Innovate Celebrate is more than just a celebration of everything TechCo is about. This annual conference isn’t just about the Startup of the Year competition or the inspiring speakers. Our mission is to provide a supportive community for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators from around the world. And nothing demonstrates our commitment more than the mentor sessions we organize for our attendees.
At Innovate Celebrate 2017, you’ll be able to sign up for a wide range of mentorship tracks with everything from one-on-one attention to group advice from tech leaders, experts, investors and influencers in industries that coincide with your particular niche and stage of startup.
Mentor Sessions Presented by Revelry
Getting one-on-one attention is nearly impossible in the startup world. Founders, CEOs, investors and directors of employees are always moving a mile a minute and rarely have time to sit down and talk shop. But at Innovate Celebrate 2017, you’ll be able to pick the brain of some of the most influential entrepreneurial minds in the world today.
These 30 minutes private sessions are designed for attendees who wish to take a deep dive into challenges facing their startup or business and gain valuable insight and advice to help build their business.
Mentor Circles Presented by Revelry
Sometimes, you need to bounce your ideas off of other founders to get the most out of a mentorship program. That’s where our mentor circles come in handy. You’ll have the chance to sit down with tech leaders, experts, influencers, and aspiring entrepreneurs like yourself to learn about how your startup should progress through the next stage in your business.
These 30 minute group sessions are designed for attendees that want the opportunity to gain insight into specific challenges they are having within their business and receive valuable targeted advice for those issues.
Meet the Mentors
If you’re interested in learning whose brain you’ll have a chance to pick, check out the list of mentors below. We’ll be releasing more throughout the week, so check back to find out who will be imparting wisdom at Innovate Celebrate 2017.
Ben Parr, Cofounder and CMO, Octane AI
Ben is an author, technologist, investor, journalist, entrepreneur, and expert on growth and attention. He has advised companies large and small on topics of technology, marketing, media, and growth.
Brian Gorbett, Director, Microsoft for Startups | West
Meet with Brian to gather expert advice as you build your high-performing team on the latest technologies and to navigate the latest software architecture and business development opportunities.
Cheryl Foil, Principal and Venture Capitalist, Kiddar Capital
Cheryl is an expert in smart cities technology, machine learning, investment, funding, placement capital into Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds, and innovation. She created the first Emmy-nominated AI while CTO at SocialSamba!
Dahlia Saper, Principal, Saper Law
Meet with Dahlia for expert advice on all things related to your intellectual property and legal business decisions. Additional areas of expertise include trade secret misappropriation, online defamation, domain name squatting, commercial disputes, and business entity decisions including operating agreements and employment contracts.
Gabriella Draney Zielke, Cofounder and CEO, Tech Wildcatters
Meet with Gabriella to discuss accelerators, serial entrepreneurship, business strategy, funding, and corporate innovation.
Justin Kulla, Founder and CEO, BusinessBlocks
Meet with Justin Kulla to gather expertise and wisdom on business education, venture capital, and the non-profit sector.
Justin Fishkin, Chief Strategy Officer, Local Motors
Ask Justin about sustainability, open-source, and making a difference in the world! Justin has delivered and scaled innovative solutions and worked in venture capital as well.
Kira A. Blackwell, iTech Program Executive & OCT Innovation Liaison, NASA
Kira has a background in providing leadership and solutions to startups, establishing advisory boards, and fundraising. Meet with Kira for serious innovation advice to help you navigate all your challenges: she spearheaded NASA’s iTech initiative!
Laura Kennedy, VP Corporate Development, Techstars
Meet with Laura to get clarity on how to cultivate your startup’s relationship with corporate leaders to enable collaborative innovation and value creation. Laura has completed $2 billion in strategic transactions, involving startups from around the globe and teams of 2 to 200.
Marvin Liao, Partner, 500 Startups
Meet with Marvin to discuss investment and company development strategy. Marvin has invested in Digital Media, Enterprise SAAS, Marketplace, Fintech, Adtech, Digital Health, Internet of Things & Mobile startups across the globe.
Michael Hughes, Senior Director of Equity Crowdfunding, Indiegogo
Meet with Michael for guidance as you make big decisions for your company involving business development, partner/customer relations, strategic partnerships, and new market launch/development.
Steve Koenig, Senior Director of Market Research, Consumer Technology Association
Steve oversees all primary research activities; examining technology trends and their impact on consumer attitudes and behavior. He is an expert in market research and technology innovation.
Tyler Suiters, VP of Communication, Consumer Technology Association
Chat with Tyler about his 20 years of broadcast communication and media experience! He is an expert in media, journalism and communications.
Becca Samson, Marketing Manager, Google for Entrepreneurs
Meet with Becca to learn more about Google for Entrepreneurs, a program that provides financial support and the best of Google’s resources to dozens of coworking spaces and community programs. Becca’s marketing specialties include strategy for mass engagement, social media, and branding.
Jeff Slobotski, Founder and Managing Partner, Router Ventures
Meet with Jeff to tap into his experience connecting companies like yours to the global resources available to help your company make an impact. Some give Jeff the credit for creating the Silicon Prairie, so partner with him to understand how to innovate and grow regardless of your location.
Larry Richenstein, Director, New York Angels
Larry has started a number of successful companies in electronics hardware. Ask Larry about the hardware patent process, and connect on topics such as enterprise software, transportation, consumer goods, and clean technology.
Mayra Ceja, Principal, Social Starts
Mayra has experience launching a seed fund and managing VC and LP portfolios. Meet with Mayra to help discover the best ways to connect with capital, investments, and partnerships to grow your business.
Andre Fowlkes, President, Start Co
Andre is a wealth and money management expert with experience growing entrepreneurial ecosystems. Chat with him to gather expertise on entrepreneurship, government, journalism, non-profit, and economic and community development.
Angela Leon, Account Director, Airfoil Group
Meet with Angela to discuss launch strategy and consumer and corporate communications programs. Her expertise lies in national consumer and business media strategy, brand journalism, crisis communications and thought leadership for technology, automotive, healthcare and consumer brands.
George Stepancich, CEO & Managing Director, Invisionate, LLC
As the CEO and managing director of Invisionate, George is an expert in business development, venture capital, and consumer electronics.
Register Now to Attend Innovate Celebrate 2017
Make sure to join us at the Innovate Celebrate conference in San Francisco, CA. The event will take place October 9-11, and it is held in partnership with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).
This year, we are proud to offer the Mentor Sessions and Mentor Circles Presented by Revelry thanks to support from the team at Revelry. Revelry builds digital products to help companies scale, automate workflows, and deliver on innovation faster than their competitors.
This list has been altered since it’s original post