Brent is CEO & Co-founder at Condensed.

Brent leads condensed.io, a tight team of digital branding specialists helping startups find their identity and reach new heights. Brent is also a product designer and co-founder with Keepers Coffee Soda and BollyX.

Joy is an experienced founder, investment evaluator, and advisor to high growth innovative companies across sectors seeking to scale sustainably. She advises on partnerships, business modeling, go to market strategy, operations, and financial modeling. Joy has advised dozens of companies across geographies from M&A and strategic planning to process improvement and supply chain management.

Joy is an active advisor across accelerators and university startup communities including VentureOut, Techstars, I2F CyberNYC, Cal Hacks, and Columbia University’s Entrepreneurship Design Studio.  Joy is an alumna of Columbia Business School, The London School of Economics, and UC Berkeley.

Stella serves as Senior Executive at one of the largest media groups in the world and has helped win several new businesses and new global clients for MDC’s client portfolio. Stella is a subject matter expert on the role of Digital Media in Advertising, Digital Operations and the future of the Internet.

She has experience working in global operations and business technology integration issues and has worked extensively with companies such as E*Trade and Fox to engage in a more data and technology-driven marketing approach. Stella is now based in NYC and as a self-identified polymath is exploring among other things the future of media through technological innovation.

Sam Newbold has been supporting VentureOut companies to secure US visas since 2013. He is experienced in a wide range of employment based, family based, and investment based immigration issues, working closely with the global startup and tech communities, representing cutting edge companies and talented individuals who comprise New York’s rapidly growing Silicon Alley.

Mr. Newbold also works closely with foreign investors seeking nonimmigrant or immigrant status through EB5 or E-2 investments, and he is also experienced in helping foreign business owners receive L visa status through establishing New Offices in the United States.

As a business lawyer, Joseph represents startups to publicly-held technology, life science and consumer companies, venture capital and private equity funds and investment banks in a wide range of seed and venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and other public offerings. Joseph has represented issuers and underwriters in dozens of IPOs and follow-on public offerings involving companies in the technology, life sciences and consumer sectors, including leading investment banks such as Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Oppenheimer.

He is currently a partner and Co-Chair of the Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice of McCarter, a 400+ lawyer U.S. law firm with a global practice.

Brian is the CEO and founder of VentureOut, which he launched in 2012 while working at Gotham Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund. He started VentureOut as a vehicle to help bridge the gap between the innovators around the world and the opportunities available to them in the New York and San Francisco technology ecosystems.

Brian is also a proud advocate of the New York City's vibrant technology community, a role he plays as a speaker, a mentor, on the Board of Directors of the NYC Innovation Collective, Founding Member of NYC Tech International, a member of the FWD.us Innovation Council and as the Founder of the Chaminade Alumni Entrepreneurs Association.

Prior to VentureOut, Brian’s career has spanned venture, at Gotham Ventures, consulting, supporting early-stage tech startups in NYC, business development, at OTR Global, and sales, as the youngest institutional salesperson globally at Standard & Poor's. Brian received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Richmond.

Ethan is a master in Quantitative Financial and Risk Analytics (QFRA). And he has experienced in venture capital, financial analysis, and non-profit project management. Also, he is an intensive researcher, a techie, and a problem solver who is deeply involved in the startup ecosystem.
Additionally, he has experienced in deal sourcing and due diligence activities, market research authoring, financial modeling, valuation analysis, and business development.

Jump into the Light is America's first Virtual Reality Cinema and Playlab (https://jumpintothelight.com). We are located in Lower East Side Manhattan. Besides running a successful arcade open to the public, we also focus on education and healthcare initiatives as well. We have a small team of developers working on creating custom content and are beginning to attract big name cooperate clients for our work.

Urs is the Managing Partner of BDMI. He is also a founding member who joined BDMI as Chief Financial Officer in 2006 from the Corporate Controlling and Strategy group at Bertelsmann where he was “chief of staff” to the CEO and worked on strategic projects for all of the media company’s divisions including TV, radio, music, books, magazines and services. Urs has led investments in CrowdTwist, Mojiva (acquired by Pubmatic), Skimlinks, StyleHaul (acquired by RTL) and Zergnet. He is actively pursuing new investments in online video and next-generation publishing. Urs speaks at digital media conferences around the globe and is an active supporter of the arts and various philanthropic organizations. Urs was a Ph.D. Candidate at the Handelshochschule Leipzig and holds a Dlpl.Kfm degree in finance and strategy from the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. He also earned an M.B.A. in finance from Tulane University. Urs was named a 2014 Power Player in Digital Media by AlwaysOn and was on the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Urs is a weekend biker, a lifelong gamer and a self-proclaimed computer nerd who can bust out any motherboard, fire up a soldering iron and crank it up to 11.

Ricardo Roberts is Venture Partner at VU Venture Partners.

He is Venture Partner with a proven ability to help startups grow at VU Venture Partners, a San Francisco-based multi-stage investment fund. A strategic leader who sees the big picture and can share that vision with others. Passionate about fintech and blockchain, and even more excited about the investments our team made within those verticals. He looks forward to additional investment opportunities in those verticals, along with eSports, as He leverages his financial services and digital advertising background.

Anna Kotyza is the Content Director at VentureOut, creating content for VentureOut programs. Holding a strong background in storytelling, film-making, virtual reality, business development, strategy, research, video editing, content creation, and media.
Prior to VentureOut, Anna studied visual and media art production at Emerson University. And currently studying arts, business, technology and innovation in New York University.

Cal Zarin is the Founder and Principal of Shared Value Media (SVM).

Founded in 2011, SVM creates scalable corporate partnerships among a network of nonprofits with a measurement framework to quantify both the social and media impact of the investment. SVM’s clients include EmblemHealth, Advantage Care Physicians, 212 LTD, NYC Parks and Rec., SC Johnson, Concept Farm, ThomasArts, among others. Before launching Shared Value Media, Cal led a consulting practice where he supported the fundraising and programmatic objectives of national nonprofits. Prior to that, Cal led the Carat Brand Experience NY office and was a key member of the national Aegis new business team, representing the event marketing capabilities of the holding company in key brand pitches, including SEARS/KMART, Orbitz, Kohler, and others.

John is a Partner at Greycroft Partners and is based in the firm’s NYC office.

Prior to Greycroft, John was a Partner at iNovia Capital for six years.  While there, he worked with Greycroft on eight co-investments including Babble (acquired by Disney), Collective, OggiFinogi (acquired by Collective), Vizu (acquired by Nielsen) and WorkFusion.  John also led the firm’s investments in TripleLift, Chango, BeyondtheRack, and Lenddo.

John was part of the early NYC startup community starting at 24/7 Media where he worked in Strategic Planning and later ran marketing for two of its products. Afterward, at Turnstone Capital, John advised dMarc Broadcasting on its first round of institutional financing as well as an acquisition prior to its sale to Google.  John started his career at Veronis Suhler Stevenson an investment firm focused on the media and communications industries.

John holds an MBA from New York University with a dual specialization in Finance and Marketing and a BA Degree in Economics from Lehigh University.  John is married with three kids and lives in the wilds of Westchester.

David founded Samsung NEXT as a startup within Samsung to foster a culture of innovation across our global offices. The mission of Samsung NEXT is to help transform Samsung. We help entrepreneurs and innovators Build, Grow, and Scale software and services businesses. Our suite of services and capabilities allow us to meet and support innovators wherever they are, at any stage in their lifecycle. We do this by making venture investments to gain market intelligence and create collaboration opportunities, by executing on M&A and partnerships to bring new capabilities and talent to existing Samsung products, and by leveraging our own product development expertise to create entirely new software and services businesses and platforms.

Linda loves deep tech and knows it well. With a strong interest in blockchain, enterprise infrastructure, security, data-driven applications, and IoT, She is a tireless student of early-stage technologies and an advocate for their long-term transformational potential.

Linda’s previous roles as a Research Analyst at ChinaRock Capital and an early-stage VC at Flatiron Investors have taught her attention to detail and a tenacious curiosity.

She received a BBA (Hon) in Finance & Actuarial Science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and an MBA from Columbia University.

Kunal is currently a principal with Hearst Ventures. Previously, Kunal managed tech investments for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund. Kunal was formerly a co-founder of Unfold and the author of Disruptors. Kunal is currently working on his second book, Finding Genius.
Kunal graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business. While at J.P. Morgan, Kunal worked in Treasury Security Services, REPO Sales and Trading, International Retail Finance and Investment Banking. After graduating, Kunal worked as an equities trader with Nomura Securities.
Kunal transitioned and helped build out the finance and investment function at charity: water, a non-profit that provides clean and safe drinking water in developing countries. Kunal was also a co-founder of Unfold, a socially-powered mobile application for sharing and discovering content.
In Disruptors, Kunal profiles the early heartbreaks and triumphs of the entrepreneurs behind game-changing companies such as Pinterest, Foursquare, FEED Projects, Dwolla and Venture for America.

Ashley Smith has built a long career helping early-stage startups scale into successful organizations. She was most recently an executive at GitHub (acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2018). Prior to that, she was CMO at GitLab, Head of Marketing at Parse (acquired by Facebook 2013), and got her start in go-to-market in the early days of Twilio (IPO 2016).

Serge Kassardjian is the co-founder and CEO of StayTuned Digital, a smart next generation content distribution company.

He was the Global Head of Media Apps for Google Play and Android. He led global business development efforts with Media companies including Entertainment, Video, Sports, News, Virtual Reality and Cable verticals. He was on the launch team for Daydream Virtual Reality, Android TV and various Nexus devices. He also worked on incubation businesses in Google’s GeoCommerce division, focused on Payments and Offers and was a member of the original Google Wallet launch team doing merchant partnerships. He was also the co-founder of NextRev Commerce (an AR and VR company helping brands and retailers build immersive commerce solutions), a Venture Capital Investor at Globespan Capital Partners and Corporate Development Director in Sony Music’s Global Digital Business. He started his career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Heather has strong expertise in content strategy and Acquisition that she developed during her time at CBS, Verizon and throughout her life. 
Heather is currently working cross-functionally across Verizon’s business team in product, operations NBA innovation and marketing to drive content implementation and general strategy. 

Alla is an experienced entrepreneur with a heavy background in marketing and communications. She has a passion for innovation and building strong game-changing teams. Alla is a co-founder of Black Friday, Russia’s first e-commerce platform for aggregation of event-based discounts with over 15 million active users.
Her love for the startup ecosystem led her to the role of Head of Program at Starta Accelerator, a NYC based program that empowers startups from Europe through an exclusive mentorship program. Alla and her team built successful global companies, contribute funds and other resources to foreign entrepreneurs at seed and pre-seed stages. Starta Accelerator is part of Starta Ventures, a venture capital global brand, the mission of which is to break through traditional venture capital barriers to empower the next generation of tech entrepreneurs.
Now Alla is a head of business development at a startup company Media Machines Lab.

Bunny Yan has been working in the fashion and marketing industries for over 20 years. After experiencing first-hand with the large-scale waste problem these industries produce, she started her company with a focus on 'Upcycle' & 'Storytelling'. Bunny's accomplishments have been featured in Forbes, WWD, she has been invited to the White House and spoke in front of the UN.

Rahul is an entrepreneurial fundraising executive with nearly 20 years of diverse cross-sector experience who brings an innovative perspective to leadership teams. He has served in senior-level roles at early-stage growth organizations in both the public and social sectors and has raised nearly $15m for education and gender equality programs in the US, India, China, and Kenya. Rahul has a chemical engineering background and non-profit experience in both sports and education. He currently serves on the board of the Global Give Back Circle.

Joshua Ness is an Open Innovation Manager with Verizon in New York City. He is also co-founder at StrategyHack and co-director for the NYC chapter of Startup Grind, a global community of entrepreneurs.

He teaches enterprise teams how to drive intrapreneurship and collaborate with startups to create new markets for growth. He also works to educate, inspire, and connect people as a mentor and educator on topics like networking, corporate innovation, and growth.

Safi Keshvargar is Venture Investor at Brand Capital focusing on cross-border deals. His venture expertise span across three levels: Fund, Accelerator, and Business Development/Partnerships.

Safi managed 60+ pre-seed start-ups through to venture investment, providing marketing strategy, brand strategy, business development strategy, financial modeling, design thinking practices, and investor pitch deck preparation. Also, he is UK recipient of the IBM Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design prize.
He is a successful commercial manager with recognized track record closing deals up to $40M.
Also, expertise in financial modeling and decision-making process.

Matt Swulinski is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and growth hacker that leverages a data-driven approach while focusing on cutting through the noise and driving ROI for startups & enterprises. He combines Fortune 500 Innovation Consulting experience with learnings from founding his own startups to help accelerate growth for other companies. He serves as a Mentor & Startup Advisor at various VC firms and startup accelerators, delivering value through coaching & teaching growth marketing boot camps around the US.

Paul Dawalibi is CEO at Obsidian Ventures

Entrepreneur, investor, and dynamic executive. Esports and gaming experts (long before it was cool and trendy). Paul loves to build businesses at the cutting edge of technology and media. Currently building a tech and gaming empire.

As a startup founder with multiple exits, He thinks there are a lot of things broken with the way that entrepreneurs approach sales and marketing in today’s complex market. His team’s focus in 2018 is to make sure they can help as many people as they can scale their businesses without running out of money. He has knowledge of various fields that is helpful for startups and also can provide insight into many areas such as Team Building & Strategic Planning, Corporate Innovation & Partnerships, Growth Hacking & Lead Generation, Marketing & Community Engagement, Seed & Venture Capital, Emerging Trends & Digital Technology.

Nick Rockwell joined The New York Times Company in November 2015 as senior vice president and chief technology officer. He was promoted to executive vice president in June 2017. Rockwell is responsible for all technology operations, including infrastructure, e-commerce, enterprise computing and development of the company’s digital systems. Rockwell joined the Times Company from Condé Nast, where he oversaw all aspects of the company’s technology development and operations. He holds a B.A. in literary theory from Yale, and lives in Brooklyn.

Gordon Meyer is a 20+ year industry veteran & innovation consultant with a wealth of experience working at disruptive companies. He is the CEO of EngineBloc, a boutique innovation and growth studio for post-seed startups. He also serves as NY Chapter President for the VR AR Association, teaches Blockchain at Columbia College Chicago Online, and serves on the board of advisors for BWG Strategy.
Gordon has been featured on NPR’s All Tech Considered, as well as publications such as INC Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Skift and Brandchannel among others. In 2018 he was named one of the “30 people to watch in Augmented Reality” by Next Reality News. In 2015 he was named “Top 40 under 40 Brand Marketers” by Brand Innovators a premier Marketing industry think tank.

Derek is an Associate at A+E Networks.

He is passionate about innovation at the intersection of media, technology, and social impact. With professional experiences in strategy, development, and business operations across broadcast, digital, and social media, my goal is to help shape how media and technology organizations will continue to change how content and information are created, distributed, and consumed.

Kevin drives Voy Media with a forward-looking vision that aligns clients’ business goals with frequent changes in the marketing industry. Kevin is an avid outdoorsman and nature lover; when not in the concrete jungle of New York, he can be found trying to explore a real one.

Alexa is a strategic marketer with 5 years of experience vetting early-stage startups and managing client relations with Fortune 500 brands. She has a passion for creating connections between people and businesses and is very well-immersed in the NYC tech scene.

Alexa is now a VP at Grey Group. Grey ranks among the world's top advertising and marketing organizations, serving one-fifth of the FORTUNE 500, in 96 countries.