Spotlight: LA Tech Summer Judges Includes BetterWorks, CallFire, Idealab, and Tech Coast Angels
The Spotlight: LA Tech Summer event is turning to be the best one yet! Excellent companies being submitted and most of which I wish could all be part of this amazing night. To help curate and show off the best that LA has to offer we called in a few friends. So with out further ado I present the Spotlight: LA Tech Summer 2011 Judges!
Zao Yang, COO at BetterWorks Inc,/ Co-Creator of Farmville
Sizhao “Zao” Yang is currently the COO/co-founder at BetterWorks, Inc., a perks platform for small medium businesses. Previously, he co-created Farmville, and was the CEO/co-founder of MyMiniLife, Inc. (sold to Zynga Game Networks, Inc.). After the acquisition, MyMiniLife became the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users including games like Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. He also designed the Farmville iPhone application (top iPhone app), and worked on corporate development deals including Microsoft, Yahoo, Zynga Japan, and Zynga corporate strategy. He is also an active investor with stakes in companies like Hipmunk, GroupMe, Facebook, Zynga (acquisition stock), and SV Angels. He received a B.S. in computer science at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Alex Maleki, Member of New Venture Group at Idealab
Alex is a member of the New Venture Group at Idealab, headed by Allen Morgan. Alex previously helped lead the Proto Group at Idealab, working to determine the feasibility of new business ideas. Prior to Idealab, Alex led sales and marketing efforts for venture-backed startups focused on enterprise software and services. He holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a JD from Southwestern University, and suffers from an addiction to cheeseburgers.
Alex serves on the Board of Directors for Logsdon School, a non-profit school providing educational services to students with special needs.
Dinesh Ravishanker, CEO & Co-Founder at CallFire
Dinesh’s passion is developing VoIP-driven startups and creating unique online growth strategies. He is a recognized leader in the Voice 2.0 space and has focused his career exclusively on VoIP Integration consulting. Dinesh is a highly entrepreneurial executive with a track record of driving sales through innovative biz-dev and online marketing techniques. In the past, Dinesh served as President of Skyy Consulting Inc. and has led business analysis & user interface design projects for the U.S. Navy, Pfizer, & Unisys Corp. Dinesh earned his B.S. in Computer Science and his MBA from UC Irvine.
Scott Sangster, President of Tech Coast Angels (Los Angeles)/CEO at OrganicStartup
OrangicStartup’s is a company that helps Internet startups start. OrganicStartup incubates and accelerates innovative ventures by providing them with strategic early-stage investment, advisory, and operational assistance. Sangster is a serial entrepreneur and M&A executive with experience both founding and acquiring businesses. He sits on several boards and is involved in the virtual worlds, gaming, mobile, media, and healthcare markets.
Prior to running OrganicStartup, Sangster was responsible for strategic planning and corporate development at the Walt Disney Internet Group. Sangster identified new media growth opportunities, developed strategy, and managed the evaluation and execution of acquisitions that helped Disney meet its strategic objectives.
Before Disney, Sangster founded and managed a venture-backed Internet business, served five years as a management consultant to media and technology companies, and oversaw the launch of one of the first online banking services. He graduated from The American University in Washington D.C. and holds a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Sangster lives in Los Angeles and is actively involved in improving early childhood education.
Still Time to Submit Your Company!
There is still time to apply so if you have yet to do so APPLY HERE. Spotlight: LA Tech Summer will take place Thursday, July 14, at 6pm. Entries will be closed for company submissions at midnight of July 4th, 2011.
SuperDemo
Spotlight: LA Tech Summer SuperDemo is all electric car company CODA. CODA Automotive is a privately held company headquartered in Santa Monica, California that designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and lithium-ion battery systems purpose-built for transportation and utility applications. Their vision is to be the key technology provider to reduce global dependence on oil and the harmful social, economic and environmental consequences that follow. Their focus is green technology. Their team is a small group of technology-minded innovators who are committed to doing things differently — from automotive design, manufacturing and distribution, to service needs and the entire customer experience.
Their all new all electric car is set to be released for sale in limited quantities at the end of 2011. We hear they might bring something special to this event…..wonder what that might be?
Join Us
If you’d like to see some of the best technologies and meet some of the brightest minds in beautiful Southern California, SIGN UP NOW.
Event Details
- When: Thursday, July 14th, 2011 – 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Where: CalTech 1200 E California Blvd Pasadena, CA 91125
- What: Spotlight Series Event
- Price: $15 (Early Bird)
- RSVP:
AGENDA
6:00 – 7:00pm – check-in
7:00 – 7:10pm – introductory remarks
7:10 – 8:00pm – 5 five-minute demos, followed by brief Q&A for each company (approx. 10 min per presenter)
8:00 – 8:30pm – “Superdemo”
8:30 – 9:30pm – cocktail reception and networking
Making Spotlight: LA Tech Summer Possible
Diamond Sponsor
At CallFire.com, they try to make using VoIP, simple. They are dedicated to providing high-availability systems, beautiful user interfaces, furious developer support and unparalleled customer care. They are a unique group of intellectuals with aspirations to truly change how companies do business.
CallFire.com is a small company with fewer than 20 employees located in beautiful Santa Monica. As of May 2010, CallFire has over 20,000 customers! We’re just an hour from the snow and steps from the beach. We work harder than we play, and we play harder than most!
Co-Host & Venue Sponsor
The Caltech Entrepreneurship Club is the hub for innovators in the Caltech community who want to learn how to make their idea a reality. We leverage our network in the Los Angeles community to provide members with access to potential employees, mentors and investors.
The Caltech/MIT Enterprise forum is a joint venture ofCaltech’s Industrial Relations Center, Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer, the Caltech Alumni Association and the MIT Alumni Association. Its mission is to encourage the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in Southern California.
Silver Sponsors
The world wastes billions of dollars per year in inefficient and ineffective meetings and we are going to change that. With MeetingBurner we want to build a community of online meeting fanatics who want to change the world by making meeting easier, faster, and more efficient. Absurdly fast and easy online meetings- free for everybody!
Xavor invest through our dependable consulting services. If you believe that you have a great idea that has a potential to sell and you need help in product development, we are here for your help. We have helped many other startups through our carefully designed investment model. We offer our services and resources to startup firms so that they can focus on marketing strategy, PR or planning new features for the upcoming releases instead of burning their cash on product development. We help to deliver the product in time by utilizing the technical skills of our expert professionals backed by 15 years of consulting knowledge hence, taking the technology risk out of your venture.
JOIN. VOTE. ENGAGE. CHANGE YOUR WORLD. It’s that simple.
theGORILLAunderground is a protected online society of trendsetters, tastemakers, and fickle influential consumers that are willing to share insight with the brands they love.
Critique^It is peer-review without barriers—feedback without managing emails, commentary and document versions. No more Track Changes-as-feedback-tool, or the time-consuming process of managing papers and handwritten feedback. With Critique^It users can embed text, audio and video feedback on virtually any type of file including word documents, images, presentations and spreadsheets. Providing a new way to collaborate, Critique^It is an engaging space for groups to connect, track feedback and manage documents.
LawPivot is a legal Q&A website enabling companies, especially startups, to confidentially receive crowdsourced legal answers from highly qualified lawyers for a fraction of the cost.
Community Sponsors
Giving Away An Apple TV
The Coloft is a space for entrepreneurs, independents, startups, programmers, designers, professionals, and awesome people in general. Because putting all of us together results in amazing things –together we are even more brilliant than we are alone.
Tech Coast Angels is actively seeking great startups to fund. Providing more than just money, TCA brings connections, knowledge, mentoring and operational assistance to bold early-stage entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas.
Idealab continues to explore a range of technology frontiers. New models for improving the search experience are at the core of several companies currently growing inside of Idealab. Moving beyond the Internet, we have spawned companies with breakthrough technologies in robotics, renewable energy and automotive design and production among others. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies.
daqri is an augmented reality and mobile web content publishing platform that utilizes QR codes to deliver content. An early-stage Southern California startup, daqri personal and pro accounts provide users with the ability to create and publish 3D augmented reality experiences using a simple design interface that does not require coding knowledge. Other supported content types include videos, photos, links, social profiles, check-ins, and more.
Giving out discount codes for (gs), (dv), or (ve) servers and a few extra goodies to all who signup for the event!
(mt) Media Temple, Inc. is a web hosting and virtualization service provider headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Since 1998, the company has provided businesses around the world with reliable, professional-class services to host websites, email, business applications, and other rich Internet content.
ProjectFresh was founded in 2002 as a platform to launch projects and companies that have a shared set of goals:
- To galvanize community and to promote cross-pollination.
- To inspire and facilitate personal and cultural growth.
- To explore how new technologies impact society.
We achieve these goals by designing experiences that mix disciplines, such as Mindshare LA; bringing together people with diverse skills to create unique companies like Syyn Labs; or twisting together the unexpected, as in the charitable-meets-public-improv exploits of The Tuxedo Tyrants.
Demeter Interactive is a digital marketing and communications firm based in Los Angeles, California. The firm has a strategy-based approach with a strong focus on technology and high-quality content. Co-Founded by Jesse Bouman and Gaia Dempsey, the company serves technology startups and companies with a focus on sustainability.
Want to Sponsor?
We currently have sponsorship slots open If you would like to be part of this amazing event and show your support for TechZulu. Contact us at sponsor@techzulu.com
- Sponsorship Opportunities for Events, and other channels
- Sponsored giveaways and contests
- Custom ad deals and partnerships
