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 Web Design 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.
Bryant Chou
Co-Founder, CTO of Webflow
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About Pioneer Fund, Webflow: Webflow is a visual web design platform, CMS, and hosting provider for building production websites and prototypes.
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Avishai Abrahami
Co-Founder & CEO of Wix
Avishai Abrahami is our Co-Founder, has served as our Chief Executive Officer since September 2010 and was our Co-Chief Executive Officer and a director since October 2006. From 2004 to 2006, Avishai was the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at Arel Communications & Software Ltd., a private Israeli company specializing in communication technology. In 1998 he co-founded Sphera Corporation, a private company which develops software for managing data centers, and he served as its Chief Technology Officer from 1998 until 2000 and its Vice President of Product Marketing from 2000 until 2003. In 1993, he co-founded AIT Ltd., a private Israeli software company, and served as its Chief Technology Officer until the company’s sale in 1997. Avishai served in the Israeli Defense Forces’ elite computer intelligence unit from 1990 until 1992.
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About Utsav Kraft, Wix: Wix provides a platform for the development of cloud data services for millions of registered users worldwide.
Geoff Wilson
Founder & President of Three Five Two
President and Founder of 352 Inc., Geoff Wilson is a tech entrepreneur, investor and mentor who found his passion for business at an early age. After starting a successful computer store in high school, Geoff began building websites in his college fraternity house room and 352 Inc. was born. 20 years later, his digital product development agency has grown to 70 employees with offices in Atlanta, Tampa and Gainesville, FL. As 352 grew, Geoff began to focus on the powerful impact of lean and agile methodologies. Geoff implemented these principles into 352 by reorganizing the agency into cross-functional teams and turning managers into servant leaders. Free to focus on a single project at a time, his teams’ quality of work, productivity and morale dramatically increased. Good client relationships became great ones, and 352 began down a path of unprecedented growth. Geoff calls his management philosophy “Barely Manage to Lead” and speaks at conferences about how this approach can improve any type of business. Geoff and his wife, Kim Wilson, also have built and sold a highly successful digital product, SocialNewsDesk. SocialNewsDesk is an online social media management platform for newsrooms, and is currently being used by 85% of the television newsrooms in the United States to manage their social presence. SocialNewsDesk was acquired in 2014 by a Fortune 500 company, Graham Holdings. Geoff has also Co-Founded several other successful startups, including iLS Network and novi AMS. Geoff’s success lead him to be named one of America’s Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs by INC Magazine, and the University of Florida Warrington College of Business’ Entrepreneur of the Year. Specialties: Entrepreneurship, Growing Startups, Business Strategy, Digital Product Development, Web Design, Web Development, Digital Agencies, Agile, Lean, Company Culture, Brand Management, Digital Marketing, User Experience (UX), Product Marketing, Growth Hacking, Speaking, Mentorship and Coaching
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About Novi AMS, SocialNewsDesk, Sports Card Investor, The iLS network, Three Five Two: 352 is an innovation and growth firm.
Also Read: How to Design A Criminal Defense Website?
Rustin Kretz
Founder, Chief Product Officer, Chairman of the Board of Scorpion
Rustin Kretz is the Founder, Chief Product Officer, and Chairman of the Board at Scorpion. Scorpion is the product of Rustin’s vision. His dedication and leadership have been the driving force behind Scorpion and the foundation for its unprecedented growth and innovative approach to digital marketing for local businesses since 2001.
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About Scorpion: Scorpion exists to better local small businesses and the communities they serve.
Roy Malkin
President & Founder of Venture Aviator
Roy Malkin have Fortune 500 experience in Developing and Managing Global Business across 20 markets – including USA, Europe, Japan, Russia, Ukraine. He’s currently concentrating on global IT Development and company strategy. He’s also involved in launching multiple startups in big data, e-commerce, new media / internet markets.
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About OffrBox, Venture Aviator: Venture Aviator is a Custom Software Development Company based in New York and California, and specializes in web and app development.
Kuty Shalev
Founder of Clevertech
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About Clevertech: Clevertech is a custom software and app development company that solves hard problems. Business & systems integration.
Dan Siroker
Co-Founder & Chairman of Optimizely
Dan Siroker is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Optimizely. The inspiration for Optimizely came from Dan’s work as the Director of Analytics for the Obama Presidential Campaign and Deputy New Media Director for the Presidential Transition. Before Optimizely, Dan co-founded an online math game for kids called CarrotSticks. Formerly, he was also a Product Manager for Google Chrome and AdWords. Dan graduated with Honors from Stanford University with a B.S. in Computer Science.
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About Optimizely: Optimizely is a platform that provides digital experience solutions.
Tal Pink
Founder of Looksy
Tal Pink is an established entrepreneur with over 10 years experience in the internet and startups. One of the early employees of Israeli company ICQ (acquired by AOL), Tal went on to launch Tar Networks (a startup incubator), as well as [Fonogenic](http://www.fonogenic.com) (DRM free music store for independent artists). His latest project, [Dopetracks.com](http://www.dopetracks.com), brings his love of musical collaboration to the web in a fresh new way by connecting producers and emcees in an interactive environment. Tal is an accomplished musician and a world-traveler who has lived in Israel, London, and California.
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About Adly, Dopetracks, Looksy, Sparitual: Fashion and Beauty Social Media
Keval Baxi
Founder of Codal of Codal
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About Codal: Codal is a full-stack UX design and application development agency with a focus on emerging technologies and Agile development.
Will Jessup
Founder, Head of Services of TheoremOne
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About TheoremOne: We are an engineering and innovation firm. We solve complex business problems through optimization of process, technology, and culture.
Rui Maranhao
Co-Founder of Rows
Rui Maranhao is Co-founder and Head of Engineering at dashdash.
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About Rows: Rows is a platform that allows users to create applications using only spreadsheet skills.
Rafael Ortiz
Founder of Project YX
Rafael Ortiz co-founded NexTag, the leading comparison shopping website, where he served as vice president of marketing and business development. The company sold a majority stake in 2007 at a $1.2 Billion valuation. He previously worked in marketing and sales roles at Apple and ROLM, and is the co-author of In Company of Giants (McGraw-Hill 1997). Rafael currently serves as a director of USA Cycling’s Development Foundation and holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in economics from UC Santa Cruz.
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About Project YX: The Digital Closet
Chris M. Willliams
Founder & CEO of pocket.watch
Chris M. Williams is the Founder & CEO at pocket.watch.
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About pocket.watch, pocket.watch: Pocket.watch is a new studio creating global franchises from the YouTube stars and characters loved by Generation Alpha.
Daniel Morozoff-Abezgauz
Co-Founder, President, Cloud Infrastructure Dev of Vidrovr
Dan is a PhD candidate at Columbia University working on machine learning applied to neuroscience. He has published research in computational physics, computer multimedia. He has worked at NASA, and HHMI Janelia.
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About Vidrovr: Vidrovr develops multimodal computer vision and machine learning systems to index, tag, and understand video.
Deboshree Dutta
Founder & CEO of Criya
Deb is a Tech entrepreneur & Product Management Leader with over a decade of experience leading global Product, UX & Engineering teams at companies like PayPal, Microsoft, Cisco etc. She is also invited to the FORBES leadership council and co-leads the Women in Product Bay area chapter. Deb is the Founder & CEO of Criya- a platform with a mission to empowers creatives to launch their virtual design studio in minutes and start working with clients instantly. Criya is a YCombinator W22 company. At PayPal, Deb was Head of Product leading a global team of product managers responsible for driving PayPal’s AI powered Customer Success experiences. Prior to joining PayPal, Deb was Head of Product at Hitachi’s smart city IoT group. Deb is also the Founder of Deesignplay blog – with a global following over 150,000 and has been featured on Apartment Therapy, Kitchn, Omysa etc. Visit Deb’s blog on Instagram (@deesignplay) and website (www.deesignplay.com) Deb was awarded the EB-1 (A) Green Card by the US Govt for her contributions in the Product Management space in the industry. This category of Green Card is reserved for individuals that the US Govt deems has demonstrated Extraordinary abilities and has generated significant value (through revenue and impact) in the related field. Deb is a strong Advocate for Women in Tech & Leadership and is a Featured Speaker at several events – ProductCon2019, Product Event 2019, – keynote speaker at UC Berkeley, Santa Clara business school, HPE panelist – Product School instructor – TV interview at RegalixTV – Won Expat Women’s hackathon in “Girls in STEM” track – Launched the Women in tech platform at Hitachi Data Systems Bay Area chapter
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About Criya, PayPal: Empowering creators and enabling their business
Ryan Carson
Founder & CEO of Treehouse
Ryan Carson is the Founder and CEO of Treehouse.
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About Treehouse: Treehouse is an online technology school that guides students from zero to job-ready for the tech industry in 6-12 months.
Jordan Rothstein
Founder, CEO of King Tide Creative
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About Furious M, King Tide Creative, Raziel, TravelZeeky: King Tide is a full-service creative agency specifically and intricately designed to surpass the reach of the modern branding machine.
Jacob Garlick
Founder & CEO of RevSite
Jacob Garlick is “passionate about creating meaningful products that help businesses grow their sales fast.” He loves his family, talking business, and cars.
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About RevSite: RevSite helps in building customized, mobile-enabled websites.
Thayer Sylvester
Co-Founder & CEO of Carve Designs
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About Carve Designs: A Mill Valley, Calif.-based apparel maker.
Jennifer Hinton
Co-Founder & Creative Director of Carve Designs
Jennifer B. Hinton is Co-Founder of Carve Designs, Inc. Ms. Hinton studied at University of Colorado Boulder.
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About Carve Designs: A Mill Valley, Calif.-based apparel maker.
Oksana Kovalchuk
Founder of ANODA Web & Mobile Development Agency
“When I started ANODA in 2013, my experience in the industry was frustrating. From one side waterfall way built buggy products. On the other, we had dozens of uncontrolled tickets without a plan and with missed deadlines. Both developers and clients were completely frustrated with results, expectations, and quality. Experience working inside big outsourcing companies gave me an idea to create another(anoda) way to create software. For customers and team players, this way should be both flexible and predictable. This value became our DNA. I wanted to make excellent software that people would actually use. And to do that by putting the human element back in software development. As a first stage, we implemented our processes like Agile. That gave power and responsibility back to the creator. And we built the principle of testing constantly into our flow. When completed these changes, I added warranty in our responsibility. It is a personal challenge to keep any application that was crafted by our minds on a top-level of quality. No matter what. Transform people’s life through software. Automate boring tasks and free up more time for creativity. Now we’re working on robotic process automation to free up more time for creative people from routine to put in place innovative things. It is to achieve more than 1 billion downloads of all our crafted apps by the end of 2030. We think we’re off to a pretty good start.
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About ANODA Web & Mobile Development Agency: Web and Mobile solutions for Healthcare and IoT
Fredrik Thomassen
CEO & Founder of Superside
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About Superside: Superside is an always-on design company that delivers great design at scale to Enterprise teams.
Dennis Velasco
Founder and CEO of Xtendly
There’s 5 things that I’m super passionate about: 1) Creating inspiring organizational cultures in order to help my team live their dreams by reaching levels of success that they never thought were ever possible. 2) Finding ways to deliver wow-like customer experiences that turn into life-long relationships and evangelism. 3) Innovating new but SIMPLE ways to solve REAL world problems. 4) Having FUN because life ain’t worth living unless you can “stop and smell the roses”. 5) Growth hacking. Today, I lead a boutique digital marketing and software development firm with the best-of-the-best talent located around the world in the USA, Philippines & Latin America. Our focus is helping Small to Medium-sized businesses improve their digital presence, increase website traffic and boost lead conversions. We do this as an “all-in-one” managed WordPress service at an affordable monthly pay-as-you-go fee.
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About Xtendly: Xtendly is a marketing-as-a-service firm that offers website design, modern marketing, and cloud software services.
Valentin Podkamennyi
Co-Founder and CTO of Datamart
Co-founder and CTO at Datamart, MS in Informatics, previously Senior Software Engineer at Google, specializing in Software Development and Architecture Design.
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About Datamart, Towards Data Science: Datamart is a global full-service software development company that offers technical consulting and software engineering services.
Kevin Eichelberger
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Blue Acorn iCi
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About Blue Acorn iCi: Blue Acorn iCi is an e-commerce consulting firm that helps online retailers increase sales, profitability, and ROI.
Dennis Pence
Co Founder & CEO of Coldwater Creek
Co Founder & CEO of Coldwater Creek.
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About Coldwater Creek: Coldwater Creek is a specialty direct mail retailer of apparel, gifts and jewelry.
Todd Khozein
Founder & Co-CEO of SecondMuse
Todd Khozein is the Founder & Co-CEO ,Director of Secondmuse Foundation.
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About SecondMuse, Secondmuse Foundation: SecondMuse is an innovation and collaboration agency.
Christopher White
Founder/CEO of Sneakers Apps
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About Forbes New York Business Council, Rad Hires, Sneakers Apps: Sneakers Apps is a full-service digital product development agency focused on helping brands launch and grow their businesses.
JB Osborne
Co-Founder & CEO of Red Antler
JB is currently the CEO of Red Antler, a brand company based in Brooklyn that he co-founded with Emily Heyward and Simon Endres. JB started his career at Saatchi & Saatchi, working for clients such as Procter & Gamble, General Mills, and the award winning international launch of Air Tahiti Nui. An entrepreneur at heart, he left Saatchi to open the New York office of Consortium, a New Zealand ad agency. In August 2007, JB founded Red Antler, where he works with clients on brand positioning, user experience, business strategy and marketing. JB has a Bachelors degree in Business, Magna Cum Laude, from Cornell University. He is an advisor and board member to several startups, and serves on the Entrepreneurship at Cornell Advisory Council. A Philadelphia native, he currently lives in DUMBOl with his wife, his dog Brodie, and a lot of plants.
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About Red Antler: Red Antler is a brand company that works with startups and new ventures.
Nitzan Shaer
Co-Founder and CEO of WEVO
Co-Founder and CEO at WEVO.
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About WEVO: WEVO is a customer experience company that offers a solution for pinpointing WHY visitors are not engaging.
Uli Becker
Co-Founder of Aegle Gear
Uli Becker is Co-Founder of Aegle Gear. Uli is a business executive and investor that supports new businesses that challenge conventions. He also brings 25 years of sporting goods experience to the table. Having worked for adidas, he served in many executive roles including CMO for adidas, as well CEO and President of Reebok, to name a few.
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About Aegle Gear: Healthcare Apparel built to perform and protect
Sam Ben Avraham
Founder & CEO of Liberty Fairs
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About Liberty Fairs: Liberty Fairs, the newest brainchild of Sam Ben-Avraham ushers in a new era in fashion trade events.
Pratham Mittal
CoFounder of VenturePact
Pratham Mittal is the CoFounder at VenturePact
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About 606 VENTURES, Masters’ Union, Outgrow, VenturePact: On Demand Software Development teams
Tim Berners-Lee
Founder of World Wide Web Foundation
A graduate of Oxford University, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, in 1989. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread. He is the 3Com Founders Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence ( CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he also heads the Decentralized Information Group (DIG). He is also a Professor in the Electronics and Computer Science Department at the University of Southampton, UK. He is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a Web standards organization founded in 1994 which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. He was a Director of the Web Science Trust (WST) launched in 2009 to promote research and education in Web Science, the multidisciplinary study of humanity connected by technology. Tim is a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation, launched in 2009 to coordinate efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity. He has promoted open government data globally, is a member of the UK’s Transparency Board, and president of London’s Open Data Institute. In 2001 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has been the recipient of several international awards including the Japan Prize, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize and Germany’s Die Quadriga award. In 2004 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 2007 he was awarded the Order of Merit. In 2009 he was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of “Weaving the Web”. On March 18 2013, Tim, along with Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreesen, was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for “ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity.”
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About CERN, Inrupt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Open Data Institute, Royal Society Publishing – RSP, University of Southampton, World Wide Web Foundation, World Wide Web Foundation: Organization for Web Advancement
Vishal Joshi
Co Founder & CEO of Joy
Vishal Joshi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Joy.
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About Joy: Joy helps users with their wedding, from engagement to honeymoon and everything in-between.
Michael Dorian Bach
Co-Founder / Head of Design of Joy
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About Joy: Joy helps users with their wedding, from engagement to honeymoon and everything in-between.
Polina Veksler
Co-Founder and CEO of Universal Standard
Polina Veksler is the Co-Founder and CEO of Universal Standard, a brand she started with her business partner to help disrupt the apparel industry by taking size out of the equation and laying the groundwork for the future of fashion to include women of all sizes. Polina creates and steers the company strategy and oversees everything from operations, communicating the brand’s vision to key stakeholders, raising investment capital, and expanding the brand’s rapid growth trajectory. Polina founded the company with friend, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Alexandra Waldman. Polina’s experience encompases multiple roles as a senior executive at major financial and technology firms including Senior Strategy Manager at Microsoft, Private Equity Investment Director at an international emerging-markets investment firm, and Vice President of Investment Banking at Russia’s largest holding company.
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About Universal Standard: Universal Standard is a operator of an online platform to break the fashion stereotypes and provide women’s clothing.
Alexandra Waldman
Co-Founder & Creative Director of Universal Standard
Alexandra Waldman, is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Universal Standard.
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About Universal Standard: Universal Standard is a operator of an online platform to break the fashion stereotypes and provide women’s clothing.
Harnil Oza
CEO & Founder of Hyperlink InfoSystem
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About Hyperlink InfoSystem: Hyperlink InfoSystem is a mobile app development company that providers information technology services.
Ivan Braun
Founder of Icons8
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About Icons8: Icons8 provides free editing tools for design, icons, photos, interface illustrations, music, and videos.
Sheffie Robinson
CEO & Founder of Shamrck Business
Sheffie Robinson is a serial entrepreneur, software engineer, and sociologist that specializes in solving racial and gender equity with technology. She is currently the CEO of Shamrck Software and the creator of Shamrck Education, an artificial intelligence platform designed to bring data mining and predictive analytics to career and technical education programs. She has over 20 years of experience in technology development and over 15 years of experience in retail sales and marketing. She has spent significant time in her career working to impact gender and racial equity to enhance diversity and inclusion. She is a second time founder, her first company being a fintech product that brought banking services to virtual currencies. Sheffie is a graduate of Thomas Edison State University with a degree in Sociology and is currently pursuing her MBA at Georgia Southern University. Sheffie has been named the Top 10 under 40 and a Top CEO by the Mississippi Business Journal In addition to her business, she regularly mentors startups on product development, branding, and project management to help them stay lean as they build a business. Her work with underrepresented founders has helped her to become a steward for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In her personal life, Sheffie is a military spouse and mother of 3 hailing from their current duty station in Vicksburg, MS, but she’s a Georgia native. She also enjoys virtual live-action roleplay and is a huge Anime fan.
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About Bantunium Labs LLC, Bantunium Ventures LLC, Shamrck Business: Shamrck Business is a complete website and business management suite for small businesses powered by human-assisted artificial intelligence.
Darpan Munjal
Founder & CEO of Squadhelp
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About Squadhelp: A leading naming platform offering a unique combination of crowdsourcing, smart technology and agency level services for brand naming
Brandon Smith
CEO & Founder of M33 Labs
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About M33 Labs: Developing the next generation of the desktop computer. Space is the ultimate workspace experience.
Brandon Rogers
CADD Specialist & Founder of M33 Labs
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About M33 Labs: Developing the next generation of the desktop computer. Space is the ultimate workspace experience.
Marcos Mena-Brena
Founder & CEO of Geekbears
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About Geekbears: Democratizing the design and development of business apps
Nagesh Challa
Founder & CEO of Waagu
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About Waagu: Waagu offers a collaborative customer engagement platform for content, web, and mobile customer interactions.
Itai Sadan
Co-Founder & CEO of Duda
Itai Sadan is the co-founder and CEO of DudaMobile. Prior to founding DudaMobile, Sadan was a director at SAP, where he managed the SAP Discovery System program and led relationships with IBM, HP and Fujitsu. He also worked for Amdocs and Finjan and founded InterSight, a start-up for data storage. He has more than a decade of experience in business development, partner management, program management and development and has a Bachelor of Science in computer science and mathematics from the Ben Gurion University in Israel.
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About Duda, Duda: Duda is a responsive website builder for digital marketing agencies, hosting companies, and online directories.
Frederic Joye
Co-Founder & Head of Business Development of Arcanys
Co – Founder & Head Of Business Development at Arcanys
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About Arcanys: Arcanys specializes in building highly-skilled teams of software developers for tech-enabled companies in need of robust software solutions.
Matthew Beasley
Founder of 5th & Melody
Entrepreneur by heart. My passion for digital design began back in high school. While other kids were playing video games, I was learning to build them – I even owned my own server and managed my own website. From there, I starting playing with typography and layout which led me to start designing full-scale websites for local businesses. In turn, that lead me to purchase my first car – a 1972 emerald green Gran Torino. After high school, I supplemented my own learning with a formal education. I earned a BA in Multimedia Design and Development from DeVry University, where I spent all four years on the Dean’s List. I was fortunate enough after college to land my first gig with American Book Company. I built an online testing platform using PHP and MySQL, a custom e-commerce site, and many other tools for the organization. With that experience, I had the opportunity to land several other gigs which furthered my experience. One of them being Cox Automotive, one of the largest private corporations in Georgia. These organizations gave me a large deal of design experience. Currently, I do high-level freelance work, including: web & graphic design, front-end development, and WordPress development. I create anything from logos, illustrations, and flyers to large e-commerce sites. I am a kind hearted consultant with a kick-ass delivery. Both God and the devil are in the detail. So who are we to disagree. Details cost more money, take more time, experience, heart, and conviction. But we love ‘em because they make the difference.
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About 5th & Melody, Hempie’s: We take the hassle out of website and graphic design. For a low monthly rate, get a professional custom design services.
Jonathan Kogan
Co-Founder, CEO of RPA Tools
Enjoy building businesses and a big fan of innovation that benefits society and impacts culture. Currently helping startups and small businesses by designing and implementing, custom, no-code tech stacks that scale. On Deck fellow (No-Code Cohort #1).
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About RPA Tools: We create custom tech stacks for startups and small businesses with no-code tools, custom integrations, and automations.
Noel Wiggins
Founder & President of Areaware.inc
Noel Wiggins grew up in New York City and hails from a pedigree of artists. The fourth generation painter graduated from Brown University in 1986 with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts. Noel co-founded his design and manufacturing company, The Here After, in 1989. Noel went on to establish Areaware in 2005, where he is able to fuse his artistic sensibility with his strong business sense in an effort to promote emerging designers. Wiggins resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Noel is an active member of the scooter community and he relishes design, creation and the volution of technology.
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About Areaware.inc: AREAWARE is a Williamsburg, Brooklyn based producer of everyday objects that are functional and unusual.
Kahl Orr
Founder of Rise.co
Kahl is an entrepreneur, web developer, and the founder of Rise, a digital marketing agency that specializes in web design. Rise builds high-performing, custom websites and apps for some of the fastest-growing national brands. Need help with a project or want to get in touch? Email me at kahl@rise.co
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About Rise.co: We’re Rise, an award-winning digital agency. We specialize in design and development for the web and mobile.
Adam Pritzker
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of General Assembly
Adam is the Chairman and CEO of Assembled Brands, a modern holding company.He is also the founding Chairman of General Assembly, a global network of campuses providing educational and professional development training. For his entrepreneurial endeavors, Adam was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Vanity Fair’s The Next Establishment, Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30, and Business Insider’s Silicon Alley 100. Adam holds a BA from Columbia University where he studied Anthropology and Philosophy.
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About Assembled Brands, General Assembly: General Assembly is a pioneer in education and career transformation, specializing in today’s most in-demand skills.
Jay Baer
Founder, content marketing strategy, social media strategy, word of mouth strategy, CX strategy of Convince & Convert
Jay Baer is an American marketing consultant, speaker, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Youtility. He is the founder of Convince & Convert, a strategy consulting firm that helps prominent companies gain and keep more customers through the smart intersection of technology, social media, and customer service. Being the founder of five companies, Baer has worked with over 700 brands including Nike, Cold Stone Creamery, Sony, ExactTarget, and ConocoPhillips since 1994, including 25 of the Fortune 1000. His Convince & Convert blog is ranked among the world’s top marketing resources. In his early career, Baer was a political campaign manager on congressional, gubernatorial and Arizona initiative campaigns. He also served as a political consultant advising campaigns on marketing including direct mail and radio strategies. Baer is a graduate of the University of Arizona (1991) with a major in political science and a minor in communications.
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About Convince & Convert, Penguin Random House, Penguin Random House: We help you get better at social media and content marketing through audits, creation of strategic plans,
Philip Tadros
Founder, CEO of doejo
Founder of doejo where we design and develop brands through software. We help people get to market based on their intentions, resources and goals.
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About Bow Truss Coffee Roasters, Columbia College Chicago, doejo, TextHog: web design & website development
Daniel Shapiro
Co-Founder of Designlab
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About Designlab: Designlab empowers creators to do the work they love, through mentor-led, online design education with a focus on quality and outcomes.
TK Herman
Co-Founder CEO & President of Aptera Software
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About Aptera Software, SkyZone: Aptera is a Custom Software Development partner specializing in creating Mobile Apps, Web Apps and Websites for enterprise-level companies.
Anup Mehta
Co-Founder, Head of US operations & Global Business Development of Clarice Technologies
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About Clarice Technologies: We are a software product development services company specializing in User Experience Design and cutting-edge Technologies.
Deena Bronz
Co-Founder and CEO of KitNipBox
Deena Bronz has extensive experience in entrepreneurship, consumer goods, e-commerce, and Product Management (PM) within the technology industry. Prior to co-founding KitNipBox, she was the Director of Product Management at MarkLogic, one of first and largest Big Data startups. Prior to MarkLogic, she was the Founder and CEO of a successfully acquired social commerce website that achieved industry leading conversion rates. Before founding her startup, Ms. Bronz ran a senior PM team at Symantec, where she and her team brought a number of new data center management products to market, exceeding customer adoption goals by 2x. Prior to that, Ms. Bronz developed and launched six new products to market as a Sr. PM at Symantec, achieving vast customer adoption and growing the P&L for these products from scratch to outperform revenue targets. Ms. Bronz has also held PM, Operations Planning, and Corporate Strategy roles at Level 3 Communications, where she managed a $75M P&L and received repeated recognition awards for her leadership and outstanding performance. Ms. Bronz holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and has also attained a Master of Science degree in Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems with high distinction from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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About KitNipBox: A monthly box of goodies for your cat!
Adrian Bubela
Founder & CEO of SEVEN
Founder and CEO of IT Company SEVEN with a demonstrated 18-year history of working in the software development and IT industry. During this time I have developed a proven track record in leading teams to deliver strategic projects that produce real benefits, achieving business goals with cost-effective, efficient and innovative IT solutions. My team and I focus on projects which really make a difference for such important industries аs healthcare, transportation, construction, and government agencies. Software development for our clients helps people accomplish more and change their lives for the better. Also, I invest in promising startups, mentor them from initial conception to the finished product. Throughout my career, I have developed a wide variety of skills and expertise. These include Strategic Business Planning, Business Analysis Management, Sales and Marketing Management, Negotiation, Project Engineering among others.
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About SEVEN, Vixit: The full-service IT company that for 11 years has been a reliable 360º technological partner
Dawn Verbrigghe
Founder & CEO of Jottful
Jottful was founded by Dawn Verbrigghe. Dawn is a marketing expert with more than 20 years of experience in marketing and design, including seven years as a faculty member at Parsons the New School for Design. She loves helping small business owners achieve their dreams through creative and inexpensive marketing that attracts just the right customers.
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About Jottful: Jottful is a SaaS content management system (CMS) for making & managing small-business websites.
Jon Alagem
President, co-Founder of Harper+Scott
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About Harper+Scott: Harper+Scott is a creative marketing agency focused on design and manufacturing of branded merchandise.
Brenna Hardman
Founder and CEO of Buy Side Design
Brenna Hardman is a Chicago trading gal whose passions are financial media, trading, food and her family. She loves being in front of the camera! Whether it’s to explain complicated option strategies or showing how to shuck oysters and make a mean chicken coconut curry soup – she’ll do it all! In media, she has successfully proposed and launched a new daily show on CBOE TV called “Pre-Market Pulse” where she does all her own research and writing. On the show, she covers a broad spectrum of market-related topics from Chinese ADRs, Foreign ETFs to equity options and structured products. Before that, she was hosting a special daily equity option segment for Jon Najarian’s Optionmonster show. She also has professional experience with trading at the CME Group and was the first to propose and work on a show that covers foreign exchange with a focus on RMB futures. Brenna has been quoted in Barron’s, Markets Media and Bloomberg news reports, serving as a guest on various media outlets. For past firms, she wrote daily market recaps that were sent to institutional traders, hedge funds and proprietary traders. She is a graduate of the Finance Honors program at DePaul University, studies Mandarin Chinese and maintains active Series 3, 4, 7, 24, 56 and 63 NFA & FINRA registrations. She has passed Papers 1, 2 and 3 with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
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About Buy Side Design: Buy Side Design is a creative marketing studio for the financial industry.
Kris W. Kimel
Co-Founder of Space Tango
Kris Kimel is President and a founder of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, an independent non-profit company with an international reputation for designing and implementing innovative and broad-scale initiatives in science, technology, talent development, entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation. Kris holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky and while a student was a 1974 recipient of the University of Kentucky’s Sullivan Medallion. He is also founder of the international IdeaFestival and was a leader behind the vision and successful implementation of Kentucky Space.
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About Space Tango: Space Tango designs and builds hardware and software platforms that enable microgravity research.
Twyman Clements
Co-Founder and CEO of Space Tango
Twyman Clements is a Space Systems Engineer for Kentucky Space, LLC, a company based in Lexington, KY, which develops entrepreneurial space platforms for research and educational purposes. Before working full-time at Kentucky Space, Mr. Clements was a graduate assistant in the Space Systems Lab at the University of Kentucky. While there he worked on near space balloons, payloads for suborbital flight, was the lead mechanical engineer for KySat-1, the state’s first orbital spacecraft, and helped develop the architecture and hardware for research systems currently installed aboard the International Space Station. Currently with Kentucky Space, LLC, Mr. Clements works on developing hardware and experiments that use microgravity to seek unique outcomes.
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About Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC), Space Tango: Space Tango designs and builds hardware and software platforms that enable microgravity research.
Denis Dyli
Founder of Pivofy
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About Pivofy, Uncap: Ecommerce Creative Design and Custom Development
Alice Rossiter
Founder and CEO of Alice’s Table
Alice is founder and CEO at Alice’s Table. She envisions a world where lifestyle blogs are realized through events. She is building the network of flexible creative talent ready to host fun-filled maker events across the country. Alice surrounds herself with the arts and entrepreneurship. She pursued this intersection at the University of Pennsylvania where she studied Visual Studies and Consumer Psychology. She went on to get her masters degree in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute in New York City, before joining the start-up community.
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About Alice’s Table: Alice’s Table brings women together to learn new skills, and live a social and creative lifestyle.
Matthew Brindley
Founder of Litmus
Matthew Brindley is the CTO & Co-Founder of Litmus. Matt insists that all suitcases should have multidirectional wheels, and that no food contain onions.
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About Litmus: Litmus is a testing and QA service for email marketers.
Joey Rodolfo
Founder of WOW Studios
Joey Rodolfo is a prominent and accomplished Sportswear and Menswear designer based out of the Seattle area. He has been revered as the designer responsible for the positive shift in Tommy Bahama’s image and is currently working on his own business venture, WOW Studios.
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About WOW Studios: WOW Studios provides strategic services in apparel and accessory design, development, brand marketing and digital strategy.
Abtin Buergari
Co-Founder & Partner of Model B
As Co-Founder & Partner at Model B, Abtin Buergari leads day-to-day operations and growth with the goal of creating a platform that supports entrepreneurs, bridges gaps, and drives lasting progress. Abtin has years of experience as a Founder and CEO of successful growth-oriented companies in the legal services industry and has focused his time advising and investing in early-stage, data-oriented technology companies. In 2008, Abtin founded Modus which went on to change how the electronic discovery (“eDiscovery”) industry managed massive-complex litigation. Modus introduced a technological and business model advancement that accelerated the evidence identification process dramatically. Between 2008 and 2013, Modus’ explosive growth landed it on The Inc. 5000 as the 138th fastest growing company in the US and, more specifically, the U.S.’ fastest growing eDiscovery company. Abtin stepped down as CEO of Modus in 2015 after seeing first-hand the power of combining data-analytics and advertising. Growing up in the Washington D.C. area, he worked at the WashingtonPost.com in High School, where he first gained experience managing and creating complex databases. Abtin holds two Bachelor’s Degrees from University of Maryland and attended American University Washington College of Law.
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About Model B: Model B delivers results through omnichannel intelligence and award-winning strategy, media buying, creative and web development.
Dan Bender
Co-Founder & Partner of Model B
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About Bender Financial Group, LLC, Model B, Snowasis Capital, LLC: Model B delivers results through omnichannel intelligence and award-winning strategy, media buying, creative and web development.
Ashtan Moore
Co-Founder & Partner of Model B
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About Model B: Model B delivers results through omnichannel intelligence and award-winning strategy, media buying, creative and web development.
Deven Patel
Founder & CEO of Alter
Founder and CEO of Alter, a domain marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with premium business names. Prior to Alter, he was founder and chief executive officer of Cyfe, a SaaS startup which offers an all-in-one dashboard software that helps businesses easily monitor, analyze, and share all of their vital business data from one single location in real-time.
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About Alter: Alter is a domain marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with premium business names.
Sanjay Shamdasani
Founder of Spring Studio and Head of UX Strategy & Partnerships of Spring Studio
Sanjay is the Co-Founder at Spring Studio, a user experience agency acquired by BBVA (BancoBilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.), the multinational Spanish banking group. His team is focused on creating exceptional customer banking experiences, conceiving disruptive FinTech productofferings and introducing emerging technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and VR/AR(virtual reality/augmented reality). A pioneer in the digital design industry, Sanjay has run boutique digital design firms, anddivisions of larger internet professional services firms since 1995. He has designed world-class digital solutions for dozens of Fortune 500 companies including: American Express, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, FedEx, Gap Inc., Microsoft, Starbucks, BlackRock,Wells Fargo, Facebook, Walmart, HP and Intuit.
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About Spring Studio: Spring Studio is a user experience (UX) and design firm.
Gil Levy
Founder and Managing of Ecommerce Partners
Gil directs ECommerce Partner’s sales and business activities. A widely recognized software and ecommerce guru, Gil discovered his passion for IT early on. While serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he developed a revolutionary time scheduling solution for soldiers. After moving to New York, in 1992, Gil held various leadership positions at premier technology outfits. Most recently, he was Chief Operating Officer at WBS.com, a Netscape consulting firm. Prior to that he served as Chief Technology Officer at Worldwide Corporate Network where he organized the first-ever online trade conference broadcasted live from Bloomberg Studio.
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About Ecommerce Partners, Splitit: ECommerce Partners is a e-commerce and interactive agency that provides support for large and mid-companies.
Haisha Chen
Founder & CEO of Strikingly
Haisha Chen is Founder & CEO at Striking.ly.
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About Strikingly: Strikingly is an online web platform enabling individuals to build mobile-optimized websites.
Jamil Ahmed Sukhera
Founder of Prop PMS
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About OruMesh, Prop PMS: Prop PMS is a Software as a Service provider dedicated to the short term rental industry.
Allyson Kapin
CoFounder and Partner of Rad Campaign
Allyson Kapin is the Founding Partner at the W Fund, a VC firm directly investing in exceptional tech startups led by innovative women and “traditionally” underrepresented founders who are driving the future of tech. She has been named one of the “Most Influential Women in Tech” by Fast Company. As the Founder of Women Who Tech, she launched one of the largest global programs, called the Women Startup Challenge, to disrupt a culture and economy that has made it difficult for women entrepreneurs to raise capital. Allyson is also the Co-Founder of Rad Campaign, and is passionate about the intersection of social change with online technologies and social communities.
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About League of Women Voters, Rad Campaign, The W Fund, Women Who Tech: Rad Campaign is deeply committed to organizations that want to change the world and socially responsible businesses.
Liz Bacelar
Founder and CEO of TheCurrent
Bacelar is a global leader on open innovation for fashion and retail. She is the founder of TheCurrent, an open innovation firm connecting fashion, retail and luxury brands with ground-breaking ideas & technologies. Prior to that she founded, grew and exited Decoded Fashion, a top global event series connecting Fashion & Technology in New York, London, Milan and Tokyo. In 2016, Liz also launched FlowJourneys with WIRED UK editor-in-chief David Rowan.
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About Decoded Fashion, TheCurrent: TheCurrent is the leading platform for open innovation in the fashion and retail markets.
Charlie Fogarty
Co-Founder of Ask Lorem
Charlie Fogarty is a co-founder at Storetasker.
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About Ask Lorem, Storetasker: Instant access to high-quality & affordable freelance talent. (We’re hiring!)
Sam Wilcoxon
Co-Founder, CEO of Ask Lorem
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About Ask Lorem, Storetasker: Instant access to high-quality & affordable freelance talent. (We’re hiring!)
LaVern Sula
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Next Stage Development
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About Next Stage Development: Next Stage Development provides domain and website-related services.
Sandip Patel
Founder of CAGE
Sandip Patel is the Founder/CEO of BitConfused, a startup that develops simple web products people want. Current products include CAGE, a dead simple collaboration tool that allows designers to present, manage and approve their work online. Patel has been named 40 Under 40 by OKCBusiness, Achievers Under 40 by Journal Record, and awarded Innovator of the Year by Journal Record. Patel has been a guest lecturer and speaker at Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma, Pratt Institute, and School of Visual Arts. Prior to BitConfused, Patel was Chief Operating Officer for a leading developer of online video-based training for the media and entertainment industry. Patel has worked with companies ranging from Pixar and LucasFilm, to Autodesk and Nike.
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About CAGE: Project management and media collaboration for creative teams rethought.
Keemia Ferasat
Founder & CEO of Style Salute
Keemia Ferasat is the founder & CEO of Style Salute, a mission-driven digital media, and entertainment company with a global audience footprint of 400 thousand a month across platforms. Focused around the core values of individuality and creativity, Style Salute delivers content and experiences that speak to an audience that’s highly engaged across a variety of devices and destinations, from original content and email newsletters, to live experiences and social storytelling. Our audience is comprised of self-made dreamers who are smart and passionate, always seeking out the next thing and living to their full potential in every aspect of their lives. As a next-generation women’s media company, Style Salute is changing the way content speaks to and represents women, always sparking the conversations that matter most. Delivering on that mission, Keemia is driven every day to celebrate women and to help them see, feel and own their power — walking the walk in all that she does.
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About Style Salute: Style Salute is a digital media and entertainment company dedicated to inspiring young women to live a smarter, more stylish life.
Bjorn Stansvik
CEO & Founder of MentorMate
Björn Stansvik is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cohereum
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About Cohereum, MentorMate, Techstars: Web, Application, & Mobile Development
Christine Pillsbury
Founder, Chief of Design of altr
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About altr: Digital Product Strategy & Experience Design.
Geordie McClelland
Founder, Chief of Strategy of altr
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About altr: Digital Product Strategy & Experience Design.
Chad Pytel
Founder & COO of thoughtbot
Chad Pytel leads the day-to-day operations of thoughtbot, including human resources, hiring, and growth, and is responsible for overall strategy for the company. He has fifteen years of experience in software development and services, and has co-authored two books: Rails AntiPatterns and Pro ActiveRecord for Ruby. Chad holds bachelor of science degrees in both Computer Science and Humanities & Arts (Drama/Theatre) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
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About thoughtbot, thoughtbot: thoughtbot is a consulting firm that offers end-to-end web and mobile product development services.
Marian Phelan
CEO and Co-Founder of Hashrocket
Marian Phelan is a co-founder and now the sole owner of Hashrocket. She is a strong supporter of the software community, Marian has funded and overseen several technology conferences. She is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building and operating successful businesses in multiple markets, including hospitality, real estate, and the Web. She believes in flat organizations, team-oriented structure, and environments where collaboration can flourish.
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About Hashrocket: Hashrocket specializes in design, development, consulting and training for Ruby on Rails, iOS, Android and Ember.js.
Mark Lu
Co-Founder of Famous.co
Co-Founder
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About Famous.co: Famous Industries produces software that allows anyone, to sell anything, anywhere. Design with Amaze Free, Amaze Pro, Amaze SMB
Susan White Morrissey
Founder & CEO of White + Warren
Susan established White + Warren 20 years ago, as a luxury, yet accessible cashmere label. Her background in retail and wholesale helped foster an understanding and passion for the industry. The original mission of the brand, which still remains paramount today was to build a business model with integrity, develop and retain a strong corporate community, seek out manufacturers that take pride in utilizing responsible processes, and support charitable initiatives near and dear to the company’s heart. White’s years of experience have enabled a unique insight into all steps of the process, from concept to customer. As CEO, White brings her extensive expertise to the leadership of White + Warren, where she continues to proudly steer operations at the label’s beautiful NYC showroom off of Bryant Park. White resides in New York City. Outside of the office White loves to cook for family and friends, and go for long bike rides along the Hudson River.
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About White + Warren: The largest collection of cashmere clothing. Visit the White + Warren online shop for contemporary cashmere sweaters, cardigans and more.
David Laiderman
Co-Founder / Partner of Hungry Media
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About College Advertising Solutions, Hungry Media, OPER: Digital restaurant media company
George DeMet
Founder and CEO of Palantir.net
George DeMet is the founder and co-owner of Palantir. For nearly two decades he’s helped high-profile corporate, educational, cultural, and non-profit clients develop effective online strategies. George is an active open source advocate, serving on the Advisory Board of the Drupal Association, as well as several of the organization’s committees. He’s helped organize many open source community events, including DrupalCon Chicago in 2011, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other industry events. Outside of his professional activities, George enjoys consuming and commenting on all kinds of culture, including books, movies, music, and video games. He’s a particular fan of science fiction, and has a different robot shirt for every day of the week.
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About Palantir.net: Palantir® is a digital consultancy that works to strengthen humanity by helping others discover, create, and share knowledge.
James Delaney
Chief Operations Officer & Founder of DMi Partners
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About DMi Partners: DMi Partners is a performance marketing agency specializing in e-commerce site design and development, search engine & email marketing.
Jake Jacoby
Founder / Investor of WebHomes
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About Marketspark, NJSC Consulting, SnapFunding, WebHomes: We engineer mission critical solutions. From small businesses to Fortune 50 companies, we partner with our clients to meet technology needs.
Todd Brook
Founder & CEO of envisionit
Todd Brook i s Founder & CEO at Envisionit Media.
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About Engagement Multiplier, envisionit: Envisionit is a digital marketing agency that provides data, analytics, tracking, optimization, and targeting solutions to its clients.
Andrew King
Co-Founder & CTO of Sixty
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About Mellodi, Sixty: Infrastructure for the freelance economy.
Alex Tapper
Co-Founder of Sixty
Alex keeps his hands in the dirt. He rallies the community around a common goal: working 1-on-1 with clients to produce the best work together. That means a lot of facetime advocating our mission. He knows that good design changes the way we experience the world and that words matter—a lot. In another life, Alex wrote songs and branded business across Nashville. He believes in the power of routine and does at least 1 handstand every day. Alex graduated from Vanderbilt University after studying Classical Guitar, English Literature, and a little bit of Computer Science. He was in some B.S. Honors societies, but is more proud to have led the Rugby team to an SEC Championship in a defensive 9-3 victory over Auburn. Alex’s first business was selling pizza “by the slice” to hungry dorm-mates at boarding school after check-in. It was kind of a monopoly—his customers were literally locked into the building without another option. His secret? The smell of hot pizza drew the crowds, but he made the real margins on cans of soda.
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About Sixty: Infrastructure for the freelance economy.
David Head
Co-Founder, CEO of Sixty
I’ve been a part of the freelance economy since 2010: first as a business owner building an ecommerce company, then as a freelancer, then as a creative agency owner, then as a freelance marketplace operator. Through my journey I’ve been fortunate enough to see what life here is like from all angles. I saw both first hand and through the lenses of other clients and freelancers, the frustrations and inefficiencies of the freelance economy, as well as the dreams and potential of it. At the heart, freelancers want career sustainability and fulfillment, while clients want project efficiency and security. Both are trying to forge the career of their dreams. The impediment is a lack of technology. Our world isn’t built yet for the freelance economy, where everything revolves around the project. It’s built for the employment economy where everything revolves around your role at a company. I founded Sixty to build the this technology layer.
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About Sixty: Infrastructure for the freelance economy.
J. David Weiss
Founder of Designova Creative
An internationally active and award-winning designer, with focus on superyacht design, David studied industrial design, and has since lived and worked in Europe, the US, and over a dozen other countries. He has contributed or led design for more than 40 custom built yachts, directed creative product development for award winning US technology companies, designed concepts for major motion pictures, and designed custom furniture, interiors, and architecture for clients worldwide. David’s work has won several World Superyacht Awards, and been featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, The Robb Report and more. Boat International has named him a leading design disruptor in the yacht industry. David has designed our new Atlas Series, inspired by experience with superyachts, combining comfort and simplicity from houseboating with the sophistication and excitement from superyachting.
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About Bravada Yachts, Designova Creative: Design consultancy and management
Sahil Saini
Founder & Digital Alchemist of Akos
Sahil Saini accomplished software developer turned digital marketing strategist in Phoenix, Arizona; helping mid-size businesses scale up their digital presence. With over 10 years experience working in Software development and digital marketing, I leverage my experience and knowledge to build robust marketing solutions; bringing a unique perspective to product development lifecycle and marketing strategies. I geek out on re-structuring unsuccessful information architectures and building marketing campaigns backed by market validated data analytics. I lead the team at AKOS, An Agile Digital Agency that transforms online presence and launches full-scale digital products for mutually-benefiting organizations. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, our expertise is in Website Design & Development, true Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Mobile App Development, UI/UX designs, E-Commerce Store Development, Graphic Design and Animation, Media Production and Strategic Marketing.
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About Akos: AKOS is a leading software development agency for growth-stage organizations in high-impact industries, helping them scale with confidence.
