A Founder's Journey: Panel & Reception

A Founder's Journey: Panel & Reception

​Join our Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs of SoCal Panel & Reception in San Diego featuring a panel of founders sharing their journey. Make new Cardinal connections with a reception afterwards. In partnership with the Stanford Club of San Diego.
​Be a part of our first panel + reception event in San Diego!

​Panelists:

​Andy Taylor | RetroRate | BS Computer Science
​After a career at Electronic Arts, Apple, and Redfin (where he led the product team), Andy started his first company, Approved, in the mortgage tech space while Entrepreneur in Residence at the VC firm, Social Capital. After raising a seed round and building the company, Approved parlayed a potential customer, Credit Karma, into a potential acquirer. Now he’s back at company building with RetroRate, helping real estate professionals and new homebuyers take over lower interest rate mortgages instead of financing a new, expensive loan.
​
Brandon Lieu | Hybron | BS Energy, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
​Brandon Lieu is the co-founder and CEO of Hybron a dual-use advanced manufacturing startup that is raising a $20M Round. They are led by Stanford/Berkeley graduates and the former CTO of Northrop Grumman. They have designed a revolutionary way to make lightweight, high-performance composite products at 10-100 times the speed of traditional manufacturing, have proven their technology in a fighter jet engine, are approved suppliers of some of the largest Aerospace Primes, and have secured >$120M in binding orders.

​Roberto Milk | [Handmade.com](http://handmade.com/) | BA International Relations
​Roberto Milk is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of [Handmade.com](http://handmade.com/), a social impact marketplace transforming artisans' lives globally. Partnered with National Geographic, UNICEF, and Kiva, Novica, under Milk's leadership, has empowered village economies, sending over $100M to artisans while championing sustainable entrepreneurship and global cultural preservation. Roberto was named an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation, a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in Davos, and a YPO Impact Award Winner for the Pacific Region.

​Sashee Chandran | Tea Drops
​Sashee Chandran is Founder and CEO of Tea Drops, a California based, innovative tea company, creating organic, bagless teas. Tea has always been a staple in her upbringing, especially being born to a Chinese mother and Sri Lankan father (who was actually born on a tea estate). Sashee witnessed first hand how the ritual of tea brought people and communities together. Tea Drops can be found in over 2,000 retail stores nationwide, as well as online. Tea Drops has been featured on Forbes, Good Morning America, and Oprah Magazine as well as loved by female giants like Chrissy Teigen, Tory Burch, and Michelle Obama. Sashee is a Tory Burch Fellow. Winner of the $100,000 2018 Woman-Owned Businesses with Impact Grant from the Tory Burch Foundation, $50,000 2020 PepsiCo-Frito Lay WomanMade Grant, and $20,000 2017 Women Founders Network Grant
​
Sky Meltzer | Manduka | BS Economics
​A mission driven leader and entrepreneur with 20 years of global consumer branding, investment and management experience and proven ability to align consumer aspirations and values with market opportunities, exponentially grow revenues, craft transformative brands, leverage digital marketing and social media to build market share, attract strategic investment partners and deliver 30%+IRRs, inspire passionate teams, innovate product offerings across new categories and distribution channels, elevate quality and customer service standards, and develop proprietary, sustainable supply chains.
​Thank you to our generous host and sponsor: Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo

​Limited Space: Register HERE

​Learn more about us: https://www.stanfordaandeofsocal.com
​Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs of Southern California’s mission is to create a robust network that connects Stanford alumni to innovative opportunities and fosters meaningful connections through in person and virtual events with the vibrant Southern California ecosystem. We are looking for passionate volunteers to join our board who have time to help our team with events, marketing, pitch and more.