financing from publishers, investors and crowdfunding, resulting in returns totaling over $250 million. Mr. Bailey previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Double Fine Productions, Inc.
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About Fig: Fig is a crowdfunding platform for video games.
Frank Speiser
Co-Founder & President of SocialFlow
Frank Speiser serves as the Chairman of the Board and President of SocialFlow, Inc. Frank Speiser served as an Advisor of NabeWise Media, Inc. Frank Speiser co-founded SocialFlow, Inc. in 2009 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. He served as the Chief Technology Officer of Takkle, Inc. since April 2007. He served as Chief Technology Officer of Heavy.com and Takkle.com. He served as the Managing Director of Spectrum Data Technologies. He provided technical and product guidance, competitive analysis, and helps with fund raising and team-building for several early-stage companies in New York and San Francisco. He has extensive experience in e-commerce, scalability, insurance, and both traditional and social media IT environments. Frank Speiser has worked for companies such as Bertelsmann, Virgin USA, and many others. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board of Pictela, Inc. Frank Speiser serves as a Director of ReignCloud Advisors, Sparcq and WaterBasic.
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About SocialFlow, Talla: SocialFlow is a social distribution and monetization platform that is purpose-built for media companies.
Nadia Arumugam
Co-Founder of ckbk
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About ckbk: ckbk is the ultimate digital subscription service for cooks.
Laila Alawa
CEO and Founder of The Tempest
Laila Alawa started her career at the White House and Congress, and is the CEO and Founder of The Tempest. In 2016, she was honored at the White House Summit on the United State of Women. Since founding The Tempest, Laila has been quoted in nationwide outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and CNN Money as a disruptive force in media.
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About Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Keppler Speakers, LAILA + HUDA, The Tempest: The leading media company by diverse millennial women, for the world.
Robin Kabir
Founder of Coinfeed
Robin Kabir is the founder of Coinfeed.
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About Coinfeed: Breaking news and real time trade alerts from your favorite crypto insiders.
Tom Pachys
CEO and Co-Founder of EX.CO
Tom Pachys is co-founder and CEO of EX.CO. Tom’s entrepreneurial spirit started early in life when he began coding at an early age. He eventually joined the elite technology intelligence unit followed. He then join Sundaysky as one of the first team members following by his own tech startup.
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About EX.CO: EX.CO is a technology company used by brands & publishers to turn content into engaging and interactive experiences driving results.
Ruben Vardanyan
Founder & CEO of Joomag, Inc.
Dr Ruben Vardanyan is an innovative and result-driven leader with more than a decade of experience in building hi-tech companies. He is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joomag, a US based SaaS company that provides integrated solution for creating interactive digital publications. Under Vardanyan’s guidance the company developed a series of revolutionary products and became an industry leader. He has extensive experience working with SMBs as well as large enterprises including Fortune 500 companies. He is an angel investor, advisor and serves as a board member for various tech startups. Prior to his Joomag experience, he was the founding CEO of mobile app development company Magy. The company produced several best-seller and award winning apps. In addition to being a master strategist, Vardanyan is an aficionado of all aspects of computer programming, security, databases, software, protocols and web servers. In fact, he co-authored “Principles of C++” and authored “Programming in Macromedia Flash Action Script.” Along with his Executive Education from Harvard, Vardanyan holds a PhD in Computer Science and maintains active involvement in workshops, trainings and is a guest speaker at several international conferences.
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About Joomag, Inc.: Joomag is the all-in-one platform empowering businesses large and small to create, distribute, track, and monetize their interactive content
David Aslanyan
Chief Customer Officer & Co-Founder of Joomag, Inc.
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About Joomag, Inc.: Joomag is the all-in-one platform empowering businesses large and small to create, distribute, track, and monetize their interactive content
Nick Gernert
CEO & Founder of WordPress VIP
Nick Gernert is the CEO & Founder of WordPress VIP & he attended University of Central Florida – College of Business Administration in 2000.
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About WordPress VIP: WordPress VIP offers enterprise hosting and support to publishers including TechCrunch.
Lisa Padilla
Founder and CEO of NewPathVR
Lisa Padilla is the CEO of NewPathVR and has been helping businesses reach customers and partners with integrated marketing and advertising campaigns for more than 20 years. Lisa’s career includes work at the largest advertising agencies in the world (Foote, Cone & Belding, Euro RSCG) and direct consulting with AOL, Apple, BlogTalkRadio, Clorox, Drugstore.com, Experian, eFax, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Levis, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Netgear, and Netscape Communications. She is also known for covering Silicon Valley people and happenings, podcasting and video production, startups, social media, advertising, naming rights, software design and user experience. She advises companies about marketing, digital media, contextual marketing strategies and community building.
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About NewPathVR: NewPathVR is a digital therapeutics company forcused on mental and behavioral health.
Moshe Vaknin
Founder & CEO of YouAppi
Moshe Vaknin has been dreaming about YouAppi since he bought his first iPhone 3. After a long and successful career with leading companies such as ATT and VocalTech, Moshe founded three successful start-ups before founding YouAppi. As the CEO of YouAppi, Moshe brings vast experience in the advertising, publishing and affiliate marketing fields.
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About YouAppi: YouAppi is a digital marketing platform for premium app publishers and brands.
Marc-Henri Magdelenat
Entrepreneur – Founder Press4kids – News-O-Matic of Press4Kids
Marc-Henri Magdelenat is a father of three kids and a serial media entrepreneur. He was the founder of TimeToSignOff and ScreenTonic, a mobile advertising pioneer acquired by Microsoft in 2007.He was a former director of the Mobile Advertising Association in North America. After serving as a French Navy Officer and graduating from the Paris Business School, he was an executive at Le Figaro, Unilever, and Coca-Cola.
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About Press4Kids, TimeToSignOff: Educational Apps Publisher, News-O-Matic
Dan Mapes
Founder of MagNet Solutions
Dan Mapes is Founder @ MagNet Solutions.
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About MagNet Solutions, Verses: MagNet Solutions is an online platform that allows brands to expand their customer base across online social networks and blogs.
