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 Travel 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.
Duke Chung
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of TravelBank
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About TravelBank: TravelBank is the modern all-in-one business travel and expense management platform.
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Reid Williams
Co-Founder & CTO of TravelBank
Reid Williams is CTO at TravelBank. He is an entrepreneur and full stack technologist. Prior to joining TravelBank, Reid worked at Parature as senior software engineer. Reid Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems specializing in systems integration from DeVry University and a master’s degree in Information Systems Technology from The George Washington University – School of Business.
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About TravelBank: TravelBank is the modern all-in-one business travel and expense management platform.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Goop
Gwyneth Paltrow is one of today’s most prolific and celebrated actors in both television and film. Additionally, Paltrow continues to develop her lifestle brand: Goop; wellness advice, clean beauty, fashion & home. A testament to her undeniable acting talent is Paltrow’s role in Shakespeare in Love that catapulted her into awards stardom with Best Actress honors at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Academy Awards. In 2011. Gwyneth Paltrow was also honored with an Emmy Award for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Fox’s smash-hit musical series Glee. In 2013, Paltrow published her second cookbook, It’s All Good, which joined her first-ever cookbook, My Father’s Daughter (published April 2011), on the New York Times Best Sellers list. She first established her credibility in the culinary field when she cowrote Spain, A Culinary Road Trip with acclaimed chef Mario Batali.
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About Goop: Goop is a lifestyle brand providing digital content and commerce.
Shervin Pishevar
Co-Founder of Virgin Hyperloop
Shervin Pishevar is the Co-Founder at Virgin Hyperloop.
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About Airbnb, Cue, Curology, Didi, Doctor On Demand, Dollar Shave Club, Eaze, Fair, ipsy, Lyft, Opendoor, PillPack, Poshmark, Postmates by Uber, quip, Rent the Runway, Robinhood, Slack, Snap, Sofreh Capital, Virgin Hyperloop, Warby Parker: Virgin Hyperloop is a developer of a transportation technology used to deliver fast, direct, and sustainable transportation at scale.
Josh Giegel
CEO & Co-Founder of Virgin Hyperloop
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About Virgin Hyperloop: Virgin Hyperloop is a developer of a transportation technology used to deliver fast, direct, and sustainable transportation at scale.
Sunmeet Jolly
Founder & CEO of GROTU
Founder and Patent holder – GROTU mobile app @ 101 Islands LLC. Angel investor in 40 pre-IPO technology startups. Frequently invited by accelerators and angel forums to Judge startup competitions and discuss technology innovation. Former IT Consulting industry executive who sold hundreds of millions of dollars in consulting services to Fortune 500 companies working for Cap Gemini, HCL, L&T, NTT data.
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About GROTU: Patented GROTU app provides a much needed “private” collection of productivity and communication tools for friends and family social groups
John Andrew Entwistle
Founder, CEO of Wander
John Andrew Entwistle is the Co-Founder and Board Member at Coder.
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About Wander: Wander is a short-term luxury rental company that provides smart home travel services.
Rick Blatstein
Founder & CEO of OTG
Rick Blatstein, founder and CEO of OTG Management, found his calling putting gourmet cuisine, swanky design and high-tech integrations into the drab world of airport terminals. OTG’s innovative approach to creating an “experience” is delighting travelers and catching the attention of airlines and airport operators.
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About OTG: OTG Management is a operator of airport food and beverage concessions
Mohit Saxena
Founder & COO of Rizort
Mohit Saxena is the Founder of Rizort, Rizort is a first of its kind luxury vacation marketplace that enable users to plan and book a memorable vacation, designed and curated around specific intent and experience to create perfect memories. Prior to Rizort Mohit, was the Founder and Chief Technology Officer at InMobi. He oversaw all things tech, including infrastructure, application management, and IT during its growth and scale phase. Before InMobi, Mohit managed technology operations at Virgin Mobile, designing and deploying their post-paid billing system and their pre-paid revenue recognition system. Mohit earlier worked at AT&T and has contributed to many patents filed in the telecommunications area. Fascinated by small ideas that turned into global powerhouses, and innovation, simplicity, and the potential of technology have always been his passions. InMobi is a both a passion and a dream come true for him. Mohit has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Mohit’s passion for technology doesn’t stop at work and is always on the look-out for ways that he can use it to make his life easier.
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About InMobi, Rizort: Rizort is a luxury vacation marketplace that brings immersive vacation planning and booking services for travelers.
Sachin Kanodia
Founder and CEO of Rizort
Founder & CEO at Rizort.com.
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About Rizort: Rizort is a luxury vacation marketplace that brings immersive vacation planning and booking services for travelers.
David J. La Placa
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Intellectus Partners, LLC
David J. La Placa is the Chief Executive Officer | Founder at Intellectus Partners, LLC.
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About Forbes San Francisco Business Council, HintBox.ai, Intellectus Partners, LLC, Orbital Insight: Intellectus is an exclusive, private MFO for Entrepreneurs offering Wealth Creation&Preservation,Investment Mgmt, Venture & startup Advisory
Jay Casey
President & Co-Founder of Intellectus Partners, LLC
Experienced investor and financial professional working in various roles; including Venture & Private Equity investing, Portfolio Management, Trading, and Client Relationship Management. Experienced investor in Fixed Income, Equities, Commodities, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, and Private companies. Previous experience with First Union, Manulife Financial, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, and currently Intellectus Partners.
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About Intellectus Partners, LLC: Intellectus is an exclusive, private MFO for Entrepreneurs offering Wealth Creation&Preservation,Investment Mgmt, Venture & startup Advisory
Ruzwana Bashir
Founder & CEO of Peek
Ruzwana Bashir is Co-founder & CEO of Peek.com. She is a travel junkie, having navigated her way through 40 countries. She previously worked at Gilt Groupe, Art.sy, the Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs. Ruzwana has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and a BA in Economics from Oxford University, where she was President of the Oxford Union.
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About Peek: Peek is a booking software and marketplace for delightful things to do such as wine tours, watersports, skydiving, and art classes.
Susan Ho
Founder & CEO of Journy
Susan has helped build some of the fastest growing companies in NYC, including Fab.com, DigitalOcean, Blue Apron, and LearnVest. Susan graduated from Wharton and was a consultant at BCG before startups. She met Leiti nearly a decade ago while dancing on speakers in Shanghai.
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About Journy: Journy is a personalized travel planning service that pairs travelers 1-on-1 with their own personal trip designer.
Rory Felton
Board Member / Co-Founder of Airmule
Rory Felton joined Feltone as Founder & Artist Manager/Partner in 2015.Rory began his career as a founder of a tech-savvy music & media company, The Militia Group, out of his USC dorm room. Within a few short years, utilizing innovative digital strategies and marketing programs, the company signed dozens of artists, grew to a team of ten, and became a partnership with Sony Music. He went on to sell millions of products, received an RIAA Certified Gold Record subsequently leading Sony to acquire the major assets.
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About Airmule, Appr.tv, Feltone: Airmule is an “On-Demand Shipping Platform” that allows users to connect and sell their unused luggage space with express shipping demand.
Mike Macadaan
Co-Founder of Urbandig Inc.
Mike Macadaan is the Product Design Leader at Facebook.
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About Ground Control, Meta, Urbandig Inc.: Off the beaten path experiences.
Jaxon Klein
CEO, Co-Founder of Keyo
Jaxon Klein is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor and startup advisor. Klein is currently CEO of Keyo, Inc., where he is a co-founder and former CTO. Prior to his role at Keyo, Klein founded two companies in hosting technology and web services.
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About Keyo: We place people’s identities in the palm of their hands.
Cayetana Polanco
Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Keyo
Cayetana Polanco is the co-founder and chief brand officer at Keyo. Prior to co-founding Keyo, Cayetana was the co-founder and COO of Invento Media. She was also the co-founder and COO of Reneweb Hosting Services. Cayetana holds a bachelor of applied science (B.A.Sc.) in public health from Beloit College.
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About Keyo: We place people’s identities in the palm of their hands.
Herman DeBoard
CEO & Founder of Huvr Inc.
Successful Entrepreneur, built major technology projects working with Sony, Universal, Warner, EMI and more. Products have been distributed in Target, Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics and many more.
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About Huvr Inc.: Huvr is a global virtual marketplace that helps to connect human walkers to virtual travelers to explore the world in real-time.
Tyson Weihs
Co-Founder / CEO of ForeFlight
Tyson is a software entrepreneur and private pilot. His first venture was Atension, a dorm-room startup that was acquired by a public company in 1999. He then directed software engineering at BenefitFocus, where flying was part of the corporate DNA. Prior to ForeFlight, Tyson was a venture partner with SMH Private Equity Group. Tyson holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Business Administration from Trinity University and an MBA from Rice University.
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About ForeFlight: ForeFlight is a companion for pilots that packs rich airport information, search, and aviation weather imagery is a single package.
Jason Miller
Co-Founder of ForeFlight
Jason is a software engineer by training and a private pilot by fascination. He has earned his IFR rating and complex/high performance endorsements, and is a proud co-owner of a Cirrus SR22. Prior to ForeFlight, Jason was Director of Technology at INCOGEN, a bioinformatics company. Jason holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Clemson University..
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About ForeFlight: ForeFlight is a companion for pilots that packs rich airport information, search, and aviation weather imagery is a single package.
Corey Ashton Walters
Founder & CEO of Here
Corey Ashton Walters is the Founder & CEO of Here, a revolutionary online marketplace that enables anyone anywhere to invest in vacation rentals online and earn passive income—without ever lifting a finger. Prior to founding Here, Corey, a seasoned entrepreneur, brand builder, and college dropout, has founded multiple successful companies over the last 15 years. Most recently in 2017, Corey co-founded Homeworthy, a venture-backed first-of-its-kind fully remote home selling experience available to homeowners located in more than 900 cities across the Pacific Northwest.
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About Here: Here makes investing in vacation rentals as easy as buying stocks.
Ric Elias
Co-Founder & CEO of Red Ventures
Ric attended Boston College and Harvard Business School before beginning his career as part of GE’s Financial Management program. Ric co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, just days before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm and by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. In 2009, Elias was a survivor of Flight 1549, an event which drastically changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 things I learned while my plane crashed.” Elias is cited as aspiring to create the “Google of the East Coast” within his company’s culture and facilities. Ric’s leadership style earned him noteworthy recognition in 2011, when he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year. His inspirational views on both business and family have been featured on CNN, TED Talks and MSNBC. Ric Elias is the co-founder and CEO of Red Ventures, a portfolio of digital companies headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. With over 3,000 employees in 10 US cities, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Brazil, Red Ventures’s digital platform spans across many industries, including home services, financial services, health services, education, and entertainment. Through its influential brands, strategic partnerships, and powerful technology platform, Red Ventures connects millions of people to premium content, intuitive digital experiences, and consumer advice to help make life’s most important decisions. Over the last decade, Red Ventures has compounded growth at over 30%. In 2010, General Atlantic made a strategic investment in the company, and in 2015 Silver Lake also joined as a shareholder. Ric has cultivated an award-winning and technology-centric company culture, ranking as one of Charlotte’s “Best Places to Work” for ten years in a row. A native of Puerto Rico, Ric graduated from Boston College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, months before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm; by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. Ric’s leadership style has earned him noteworthy recognition; in 2011, he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. In 2009, Ric survived Flight 1549, also known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” an event which changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed.” In 2019, he launched a podcast, “3 Things with Ric Elias,” where he shares conversations and insights with top business leaders, athletes, and remarkable guests. In addition to being deeply committed to his family and Red Ventures, Ric is passionate about creating economic mobility opportunities for underserved groups who have the motivation and work ethic to succeed. In 2013, he founded and funded what is now Road to Hire, a 501(c)(3) that connects young adults with on-ramps to professional development and high-earning careers. Programs provided through the Road to Hire platform include career-readiness classes in Charlotte Mecklenberg Title 1 high schools, digital marketing courses at Johnson C. Smith University, on-the-job training and placement with top employers in Charlotte , and scholarships for high-performing undocumented students seeking college degrees. Additionally, in 2018 Ric launched Forward787, a $100M social enterprise committed to building digital businesses based in Puerto Rico. To date, the program has trained and supported more than 100 Puerto Rican professionals, fueling a new economic growth engine on the island.
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About Red Ventures: A portfolio of influential brands, digital platforms, and strategic partnerships that help people make life’s most important decisions.
Poseidon Ho
Founder & General Partner of Outliers Fund
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About Outliers Fund: A collective of joint research initiatives and venture funds turning science fiction into scientific facts.
Andrew Sturner
Co-Founder & Chairman of Boatsetter
Andy is a seasoned senior executive, c-suite officer, founder, serial entrepreneur and Board Member with success across technology, media, internet, real estate, and cannabis. Prior work highlights: Miami Angels – Co-Founder – Andy is a very successful angel investor with a passion for guiding executives through complex situations and corporate development. His broad areas of expertise include strategic partnerships; executive coaching; business development; joint venture (JV); merger and acquisition (M&A); investments; and organizational restructuring. CBS SportsLine – President of Corporate & Business Development – Andy led this venture-backed interactive media business in corporate and business development, accelerating its growth from 6 to 685 employees, generating hundreds of millions in revenue through its IPO in ’97 and ultimately sale to CBS. MovieFone – Vice President of Business Development. – After MovieFone acquired his company, Interactive Services, he went on to head their growth efforts through their IPO in ‘94. MovieFone was sold to AOL in ’99. While no longer a practicing attorney, he was admitted to the New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. bar associations.
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About Aqua Marine Partners, Collaborative Boating, Cresco Capital Partners, Entourage Effect Capital, Orange Island Ventures, LLC, YPO, YPO: Boatsetter is a boat rental community connecting boat owners, boat captains, and anyone who seeks a water-full experience.
Jaclyn Baumgarten
CEO & Co-Founder of Boatsetter
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About Boatsetter, Mastercraft: Boatsetter is a boat rental community connecting boat owners, boat captains, and anyone who seeks a water-full experience.
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.
Scott Kubly
Founder & CEO of Cabana
Scott Kubly is director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. Appointed by Mayor Ed Murray in July 2014, Scott oversees transportation policy, capital project delivery, transportation and maintenance operations, transit and mobility improvements, and management of the City’s right of way. He led the creation of the award winning Move Seattle Plan, which outlines Mayor Murray’s 10-year vision for transportation in Seattle, and delivers a comprehensive strategy for connecting and enhancing the city’s many ways to travel. Scott was also a lead architect of the voter-approved Levy to Move Seattle, which provides $930 million to improve safety, maintain streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. Scott additionally serves as the vice president of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.
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About Cabana: Cabana is a travel startup that turns vans into bookable mobile hotels.
Laks Srini
Co-Founder and CTO of ZeroDown
Laks Srini is the co-founder and CTO of Zenefits. Since the company’s founding in 2013, Laks has helped expand Zenefits’ business, which now serves tens of thousands of companies in 48 states, disrupting the $18 billion health insurance brokerage industry along the way. Prior to Zenefits, Laks served at SigFig and D. E. Shaw & Co. Laks graduated with a M.Sc. in Software Engineering from PSG College of Technology.
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About ZeroDown: ZeroDown is a real estate startup that focuses on providing an affordable homeownership solution.
Hari Viswanathan
Co-Founder and COO of ZeroDown
Hari Viswanathan is the co-founder and COO of Zerodown. Previously, Hari was a staff software engineer at Zenefits. He holds a PhD. in computer engineering from Rutgers University and a bachelors in electronics and communication engineering from PSG College of Technology.
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About ZeroDown: ZeroDown is a real estate startup that focuses on providing an affordable homeownership solution.
Adam Harris
CEO and Co-Founder of Cloudbeds
Adam Harris is the Co-founder and CEO of Cloudbeds. Together with Co-founder Richard Castle, Adam has led Cloudbeds from a small startup to an award-winning company that powers over 20,000 properties in 135 countries worldwide.I have a diversified finance, transmedia marketing, and web technologies background ranging from being a technology investment banker, a technology consultant to emerging business, and the founder of numerous technology start-ups.
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About Cloudbeds: Cloudbeds is a vertical SaaS business that creates cloud-based hospitality management software.
Jim Hornthal
Founder & Chairman of Triporati
Jim was the founder and chairman of Preview Travel, and served as the founding vice chairman of Travelocity.com from 2000-2002, when Sabre acquired the publicly-traded shares of Travelocity. With over 20 years of marketing and strategy experience in the travel industry, Jim has been instrumental in launching Triporati, and building their world-class management team.
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About GLIDR, Growcentia, LaunchPad Central, M34 Capital, Inc., NeuroTrainer, Revinate, Triporati, Zignal Labs: Triporati, an online travel company, helps clients find their vacation destinations via their “Destination Genome Project” platform’.
T.J. Clark
CEO and Co-Founder of TurnKey Vacation Rentals
T.J. Clark is an entrepreneur in travel/tech industry and his experiences include Limos.com, IAC/InterActiveCorp and Hotwire.com. Mr. Clark was the President & CEO of Limos.com from March 2008 to April 2012. Limos.com became the largest online marketplace for limo/car services and grew more than 50% each year under his leadership. The Company expanded globally and launched partnerships with Orbitz, Concur, Delta Airlines, LiveNation and OpenTable. In 2011 Limos.com was named in Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies as the Top Travel Brand. Mr. Clark was previously VP of Business Operations at IAC/InterActiveCorp, which consisted of over 65 internet brands with 20 million visitors per day (8th ranked worldwide), including Expedia, Ticketmaster, and Match.com. Mr. Clark was a member of the Hotwire.com start-up team since March 2000. Hotwire.com became the fourth-ranked U.S. online travel company within two years of operations, generating over $1B in travel bookings. Hotwire was acquired by IAC in 2004. Formerly Mr. Clark was a trial attorney in Chicago, most recently at Lord, Bissell & Brook. He holds a JD from Loyola Chicago School of Law and a BS from Notre Dame.
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About TurnKey Vacation Rentals: TurnKey Vacation Rentals markets and manages premier vacation rental homes in top U.S. destinations.
Peter Kutis
Founder/CEO of OneTwoTrip
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About FinalPrice, OneTwoTrip: OneTwoTrip is a full scale b2c and b2b online travel service.
Indré Vengris Rockefeller
Co-Founder of Paravel
Indré Vengris Rockefeller is the Co-Founder at Paravel.
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About Paravel: Paravel is a designer and manufacturer of luggage bags and travel accessories.
Andy Krantz
CEO and Co-Founder of Paravel
CEO and Co-Founder at Paravel.
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About Paravel: Paravel is a designer and manufacturer of luggage bags and travel accessories.
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.
Jianxiong Xiao
Founder and CEO of AutoX
Jianxiong Xiao (a.k.a., Professor X) is the Founder and CEO of AutoX Inc., a high-tech company working on self-driving vehicles. AutoX’s mission is to democratize autonomy and enable autonomous driving to improve everyone’s life. Dr. Xiao has over ten years of research and engineering experience in Computer Vision, Autonomous Driving, and Robotics. In particular, he is a pioneer in the fields of 3D Deep Learning, RGB-D Recognition and Mapping, Big Data, Large-scale Crowdsourcing, and Deep Learning for Robotics. Jianxiong received a BEng. and MPhil. in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2009. He received his Ph.D. from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2013. And he was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University and the founding director of the Princeton Computer Vision and Robotics Labs from 2013 to 2016. His work has received the Best Student Paper Award at the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) in 2012 and the Google Research Best Papers Award for 2012, and has appeared in the popular press. He was awarded the Google U.S./Canada Fellowship in Computer Vision in 2012, the MIT CSW Best Research Award in 2011, NSF/Intel VEC Research Award in 2016, and two Google Faculty Awards in 2014 and in 2015 respectively. He co-lead the MIT+Princeton joint team to participate in the Amazon Picking Challenge in 2016, and won the 3rd and 4th place worldwide. He was named to be one of the 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2017, and one of the 12 of the most promising entrepreneurs to keep an eye on in 2018 by Next Visionaries.
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About AutoX: AutoX is a self-driving car startup that offers AI drivers to enable universal access to transportation for the people.
Peter Xu
Co-Founder of Wanderlog
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About Wanderlog: Wanderlog allows users to choose, organize, and map places in a Google Doc built just for travel planning.
Harry Yu
Co-Founder of Wanderlog
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About Wanderlog: Wanderlog allows users to choose, organize, and map places in a Google Doc built just for travel planning.
Mike Collett
Founder & Managing Partner of Promus Ventures
Mike Collett is Founder and Managing Partner of Promus Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Chicago, San Francisco and Luxembourg investing in deep-technology software and hardware companies in the U.S., Europe and New Zealand. Mike has been a venture capital investor in software and hardware for over 15 years. He has invested in more than 70 private technology companies, including areas such as artificial intelligence/machine learning, space, fintech, robotics, synthetic biology, computer vision, connected car, blockchain, healthcare, insurance, agriculture, nanotechnology and others. Mike currently serves on numerous Boards of Directors of private technology companies, including Spire, Gauss Surgical, ICEYE, CrossLend, Rhombus and others. Mike previously was Founder and Managing Partner of Masters Capital Nanotechnology Fund, a venture capital firm. Investments included companies in quantum cascade lasers, quantum dots, photonic integrated optoelectronic devices, nano-engineered fabrics and others. While at Masters Capital, a hedge fund, Mike invested in private technology software and hardware companies. Prior to venture capital, Mike was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch in their Mergers & Acquisitions group as well as an Associate at Duff & Phelps. Mike holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Math and Bachelor’s of Arts in English from Vanderbilt University. He also holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. Mike and his wife Paige have four children and live in Chicago.
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About Promus Ventures: Investing in early-stage deep-tech software/hardware companies run by visionary and tenacious founding teams.
Yatin Patel
Co-Founder of Reservations.com
Yatin Patel has over 20 years of successful internet technology/e-commerce business experience as an entrepreneur, designer, founder, investor, and operator; focused most significantly in the hospitality industry. Patel is a Co-founder of Reservations.com. Patel has built, owned, sold, invested and operated numerous companies, including: HotelReservations.com, SelectCovers.com, HotelSavings.com, BoostCTR.com, iOutdoor.com, RugsNow.com. Patel’s core expertise resides in buying effective digital media, then converting it into a positive ROI on e-commerce transactions. Yatin Patel has been recognized for 2019 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business award. Patel has a Master’s Degrees in Industrial Design ((National Institute of Design- India), a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Gujarat University-India) and ongoing Executive MBA from Harvard Business School. Patel is an active and philanthropic member of the Orlando community, and has served as a board member with: OnePULSE Foundation, The Dr. Phillip Performing Art Center, University Club of Orlando, and the Orlando Film Festival. He is an active member of PathNorth (Washington DC based Leadership Organization), YPO (Young President Organization) & CEO. Patel is a nationally recognized photographer, currently exhibiting his collection entitled SUTRA (yatinpatel.com). Lending his artistic talents to philanthropic causes, he has hosted art gallery fundraising events both locally and nationally. Patel is married to LeAnn Patel ( LeAnnPerman.com) and has 2 children, Aemy (18) and Dave (13). In his leisure he enjoys fly fishing around the world.
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About Reservations.com: Our Mission is to bring the human-touch back into the world of travel. With a vision to provide personalized experiential travel planning
Joe Fraiman
Co-Founder and President of Lyric
Joe is a Founder & President of Lyric. He is a professional nomad, adventure traveler, a certified BBQ judge, and interior design junkie. Over the last 15 years he’s lived in countless apartments across the country — and he obsessively designed each one. Along the way he hiked 1000 miles on the Appalachian Trail, crossed Asia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Joe has worked in construction in Alaska, developed top-secret defense software in San Diego, and raised money for the world’s largest hedge fund in Connecticut. He studied computer science and philosophy at Dartmouth College and NYU.
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About Lyric: Lyric is a tech and data-powered real estate and lifestyle hospitality company for the modern business traveler.
Andrew Kitchell
CEO & Co-Founder of Lyric
Andrew Kitchell is a Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Lyric and Wheelhouse. He is a former CEO & Founder at Beyond Pricing and Founder, Product Design at 30 Words. Mr. Kitchell studied at Duke University.
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About Lyric, Wheelhouse: Lyric is a tech and data-powered real estate and lifestyle hospitality company for the modern business traveler.
Carey Cooper
Co-Founder & CEO of L3 Hospitality Group
Carey is our CEO Extraordinaire. His early success as president of Redi Cut Foods, the largest regional processor of vegetables, made him a supply chain expert. His entrepreneurial spirit has only grown since then and nothing has brought him as much professional joy as becoming a restaurateur. We refer to him as Mr. Positive. He’s the go-to guy in his community and at work… not to mention he can tell you the origin of an avocado by the way it spins on the table.
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About L3 Hospitality Group: L3 Hospitality Group is a restaurant operating company.
Nathan Cooper
Co-Founder & Partner of L3 Hospitality Group
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About L3 Hospitality Group: L3 Hospitality Group is a restaurant operating company.
Miguel Ayala
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Exodus Space
Miguel Ayala, Exodus Chief Executive Officer, has more than 18 years of experience in engineering and leadership of multidisciplinary engineering teams developing aircraft, launch vehicles, spacecraft, and associated ground support equipment. Miguel is passionate about contributing to groundbreaking innovations in space exploration and aerospace transportation. With the intent of becoming an effective well-rounded leader, he has devoted his entire career to gaining a broad background in engineering and leadership, encompassing: small startups and large corporations; design, analysis, test and manufacturing; propulsion, structures, mechanisms and thermal fluid systems; technical leadership; project and people management. Previous programs include ULA Vulcan rocket at Belcan, Orion spacecraft and A2100 satellites at Lockheed Martin, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets at SpaceX, aircraft GNC at L3 Technologies, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 aircraft engines and ISS habitat module at Honeywell, and NASA Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster processing at Thiokol Propulsion (Northrop Grumman). Miguel holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University.
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About Exodus Space: Space Transportation
David Kelso
Founder, CTO & Chairman of Beyond (formerly Beyond Pricing)
David is a former YC founder, Ember.js contributor, and experienced developer. He has built & maintained products used by millions of customers daily.
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About Beyond (formerly Beyond Pricing): #1 Revenue Management Solution for Short-Term Rental Managers and Owners to Get, Grow, and Keep Revenue
Kirk Posmantur
Founder & CEO of Axcess Worldwide
Kirk Posmantur is the Chairman & Founder of Axcess Worldwide, a partnership development company that creates inspired ideas and connects extraordinary brands and people. With over 20 years of experience generating hundreds of millions of dollars in contracted revenue for many of the world’s top brands in the luxury and lifestyle, consumer mass, and hospitality and travel sectors, Kirk is widely recognized as the pioneer and innovator of partnership development. Axcess currently represents over 50 of the world’s leading brands. Kirk is greatly involved in multiple charities and has served as the Chairman of the Board for the Atlanta chapter of After School All-Stars since 2000, raising over $20 million for his charity’s chapter. Kirk earned his undergraduate degree at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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About 25Madison, Axcess Worldwide: Axcess Worldwide are Axcess Worldwide, and Axcess Worldwide are the world’s first partnership development company.
Dmitry Pistolyako
Founder of LinguaTrip
Founder at LinguaTrip
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About LinguaTrip: LinguaTrip Book language courses and student accommodation worldwide.
Chris Herndon
Co-Founder of The Guild
Chris Herndon is the Co-Founder of The Guild. He is a serial entrepreneur and amateur investor that is jamming on some hare-brained schemes that he hopes will someday dent the universe. Chris was the Co-Founder of Apartment List and served as President from 2011 to 2015. Prior to Apartment List, Chris spent several years as an investor at GTCR Golder Rauner and Goldman Sachs. He is a co-founder of the 40 Acres Group, an Austin-based real estate investment firm. He is also a co-founder of Philanthropedia, an online resource for strategic donors that was acquired by Guidestar in 2011. Chris has an MBA from Stanford University and a bachelors from the University of Texas at Austin. Hook ’em Horns!
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About Homestead Partners, The Guild: The Guild is a hospitality company that offers full-building managements and turns upscale apartments into tech-enabled hotel suites.
Brian Carrico
Co Founder, CEO of The Guild
Brian Carrico is the Co-Founder of Chief Executive Officer of The Guild and a Partner at Alexa Management.
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About Alexa Management, The Guild: The Guild is a hospitality company that offers full-building managements and turns upscale apartments into tech-enabled hotel suites.
Henry Shi
Co-Founder of Snapcommerce
Co-Founder of Snapcommerce. Ex-Googler. Waterloo and GATech Alum
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About Snapcommerce: Snapcommerce is a commerce platform that connects price-conscious consumers to the right product deals.
Brian Flynn
Co-Founder & Managing Director of DiamondStream Partners
Brian Flynn co-founded Volaris (NYSE: VLRS), Mexico’s largest airline, and Casino Marketing Alliance, a travel analytics firm. He was previously a Managing Director at Bachow & Associates, the then largest private equity fund in Philadelphia, where he was focused on thematic investing, focused on wireless cellular technology and services. Mr. Flynn was also CEO of Innova Corporation, a leading telecom equipment company where he led a turnaround. Prior to this, he was a consultant at Bain and Company and also worked for DLJ in investment banking and GE Capital in finance. Mr. Flynn is a Beta Gamma Sigma graduate of Columbia Business School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College. He was also a General Course student at the London School of Economics. He has served on various public and private company boards of directors.
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About DiamondStream Partners: DiamondStream Partners is a manager that invests in the future of travel and aviation.
William Dean Donovan
Co-Founder & Managing Director of DiamondStream Partners
Dean Donovan co-founded Volaris, Mexico’s largest domestic airline, and continues to sit on the Board of Directors, with a focus on technology transformation. The company has been listed on the NYSE since 2013, employs an Ultra Low Cost Carrier (ULCC) business model, and flies in Mexico, Canada, Central America and the US. He also co-founded Casino Marketing Alliance, a provider of marketing and analytics services to the casino industry. He helped form Metropolitan Bankgroup, where he served as Chairman of the Compensation Committee. Metropolitan was sold to Renasant in 2017. Mr. Donovan sits on the board of Stellar Labs, a software company focused on global distribution technologies for private aviation, and is the past Chairman. He also sits on the board of Prophet, a marketing consultancy, and twice served as Chair of the Special Committee during the firm’s recapitalization efforts. Mr. Donovan has also served as COO of Nimblefish Technologies, a micro-marketing technology platform and as CEO of SearchForce, a paid search workflow management and optimization platform. Prior to this, between 1989 and 2003 Mr. Donovan worked with Bain & Company, consulting to executives in the United States, Europe, Africa and Latin America. He was head of Bain’s airline practice and auto practice at various times. Mr. Donovan received his MBA with honors from the Wharton School and his B.A. from University of California Berkeley, where he graduated with Honors in Rhetoric and Economics, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude.
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About DiamondStream Partners: DiamondStream Partners is a manager that invests in the future of travel and aviation.
Moncef Abbou
Founder of CurbStand
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About CurbStand: Seamless, cashless valet parking in Los Angeles. Pay & tip right from your phone.
Sam Nasserian
Founder & CEO of Cozymeal
Founder & CEO at Cozymeal.
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About Cozymeal: Cozymeal is the #1 marketplace for culinary experiences from cooking classes to team building events with top-rated local chefs.
Saritta Hines
CEO and Founder of TrustaBit
Holding over 13 years of experience in data analytics, Saritta Hines is a trusted leader at bridging strategic business initiatives with expert IT implementation. Saritta has successfully spearheaded projects in the tech world for industry leaders including Cymer, Allergan, Bank of Montreal, Novartis and Dow Agrosciences. Her expertise brings technical innovation and business teams together to transform the customer experience. Saritta is at the forefront of improving operational efficiency and testing new use cases through the use of blockchain technology. As the head of TrustaBit, Saritta has established a key utility for businesses to streamline the delivery of products and services to customers through smart contracts.
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About Cymer, TrustaBit: Flight disruption management solution to automate the notification and compensation process in the airline industry.
Renil Komitla
Founder & CEO of YatraGenie Services
Renil Komitla is a Founder & CEO at YatraGenie Services.
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About Terralogic, YatraGenie Services: Yatragenie.com is a travel portal and also widely called as Rural Travel Partner
Jonathan Hayes
Founder & CEO of RewardStock
Jonathan Hayes Founder & CEO of RewardStock.
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About RewardStock: RewardStock is a free web application that shows you how to to travel on points and miles.
Fahim Aziz
Founder & CEO of Backpack
Hacker at Backpack
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About Backpack, Kyokushin Wooster: Backpack is a website that connects travelers and shoppers globally.
Gary Spitalnik
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Wheels Up
Gary Spitalnik is the co-founder and executive vice president of Wheels Up. Prior to co-founding Wheels Up, Gary served as the SVP of event marketing and special projects at Marquis Jet/NetJets.
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About Wheels Up: Wheels Up is a membership-based private aviation company that focuses on reducing upfront cost to fly privately.
Kenny Dichter
Co-Founder & CEO of Wheels Up
Kenny Dichter is Founder and CEO of Wheels Up, a revolutionary membership-based private aviation company that eliminates fixed costs and provides unparalleled flexibility. Wheels Up will commence full-service flight operations October 2013, appealing to new entrants as well as to individuals and corporations currently flying privately. Previously, Dichter Founded Marquis Jet in 2001 and introduced the first-ever fractional jet card program, which revitalized and democratized the private aviation industry. Led by Dichter, Marquis Jet generated over $4 billion in revenue, culminating in its sale to Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway’s Net Jets in 2010. At that time, Dichter was named Vice Chairman of Net Jets. Dichter’s role enabled him to build lasting relationships with CEOs,entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes and tastemakers around the globe. An entrepreneur at heart, with a sociology major from the University of Wisconsin, Dichter is a self-proclaimed “man of the people.” Since his youth, he has been known for being a trend spotter and trendsetter, and has always had an innate knack for branding, marketing, public relations and advertising. Dichter’s successes prove that he can apply these skills to a variety of industries. As always, Dichter has his eye on early-stage businesses where he sees potential for hyper growth. He has an active role and has invested in Juice Press, a Manhattan-based, multi-location, grab-and-go organic, raw food and juice company; SportYapper, a global communications platform for talking sports; CYC, the first indoor cycling studio aimed at college students and young professionals at universities across the country; and Cirrus, a fitnesscompany that customizes premium exercise equipment. In 2010, Dichter co-founded Tequila Avion, an ultra-premium brand that in 30 months has positioned itself, through branding and distribution, as an emerging leader in its category. Paris-based Pernod Ricard, the world’s second largest premium wine and spirits company, purchased a minority stake in Tequila Avion in 2011, and has the worldwide distribution rights. In 2004, Dichter Founded MGX Lab, an independent, full-service, digital media, brand strategy, and business development company that serves as a think tank for companies such as Disney, Bayer, Patch, cambio.com and Muhammad Ali Enterprises. Dichter is also Founder and Chairman of Tour GCX Partners, Inc., a golf membership program providing cliententertainment solutions to corporations and individuals, through access to private country clubs. In 1996, Dichter co-founded Alphabet City, a sports marketing and music company, which was acquired by Robert FX Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment in 1998. Dichter is a regular guest on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” and sought by media outlets for his perspectives on the aviation industry, consumer brands, and the luxury goods and services sector. Dichter co-founded Action America, along with AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, to unite and activate Americans everywhere to turn the events of 9/11 into positive action. He also chairs the Council of Advocates at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital for Dr. Ken Davis, Mount Sinai’s Chairman and CEO, and sits on the Board of the Jack Martin Fund, which currently works with the hospital’s cutting-edge pediatric oncology department. Also,Dichter is a major supporter of his alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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About Wheels Up: Wheels Up is a membership-based private aviation company that focuses on reducing upfront cost to fly privately.
Paul D. DeAngelo
Co-Founder and President of DBi Services
Paul D. DeAngelo is the Co-founder and President of DBi Services, headquartered in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. DBi Services was founded in 1978 by Paul and his brother Neal and has since grown over the past 35+ years to an international corporation, which exceeds $200 million in revenue annually. Today, DBi Services and its affiliated companies serve clients across the United States and throughout the world from over 60 locations. DBi Services is primarily involved in all types of transportation infrastructure management, operations and maintenance. As President of DBi Services, Paul is responsible for the success of all infrastructure contracts. In addition, Paul provides guidance to DBi Services staff for the management of key accounts. His vision and leadership sets the direction to identify new business prospects and further possibilities for diversification and expansion of the company. Paul served on the Board of Directors for the National Railroad Contractors Association (NRCA) for 10 years, and is a Chairman and past President, as well as a founding member of the Association for the Management and Operations of Transportation Infrastructure Assets (AMOTIA). He is also an active member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the Florida Department of Transportation Liaison Committee and the Washington DC Task Force on transportation asset management.
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About DBi Services: Founded in 1978, DBi Services is a world leader in transportation infrastructure operations and maintenance.
Jon Staff
Founder & CEO of Getaway
Founder at Getaway
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About Favecast, Getaway: Getaway is a wellness hospitality company that offers cabin rentals in natural landscapes.
Uri Argov
Founder of Tourico Holidays
Uri Argov founded Tourico Holidays with his wife, Miriam, in July 1994. Under his direction, Tourico Holidays was selected three times by INC Magazine as one of the Top 500 fastest growing companies. In 2002, together with Mr. Oren Hadar, Argov founded Travel Global Systems (TGS); a technology company that develops state-of-the-art solutions for travel operations, revenue management, data mining and reservation systems. Uri led the merger of Tourico Holidays, TGS and Last Minute Travel in 2004 to create Travel Holdings Inc. In addition to leading the company, Uri is personally involved with several charities that assist children with terminal diseases, among them Give Kids The World and LEV. Prior to arriving in the U.S., Uri was a charter pilot as well as a managing executive in Tourico Travel & Tours, which was one of the largest travel companies in Israel. Uri received his B.S. in Geology and Computer Science from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a lead singer of a folk band and a commercial pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours.
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About Tourico Holidays: Tourico Holidays is a travel distribution company that contracts directly with travel providers, such as hotels, flights, cruise lines.
Elia Wallen
Founder & CEO of Hotel Engine
Elia Wallen is the founder & CEO of Hotel Engine.
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About Hotel Engine: Hotel Engine connects companies, travelers, and hotel partners to an exclusive membership platform.
Greg Caplan
Founder and CEO of Remote Year
Greg Caplan started as a Founder-in-Residence with Lightbank in January, 2011. In August 2011 he co-founded oBaz.com, a e-commerce site focused on rethinking the way people shop online. oBaz uses personalization and social features to create a brand new shopping experience. Greg has a BBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
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About Fit Club, Groupon, Remote Year, Spot: Remote Year provides a foundation for professionals to travel and work remotely with interesting people.
Daniel Ruch
Founder & CEO of Rocketrip
Prior to joining Genacast Ventures, Daniel served as Vice President, Europe for Tremor Video, based in London, England. Prior to his European stint, Daniel was Senior Director of Business Development for Tremor Video US. Before Tremor, Daniel held several director and managerial level positions at TACODA where he was responsible for East Coast business development until TACODA’s sale to AOL. In this role, he identified and solicited key strategic publishers to join TACODA’s network. Prior to TACODA, Daniel worked in strategic media planning at GroupM’s agency Mindshare / MAXUS global, allocating spend by medium for brands such as HSBC, Lufthansa, and Church & Dwight. Daniel graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a BA in Psychology.
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About Rocketrip: Rocketrip helps businesses reduce travel spend by incentivizing employees to save when they travel for business.
Amanda Szabo
Founder & CEO of ResortPass
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About ResortPass: ResortPass is an online booking platform for access to resorts and hotels for the pool, spa, fitness, and amenities.
Rachel Obenshain
President, Co-Founder of Xeniapp Inc
Rachel Obenshain is an entrepreneur and investor. She has nearly 20 years of professional investing experience in public and private equity, with a focus on the Travel, Leisure, and Consumer Products sectors. She co-founded two hedge funds, including Lodge Hill Capital, which ultimately grew to $1 billion in assets under management. Obenshain has also held executive positions at leading investment firms including Alliance Bernstein (portfolio manager), Citadel (senior consumer analyst), Chilton Investment Corp (vice president), and GTCR Golder Rauner (associate). She earned her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wellesley College. She joined Xeniapp in 2019, initially as an advisor, and subsequently as a co-founder and executive team member, helping Xeniapp to design, develop and build its white label and payments businesses.
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About Xeniapp Inc: Operating System for Travel
Sachin Narode
CEO, Founder of Xeniapp Inc
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About Xeniapp Inc: Operating System for Travel
Chris Kemp
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Astra
Chris is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Astra where he leads the overall company strategy and direction. Previously, Chris founded several tech start-ups and served as the Chief Technology Officer of NASA, where he introduced new technologies into America’s space program and founded OpenStack, the largest and fastest growing open source project in history. While at NASA, Chris worked at the White House to develop the cloud strategy for the United States. Chris has been recognized in the Silicon Valley Business Journal “40 under 40,” the CNBC Disruptor 50 list, and received the prestigious “Federal 100” award for his service at NASA.
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About Astra, OpenStack: Astra is a rocket launch startup that provides satellite delivery and launch services.
Ravi Parikh
CEO / Founder of RoverPass
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About Code Galaxy, RoverPass, StoryBuilt: RoverPass develops a reservation management system software to make reservations online and track the availability of the site.
Catherine Connelly
Co-Founder of MeetMe
Co-Founder at MeetMe, Inc. Catherine is VP of Brand Strategy at The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET) and co-founded MeetMe (originally myYearbook) with her brothers when she was fifteen. MeetMe merged with a public company in 2011, and in 2016 acquired Skout and if(we) to become The Meet Group. The Meet Group is a fast-growing portfolio of mobile apps with over 2.5 million mobile daily active users. Our apps – currently MeetMe®, Skout®, Tagged®, and Hi5® – let users in more than 100 countries chat, share photos, stream live video, and discuss topics of interest. The Meet Group originates untold numbers of chats, friendships, dates, and marriages. As part of The Meet Group’s management team, Catherine continues to drive new features that deliver on our mission — to meet the universal need for human connection. Catherine graduated from Georgetown University in 2011 and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, TheStreet, Varney & Co., CNBC, and others.
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About MeetMe, Oasis Consortium: MeetMe® is a social networking service providing members the opportunity to meet and interact with new people.
Geoff Cook
Co-Founder & CEO of MeetMe
If there is a gene for Internet entrepreneurship, then it must run in the Cook family. Geoff Cook, Dave and Catherine’s worldly wise older brother, already has one successful online venture under his belt. While a Harvard undergrad, he founded a set of online writing and editing services, EssayEdge.com and ResumeEdge.com, and he’s been using the lessons learned from those businesses to assist Dave and Catherine’s dreams of worldwide web domination. As his younger siblings can attest, when you’re starting a business online, it’s very helpful to have a close, personal relationship with someone who knows how to hire programmers in India, lease server space in New Jersey, and start conversations with venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. But Geoff’s not only the executive with the know-how, he’s still got the fire in his belly for another Internet success. Geoff trusts Dave and Catherine’s youth culture instincts and speaks passionately about the family plan to grow myYearbook.com into an online tool that will go way beyond banner advertising to accomplish some truly innovative things in the world of social networking. What more could two teenage founders want in an older brother?
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About MeetMe, ParshipMeet Group, The Meet Group, Inc.: MeetMe® is a social networking service providing members the opportunity to meet and interact with new people.
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.
Eugenia Kuyda
Co-Founder & CEO of Luka (dba Replika)
Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder of the AI startup Luka, memorial bots are ‘the future.’
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About Luka (dba Replika): Luka is a software development company based in San Francisco, California
Ben Lerer
Co-Founder and CEO of Thrillist Media Group
Ben Lerer is the co-founder & CEO of Thrillist Media Group, overseeing the growth of the company from a niche email newsletter to a disruptive media company, leading the charge in mingling content and commerce. Lerer was among Ernst & Young’s 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, Vanity Fair’s Next Establishments, Crain’s 40 under 40, Forbes list of Most Powerful CEOs Under 40, AdWeek’s Young Influentials, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year, and Silicon Alley Insider’s 100 Coolest People in Tech for six years running. Ben is also the Managing Director of Lerer Ventures, New York’s most active early-stage technology fund. He chairs the Board of Directors for the East River Development Alliance, a New York non-profit organization, and is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS). Lerer is an active mentor for NYC Venture Fellows, TechStars, and Enstitute.
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About Lerer Hippeau, Thrillist Media Group: Thrillist Media Group is obsessed with helping guys live fun lives and reaches over 9 million of them across the globe, every single day.
Adam Rich
Co-Founder of Thrillist Media Group
Adam Rich is the Founder of Thrillist Media Group.
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About Thrillist Media Group: Thrillist Media Group is obsessed with helping guys live fun lives and reaches over 9 million of them across the globe, every single day.
Avery Haskell
Founder & CEO of Shuttle
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About Shuttle, TransAstra: Shuttle is an outer space travel company that offers a commercial spaceflight booking platform.
Rob Wiesenthal
Co-Founder & CEO of BLADE
Until June 2012, Wiesenthal was Executive Vice president and Chief Financial Officer of Sony Corporation of America, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, Sony Entertainment Inc., and Group Executive, Sony Corporation, leading corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. From 2012 to June 2015, he was Chief Operating Officer of Warner Music Group. Wiesenthal now heads Blade, an aviation start-up. He incubated Blade in early 2014 as the first digitally powered short-distance aviation company. Since its inception, the company has remained asset light and utilizes a business model that crowdsources flights enabling fliers to set the departure point, time, destination and type of aircraft, and selling remaining seats to the Blade user community. Today Blade services 22 core routes in 7 states and maintains seven flier lounges in four states. Key routes include the New York City area, Eastern Long Island, the New Jersey Coast, Connecticut, the Cape (Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard), Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Orange County.
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About BLADE, Warner Music Group: BLADE is an application that provides short-distance flight management solutions to its clients.
Alex Greystoke
Founder of TripChamp
Founder at TripChamp.
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About TripChamp: Tripchamp is a hyper-intelligence corporate travel platform, increasing compliance and maximizing savings for corporations and companies of
Justin Oliveira
Co-Founder, Advisory Board Member of Hedron
Justin started his career at NASA in ‘07 after being recruited to work on the Space Shuttle and Constellation Programs. Later, he transitioned to R&D management, serving on various agency-wide committees and partnering with small businesses to develop space technology. In 2012 he went to NASA HQ to work on revamping NASA’s strategy capability. In 2014 he went to the White House Office of Management and Budget where he oversaw NASA’s Human Spaceflight and Aeronautics Research Program and the Smithsonian. In the spring of 2016, he co-founded Analytical Space. He holds a B.S./M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Florida Tech and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
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About Boston Geospatial: Hedron is a satellite communications company based out of Boston that is leveraging hybrid RF-laser communications technology.
Jay Hoffmann
Co-Founder and Board Member of Cruisebound
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About Cruisebound: Cruisebound is a travel agency on a mission to make the joy of cruising available to the masses by simplifying the booking experience.
Bjorn Larsen
Co-Founder & Board Member of Cruisebound
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About Cruisebound: Cruisebound is a travel agency on a mission to make the joy of cruising available to the masses by simplifying the booking experience.
Sam Makaryan
CEO and Co-Founder of Hosteeva
Sam Makaryan is the chief executive officer and co-founder at Hosteeva.
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About Hosteeva: Vacation, Short Term Rental Management
Sascha Mornell
Co-Founder & CEO of GetMyBoat
Sascha Mornell is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of GetMyBoat, ZigAir, and Phacil. Previously, he worked for register.com, where he served as SVP of Sales & Marketing. Mr. Mornell also worked at the National Basketball Association and Dreyer’s, Japan in Tokyo. Mr. Mornell has served as an advisor/investor to several small businesses, including Osmio (acquired by Aramark), Markmonitor, AW Media and others. Mr. Mornell graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About GetMyBoat, SaraGEO, ZigAir: GetMyBoat is the marketplace for boat rentals, yacht charters, and on-the-water experiences.
Raf Collado
Co-Founder of GetMyBoat
Rafael Collado is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of GetMyBoat, ZigAir, and Phacil. Mr. Collado has founded, built, managed and sold three companies, including: Inabox, a web-based software company dedicated to web site creation tools acquired by register.com in 2000, BERN Associates, Inc., a company that provided Internet consulting, network services and content development tools to telephone companies that was acquired by Prime Cellular in 1996, and Sigma Research, a software company acquired by FastComm Communications in 1993. Mr. Collado also founded and was CEO of Protocom Devices, which he took public in 1985.Mr. Collado was an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department of The Cooper Union Institute in New York, and he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn where he majored in Electrical Engineering.
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About GetMyBoat, Protocom Aviation, SaraGEO, ZigAir: GetMyBoat is the marketplace for boat rentals, yacht charters, and on-the-water experiences.
Nelson Nigel
Founder and CEO of Kidmoto Technologies LLC
Nelson Nigel is a serial immigrant entrepreneur. His family emigrated from Guyana to Corona, Queens NYC when he was young. In 2016 He founded Kidmoto Technologies, The Kidmoto app connects parents to a network of professionally trained drivers who provide secured child car seats for safe airport transportation.
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About Kidmoto Technologies LLC: Mobile app connecting families with young children seeking car seat taxi transportation with drivers providing installed child seats.
Peter Stridh
Co-Founder & Board Member of Nebula Compute
Peter Stridh is the Co-Founder & Board Member at Nebula Compute. He attended Henley Business School.
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About Nebula Compute, Nebula Compute: Space Technology Company
Michael Bloxton
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of Nebula Compute
Michael Bloxton is the Chairman & CEO at Nebula Compute.
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About Nebula Compute, Nebula Compute: Space Technology Company
Bill Rinehart
Founder, Chairman & CEO of DUFL
Bill Rinehart A groundbreaking serial tech entrepreneur and leader, Bill Rinehart has built and orchestrated successful exits for 5 companies in 15 years, serving as the driving force behind startups and enterprises that have helped shape the Internet as we know it today. At DUFL, Bill drives overall strategy, managers operations and oversees commercial activities. Prior to founding DUFL, Bill was founder, chairman and CEO of Unicorn Media, a cloud video ad insertion technology that was acquired by Brightcove for $49M. Before that, he founded and led Limelight Networks, a global leader in digital content delivery that was backed by Goldman Sachs Capital, Oak Investment Partners and Palo Alto Investors to a successful IPO. Bill also founded and served as chairman of Octoblu, a real-time connections and communications management pioneer that was later acquired by Citrix. He has also held senior leadership roles at GlobalCenter, Critical Path and Genuity during his career. Bill built DUFL to put modern logistics networks to work for business travelers, who typically use those networks to move inventory and people from place to place but are still burdened with maintaining and manually hauling their personal belongings with them on business trips.
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About BOLD Carts, DUFL: DUFL simplifies business travel by shipping, cleaning and storing your business attire.
Mark Roboff
CEO & Co-Founder of SkyThread
As Vice President for Aerospace and Automotive at SparkCognition, Mark Roboff works across both industries to realize the potential of next-generation AI to solve critical problems and unlock new opportunities to save, pivot, and grow business worldwide. Roboff brings over fifteen years of software and AI leadership to SparkCognition, with a career split between startups and technology giants. Prior to joining SparkCognition in October 2017, Roboff was an early leader in IBM Watson Group, serving in global positions across technical sales, business development, and industry solution design. Most recently, Roboff served as IBM’s Global Solution Leader for Aerospace and Automotive, leading the design and go-to-market for transformative cognitive solutions in manufacturing and maintenance optimization. Roboff is a lifelong aviation geek and car lover, and lives to share his joint passions of flying, driving, and delivering next-generation AI.
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About SkyThread: SkyThread is an aviation consortium and technology ecosystem company enabling friction free transactions in the aviation industry.
Mike Putman
Founder & CEO of Custom Travel Solutions LLC
Mike Putman is the Founder of Custom Travel Solutions.
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About Custom Travel Solutions LLC, MikePutman, Trip-Smart.Com: Recruit and retain the right people with the world’s largest travel club builder.
Jonathan Murray
Co-Founder & CEO of MyVR
Co-Founder/CEO of MyVR. Co-Founder/CEO of Lift Media (acquired). Former GE manager and Six Sigma guru. Stanford MBA.
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About MyVR: MyVR, a Guesty company, is a cloud-based, multi-channel management platform for vacation rental businesses.
Mohak Nahta
Founder & CEO of Atlys
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About Atlys: Atlys makes it fast for anyone to get a visa.
Jeffrey O’Neill
Founder/CEO of Zephyr Aerospace
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About flyClever, Zephyr Aerospace: Zephyr Aerospace designs affordable lie-flat seating solutions for transportation companies.
