Hi Friends!
I’m super excited to announce the panelists that will be speaking at our September 3rd event. I posted the honorees last night, and am starting to realize just how insanely great this event will be be. An event like this has never happened in Ventura County, and you can tell how excited the community is by how many folks are planning on attending. I feel honored myself that all these folks, the honorees and panelists are all getting involved and donating their time.
Tweet: Investor Panelists at next @805startups
Panelists:
Richard Wolpert – Amplify, HelloTech and Accel Partners
A pioneer in the fields of technology, consumer digital media and entertainment for more than 25 years. Extensive experience as an executive, entrepreneur and as an investor.
Responsible for many “firsts” throughout his career including: conceiving of and teaching the first Macintosh Programming Class at Stanford University (CS 193C), the first multi-user address book for the Macintosh (TouchBase), the first kids internet subscription service (Disney’s Daily Blast), the first Tivo-like product for the Internet Radio (BitBop Tuner), the first legitimate music subscription service for the Internet (MusicNet), and the first legitimate online movie subscription service (Starz! On Demand). Successfully negotiated ground breaking deals with several of the major media companies whose content became the basis for many of these products
As an investor, managed personal investment fund, Chance Technologies (1995 to Present), served as an advisor to Accel Partners (2006 to Present), served as a partner at the Yucaipa Companies (1998 to 2000), and served as the Managing Director or the Mail Room Fund (2008 to 2010). Invested in more than 30 companies, a large percentage of which have had successful exits or continue on as successful companies, including: AdECN, AMG, AndroMedia, AudioMill, Data Sage, GameFly, GameSpy, Kongregate, Mob.ly, People Support, Smilebox, Sometrics, Three Rings, Scopely, PlayDek, and Universal Audio.
Jim Andelman – Rincon Venture Partners
Jim is co-founder and Managing Partner of Rincon Venture Partners. Jim is in his 15th year as a VC.
Previously, Jim led software investing at Broadview Capital Partners, a $250 million Bay Area expansion-stage VC firm. Before BCP, Jim was a member of the Technology Investment Banking Group at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. There, he concentrated on equity private placements and IPOs for software companies. Jim began his career with Symmetrix, a boutique strategy consulting firm founded by a Bain & Co. co-founder. Jim received his MBA with highest distinction (first in his class) from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, and his BS in Economics (magna cum laude) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jim serves on the Boards of Directors of Campus Explorer, Conversion Logic, Keen IO, Mobcrush, Rainforest QA, Rentlytics, Steelhouse, TaxJar and Tradesy. He previously led investments in Burstly (acquired by Apple), DataPop (acquired by Criteo), Gradient X (acquired by Singtel), Cadforce (acquired by Neilsoft) and Packet Island (acquired by BroadSoft). In addition, he serves on the Boards of Directors of Friends of Yosemite Search and Rescue and the Los Angeles Venture Association, on the Advisory Board of the Douglas Family Preserve.
Dave Gross
In his own words: I am a serial entrepreneur, engineer, technologist, and investor in Internet Services (SaaS), Digital Marketing, Healthcare & Wellness, M2M/IoT/IoE, Additive Manufacturing, Spacecraft Hardware Systems, Hybrid Electric Vehicles & Energy Harvesting Technologies. I co-founded Motodyne, Fastclick, Persistence Partners and Connexity with multiple successful exits including an IPO. I am on sabbatical from an operating role, researching my next adventure…
Mike Panesis – CLU Center For Entrepreneurship and Tech Coast Angels
Mr. Mike Panesis is the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at California Lutheran University (CLU) in the USA. He comes to CLU from the Technology Management Program (TMP) at the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering, where he ran the University of California Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) highly successful New Venture Competition (NVC). While at UCSB, he also developed a mentor network for advising students, represented the TMP at community events, and innovated with the NVC to reflect best practices in the Santa Barbara start-up community. Additionally, Mike played a key role in creating the new start-up incubator for the Goleta Entrepreneurial Magnet.
Mike is Chairman of the Board of Governors of Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest accredited angel investor group in the country and is head of the TCA’s Central Coast Investor Network.
Mike’s career spans a diverse range of industries and roles, including executive management, tech start-ups, information technology management and management consulting for companies like Semtech, Whitestone Research, DealerTrack, Church & Dwight, Deloitte & Touche and AT&T.
Mike holds a MBA degree in Marketing from Rutgers University in New Jersey and received his BS in Computer Science for Business from the DeVry Institute of Technology. He is on the Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum of the Central Coast Chapter and Steering Committee of the Ventura County Greek Festival.