Global Capital Summit®(GCS) is one of the Bay Area’s flagship events for the startup venture ecosystem and it’s proud to present this year’s theme: Seeding the Future. We strongly believe that the time is now for early-stage players, especially for angel investors, and early-stage VCs. As F50’s flagship event for the startup venture ecosystem, GCS is helping earlier-stage VCs, angels, incubators, and funding platforms to voice their views and beliefs.
For the first time, GCS will associate with the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs community. Our summit will feature over 30 speaking sessions including thought-leader talks, investment trends, and extraordinary products and innovations, and will feature over 500 attendees from world-leading corporations and the global investment ecosystem. The attendees are corporate executives, angel investors, venture capitalist, influential long-term investors, asset management companies, and a group of high-potential local early founders.
2. Pitch your startup and meet 200+ accredited investors and future strategic partners.
3. Discover how to raise funding and expand market for your startup.
4. Meet partners, investors and key industry players for private 1 on 1 meetings for speed networking.
5. Network and share ideas with fellow startup founders.
1. Listen to actionable wisdom from 50+ Leading VC and Angel speakers. Get the most out of your conference experience and set yourself up for growth.
2. Explore trends in investing and trending markets.
3. Connect with successful corporate VCs and startups to learn best practices.
4. Hear top tier VCs and Angel Investors on the key issues facing investors and startup CEOs alike. Industry experts will provide updated analyses and share their experience with the audience.
5. Network over meals with partners, investors and key industry players.
1. Listen to actionable wisdom from 50+ Leading VC and Angel speakers. Get the most out of your conference experience and set yourself up for growth.
2. Hear top tier VCs and Angel Investors on the key issues facing Investors and Startup CEOs alike. Industry experts will provide updated analyses and share their experience with the audience.
3. Network over meals with partners, investors and key industry players.
4. Meet hundreds of startups and investors under one roof and find your next business partners.
5. Gain access to hundreds of early stage, exclusive deals before anyone knows about them.
6. Connect with successful corporate VCs and learn best practices.
GO GET TICKETS
anna dvornikova
managing partner
TEC Ventures
Anna Dvornikova[/fusion_fontawesome]
General Partner
Anna is a Managing Partner, TEC Ventures – seed-stage fund in Silicon Valley (www.tec.vc) focused on global entrepreneurs.
She is a Founder, SVOD – Silicon Valley Open Doors (www.svod.org) – the leading boutique technology investment conference that brings in an eclectic mix of 1,500+ most creative, forward-thinking, and insightful crowd in the entrepreneurial and investment world to the heart of Silicon Valley! Startups that first pitched at SVOD have raised over $750M dollars. SVOD speakers are prominent Silicon Valley angels, VCs, leading technology, business media, and successful US entrepreneurs.
As part of her non-profit activities, Anna is the President and a Board member @ AmBAR (www.ambarclub.org), growing it over the years from a small local gathering to the world’s largest business network of Eastern-European and Eurasian professionals with 50K+ members.
In 2010, Anna organized, in partnership with Rusnano, the first historical delegation of 20 Managing Partners from top Silicon Valley VC firms ($60B+ under management) to Moscow to meet with business & government elite, including President Medvedev. The trip resulted in $400M+ in deals. She was the organizer/host of the Russian President’s visit in the Silicon Valley.
Previously, Anna was an angel investor with some of her portfolio companies rating as top 10 Russian high-tech startups. She is the author of many articles on entrepreneurship, angel and venture financing.
Anna was named among “100 Most Influential Women of 2014” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal (in category “Women VCs”).
Anna is a frequent speaker @ international conferences. She was featured on CNN, in Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley Business Journal, as well as major Russian TV channels and newspapers.
Anna holds her J.D. from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and her Master of Laws degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley.
Company website:
www.tec.vc
Nizar Ayadi
INVESTORS ADVISOR AUTHOR SPEAKER
Ambroser
Nizar Ayadi[/fusion_fontawesome]
Investors Advisor Author Speaker, Ambroser Exit Author of : Millionaire businesses
Nizar is the founder of Ambroser Started in 2018, Application University, started in 2016, and Ambrosed, started in 2014 (Exit). He owned GoodFellas : World Best Pizza 2012. Catch him on many media Channels or visit http://ayadinizar.com for his latest blogs, news, tips, training, and where to catch him LIVE! In his service to our country he was awarded Distinguished Service Medal,National Defense Service Medal, Global War On Terrorism Service Medal,Iraq Campaign Medal,Campaign Star, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon. Nizar enjoys running, golf, and science innovation.
Specialties: Fund raising, team building, marketing, leadership, and social entrepreneurship and metrics (conversation, cost-per-acquisition, etc.).
Company website:
https://www.ambroser.com
james sowers
angel inverstor
CHTA Venteures
James Sowers[/fusion_fontawesome]
Angel Investor, CHTA Ventures
Forbes.com. He is an advisor to compound asset management, Doc.com, sagewise and the Fabric Foundation James is a Mentor at CS359B at Stanford University Designing Decentralized Applications and a mentor at the Alchemist Accelerator. James believes in joining the best founders in projects that are creating the future as we know it”The key to redefining a category is to see possibly where others don’t. Talent is hitting a target no one else can hit. Genius is hitting a target no one else can see”
Company website:
http://chta.ventures
calvin chin
managing partner
E14 Fund
Calvin Chin[/fusion_fontawesome]
Managing Partner, E14 Fund
Calvin is a member of the Aspen Institute’s inaugural China Fellowship Program, a WEF Young Global Leader and served on the WEF Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation.
He was named one of Fast Company magazine’s 100 Most Creative People In Business for 2011, was named 2009 Chinese Business Leader of the Year by Horasis and Baker & McKenzie, and is a Social Innovation Park Fellow.
He has an MBA from TRIUM (NYU, LSE, HEC Paris), a B.A. from Yale University and has also studied social entrepreneurship, global leadership and other management and policy subjects at Harvard University and INSEAD.
Company website:
http://e14fund.com
ronald welssman
chairman
Band of Angels
Ronald Weissman
Chairman, Band of Angels
Dr. Ronald Weissman is Chairman of the Software Group of the Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest angel organization. He has been a Band member since 2007. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Angel Capital Association, the umbrella organization for angel activity in North America.
He was a Partner and portfolio manager for seventeen years at Apax, a global venture capital firm, focusing on software and cross-border investing.
Ron regularly advises and corporate venture funds and innovation programs at G2000 companies.
Prior to Apax, he was CMO and head of Investor Relations at Verity (the leader in enterprise knowledge retrieval). Verity’s management team won Large Cap Turnaround of the Year (Turnaround Management Association) after the company increased its market cap, profitably, from $50M to nearly $2B. Ron also ran Verity’s successful secondary offering in 1999. Prior to Verity, he directed Strategic Marketing and European Marketing for NeXT, reporting directly to Steve Jobs.
Before joining NeXT in 1990, Ron was a consultant to many federal agencies on issues relating to IT strategy and data integrity, including branches of DoD, DoE, DoT and the US intelligence community. He was Associate Professor and head of Academic Computing at the University of Maryland and then held a similar position at Brown University before joining NeXT.
Ron invests in enterprise IoT, Fintech, analytics and AI vertical market solutions and in Health IT. Between his twelve years as an active angel and his VC career, Ron has led or co-lead 30+ investments, has advised 75+ companies and has served on 30+ Boards of Directors.
Ron advises companies on SaaS strategies, capital strategies, angel and. venture finance and best practices, and private company Board governance. He has been a guest lecturer at Stanford, UC Berkeley and at the University of Santa Clara’s schools of Law and Business and universities in Europe. He has recently advised organizations in Armenia, Chile, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Australia on forming and growing angel groups and executing angel capital deals. Ron has advised many US and global organizations on creating innovation hubs, including St. Louis, Upper State NY, and San Antonio, TX. He has also lectured White House staff and key regional development teams on the links between private capital investing, next generation networks and regional economic development.
A frequent conference speaker, Ron has recently addressed angel-related organizations including the Angel Capital Association (2017, 2018), the ACA’s Western Regional Conference (2016, 2017, 2018), Super Returns San Francisco and Hong Kong (2018), the Institute for Professional Investors (IPI) (2018), and the World AI Conference (Boston, 2017). He has conducted nationally broadcast webinars on angel-related topics for the ACA (2018) and the Cognitive Computing Consortium (2017).
Ron was an Associate Trustee and Overseer at the University of Pennsylvania for 22 years, served on the San Francisco Opera’s Corporate Council and was a Board member for San Francisco Classical Voice (the primary site for the promotion of classical music in the Bay Area) and has served for almost two decades on Silicon Valley’s Venture Capital Task Force.
Ron has been profiled in The American Angel (Angel Capital Association, 2017), The Silicon Valley Business Journal, Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Technology Forecast and other business publications and is the author of books and monographs on the Italian Renaissance. He is a Fulbright Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, with BA, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in European History (Medieval and Renaissance) from UC Berkeley.
Prior to joining the Silicon Valley technology community in 1990, Ron served (1976-1988) as Associate Professor of History and then Director of Academic Computing and finally, Assistant to the President for Planning at the University of Maryland, College Park (and convinced the National Archives to build Archives II on campus), and (1989) Assistant VP of Academic Computing at Brown University where he also served on the History faculty. He also served on advisory boards for Apple, Sun, IBM, NeXT and Microsoft.
A San Francisco native, Ron splits his time between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. His wife, Emely, a former historian and a Bay Area realtor, is active in San Francisco charitable organizations. His daughter, Julia White and son-in-law, Alexander White are both Silicon Valley capital markets attorneys.
Ron’s passions include promoting angel investing and measuring outcomes, evangelizing entrepreneurship globally, event photography (he is official photographer for one of San Francisco’s oldest private organizations) and opera and classical music.
Company website:
https://www.bandangels.com/
randy williams
ceo/founder
Keiretsu Forum
Randy Williams
CEO/Founder, Keiretsu Forum
My passion for investing and bringing together like-minded community leaders has created a powerful and giving environment for entrepreneurs. I founded the Keiretsu Forum in September 2000 to provide a disciplined and structured approach to private equity investing. Keiretsu Forum is in three continents and has expanded to 46 chapters throughout the United States, China and Europe. With over 2,500 members, Keiretsu Forum is the largest angel investment community in world. I have 35 years of experience in finance, real estate, and marketing. I have previously held board and advisory positions in over fifteen companies.
I am also a frequent guest speaker at investment conferences, leading universities, and business schools on alternative asset investments and entrepreneurialism. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Berkeley.
I have a passion for swimming in the ocean and bays around the world, and I am a past world record holder in master’s swimming. I currently hold 7 San Francisco Olympic Club swimming records, and enjoy recognition as a member of the Olympic Club Hall of Fame for the 1980s water polo team.
Company website:
http://www.keiretsuforum.com
June Riley
CEO
VC Taskforce
June Riley[/fusion_fontawesome]
CEO, VC Taskforce
June is the CEO of VC Taskforce.
VC Taskforce™ has built an organization that the venture community can give input and direction to and get immediate results that benefit both investors and their portfolio companies.
We were established to provide a system of services including: business, legal and financial programs that provide real-time, strategic and tactical information addressing imminent concerns of venture capitalists and portfolio companies. VC Taskforce™ provides a forum for many types of investors: LPs, venture capital firms, institutional investors, PE and portfolio company management in which they can share ideas and information that will help them manage their businesses for maximum success.
We apply practical information to real problems and concerns in the Venture Community. The venture community may request programs and speakers.
Leaders in the Venture Community organize informational and networking events.
Visionary thinking, uncensored questions and opinionated discussions around pressing issues of the day that face our members are the hallmark of our events. In addition to great content, VC Taskforce programs also offer great networking, so join the more than 6,000 members and participants who know the benefits of Being Part Of VC Taskforce.
Company website:
http://vctaskforce.com
david cao
ceo
F50
Michal Cymbalisty[/fusion_fontawesome]
CEO, F50
David is a pioneer and passionate leader of the venture capital ecosystem in Silicon Valley.
David founded Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs & Startups 10 years ago, and now is Silicon Valley’s largest entrepreneur community with over 35,000 members. He founded several large developer communities including Silicon Valley Developer Network (SVDN), Silicon Valley Android Developers. He is also serving or served as an advisor for DocuSign, Ehouse Capital, Peakview’s Fund of Fund. He hosted interviews with leaders in the venture ecosystem for SVE.io
He has led the process of selecting 400 startups out of over 10000 startups and presents them to the F50 global corporate and investor network. He also leads the investment processes for over 30 of the selected startups. David is personally involved in healthtech and deeptech. He is also a blogger for sve.io interviewed many top investors and founders.
David Cao was the Founder & CEO of GWC US (Sold to holding company), where he oversaw the CEO clubs and the production of GMIC SV (the leading global mobile conference). He is also the founding president of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Toastmaster Club, a nonprofit organization for public speaking training. Prior to GWC, David founded and served as Chairman and CEO of ExtendLogic, a Silicon Valley-based smartphone end-to-end solutions company that was acquired by BeyondSoft in 2010. Prior, he was the VP of Engineering at PlayPhone (Acquired by Gungho), a leading mobile entertainment in USA, and Engineering lead for LightSurf, a leading MMS company acquired by VeriSign for 274M USD. He also served as VP of Software Development for The Critical Thinking Company.
He has consulted for many firms including Oracle, ETravel, IBM Global Services, Sun Microsystems, OCBC Bank, and Reuters Asia.
He is a big fan of Chinese Medicine. He enjoys Taichi, hiking, and biking in his spare time. David holds a Masters in Computer Science from Xidian University.
Company website:
http://f50.io
DR.wayne lim
venture capitalist
Venture University
Dr. Wayne Lim[/fusion_fontawesome]
Venture Capitalist, Venture University
Company website:
https://www.venture.university
gil artzy
founding partner
UpWest Labs
Gil Artzy[/fusion_fontawesome]
Founding Partner, UpWest Labs
Gil joined UpWest Labs as a Founding Partner in 2012, opening the firm’s Silicon Valley office. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs realize their dreams of building large companies and providing resources to get them there faster.
Prior to UpWest Labs, Gil was the VP of Operations Management at Yahoo! for two years after working with the Corporate Development group for four years. During his time at Yahoo! he worked on strategy & acquisitions, drove business for the Tech Infrastructure organization and managed relationships with the Israeli ecosystem of investors, entrepreneurs and startups. He led the acquisition of Yahoo!’s first Israel-based startup and helped open the company’s first R&D center in Haifa.
Before that, Gil served as a consultant advising Fortune 500 companies for the Boston Consulting Group in New York. He holds a BA in Economics & Business Administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MBA with Honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Outside of work, Gil enjoys going to live music performances (Coachella Music Festival is his annual highlight). He is also an avid sports fan, and though soccer is at the top of his list, he will pretty much watch anything that has a ball and/or timer involved.
Company website:
www.upwestlabs.com
nikhil sinha
ceo
GSVlabs
Nikhil Sinha[/fusion_fontawesome]
CEO, GSVlabs
In his academic career, Nikhil was the founding President of the Shiv Nadar University from 2011 to 2015, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas from 2002 to 2005 and a faculty member at the University from 1991 to 1999.
Outside the academy, Nikhil has served in senior positions in several organizations. In the past he has been President & Co-CEO of Silverskills, Executive Vice President of eFunds Corporation, President & CEO of iDLX Technology Partners, and a Venture Partner at Adams Capital Management. Nikhil began his professional life in the Government of India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in 1983.
Nikhil serves on several corporate and non-profit boards. He is Chairman of the Board of HCL Infosystems, a Director of Silverskills Pvt. Ltd. and a member of the Advisory Board of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Director Emeritus of the US-India Business Council and a member of the Higher Education Committee of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Nikhil has an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He has published numerous articles and papers in scholarly journals and conferences and has been awarded a number of research, publishing and academic grants and awards.
Nikhil Sinha is Chief Executive Officer at GSVlabs and a Partner in Global Silicon Valley, a silicon valley based investment firm. Prior to joining GSV, Nikhil was the Chief Content Officer at Coursera, the world’s largest higher education technology platform where he continues as Senior Adviser to the CEO. Nikhil is Non-Executive Chairman of HCL Infosystems, one of India’s leading IT companies. In his academic career, Nikhil was the founding Vice Chancellor of the Shiv Nadar University and served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas from 2002 to 2005 and a faculty member at the University from 1991 to 1998. Outside the academy, Nikhil has held senior positions in several public and private corporations. In the past he has been Venture Partner at Adams Capital Management, President & Co-CEO of Silverskills, a global provider of business process and technology outsourcing services, Executive Vice President of eFunds Corporation, a leading payment management company and President & CEO of iDLX Technology Partners, an IT development company.
Company website:
https://www.gsvlabs.com
duncan logan
ceo/founder
RocketSpace Inc.
Duncan Logan[/fusion_fontawesome]
CEO/Founder, RocketSpace Inc.
When it comes to Open Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Capital I am a lucky guy. Unfortunately this innovation bliss is constantly disrupted by the reality that building a startup is hard, really hard. Raising capital is a never ending endeavor and I along with 1000’s of other entrepreneurs live on the knife edge of success or failure normally decided by others….. But it’s addictive.
One truth I know is that none of us will make it out of here alive. What we do with our mortal lives better be meaningful and we better be passionate about it. I have a cockroach like ability to get through challenges and I am positive, really positive.
I am fortunate to get a rare view of innovation and “what’s next” and frequently speak in an unfiltered way to Governments, Corporations and Conferences around the world.
I sit on a maximum of 4 boards at any one time, I invest rarely, I care about impact, I believe in Crypto.
Company website:
http://www.rocketspace.com/
Dave Sanders
Board Member
Sacramento Angels
Dave Sanders[/fusion_fontawesome]
Board Member, Sacramento Angels
Dave Sanders is a founding member and Managing Partner of WorldBridge Partners, an international Executive Search firm with 12 offices in the US, Europe, and Central America. Beginning his executive search career in 1993, Dave is well established in the West Coast venture capital community and has a strong track record working with early and mid-stage high growth companies.
He is a General Partner in several seed-stage venture funds and is a board member of the Sacramento Angels. With his corporate finance background at Intel and sales leadership experience at IBM, he also brings large company domain expertise to the companies he works with.
Dave earned his MBA in Finance from the University of California at Berkeley and his Bachelors of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Company website:
http://www.sacangels.com
Jordan Wahbeh
Managing Partner
Bay Angels
Jordan Wahbeh[/fusion_fontawesome]
Managing Partner, Bay Angels
His 20+ years experience includes hands-on work, and leadership in high-demand, fast-paced, or structured environments in engineering, business, SW development, IT, Hi-Tech, Big Data/Analytics, IoT, Smart Home, and manufacturing.
Company website:
http://bayangels.com/ns/
Che Voigt
Board Chair
North Bay Angels
Che Voigt[/fusion_fontawesome]
Board Chair, North Bay Angels
www.northbayangels.com
Lilia Shirman
Managing Partner
Golden Seeds
Lilia Shirman[/fusion_fontawesome]
Managing Partner
During her 20 years leading strategy, operations, marketing, and business development, Lilia Shirman has impacted the growth of innovative leaders including VMware, BEA Systems, CA, Amazon, and EMC, to name a few. As CEO at The Shirman Group, she enables high growth for startups, mid-market, and billion-dollar enterprises by helping technology-enamored companies increase their relevance to businesses and the humans who run them.
As an angel investor and a Managing Director at Golden Seeds, Lilia has backed such success stories as ZineOne (Gartner’s 2018 Cool Vendor), and Cadenza Innovation, the leader in safer, more efficient energy storage. Ms. Shirman is the author of 42 Rules for Growing Enterprise Revenue, and coaches entrepreneurs in Stanford University’s Global Entrepreneurial Marketing Program and around the world.
Company website:
http://www.goldenseeds.com
J. Skyler Fernandes
Founder & General Partner
Venture University
J. Skyler Fernandes[/fusion_fontawesome]
Founder & General Partner
J. Skyler (Sky) Fernandes is ranked as a Powerlist 100 VC and is the Co-Founder & General Partner of VU Venture Partners, the most scalable venture capital fund in the world, focused on Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech / Blockchain, Healthcare, Frontier Tech, and Real Estate Tech, and is the Co-Founder & CEO of Venture University, a trade school for venture capital, private equity, and angel investing.VU Venture Partners is redefining the value of an investment fund by creating an investment team that is capable of covering markets broader, deeper, faster, and smarter than a typical fund, providing a significantly more powerful network that can better support portfolio companies, and offering greater value to LPs.
Previously, Sky was the Managing Director of Investments at Cleveland Avenue, a fund focused on food and beverage brands, food related technology, and new restaurant concepts, co-founded by the former President and CEO of McDonald’s.
Sky was the Founder, Head, and Managing Director of Simon Venture Group (SVG), the venture capital arm of Simon Property Group, an S&P 100 company, and the largest retail real estate company in the world. CB Insights ranked SVG as a top 5 investor within retail alongside GV(Google Ventures), Intel Capital, and Comcast Ventures and focused on investing in retail technology, rising new brands, and internet of things for smart cities and buildings.
Sky has developed key resources, such as “The Best Startup Pitch Deck” (viewed and downloaded 500,000+ times and used by leading accelerators and business schools). Sky also co-founded with his wife the #1 startup and VC board game, “The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship”, http://www.nextbigthingboardgame.com/
Sky graduated early from New York University (NYU), summa cum laude, due to his studies at Harvard University in Physics and Foreign Policy.
Company website:
https://www.venture.university
Paul Holland
General Partner
General Partner
What I invest in: IT, consumer, and digital energy sectors. I am on the boards of Homesuite, Peerspace, SkyCure, Dreambox Learning, KiK and InsideView.
Past investments include Chegg (CHGG), MobileIron (MOBL), Coverity (acquired by Synopsys), Averail (acquired by MobileIron), Conformia (acquired by Oracle), Ketera (acquired by Rearden Commerce), RouteScience (acquired by Avaya), Talking Blocks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard), and TuVox (acquired by West).
Before I came to Foundation Capital, I worked at — and helped take public — two software start-ups, Kana Communications with Mark Gainey, and Pure Software with Reed Hastings. My two start-ups ended up being worth over $13 billion in aggregate. I began his career in Silicon Valley at the Stanford Research Institute, now known as SRI International.
I am steeped in the world of venture capital:
●The co-executive producer of Something Ventured, a critically acclaimed documentary on the origins of the venture capital industry.
● Past president of the Western Association of Venture Capital.
Training: MBA from the University of California at Berkeley; an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia; and a BS from James Madison University.
I have been a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship at Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business, Harvard Business School, Wharton, Columbia, UC Berkeley, James Madison University, and the Stanford Graduate School of Engineering.
Company website:
https://foundationcapital.com/
Stafford Matthews
Law Partner
Law Partner
Partner in the Venture Technology and IP Groups of Dentons. Managing Partner of the Firm’s Silicon Valley office. US Co-Chair of Dentons Global TMT Sector. Recognized by the Legal 500 US (2015) in M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Venture Capital and Emerging Companies. One of only 11 lawyers in the United States selected as a 2016 BTI Client Services All-Star for Competition Law – Antitrust. I am a results-driven leader of your legal team.
Company Website:
https://www.dentons.com/en
Anurag Miral
Professor
Professor
Dr. Anurag Mairal is a Consulting Associate Professor of Medicine and the Director, Global Exchange Program at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, Stanford University. In these roles, he leads initiatives focused on applying the biodesign process to resource-constrained settings globally. Further, he facilitates opportunities for students, faculty and fellows at Stanford to work on global healthcare needs. He is part of the founding faculty team for BIOE 371, Global Biodesign: Medical Technology in an International Context, a graduate-level course offered to engineering, business, and medical students at Stanford University. He also has additional appointments as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Innovation in Global Health. As a Co-Director of the India Biodesign Phase II initiative, he leads the Forum, a platform for supporting India’s medtech entrepreneurs. As the Chair of a BME IDEA APAC, a new initiative to bring together medtech innovation programs in Asia Pacific region, he is focused on building a sustainable organization that supports the needs of innovation stakeholders in the region. Earlier, he served as Associate Director for the Stanford-India Biodesign and Singapore-Stanford Biodesign programs. Concurrently, he is a co-founder and Executive Vice President of Orbees Medical, a SF Bay Area-based strategy consulting firm serving global healthcare industry, with a focus on medtech, pharmaceutical, and digital health industry.Dr. Mairal has an extensive background in medical technology development and commercialization, collaborating with partners in the U.S., India, China, and other emerging markets to advance product development, manufacturing, and distribution. Recently, he took two years off from Orbees Medical to take a senior leadership role at PATH, a major global health nonprofit based in Seattle. In this role, he oversaw research and development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies in PATH’s medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health divisions. Previously, he held several positions at Johnson & Johnson, including Business Development Director and Product Director for structural heart, cardiology, and peripheral vascular products at Cordis. Before joining J&J, he was a Group Leader and a Process Development Manager at Membrane Technology and Research (MTR). At MTR, he was responsible for business development, strategic alliances, and product development in the bioseparations area. An active mentor to entrepreneurs and industry professionals, he serves on the boards of several for-profit and non-profit organizations and is a Charter Member at EPPIC Global Network.
Dr. Mairal earned a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He also holds an MS in chemical engineering from the Indian Institution of Technology in Mumbai and a BS in chemical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Raipur. Dr. Mairal was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Twente, Netherlands and at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Mairal has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. At Haas, he was a founding co-Chairman of the South Asia Business Conference and Chair of the Biotech Panel for the Asia Business Conference. His work has been published in more than 30 publications, and he has been issued seven patents.
Company website:
http://stanford.edu
Franklin Urteaga
Former White House Innovation Advisor and Co-Founder & CEO
Former White House Innovation Advisor and Co-Founder & CEO, Oigetit Fake News Filter
Former Clinton White House Tech Advisor + Obama Campaign Aide. Expertise in Innovation + Tech Start-Ups + Artificial Intelligence + Blockchain. Helped build Global Brands (JDate, AmericanSingles, and ChristianMingle). Launched 1st “INTERNET Day” at the White House to promote Internet throughout 50 U.S. states; Helped to grow Online Dating worldwide; Launching World’s 1st Fake News Filter (OIGETIT) on mobile devices worldwide. Invited as Super VIP Keynote Speaker to top Silicon Valley conferences and seminars. Also invited by the Provincial Governors and Mayors of 12 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan, Guiyang, Nanjing, Jinzhou, Jinan, Hangzhou) in China to serve as Honored Keynote Speaker.
Cross-Border Innovation Expert, discussing topics such as Innovation Trends + Artificial Intelligence + Blockchain + Fintech + Cryptocurrency + Unicorn Companies + Sharing Economy Companies + Entrepreneurship + Startups + President Xi’s One Belt One Road. Recently, was only American Entrepreneur Invited to be Keynote Speaker at the famous 2017 “Zhongguancun Forum” in Beijing, China. About.me/franklinurteaga
Company website:
http://www.oigetit.com
Bill Reichert
Managing Director
Managing Director
Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, mentor, author, speaker, board member, advisor, educator, partner, spouse, parent, and general enthusiast. Not always in that order.
I love to work with great entrepreneurs to build great companies.
Specialties: Seed stage and early stage emerging technology companies across information technology, energy tech, materials science, edtech, and fintech, among other sectors.
Philosophy: Successful entrepreneurs focus on the disciplined growth and development of their value proposition, strategy, team, operations, finance, sales and marketing.
Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, mentor, author, speaker, board member, advisor, educator, partner, spouse, parent, and general enthusiast. Not always in that order.
Company website:
http://www.garage.com
Gené Teare
Strategic Research
Strategic Research
Gené Teare writes about global funding trends, women in tech, and women in venture. She is an experienced public speaker, and moderator connecting with startup communities around the globe.Ms Teare previously was Head of Content at Crunchbase focused on managing our data teams, and working with our venture partners.
Ms. Teare joined TechCrunch in 2008 to run Crunchbase. Working from the Atherton ranch, Ms. Teare was also involved with the setup of TechCrunch50 and TechCrunch Disrupt events from 2008 to 2012.
Ms. Teare began her early Internet career in the ’90s by co-founding Cyberia, the original CyberCafe in London, with Eva Pascoe.
Company Website:
https://www.crunchbase.com
Duncan Davidson
General Partner
General Partner
Having two bubble era IPOs, and being the pitch person on one of them at the peak of the bubble, I learned firsthand that venture capital is a cyclical business. During the bubble, speed matters. During the downturn I saw two successful strategies: long-term, deep tech; and short-term, value investing in oversold but otherwise solid companies. As the next tech boom arrived, I co-founded a micro VC fund to take three decades of tech learning and apply it. The key: help the companies succeed, not focus on the deal.
Company website:
https://bullpencap.com
Jamie Rosenstein
People Analytics
People Analytics
Produce external events, demos, activations, and creative editorial content to accelerateprogress and representation via technology.
Company website:
http://www.google.com
Dinesh C
Chief Creative Officer
Chief Creative Officer, CarVi, Inc.
With a successful track record of over 15+ years in establishing and managing global businesses, Dinesh believes in success through passion and creativity. He is also a technically savvy, highly driven and an award-winning global marketing and technical professional.With an exceptional ability to identify and connect with the right customers and partners, Dinesh moves ideas to fruition, optimizes market penetration, and motivates teams to be surpass goals. His creativity and drive in starting and expanding a company, coupled with intimate business knowledge, allows him to build emotional attachment with customers and partners. By combining strong technical and business skills with outstanding visuals, Dinesh brings creative approaches to startups and established businesses.
Dinesh started his career with IBM after graduating from Brown University in Computer Science and Business Economics. He then went on and found 3 successful startups which led to major investments and acquisitions. The businesses range from technology to the food industries with coverage in over 20 countries. Dinesh is a true global entrepreneur and loves building international businesses with team members from multicultural background. He is also a Board Member of JCYC, San Francisco largest non-profit educational institution serving children and youth from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Dinesh is also a respected thought leader and teaches Entrepreneurship at the University of California Berkeley.
Company website:
Shahin Farshchi
Partner
Partner
He led Lux’s investments in Silicon Clocks (NASDAQ:SLAB), which shrank electronics by baking bulky quartz crystals into silicon chips; SiBeam (NASDAQ:SIMG), which aims to eliminate wires from living rooms by introducing full-HD wireless connectivity; Planet, which is launching the world’s largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites; Plethora, which is rolling out a fleet of robotic machine shops; Flex Logix, making chips that can reprogram themselves; Nervana (NASDAQ:INTC), the first full-stack platform for machine intelligence; Mythic, bringing powerful AI to miniature, inexpensive devices; Astranis, which is building low-cost telecommunications satellites; Embodied Intelligence, which empowers industrials to perceive and act like humans; Aeva, a new sensing paradigm for autonomous machines; Arraiy, a platform for automating visual effects; SubSpace, a company revolutionizing how humans and machines communicate; and Scaled Inference.
Previously, Shahin co-founded Vista Integrated Systems, which built wireless vital sign monitors based on a neural interface technology he developed during his PhD at UCLA. Shahin also developed hybrid electric vehicles for GM in Detroit, worked as a software developer in several Silicon Valley startups, and researched new techniques for semiconductor manufacturing. He earned his Bachelor’s in EECS at UC Berkeley.
Company website:
http://www.luxcapital.com
Ossama Hassanein
Chairman
Chairman
Ossama is an entrepreneur, mentor, and venture capitalist. He has managed over $1 billion of international technology funds in diverse leadership roles including EVP of Berkeley International in San Francisco, Chairman of Technocom Ventures in Paris, President of Newbridge Networks Holding in Canada, Senior Managing Director of Newbury Ventures, and Chairman of the Rising Tide Fund in Silicon Valley. In the eighties, he led the mezzanine financing of 80+ Silicon Valley based IT companies that became spectacular successes. Combined market value today exceeds $200 billion.
He was chairman or co-founder of seven leading-edge high technology startups in the US, UK, France and Switzerland including ACC in Santa Barbara (acquired by Ericsson), Algety (acquired by Corvis), HighDeal (acquired by SAP), Highwave (Listed on Euronext), NetCentrex in Paris (acquired by Comverse), nCipher in Cambridge (listed on LSE), and Zong (acquired by eBay). Currently, he is chairman of Rising Tide, director of Bank of the West, and charter member of TechWadi and the C100 – Silicon-Valley based associations dedicated to mentoring and angel financing promising entrepreneurs.
He served on the Board of Advisors of Harvard Center for ME Studies and UCSF Department of Ophthalmology in San Francisco. He also served on the Board of Directors of Relief International – focusing his efforts on education, social entrepreneurship and women development in the Middle East.
Dr. Hassanein is the Willard Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor at AUC School of Business. He lectured on Management Science at Stanford, and on international business at UC Berkeley. He was also guest speaker on entrepreneurship in the White House, the State Department, the Commonwealth Club, MIT, Harvard University, and Qatar Computer Research Institute.
Specialties: new company formation, venture capital financing, corporate governance, international business expansion, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions.
Company website:
https://rtf.vc
KJ Jia
Partner
Partner
Company website:
http://f50.io
Stephanie Marrus
Professor & Expert
Professor & Expert, UCSF
During a 25-year plus business career, she has worked with over 1000 companies in science and technology based industries as member of the management team, business consultant or mentor. Many of these companies have their technological roots at Berkeley, Stanford, UCSF, MIT and Harvard. She has had roles as CEO, COO and VP Business Development for public and private venture capital backed companies, led partnering and M&A transactions, headed corporate development, strategy, marketing, communications and investor relations. Her sector experience is in information technology and life sciences/healthcare.
In addition to her business career, she served as Deputy Secretary of Economic Affairs for a Massachusetts governor leading economic development and business policy, She also chaired an environmental cleanup fund board and became the fund’s Executive Director. She was President of a medical research foundation and served on the Advisory Board of a social venture startup accelerator. She mentors entrepreneurs globally through the US State Department and other programs.
She has translated her business experience to the classroom and teaches experiential courses in entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley and globally. She has been affiliated with entrepreneurship programs at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University’s Technology Ventures Program. She has taught and presented at conferences in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She frequently presents to international groups at UCSF.
Her academic titles have included Senior Lecturer at UCSF, Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Entrepreneur–in-Residence for the Global Entrepreneurial Marketing Course at Stanford, She is National Science Foundation Certified National Faculty for Innovation Corps (I-Corps), its highly successful training for entrepreneurs. She led the creation of Lean LaunchPad for life science/healthcare under an NSF grant, now taught nationally by the NIH. She has been a guest lecturer at Singularity University.
Her global titles have included Adjunct Professor, St. Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management, Russia; Entrepreneur-in-Residence, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; faculty at the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo Startup Academy in Russia and in Silicon Valley. She attended the US Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission meeting on innovation in Moscow. She has been a guest speaker in Saudi Arabia under the sponsorship of Princess Sitah Bint Abdullah Al-Saud, daughter of King Abdullah; the US Consulate General and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, and taught at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She has taught at Tsinghua University, Beijing, at ESADE Business School, Barcelona, in Argentina, Chile, Mexico Vietnam and Morocco. She taught for the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology in Vietnam, presented to local and US officials at the US Embassy in Hanoi and keynoted the Peace through Entrepreneurship conference in Morocco.
She participates in the State Department’s International Speaker Program and led a panel at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2016) in Silicon Valley.
Her views on entrepreneurship in emerging markets have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Moscow News and AmericaEconomia. She has been interviewed by Russian television, the BBC and Argentine radio.
Company website:
https://www.ucsf.edu
Jai Suri
VP
VP, Oracle
Company website:
http://www.oracle.com
Prathamesh Prabhudesai
Physician and Co-founder
Physician and Co-founder,SafeBVM Corp;EIR at F50
Prathamesh Prabhudesai is a medical doctor and alumnus of Georgia Tech’s Biodesign program. He is a strong advocate of value-based design and cost-efficient solutions for today’s healthcare problems. Prathamesh is currently working as an EIR for F50 while the building partnerships for his medical device startup, safeBVM.
Company website:
httpS://safebvm.com
Karl Sjogren
Author/Blogger
Author/Blogger
The Fairshare Model presents an innovative idea for how to deal with the uncertainty involved in establishing a value for a venture-stage company. There are ways to mitigate the risk of getting it wrong in a private offering—deal terms—but there is no equivalent in an IPO. The Fairshare Model changes that with a deal structure that places no value on future performance at the IPO. It does that by providing employees shares for future performance that vote but cannot trade; based on performance milestones, they convert into the tradable stock that investors get.
Sjogren has been a consulting CFO/Controller for 30 years. From 1996 to 2001, he was co-founder and CEO of Fairshare, Inc., which sought to build an online community of average investors interested in investing in early stage companies. Fairshare was a forerunner for what is now called “equity crowdfunding.”
Company website:
www.fairsharemodel.com
Rocky Lee
International Partner
International Partner
Based in Beijing, Rocky Lee is a deal lawyer with nearly two decades of experience in China cross-border transactions. He is widely recognized as one of the top legal advisors to funds and founders with numerous awards and accolades from the likes of Asia Law & Practice, Chambers Asia, China Business Law Journal, the Financial Times, and Legal 500.Mr. Lee has particular expertise in China’s “restricted industries” which often involves the use of “VIE” structures, as well as complex regulations governing foreign investment to and from China. Amongst his many China transactions Mr. Lee led Xiaomi’s financing, breaking ground for billion-dollar tech deals in Asia and multi-billion dollar valuations. Didi, Tujia, Grab, Lufax and OFO are some of the unicorn deals Mr. Lee managed for investors.
Company Website:
http://www.kwm.com
Andrew Brissette
CEO
CEO, Radicai LLC
Company website:
https://radicai.com
Fei Zou
CEO
Synergie-Capital-Group
CEO
Dr. Fei Zou is the President and CEO of Synergie Capital, an investment and advisory firm focus exclusively on global cross boarder investments. Before founding Synergie Capital in 2012, Dr. Zou was a Managing Director and a founding member of the Special Investment Department at the China Investment Corporation (CIC), a Sovereign Wealth Fund with close to 1 trillion USD under management. Dr. Zou joined CIC in 2008, and was responsible for close to $30 billion in direct investments between 2008 and 2011 in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Before joining CIC, Dr. Zou was an equity portfolio manager at American Century Investments, a premier investment manager in the United States with more than $150 billion under management. Dr. Zou was in charge of US and international large cap strategies with combined assets close to $3.5 billion.Dr. Zou serves as a member of the board of directors at BYD Company Ltd (China/ HK), China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd (China/ HK), Delta Dunia Makmur TBK PT (Indonesia), and served as an observer of the board of Noble Group Ltd (Singapore). He is also an advisor to a number of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and private equity funds based in US, Europe and Asia. In addition, Dr. Zou advises a number of large Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and private companies on their overseas investment and business activities.
Dr. Zou served as a director and senior executive at the Chinese Finance Association (TCFA) from 1999 to 2007, and was the chairman of the board from 2000 to 2001. Dr. Zou is recognized by the Chinese government as a leading expert in finance and investments.
Dr. Zou received his Ph.D. in Finance and MS in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is a member of CFA Institute.
Company website:
http://www.synergiecap.com
Charles Sidman
Partner&Angels
ECS Capital
Managing Partner, ECS Capital Partners and Angels
Dr. Sidman retired as Professor of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology from the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, where he also served for many years as Professor of Management in the College of Business and in the university-wide Honors Scholars Program. His education includes a PhD in Immunology from Harvard University, an MBA specializing in Management from the University of Cincinnati, and sabbatical study in Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute.
Company website:
http://www.ecs-partners.com
Dmitry Alimov
Managing Partner
Managing Partner, Frontier Ventures
Between 2007 and 2010, he worked as the Managing Partner of a leading venture fund ru-Net Ltd known for its investments in yandex.ru and ozon.ru. In 2009, Dmitry co-founded ivi.ru Media Ltd (owner and operator of www.ivi.ru), which became the leader in the Russian online video market. In 2010, Dmitry originated and executed a transaction in which ru-Net Ltd invested in Biglion.ru, currently Russian market leader in the collective buying space. Dmitry played an active role in structuring the business and in raising further capital for growth. Prior to joining ru-Net, he was the Managing Director of Amedia – a leading Russian producer of television series and movies.
In 2004 – 2005, Dmitry worked for Access Industries as Head of Media Investments in Russia and the CIS. In 2001 – 2002, Dmitry worked as First Deputy General Director, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the TV channel TNT and was also a member of Gazprom-Media Executive Committee. In 1998 – 2002, Dmitry was responsible for a number of venture capital and private equity investments as Vice President of the Sputnik Group, $1 billion private equity and venture capital fund. Dmitry began his career in the department of mergers and acquisitions of Renaissance Capital.
Dmitry received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2004, and in 1998 graduated with honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Missouri at St. Louis (USA), with a major in Business Administration (Finance). In 1991-1994, Dmitry studied applied mathematics and computer science in the Samara State Aerospace University. He is a member of the expert panel of IT Cluster at Skolkovo Fund.
Company website:
http://www.frontier.ventures
Sean Dempsey
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Merus Capital
Company website:
http://www.meruscap.com
Vadim Shpak
Chairman & Founder
Chairman & Founder, Vickers Venture Partners
Vadim also participates in the ongoing management and monitoring of both the financial and operational aspects of Vickers’s fund investments. He establishes and maintains relationships with institutional and individual investors to provide comprehensive and current updates and reports of the Vickers funds to enhance understanding of the value created by the firm.
Company website:
http://www.vickersventure.com
Uli Chettipally
Assistant Clinical Professor
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical, UCSF
Company website:
https://www.ucsf.edu
David Ronald
Organizer
Organizer
I’m an experienced and passionate marketing leader with a track record of leveraging best-in-class practices to grow demand, enable sales teams and build profits. After beginning my career in R&D I quickly realized that my passion was connecting people to great products – which is why I made the transition to marketing. I have a broad range of hands-on experiences with achievements in demand generation, partner marketing, product management and product marketing, and in mentoring and strategy.
I am lucky to have had some very talented co-workers over the years. Here are some of the things we’ve achieved:
• Reversed an 18-month decline in leads volumes at Foxit Software, within six weeks of starting;
• Helped secure a $5M order for a new product within a year of its launch at BigBand Networks;
• Achieved 1,600% increase in revenues over three years at Ditech Networks.
I mentor one student in Woodside High School’s business academy each year because I feel that it’s important to give back to the community. And I recently expanded my mentoring activities to include serving as a marketing advisor to the founding teams of startups.
In my spare time I enjoy kayaking, mountain biking, tennis and sailing on the San Francisco bay, and try to salsa dance as often as possible (though I‘m very bad at it).
Company website:
http://sve.io
Rolfe Winkler
Technology Reporter
Technology Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
New York transplant to the SF Bay Area. Psyched to be in the mix with so many fascinatingtechnologists that are building great products and changing the way we work and play. Please reachout to me at rolfe.winkler at wsj.com
Company website:
https://www.wsj.com
SC Moatti
Managing Partner
Managing Partner
She is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest communities of product managers, leaders and founders in the world.Previously, she built products that billions of people use at Facebook, Nokia and Electronic Arts. She also serves on boards of both public and private companies, including mobile technology giant Opera Software (OPERA:Oslo).An award-winning bestselling author, Moatti frequently gives keynotes on business and technology, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and on NPR. She lectures at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she earned her MBA and has a Master of Science in electrical engineering.Andrew Chen, one of Uber’s top executives, called SC “a genius at making mobile products people love.”For more information, visit scmoatti.com.
Company website:
https://mighty.capital/
Annie Kadavy
Partner and Managing Director
Partner and Managing Director, Redpoint Ventures
As a former founder herself, Annie views the process of company-building as the ultimate adrenaline-filled sacrifice. You give up your time, energy and mindshare previously spent on relationships, family, health and other endeavors, but the potential for making a positive impact on communities, customers and industries make it worth it in the end.
Prior to Redpoint, Annie spent over four years at Charles River Ventures where she sourced or led deals with ClassPass, Cratejoy, DoorDash, Laurel & Wolf and Patreon at the seed and series A stages. She has been named on both the Forbes 30 Under 30 and Midas Brink lists.
Annie also worked at Bain & Company, Warby Parker and at Uber Freight, where as Head of Strategic Operations she helped scale the business from 50 to several hundred people and from zero to $100M+ run-rate in its first year. Annie holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University in Biology and Organizational Business, respectively, and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Annie is also an angel investor to companies that include Atrium, Indie Money, Modern Fertility and Ript (Tonal). She lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband, daughter, and dog
Company website:
https://www.redpoint.com
Oana Marcu
Scientist
Scientist
Scientist, PhD Biology, with a career over the last 12 years at NASA Ames Research Center/ SETI Institute. Experience in biological research and project management, International Space Station projects, biological payloads; Building and leading teams and partnerships with academia and commercial sector; strategy development and communication; Outreach, teaching and STEM experience, and strong initiative for new projects; Extensive knowledge of biological research with emphasis on health and disease; Community and private education on the resolution of inherited and developmental trauma.
Company website:
http://www.seti.org
Nikolai Oreshkin
Managing Partner
Managing Partner
Nikolai is an investment professional and experienced entrepreneur with a proven track record in bringing early-stage technology from idea to disruptive growth. For more than 5 years of investment experience across the US, Europe, and China, Nikolai was involved in over 30 transactions, including cross-border and M&A, valued at more than $1,5 billion USD.
Previously, Nikolai founded an ISP and was one of the first entrepreneurs who offered internet access to people of Belarus and promoted the use of social networks. Crypto-holder since early 2011.
Company website:
http://elysium.vc
Jim Connor
Executive Producer
Executive Producer, Game Changer at Silicon Valley
Jim Connor is a member of the Sand Hill Angels, CEO of First Focus Learning Systems and Producer/Host of the talk show Game Changers Silicon Valley ( https://GameChangers.TV ). He serves as a board member of Liftopia, Thinkster, KMVT15 – Silicon Valley Media, and Startup Learning.Jim has been involved as an investor and advisor to emerging technology companies since 2007, currently serves as President of First Focus Learning Systems and is the Producer and Host of Game Changers Silicon Valley, a weekly technology interview about innovation. Previously he was President of JPMorgan SymPro providing treasury and portfolio management software solutions. His experience has focused on providing the institutional investor with the tools to analyze, manage and evaluate the performance, risk and, compliance of investment and debt portfolios.
Specialties: Investor and advisor to early stage software companies.
Focused on software services, educational systems, financial analysis.
Founder and CEO of SymPro, Inc, which was acquired by JP Morgan Chase in Aug. 2003.
Company website:
https://gamechangers.tv
Michael Fox
SVP of Corporate Development
SVP of Corporate Development, Green Prosperity Group
Previously, Michael launched the VAIO for SONY and grew the business 40% in the first year. He drove Corporate Development under Mitsubishi Electric’s President’s office. Michael was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for a $5B fund where he grew one of the portfolio companies from a $50M valuation to $300M in five months. He also spent four years as an adjunct professor teaching entrepreneurship in an MBA program in Design Strategy in CCA, taught workshops in Holland for three years and advised entrepreneurs for the Korean government and many others. Michael is an internationally recognized speaker. In addition to being a thought leader in the corporate venture space, he also established a Silicon Valley presence as the Silicon Valley Emissary for London-based Global Corporate Venturing which supports the global corporate venture capital community. Most recently, Michael was the Investor Ambassador for the US 2017 Mobile World Congress in San Francisco. Michael is an active member of the MIT Alumni community in Northern California and has been an MIT Venture Mentor for 12 years (Cambridge and Silicon Valley).
Company website:
http://www.greenprosperitygroup.com/
Garrett Goldberg
Partner
Partner, Bee Partners
I am an efficient deployer of seed stage capital. I am an entrepreneur, a sportsman, and a best friend. I’ve taken the path less traveled into venture capital and sincerely believe time is worth more than money.An entrepreneur at heart, I’ve worked in professional sports, real estate development, and technology. I support various entrepreneurial ecosystems surrounding UC Berkeley and Stanford. I reside in San Francisco and seek opportunities nationwide.
Specialties: Seed and pre-Seed investor, venture capital, early customer development, product development, marketing strategy, financing strategy, due diligence, early enterprise sales, contract negotiations and legal documentation, networking, fundraising, advanced skier.
Company website:
http://beepartners.vc/
Andrea Carafa
Fellow
Fellow, Stanford University
Andrea Carafa is a technologist and design thinking fellow at Stanford and the University of Milan Bicocca, where he researches, prototypes and lectures about human-centered technology ventures. He has over a decade of experience addressing social and global issues through technology, policy, research and human-centered design with international organizations, civil society, academic institutions and technology companies.
He founded ArtsUp, co-created an EU-funded program aimed at spurring entrepreneurship within European universities, and was a resident entrepreneur and innovation researcher at Stanford. Previously, he was an EU Marie Curie researcher in emerging technology for social and economic impact at Grenoble School of Management and the European Commission, a European Science Foundation visiting fellow at Bocconi University, and a visiting researcher at GSI and CERN. His work inspired CERN to launch CollSpotting, a platform aimed at increasing the technology transfer from physics labs to society.
Andrea represented AEGEE-Europe at the United Nations, created a multi-stakeholder initiative within the UN Rio+20 process and advocated the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals. He was also the founder and executive director of Green Young Economy and contributed to designing the first secretariat of Future Earth, a ten-year global science and innovation initiative announced at Rio+20. He has been a speaker and contributor to international organizations and summits, such as the World Economic Forum, Global Entrepreneurship Summit, United Nations and European Institutions. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.
Company website:
http://stanford.edu
Lu Zhang
Founder & Managing Partner
Founder & Managing Partner, Fusion Capital
Lu Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund. Fusion Fund supports early-stage entrepreneurs who are looking to build globally disruptive companies using innovative technologies to drive systemic change. Lu leads the management team consisting of seasonal investors, distinguished entrepreneurs and top tier scientists. Recently, Lu is selected as 2018 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (Davos). Before this, she also got selected as Silicon Valley Women of Influence 2018 and Top 10 all America Chinese Youth. In 2017, she was awarded as the Forbes US 30 under 30 & Featured Honoree of VC category and also awarded as the Forbes Asia 30 under 30 of Finance category. In the same year, Lu was selected as the Town & Country 50 Modern Swans Influencer, representing top female entrepreneurs and influencers in the U.S.Prior to starting Fusion Fund, Lu was a Venture Partner at Fenox Venture Capital. She was also the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). Lu is active in the entrepreneur and investor communities providing mentorship and serves as an advisor to programs like Microsoft AC, Singularity University, StartX at Stanford, and Youth Council of Future Forum. Lu received her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and holds several patents.
Company website:
www.fusionfund.com
Peter Henry
Managing Partner
Managing Partner
Peter Henry is Founder & Managing Partner of Act 5 Ventures LLC, which specializes in private equity transactions for seed and early-stage companies in a variety of industries. Act 5 provides capital access, primarily as a syndicate lead, providing management and administration of single-purpose investment entities, financial review, terms negotiation, governance participation, and related risk mitigation. He is also an independent angel investor, affiliated with Stanford Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Bay Angels, Cannabis Investment Network, and more; and an LP investor with Keiretsu Capital.
Peter has founded or co-launched product and services startups in the financial services software, social applications, location-based apps, personal security and other arenas. He has been a strategic advisor to several Fortune-1000 firms, mentored scores of startup entrepreneurs in the SF Bay and New York areas, and advised venture investors on portfolio turnaround approaches.
As a technologist in his early career, he architected and developed groundbreaking systems from the world’s largest document imaging system, to high-volume and customer management systems, institutional portfolio management and the insurance industry’s first Internet e-commerce platform. In addition to technology, he has extensive experience in professional services, technical marketing, business strategy, contracts and negotiations, operations and corporate governance. Since 2001, Peter has operated as an “ICVC”, bringing both Intellectual Capital (strategic advice, founder mentoring, operational executive strength) and access to capital (angel/PE investments, fundraising, M&A advisory) to startups in diverse markets.
Company website:
http://www.act5llc.com
Shruti Kothari
Director-Kaiser Permanente Ventures
Director-Kaiser Permanente Ventures
Company website:
http://kp.org
Jens Francis
Founder Emeritus and Senior Investor
Founder Emeritus and Senior Investor
Senior executive and investor in fast-growth technology, cleantech and healthtech companies. Experienced computer scientist with an active involvement on Capitol Hill in the area of technology, energy and healthcare policy.
Responsible for launching numerous companies with help from Stanford University, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rock Health, The Cleantech Open, Pivotal Labs, IBM, and various venture and private equity firms.
Specialties: Venture investing, start-up creation, software development, and global public policy.
Company website:
https://www.angelmd.co
Unity Stoakes
President & Co-founder
President & Co-founder, StartUp Health
In 2011, Unity co-founded StartUp Health with Steven Krein, his business partner of more than 20 years, to invest in a global army of Health Transformers to embark on one extraordinary crusade: to achieve health moonshots, each of which can improve the lives of at least one billion people.
Today, StartUp Health has the world’s largest portfolio of health innovation companies, more than 280 from 23 countries and six continents, and has assembled a worldwide network of 200,000 innovators, industry leaders, and investors committed to supporting the entrepreneurs reinventing the future of health. Over the coming years, StartUp Health will invest in thousands of Health Transformers committed to achieving health moonshots.
Unity has been a tech entrepreneur since the mid-nineties, previously co-founding OrganizedWisdom and helping build The Privacy Council, Middleberg Interactive, and Webstakes.com/Promotions.com, which he helped take public on NASDAQ with his business partner of 20 years, Steven Krein.
Unity is a contributing writer for Forbes, has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN, NPR, and USA Today, and speaks to entrepreneurs, world leaders, and CEOs around the world about the future of health. He is the publisher of StartUp Health Magazine and co-host of StartUp Health NOW, a weekly web series about Health Transformers.
Unity grew up on a farm in Oxford, Iowa, went to Boston University and currently lives in Berkeley, CA, with his wife and two young kids. Learn more at www.startuphealth.com and connect @unitystoakes or on LinkedIn.
Company website:
www.startuphealth.com
Andrew Tang
CEO
CEO, Draper Univeristy
Company Website:
https://www.draperuniversity.com
Jomari Peterson
Founder
Founder, The Digital Reserve, P.B.C.
Company website:
https://www.thedigitalreserve.org
Mike Loftus
Venture Partner
Venture Partner, F50
Company website:
http://f50.io
Dianna Weiping Ding
Founder & President
Founder & President, DingDingTV
Company website:
www.DingDingTV.com
Peter Su
Partner
Partner, Radlo IP Law Group
Company website:
https://www.radloip.com
Luke Tang
Global CEO
Global CEO
Company website:
https://us.techcode.com
John Ricci
Founder
Founder
Company website:
www.usangels.co
Jinbo Liu
GM
Jinbo Liu
GM, NetEase America
Member of the Science and Technology Innovation Committee of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office Of The State Council
Founder of Silicon Valley China Innovation and Development Center
President of the Netease US Operations Center
Company website:
http://us.news.163.com
F50 MEMBERSHIP
Join F50 Membership to strengthen your brand image, increase your visibility. F50 enables members to stay on top of the latest innovation and selective investment opportunities, as well as to tap into F50’s vast investor and founder network.
EXHIBITOR AND MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
F50 Summit offers a platform to highlight the latest cutting-edge technology companies and demonstrate their products. With limited tables in the lounge, exhibitors will have a unique spotlight to showcase their technologies to over 300 selective investors, experts, and leading deeptech & healthtech companies. The selected startups will also be listed in all the F50's marketing channels.
Director of Silicon Valley Incubator @ GCS 2017
The Global Capital Summit was a wonderful event, rich in what is truly important for startups. Most people believe startups need money more than anything else, but GCS and its participants understand that network is the key. Thank you so very much!
Venture Capitalist Speaker @ GCS 2018
I am amazed. I never thought I would be able to connect with so many new companies and investors in such a positive and engaging way. I can’t wait to receive my invitation for next year’s event.
THEY
International Attendee @ GCS 2018
I can’t say enough about the founders of the GCS. They are authentic and passionate about their mission to change the world through entrepreneurship. I am impressed and a bit humbled.
SAID
Startup Attendee @ GCS 2017
It really was a great conference. I was most impressed by the insightfulness of the presentations, the openness of the speakers, and the sincere willingness, on the part of all the senior entrepreneurs, to truly help and mentor startups.
Startup Exhibitor @ GCS 2018
It’s a great conference that features engaging content from terrific and accomplished speakers, as well as a network of experienced entrepreneurs.
