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What does it take to grow a startup into a company worth $1B?
Who are the next SoCal unicorns?
Why You Should Attend
Gain invaluable insights from some of the best in the game –- see how they did it and how you can too
Meet startup founders and CEOs with ambitious vision and battle tested experience
Cocktail reception in a very cool architectural space with amazing views of DTLA (had you at cocktails, right?)
Agenda + Speaker Lineup
4:00 p Attendee Check-in + Refreshments
4:30 p Welcome
- Lew Horne, CBRE Divisional President, Southern California, Arizona and Hawaii
4:40 p Panel Discussion: “Thinking Big: What it Takes to Become a Unicorn”
- Adam Miller – Founder + CEO, Cornerstone OnDemand
- Hemi Zucker – Managing Principal, OCV Partners and Co-Founder & CEO (former), j2 Global
- Chang Xu – Principal, Upfront Ventures
- Jamie Montgomery - Managing Director, March Capital
- Eva Ho - General Partner, Fika Ventures
- Jonathan Shieber, Editor, TechCrunch (moderator)
- [Additional Panelists Will Be Announced Soon]
5:30 p Emerging Unicorn Showcase + Q&A
Who will be SoCal’s next Unicorn? Presenting…
- Inspire – Patrick Maloney, Founder + CEO
- GumGum – Ophir Tanz, Founder + CEO
- Openpath – Alex Kazerani, Founder + CEO
- Seismic – Douglas Winter, Founder + CEO
- Brad Schwartz - Founder and Managing Partner of Strategic Law Partners, LLP and of SLP Ventures (emcee)
6:30 p Hosted Cocktail Reception
Sponsors:
Speaker Bios
Adam Miller – Founder + CEO, Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD)
Adam started the company in 1999 from his one-bedroom apartment to help people around the world to realize their potential. Today Cornerstone is one of the world’s largest cloud computing companies, with over 37 million users across 192 countries. The company currently has a $2.77 billion market cap.
Hemi Zucker – Managing Principal, OCV Partners and Co-Founder & CEO (former), j2 Global
OCV is a $260 Million Los Angeles-based venture fund with the objective of creating sustainable long-term value. As the CEO of j2 Global that he co-founded in 1996 in New York City and moved to LA in 1997, j2 Global reached $4.5 billion market cap and $1.25 billion annual sales in over 50 countries.
Chang Xu – Principal, Upfront Ventures
Upfront is currently investing out of its sixth fund of $400M and primarily leads Seed and Series A rounds. Chang invests in technology that augments human potential. She tends to spend time in the future of work (HR tech, non-traditional education, early childhood), AI/ML (computer vision, robotics), and commerce tech (logistics, manufacturing, supply chain).
Jamie Montgomery – Managing Director, March Capital
Jamie Montgomery is a Founder and Managing Director of March Capital Partners and the Founder of The Montgomery Summit, an annual conference that attracts over 1,000 global entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives to Santa Monica. Prior he was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Montgomery & Co, a well-known Los Angeles-based investment bank.
Eva Ho – General Partner, Fika Ventures
Eva is a General Partner at Fika Ventures, an early stage technology fund investing in companies that leverage the power of data as a core component of their business model. Prior to Fika, Eva was a founding GP at Susa Ventures. She is a serial entrepreneur and founder, with a company experience portfolio including Applied Semantics (AdSense), Factual, Google, Youtube and Navigating Cancer. She also serves on the board of California Community Foundation. She was recently the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the city of Los Angeles working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and his team. Eva holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA from Harvard.
Jonathan Shieber, Editor, TechCrunch
Jonathan has “been tasked with helping everyone find the signals on where venture capital investment – and technology development – are heading through the noise of daily funding announcements, new product launches, new product updates, add-on acquisitions, new hires, etc. etc. etc.” Previously he worked as a senior reporter for Dow Jones & Co., covering venture capital and private equity investment from New York and Shanghai. He is now based in Los Angeles.
Startup Profiles
Inspire
Patrick Maloney, Founder + CEO
Consumer technology platform that powers cleaner, more efficient, and more sustainable homes.
Total funding: $158.2M ($5M Series A)
GumGum
Ophir Tanz, Founder + CEO
An artificial intelligence company, with deep expertise in computer vision.
Total funding: $36.8M ($26M Series C)
Openpath
Alex Kazerani, Founder + CEO
Openpath creates smart security solutions for the modern office. The company’s flagship product enables employees to enter the office using their smartphones
Total funding: $27M ($20M Series B)
Seismic
Douglas Winter, Founder + CEO
Seismic is the leading global sales and marketing enablement solution, improving close rates and delivering larger deals for sales while increasing marketing’s impact on the bottom line.
Total Funding: $64.5M ($40M Series C)
