Surviving Year 1; (10) Panelists
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Surviving Year 1 is one of the first steps to building a successful technology startup. It proves that you have the sticktoitveness to stay for the long haul and overcome obstacles. Regardless of your industry, year 1 is the most challenging.
You will come to this event to gain insight from other survivors about how to sustain a business through its first year. Our Guest Panelists will share with you their war stories, failures, success, emotions and the ingredients they used in their first year in business to setup their companies for huge success in coming years to follow.
Topics:
Business formation, Finding Advisors, Client Acquisition, Branding, Hiring, Milestones, Pivoting/Adapting, Managing your Board, Importance of Networking, Surviving vs. Succeeding
Agenda:
7:00 - 7:45PM, Mixing/Refreshments
7:45 - 8:00PM, Announcements
8:00 - 9:00PM, Discussion led by Aaron Abram-Founder of TCD.LA (https://www.meetup.com/Tech-Cofounder-Dating-LA/)
9:00 - 9:30PM, Audience Q&A led by Adam Popescu-Social Media Expert
9:30 - 10:00PM, More Mixing
(10) Panelists:
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Zohar Levkovitz (Founder/Chairman)
Amobee was acquired for $300+ Million this year.
Considered as one of the top 10 Mobile Technologists in the World.
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Aaron Broder (Founder/CoFounder/CEO)
Gorilla Nation & Evolve Media are the leading Media companies in the world!
Adam Miller (Founder/CEO)
$1.5 Billion Market Cap./ 1,000+ Clients
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Eddy Lu (CoFounder/CEO)
Raised $6+ Million from Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz,
Ashton Kutcher, Yuri Milner & others
Joseph Essas (CTO)
Online restaurant solutions company with 25,000+ clients.
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Eli Portnoy (Founder/CEO)
ThinkNear was acquired on 10/12/2012 for $22.5 Million,
18 months after inception.
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Robyn Gould (Business Attorney)
Her firm's clients are: Yelp!, Google, eBay, Facebook, &
the top emerging technology companies in the world.
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William "Chip" Brown (Founder & Owner)
Featured on OWN Oprah Winfrey Network as the top Cupcakes in Los Angeles!
Winner on Food Network's THROWDOWN with Bobby Flay
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JJ Yore (VP & General Manager)
The Marketplace portfolio includes: Marketplace Morning Report, a weekday hourly news service; the daily half-hour Marketplace afternoon drive-time program; Marketplace Monday, a weekend personal finance show, Marketplace Tech Report, a 4 minute daily technology report, & Marketplace's website, podcasts, and other digital content.
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Jason Feffer (Co-Founder)
SodaHead is the premier opinion-based community where visitors discover, debate, and discuss today's hottest issues. They share their unique views on breaking news, hot topics and controversial issues and a diverse panel of staff writers provide original and exclusive content daily.
SodaHead also provides best in class polling technology for world class media companies including ESPN, ABC News, Good Morning America, LA Times, Warner Brothers Television and Anderson Cooper.
SodaHead is a profitable after raising $12.7 Million from Ron Conway & others.
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EA (http://www.entrepreneurassociation.net/) & UCLA Anderson (http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/)
UCLA Anderson is a Top 10 Business School in America.
(Special Thanks to Peter Friis (http://www.entrepreneurassociation.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=76), President of (EA) Entrepreneurs Association!)
10 Panelist Bios:
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Zohar Levkovitz, Chairman of SpaceIL (http://www.spaceil.com/)
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Founder/(Former) CEO of Amobee (http://amobee.com/)
(Acquired by SingTel. for $300+ Million)
Zohar is the Chairman of the US board of SpaceIL He is the Founder (Former) CEO of Amobee which was recently acquired by Singapore Telecommunications for over $300 Million. Amobee, the company defining mobile advertising, offers comprehensive, end-to-end mobile advertising solutions and services for advertisers, publishers and operators. Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Mobile, 2011 Award Winner
Zohar has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
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www.SpaceIL.com (http://www.spaceil.com/)
SpaceIL's mission is to make Israel the 3rd country to land on the moon. SpaceIL is a non-profit organization established by a multidisciplinary team of Israeli space enthusiasts to compete with privately-funded space teams in the Google Lunar X Prize. The Google Lunar X Prize is a global race of lunar exploration offering the largest international incentive prize of all time: a total of $30 million. The challenge is to become the first team to successfully launch, fly and land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon. The team must operate the spacecraft across the lunar surface and transmit video, images, and data back to Earth. Their spacecraft of choice is a nano-satellite carrying the Israeli flag.
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Aaron Broder, CoFounder & CEO of Evolve Media Corp. (http://www.evolvemediallc.com/home)
and Founder & CEO of Gorilla Nation Media (http://www.gorillanation.com)
He is CoFounder of Evolve Media, a unique media company unparalleled in its ability to offer brands a complete solution to online advertising. In 2000, Aaron transitioned into the world of online ad sales when he CoFounded and became CEO of Gorilla Nation Media, the world's largest online branded sales company and a division of Evolve Media. He graduated UCSB, has an M.B.A. from University of Wisconsin at Madison & a J.D. from UCLA
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www.EvolveMediaCorp.com (http://www.evolvemediallc.com/home)
Evolve Media Corp is an integrated digital media company focused on vertical publishing, advertising sales and marketing for its clients. Their mission is to produce and monetize premium digital content, offering programs to online marketers that deliver Content, Context and Creative with Scale.
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www.GorillaNation.com (http://www.gorillanation.com)
Gorilla Nation is the an exclusive branded sales company, representing more than 100 leading entertainment and lifestyle communities online. Reaching over 50 Million film fanatics, hardcore gamers, influential trendsetters and thrill seeking outdoorsmen each month allows them to provide marketers with vital access to 18-34 year old men. Armed with over a decade of experience, a proprietary video platform and an award-winning creative studio, Gorilla Nation is a recognized expert in entertainment and lifestyle digital marketing. They are committed to delivering exceptional customer service, optimization and execution of creative promotional programs.
Gorilla Nation is an Evolve Media Corp Company. They are headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, London, Sydney and Melbourne.
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Adam Miller: Founder & CEO, Cornerstone OnDemand (http://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/)
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Technology & On-line Services, 2011 Award Winner
Adam co-authored (2) books, "Business Capital for Women (Macmillan, 1996) and "Managing Your Inheritance" (Random House, 1995)
He has a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, an M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business, a B.S. from the Wharton School and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/f/2/4/event_155668452.jpeg
www.CornerstoneOnDemand.com (http://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/)
Cornerstone OnDemand is a leading global provider of a comprehensive learning and talent management solution delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The company enables organizations to meet the challenges they face in empowering their people and maximizing the productivity of their human capital. Cornerstone currently empowers 9.4 million users across 180 countries and in 34 languages. Cornerstone has over 1,000 clients.
Cornerstone OnDemand is a Nasdaq traded company under the symbol, "CSOD" and has a current market cap. of approx $1.5 Billion. Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Cornerstone OnDemand has offices in London, Paris, Munich, Tel Aviv and Mumbai.
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Eddy Lu, CoFounder & CEO of Grubwithus (https://www.grubwithus.com)
Grubwithus is a graduate of 'Y Combinator' and raised $6.6 Million from Y Combinator, GRP Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher, Yuri Milner & others. Prior to Grubwithus, Eddy worked at Lehman Brothers as an equity research analyst in the semiconductor industry and at Deloitte Consulting as a technology systems analyst. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Computer Science.
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www.Grubwithus.com (https://www.grubwithus.com)
Grubwithus is a community where friends and future friends create and join group meals. Whether you want to get to know people from your neighborhood, you're in a new city, or just want to meet like-minded folks, they regularly offer a variety of meals in major US cities.
Grubwithus meals are hosted at restaurants and typically have 6-10 people at each table. Each individual pays in advance through Grubwithus for a set menu that is served family style. Most meals are themed or hosted by a Grubwithus group to help bring together interested and similar people as well as to guide initial conversation topics at the meal.
They also allow user to create their own meals. User created meals are fully designed by the users and the logistics and coordination are handled by Grubwithus.
Grubwithus strives to bring people together over food. They invite you to book a seat and join the "in real life" movement with them.
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Joseph Essas, CTO of OpenTable (http://www.opentable.com)
Joseph previous served as the CTO of eHarmony where he was responsible for overseeing and guiding the technical development, operation and growth of the company. Prior to that, Joseph served as VP of Engineering of Yahoo! where he managed engineering teams for the search marketing division. Prior to that, he served as VP, Technology/Company Development at IdeaLab. http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/5/3/c/event_175329532.jpeg
www.OpenTable.com (http://www.opentable.com)
OpenTable is a leading provider of free, real-time online restaurant reservations for diners and reservation and guest management solutions for restaurants. The OpenTable network delivers the convenience of online restaurant reservations to diners and the operational benefits of a computerized reservation book to restaurants. They have more than 25,000 restaurant customers and have seated more than 325 million diners around the world. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, OpenTable is available throughout the U.S. and Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the UK. OpenTable also owns and operates TopTable.com, a leading restaurant reservation site in the UK.
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Eli Portnoy, Founder & CEO of ThinkNear (http://www.thinknear.com/)
(Acquired by Telenav for $22.5 Million , 18 months after inception.)
ThinkNear is a NY TechStars graduate and has the biggest acquisition for any TechStars alum. Eli was most recently a Product Manager at Amazon where he helped develop, market and grow the Amazon Video On-Demand service. He earned his B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/a/b/8/event_175255992.jpeg
www.ThinkNear.com (http://www.thinknear.com/)
ThinkNear.com helps target mobile ads to consumers at precise locations. With Access to billions of mobile impressions and cutting-edge location technology, they make sure that your message reaches customers ready to buy what you sell. ThinkNear raised $1.63 Million from TechStars, IA Ventures, Qualcomm, Metamorphic Ventures, Google Ventures & others.
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Robyn Gould, Associate (Business) Attorney for Cooley LLP (http://www.cooley.com/index.aspx)
She is an associate in the Venture Capital (http://www.cooley.com/venturecapital) practice group and a member of the Cooley Business department. Robyn's practice focuses on the formation and representation of private equity and venture capital funds, including representation of issuers and venture capital funds in public and private financing transactions, as well as, emerging growth companies in financing transactions and matters of general business and corporate law. Robyn received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) & her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), graduating summa cum laude and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/8/a/c/event_137770412.jpeg
www.Cooley.com (http://www.cooley.com/index.aspx)
Cooley LLP is a law firm that specializes in working with emerging technology companies. They recently opened up their Santa Monica, CA offices facing the ocean. They are considered as one of the largest technology business firms in the world. Clients include: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, eBay, TiVo, Yelp!, Adobe Systems, Brocade, E*TRADE, Nintendo, Qualcomm, Electronic Arts, Hotwire.com, Mozilla (Firefox), Napster, PayPal, Rosetta Stone, Quest Software, Skype Communications, The Motley Fool, Bluetooth SIG, Network Solutions, and more...
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William "Chip" Brown, Owner of BIGMANBAKES (http://bigmanbakes.com/)
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WWW.BIGMANBAKES.COM (http://bigmanbakes.com/)
The Big Man (William "Chip" Brown) was actually a physician in training at UCLA Medical School when he began selling his cakes to colleagues at the hospital, more for fun than as an enterprise. A 6 foot 5 inch linebacker-looking dude, who does this delicate baking thing that will leave you scratching your head & asking "Did the Big Fella really make this?!". And Let me tell you, he does it delicately. Baking eased the pressures felt during all those rigorous hours of studying all that anatomy, & biochemistry. And because there is an odd correlation between chemistry in a lab and the chemistry of the perfect cake (makes you think, huh?), it was a natural fit.
Soon word spread, and Chip's name started to be heard among the most elite members of Hollywood. Now, Big Man Bakes has become a bona fide business. Welcome & prepare your taste-buds to be overjoyed!
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JJ Yore, VP & General Manager of Marketplace (http://www.marketplace.org/)
JJ oversees the business and editorial operations of Marketplace. He is responsible for Marketplace's growth and for setting board editorial direction for its content on air and online. JJ was selected by the Japan Society for its prestigious Leadership Fellowship program. He is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/e/5/6/c/event_177838732.jpeg
www.Marketplace.org (http://www.marketplace.org/)
The Marketplace portfolio includes: Marketplace Morning Report, a weekday hourly news service; the daily half-hour Marketplace afternoon drive-time program; Marketplace Monday, a weekend personal finance show, Marketplace Tech Report, a 4 minute daily technology report, & Marketplace's website, podcasts, and other digital content.
American Public Media is the 2nd largest producer of public radio programming in the nation & reaches more than 17 million listeners each week.
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Jason Feffer, Co-Founder of SodaHead (http://www.sodahead.com/)
Prior to launching SodaHead.com, Jason was the Vice President of Operations and served on the executive committee of MySpace overseeing advertising, revenue reporting, policy enforcement and government relations. Jason was instrumental in launching MySpace in 2003 and helped to grow its membership to 100 million. He was MySpace’s fourth member. In 1999, Jason joined his first dot-com start-up, Creative Planet where he led the technology efforts of two dozen Web sites to generate advertising revenue from a loyal readership of several hundred thousand film and television professionals.
Prior to his career in dot-com start-ups, Mr. Feffer worked in the interactive entertainment and video game industry at Activision and Davidson & Associates. He graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1993. http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/e/4/2/event_105532802.jpeg
www.SodaHead.com (http://www.sodahead.com/)
SodaHead.com, a leading opinion community focused on discussing today’s hottest topics. SodaHead is a website that facilitates users to express their opinions, share their ideas and ask others their views through questions and answers. SodaHead covers a range of topics from politics, entertainment, pop culture, music, sports or anything else in the news.
SodaHead also provides best in class polling technology for world class media companies including ESPN, ABC News, Good Morning America, LA Times, Warner Brothers Television and Anderson Cooper.
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the treats: BIGMANBAKES (http://www.bigmanbakes.com/)
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UCLA Parking Structure 4 & Driving Directions
7pm Mixer is going to be held outdoors at UCLA Alumni Plaza (pictured on the upper right corner of the diagram). The Main event will begin at approx. 7:30-7-40pm @ Korn Hall which is adjacent. You'll need to park @ Parking Structure 4 (underground) & pay at the kiosk $11.00. We reserved 300 spots. *Please make sure to let the attendant know that you are going to the "Surviving Year 1" event.
From Wilshire Blvd. & Veteran Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
(click for map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Veteran+Ave+%26+Wilshire+Blvd.,+Los+Angeles,+CA++90024&daddr=Westwood+Plaza&hl=en&geocode=FSKuBwIdfaHw-CkFWtiHfbvCgDHwBu6gZ4zPTg%3BFWPoBwIdB63w-A&aq=&sll=34.073146,-118.443389&sspn=0.004826,0.010568&vpsrc=6&gl=us&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=17&ie=UTF8&ll=34.068623,-118.446715&spn=0.009652,0.021136&t=m&z=16&layer=c&ei=W7ezUJKCCamjiALA1YGIDw&pw=2) then click large map at top of pg. for a map)
Note: You must take Sunset Blvd. to get to Parking Structure 4
Head northwest on Veteran Ave toward Kinross Ave. Turn Right onto Sunset Blvd. Take the 2nd right onto Westwood Plaza. Enter underground to Parking Structure 4 and pay attendant at Kiosk $11.00/Tell them you are there for "Surviving Year 1."
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the venue: Korn Hall: UCLA Anderson School of Management (http://maps.ucla.edu/campus/?locid=65211)