Friday Coffee Meet Up Podcast

Space exploration is a lot of things. Important. Groundbreaking. Inspiring. But cheap isn't one of them. The NASA JPL Curiosity Mars Rover Mission from 2011 had a price tag of $2.5 billion. It's Artemis program to go back to the moon has a budget of $35-billion. Those budgets are doable for large government agencies, but they're out of the realm of possibility for commercial “new space” applications. In fact, adapting NASA space technologies for commercial applications often means creating significant cost efficiencies, sometimes by a factor of 10. Without sacrificing capability,reliability or flexibility. Sound tough? It is, but one Pasadena Company has been on both sides of the equation. Chris Thayer, the CEO of Motiv Space Systems will tell the story of how the company successfully executed large NASA contracts, like building the primary robotic arm for JPL's mars 2020 rover, and then used that knowledge, experience and capability to move the cost of those systems nearly one decimal point to the left. The result of Chris and Motiv's work is putting advanced space robotics in reach of commercial applications that could never even consider them before. BIO: Chris Thayer Chris Thayer is an engineer, and CEO of Motiv Space Systems Inc., in Pasadena. Chris leads the company's work developing ground, and space-based robotic systems and components. The company's work includes robotic systems for NASA JPL's Mars 2020 mission, as well as the recently launched xLink Space-Rated Modular Robotic Arm System that's available for a wide range of commercial, government and education-focused missions. Chris is a frequent speaker at space, and robotics conferences and events.

Why is the size of the venture fund important to the entrepreneur? The size of the fund and the associated strategy for its portfolio construction should matter to the entrepreneur and the reasons why should be clear if you look at the math. Larger funds seek outsized returns, and therefore, this requires entrepreneurs to seek valuations over $1B in some cases. Depending on the founder's ownership percentage, this sometimes can be less desirable than smaller exits, which can be encouraged by micro VC funds. In this presentation – we are going to dive into the math behind venture funds, how this translates to the entrepreneur, and how entrepreneurs should factor a fund's size and portfolio strategy into their fundraising decisions. Jawhara Tariq is passionate about funding the LA tech ecosystem. She is going to dive into the math behind venture funds, how this translates to an entrepreneur, and how entrepreneurs should factor a fund's size and portfolio strategy into their fundraising decisions. Bio: Jawhara Tariq has a background in LP investing, operations, and statistical analysis. Prior to joining Moonshots Capital, she created the investment mandate for a family office, helped to scale a venture development firm, and consulted with a fund of funds investing in underrepresented fund managers. Jawhara also worked as an associate at a venture fund in San Francisco where she made primary and secondary investments in late-stage enterprise software companies. Before working in venture capital, Jawhara worked in nonprofit consulting where she advised private foundations on how to increase impact. As a UCLA graduate and LA-native, Jawhara is passionate about building the LA tech ecosystem. Twitter: @JawharaTariq

The time when space exploration was only a matter of government has ended. In the past few years, a number of private space companies have skyrocketed. Elon Musk claims that the first manned crew to Mars will happen in 2024 whereas NASA plans to send humans to the same destination in the middle of the 2030s. There is a lot of interest expressed on how we will get there, yet no particular plans on HOW we will sustain our presence in the severe environment. Yet, NASA estimated that the crew behavioral health is a secondary risk in manned space missions after radiation exposure. Human factor considerations increase with the longevity of missions, in particular, their application to where future travelers will be living to support the wellbeing of the crew in an enclosed environment. What does the future of living in space look like? Is it going to look like the promise of sci-fi movies? Or somewhat different? Join Anastasia Prosina for a peek at what aspects need to be habitable modules to thrive in long-duration missions to Mars and why you should care. Visit Stellar Amenities to learn more about the future of living in space: https://stellaramenities.space/ Bio: Anastasia Prosina is an award-winning aspirational futurist and practitioner in Space Architecture, the nascent field of helping people thrive in small spaces in space. She is the Founder & CEO at Stellar Amenities, a company with the mission of complementing space habitats with lightweight, deployable & reconfigurable elements to support wellbeing in space. Anastasia has been involved in numerous space projects, from designing lightweight interior habitation structures for the TESSERAE self-assembling space station at MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Initiative to working on an Iceland-based Martian Analog Habitat commissioned by Mars Society. Her other places of work include aerospace company Excalibur Almaz, 4th Planet Logistics, and Galaktika Space. Anastasia holds a Masters in Space Architecture from Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture in proximity and collaboration of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Anastasia received a Bachelor's in Urban Design from Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design, and Art. Lived her entire life in Siberia, Russia, she is now paving her way in the Los Angeles space sector. Twitter handle @glazizglago #spacearchitecture

While the world is consumed with the current crisis, consumers are still selecting brands into their homes. What brands clear the test and why? A growing buyer value lies the answer to: “is this product produced in a sustainable and ethical fashion?” Sustainable operations are moving from marketing and public relations positioning to being embedded in the product experience. Join this discussion on how new technologies are providing transparency and assurance to consumers regarding fair labor, lower use of natural resources, eco-friendly packaging, and positive carbon footprints. Today's companies are looking beyond showing what they do with the products in a sustainable and ethical manner to looking downstream and upstream from the materials to the transportation and disposition of their products. This shift needs a new way to share trusted, auditable information that is openly shared and free from manipulation. Companies are now adopting blockchain as the assured way to share the information. The discussion will share use cases on how the technology is being used and where it is headed in helping provide the keys to a better planet. If you are looking for or some advance materials, please feel free to read Blockchain for Dummies https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/us-en/signup?formid=urx-16905 or view current use cases in action https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/use-cases/ Bio: Kurt Wedgwood leads IBM's Blockchain North America practice for the Retail, Consumer Product and Travel industries. To complement his focus and to give back, he is an Adjunct to the Albers School at Seattle University and former chair of Seattle University's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Board. His “blockchain moment” occurred in 2016 during a 5-month sabbatical when he was asked to write an analytics article regarding Ports. In this moment, he realized the impact blockchain will have on the world and has dedicated his career to applying blockchain capabilities. Kurt lives in Seattle, WA is a graduate from the University of Colorado and received his MBA from the University of Chicago. Publications include Blockchain topics and Data Governance topics. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wedgwood/ wedgwood@us.ibm.com.

Market ups and downs happen all the time. Some are industry-specific and some (like what we're seeing now) are general. What can you do as a founder to be resilient during a downturn and use the time as a period of growth? Bio: Paul Orlando has led startup accelerators on three continents. He is Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and runs USC's on-campus Incubator for businesses founded by students, alumni and faculty. Paul advises Fortune 500 and funded startups on internal product innovation, rapid experimentation and growth. He has degrees from Cornell and Columbia and was a winner at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. He studies unintended consequences. Twitter: @porlando

Space exploration is a lot of things. Important. Groundbreaking. Inspiring. But cheap isn’t one of them. The NASA JPL Curiosity Mars Rover Mission from 2011 had a price tag of $2.5 billion. It’s Artemis program to go back to the moon has a budget of $35-billion. Those budgets are doable for large government agencies, but they’re out of the realm of possibility for commercial “new space” applications. In fact, adapting NASA space technologies for commercial applications often means creating significant cost efficiencies, sometimes by a factor of 10. Without sacrificing capability,reliability or flexibility. Sound tough? It is, but one Pasadena Company has been on both sides of the equation. Chris Thayer, the CEO of Motiv Space Systems will tell the story of how the company successfully executed large NASA contracts, like building the primary robotic arm for JPL’s mars 2020 rover, and then used that knowledge, experience and capability to move the cost of those systems nearly one decimal point to the left. The result of Chris and Motiv’s work is putting advanced space robotics in reach of commercial applications that could never even consider them before. BIO: Chris Thayer Chris Thayer is an engineer, and CEO of Motiv Space Systems Inc., in Pasadena. Chris leads the company’s work developing ground, and space-based robotic systems and components. The company’s work includes robotic systems for NASA JPL’s Mars 2020 mission, as well as the recently launched xLink Space-Rated Modular Robotic Arm System that’s available for a wide range of commercial, government and education-focused missions. Chris is a frequent speaker at space, and robotics conferences and events.

Why is the size of the venture fund important to the entrepreneur? The size of the fund and the associated strategy for its portfolio construction should matter to the entrepreneur and the reasons why should be clear if you look at the math. Larger funds seek outsized returns, and therefore, this requires entrepreneurs to seek valuations over $1B in some cases. Depending on the founder’s ownership percentage, this sometimes can be less desirable than smaller exits, which can be encouraged by micro VC funds. In this presentation – we are going to dive into the math behind venture funds, how this translates to the entrepreneur, and how entrepreneurs should factor a fund’s size and portfolio strategy into their fundraising decisions. Jawhara Tariq is passionate about funding the LA tech ecosystem. She is going to dive into the math behind venture funds, how this translates to an entrepreneur, and how entrepreneurs should factor a fund’s size and portfolio strategy into their fundraising decisions. Bio: Jawhara Tariq has a background in LP investing, operations, and statistical analysis. Prior to joining Moonshots Capital, she created the investment mandate for a family office, helped to scale a venture development firm, and consulted with a fund of funds investing in underrepresented fund managers. Jawhara also worked as an associate at a venture fund in San Francisco where she made primary and secondary investments in late-stage enterprise software companies. Before working in venture capital, Jawhara worked in nonprofit consulting where she advised private foundations on how to increase impact. As a UCLA graduate and LA-native, Jawhara is passionate about building the LA tech ecosystem. Twitter: @JawharaTariq

The time when space exploration was only a matter of government has ended. In the past few years, a number of private space companies have skyrocketed. Elon Musk claims that the first manned crew to Mars will happen in 2024 whereas NASA plans to send humans to the same destination in the middle of the 2030s. There is a lot of interest expressed on how we will get there, yet no particular plans on HOW we will sustain our presence in the severe environment. Yet, NASA estimated that the crew behavioral health is a secondary risk in manned space missions after radiation exposure. Human factor considerations increase with the longevity of missions, in particular, their application to where future travelers will be living to support the wellbeing of the crew in an enclosed environment. What does the future of living in space look like? Is it going to look like the promise of sci-fi movies? Or somewhat different? Join Anastasia Prosina for a peek at what aspects need to be habitable modules to thrive in long-duration missions to Mars and why you should care. Visit Stellar Amenities to learn more about the future of living in space: https://stellaramenities.space/ Bio: Anastasia Prosina is an award-winning aspirational futurist and practitioner in Space Architecture, the nascent field of helping people thrive in small spaces in space. She is the Founder & CEO at Stellar Amenities, a company with the mission of complementing space habitats with lightweight, deployable & reconfigurable elements to support wellbeing in space. Anastasia has been involved in numerous space projects, from designing lightweight interior habitation structures for the TESSERAE self-assembling space station at MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Initiative to working on an Iceland-based Martian Analog Habitat commissioned by Mars Society. Her other places of work include aerospace company Excalibur Almaz, 4th Planet Logistics, and Galaktika Space. Anastasia holds a Masters in Space Architecture from Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture in proximity and collaboration of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Anastasia received a Bachelor's in Urban Design from Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design, and Art. Lived her entire life in Siberia, Russia, she is now paving her way in the Los Angeles space sector. Twitter handle @glazizglago spacearchitecture

While the world is consumed with the current crisis, consumers are still selecting brands into their homes. What brands clear the test and why? A growing buyer value lies the answer to: “is this product produced in a sustainable and ethical fashion?” Sustainable operations are moving from marketing and public relations positioning to being embedded in the product experience. Join this discussion on how new technologies are providing transparency and assurance to consumers regarding fair labor, lower use of natural resources, eco-friendly packaging, and positive carbon footprints. Today’s companies are looking beyond showing what they do with the products in a sustainable and ethical manner to looking downstream and upstream from the materials to the transportation and disposition of their products. This shift needs a new way to share trusted, auditable information that is openly shared and free from manipulation. Companies are now adopting blockchain as the assured way to share the information. The discussion will share use cases on how the technology is being used and where it is headed in helping provide the keys to a better planet. If you are looking for or some advance materials, please feel free to read Blockchain for Dummies https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/us-en/signup?formid=urx-16905 or view current use cases in action https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/use-cases/ Bio: Kurt Wedgwood leads IBM’s Blockchain North America practice for the Retail, Consumer Product and Travel industries. To complement his focus and to give back, he is an Adjunct to the Albers School at Seattle University and former chair of Seattle University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Board. His “blockchain moment” occurred in 2016 during a 5-month sabbatical when he was asked to write an analytics article regarding Ports. In this moment, he realized the impact blockchain will have on the world and has dedicated his career to applying blockchain capabilities. Kurt lives in Seattle, WA is a graduate from the University of Colorado and received his MBA from the University of Chicago. Publications include Blockchain topics and Data Governance topics. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wedgwood/ wedgwood@us.ibm.com.

Market ups and downs happen all the time. Some are industry-specific and some (like what we're seeing now) are general. What can you do as a founder to be resilient during a downturn and use the time as a period of growth? Bio: Paul Orlando has led startup accelerators on three continents. He is Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and runs USC’s on-campus Incubator for businesses founded by students, alumni and faculty. Paul advises Fortune 500 and funded startups on internal product innovation, rapid experimentation and growth. He has degrees from Cornell and Columbia and was a winner at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. He studies unintended consequences. Twitter: @porlando

Kwame Ulmer's talk will discuss what role regulations play in a healthcare startup's life. He will provide a deep dive into regulatory strategy with an overview of 5 categories that healthcare startups should consider to be prepared for the road ahead. Bio: Kwame Ulmer Kwame Ulmer brings nearly twenty years of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies. This experience allows him to help companies at all stages efficiently navigate global regulatory agencies. Kwame has particular expertise in all aspects of the USFDA, from premarket applications to postmarket compliance. Mr. Ulmer previously served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation (Fortune 150) operating company. He led efforts to shorten global registration timelines, improved product quality by process optimization and achieve best-in-class department engagement scores. Kwame has in depth knowledge of the cross-functional activities needed to take a medical device from concept to product launch in markets including North America, EU, EMEA, China and LATAM. Kwame has served in progressive leadership roles at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and personally evaluated over 1,000 medical technologies. He has successfully overseen products through all FDA application types (IDE, 510(k), PMA, 513(g)) and advised over 100 early-stage medtech companies on regulatory path. Mr. Ulmer is a member of Tech Coast Angels (LA), the world's largest angel investing network and a Venture Partner at Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health - the leading Southern-California based, early stage venture capital firm (Seed and Series A) focused on the healthcare industry. Kwame earned his B.S. in Physics from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and both an M.S. in Materials Engineering and M.B.A. from the University of Virginia. Twitter handle @kwameulmer

Kwame Ulmer’s talk will discuss what role regulations play in a healthcare startup’s life. He will provide a deep dive into regulatory strategy with an overview of 5 categories that healthcare startups should consider to be prepared for the road ahead. Bio: Kwame Ulmer Kwame Ulmer brings nearly twenty years of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies. This experience allows him to help companies at all stages efficiently navigate global regulatory agencies. Kwame has particular expertise in all aspects of the USFDA, from premarket applications to postmarket compliance. Mr. Ulmer previously served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation (Fortune 150) operating company. He led efforts to shorten global registration timelines, improved product quality by process optimization and achieve best-in-class department engagement scores. Kwame has in depth knowledge of the cross-functional activities needed to take a medical device from concept to product launch in markets including North America, EU, EMEA, China and LATAM. Kwame has served in progressive leadership roles at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and personally evaluated over 1,000 medical technologies. He has successfully overseen products through all FDA application types (IDE, 510(k), PMA, 513(g)) and advised over 100 early-stage medtech companies on regulatory path. Mr. Ulmer is a member of Tech Coast Angels (LA), the world’s largest angel investing network and a Venture Partner at Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health - the leading Southern-California based, early stage venture capital firm (Seed and Series A) focused on the healthcare industry. Kwame earned his B.S. in Physics from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and both an M.S. in Materials Engineering and M.B.A. from the University of Virginia. Twitter handle @kwameulmer

It's uncharted territory for many — having everyone who answers to you in a different location, checking in only by email, text and Zoom. But management principles are the same no matter where your team is, with just a few extra steps needed when your workforce isn't all under one roof. This talk covers: - Why the happiness of your employees should be your highest priority (hint: because their unhappiness costs you millions) - How to root out and fix the problem of “Accidental Managers” - Communication tools to keep everyone engaged and productive, and - How AAA and AC/DC will save your bottom line In times of uncertainty, most people strive to feel useful and productive. The best thing you can do is know how to lead them to give you their best. BIO: Valerie Alexander is a nationally-recognized speaker on the topics of happiness in the workplace, the advancement of women, and unconscious bias, and her TED Talk, “How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias” has been viewed more than 75,000 times. Valerie's books include Happiness as a Second Language -- an Amazon #1 Seller, Success as a Second Language and How Women Can Succeed in the Workplace (Despite Having “Female Brains”), plus several more she's published in her trademarked “...as a Second Language” series. Valerie started her career as an IPO lawyer, investment banker and Internet executive in the Silicon Valley, then transitioned to Hollywood, where she enjoyed success as a screenwriter and director. She is a graduate of Trinity University, U.C. Berkeley and Berkeley Law, and was Trinity's 2016 Commencement Speaker. In addition to running two corporations and traveling the world as a keynote speaker, Valerie also writes Christmas movies for the Hallmark Channel, which she knows you secretly love, even though you'll only admit to watching them with your mom. https://www.speakhappiness.com/

It's been said time and again that persistence is key to success, but living that ideology through times of trial is another story. Hear first hand how these Entrepreneurs have navigated the many times their business should have failed, and how they adapted during these moments to become stronger and more successful. Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie Bio: Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie were internationally touring musicians, working with the likes of Rihanna, Lady Antebellum, Selena Gomez, and Lenka. The rigorous travel schedule was replete with late nights, early mornings, airplanes, and tour buses; They craved connectedness to a community and a healthier lifestyle. When they met in 2011, Trey and Ashleigh began brewing kombucha at home in support of a family member who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kombucha was known for its potentially anti-cancerous properties, but not for tasting great. Better Booch was founded in January, 2012 in an effort to make the healthy choice the obvious one. They have since grown from their first batch in a 1-gallon jar to producing over 20,000 gallons per month out of their DTLA brewery. Twitter: @betterbooch Instagram: @betterbooch

It’s uncharted territory for many — having everyone who answers to you in a different location, checking in only by email, text and Zoom. But management principles are the same no matter where your team is, with just a few extra steps needed when your workforce isn’t all under one roof. This talk covers: - Why the happiness of your employees should be your highest priority (hint: because their unhappiness costs you millions) - How to root out and fix the problem of “Accidental Managers” - Communication tools to keep everyone engaged and productive, and - How AAA and AC/DC will save your bottom line In times of uncertainty, most people strive to feel useful and productive. The best thing you can do is know how to lead them to give you their best. BIO: Valerie Alexander is a nationally-recognized speaker on the topics of happiness in the workplace, the advancement of women, and unconscious bias, and her TED Talk, “How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias” has been viewed more than 75,000 times. Valerie’s books include Happiness as a Second Language -- an Amazon #1 Seller, Success as a Second Language and How Women Can Succeed in the Workplace (Despite Having “Female Brains”), plus several more she’s published in her trademarked “...as a Second Language” series. Valerie started her career as an IPO lawyer, investment banker and Internet executive in the Silicon Valley, then transitioned to Hollywood, where she enjoyed success as a screenwriter and director. She is a graduate of Trinity University, U.C. Berkeley and Berkeley Law, and was Trinity’s 2016 Commencement Speaker. In addition to running two corporations and traveling the world as a keynote speaker, Valerie also writes Christmas movies for the Hallmark Channel, which she knows you secretly love, even though you’ll only admit to watching them with your mom. https://www.speakhappiness.com/

It's been said time and again that persistence is key to success, but living that ideology through times of trial is another story. Hear first hand how these Entrepreneurs have navigated the many times their business should have failed, and how they adapted during these moments to become stronger and more successful. Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie Bio: Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie were internationally touring musicians, working with the likes of Rihanna, Lady Antebellum, Selena Gomez, and Lenka. The rigorous travel schedule was replete with late nights, early mornings, airplanes, and tour buses; They craved connectedness to a community and a healthier lifestyle. When they met in 2011, Trey and Ashleigh began brewing kombucha at home in support of a family member who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kombucha was known for its potentially anti-cancerous properties, but not for tasting great. Better Booch was founded in January, 2012 in an effort to make the healthy choice the obvious one. They have since grown from their first batch in a 1-gallon jar to producing over 20,000 gallons per month out of their DTLA brewery. Twitter: @betterbooch Instagram: @betterbooch

During this rapidly developing pandemic, it is difficult to stay ahead of the information, much less the viral spread. Dr Kimberly Shriner's talk will focus on coronavirus origin, pathophysiology, clinical presentations and a short review of current proposed therapies. It will be directed for both medical and nonmedical audiences. Bio: Kimberly A. Shriner, M.D., F.A.C.P. A native of Pasadena, Dr. Shriner attended John Muir High School, Occidental College and Case Western School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Huntington Hospital and received her fellowship degree in Infectious Disease from UCLA/Olive View in 1992. Since that time, she has practiced infectious disease and tropical medicine at Huntington Hospital and in the Pasadena community. Dr Shriner has been a faculty member and assistant director for the graduate medical education department at Huntington Hospital. She is the founder and director of The Phil Simon Clinic, a Huntington based outreach clinic for underserved clients with HIV. She is also the founder and President of the Board of The Phil Simon Clinic Tanzania Project, a Pasadena nonprofit organization that, for the last 20 years, has been providing multidisciplinary care for the underserved in Northern Tanzania. Dr. Shriner is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, Infectious Disease Society of America, HIV/MA Association and the International Travel Medicine Society. She has published in peer reviewed journals and continues her research in HIV and aging, zoonotic diseases and global health.

During this rapidly developing pandemic, it is difficult to stay ahead of the information, much less the viral spread. Dr Kimberly Shriner's talk will focus on coronavirus origin, pathophysiology, clinical presentations and a short review of current proposed therapies. It will be directed for both medical and nonmedical audiences. Bio: Kimberly A. Shriner, M.D., F.A.C.P. A native of Pasadena, Dr. Shriner attended John Muir High School, Occidental College and Case Western School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Huntington Hospital and received her fellowship degree in Infectious Disease from UCLA/Olive View in 1992. Since that time, she has practiced infectious disease and tropical medicine at Huntington Hospital and in the Pasadena community. Dr Shriner has been a faculty member and assistant director for the graduate medical education department at Huntington Hospital. She is the founder and director of The Phil Simon Clinic, a Huntington based outreach clinic for underserved clients with HIV. She is also the founder and President of the Board of The Phil Simon Clinic Tanzania Project, a Pasadena nonprofit organization that, for the last 20 years, has been providing multidisciplinary care for the underserved in Northern Tanzania. Dr. Shriner is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, Infectious Disease Society of America, HIV/MA Association and the International Travel Medicine Society. She has published in peer reviewed journals and continues her research in HIV and aging, zoonotic diseases and global health.

Design consistently improves the most profitable companies and products but why do many startups fail to integrate design strategy as they grow. Learn ways to utilize design to build teams, streamline products, connect to users and acquire customers. Bio: Robbie Nock is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Professional Practice at ArtCenter. His background spans media production, new technology and venture development and he is driven to connect design, business and engineering partners to develop new synergies for early-stage innovation. Robbie produces academic programs and provides strategic services for a global community of entrepreneurs, educators, investors and philanthropist. At ArtCenter, Robbie has initiated and grown: BOLD, ArtCenter's entrepreneurship symposium; Launch Lab, a capstone accelerator for graduating students; RE/BOOTCAMP, a mid-career professional training program; and the Ethics and Emerging Technology Roundtables, an interdisciplinary thinktank to prepare designers for the future. Robbie received an MA from the University of Edinburgh and MFA California Institute of the Arts. He is a practicing visual artist and surfs, skis and runs whenever possible. http://www.artcenter.edu/academics/interdisciplinary-programs/professional-education.html @robbienock, Robbie.nock@artcenter.edu

Yipeng Zhao is a Managing Partner at Embark Ventures, a Los-Angeles based venture capital firm focused on early-stage companies. Embark Ventures particularly interested in Frontier/Deep Tech companies such as cyber-security, AI/ML, Robotics and Data Analytics. Yipeng co-founded Embark Ventures in 2017 where he manages Embark Ventures' new investments and portfolio companies. Since founded Embark Ventures, Yipeng lead 8 investments and is on the board of directors of multiple venture-backed companies. Prior joining Embark Ventures, Yipeng serviced as Executive Vice President of ZMXY Global Investment, Inc., a China-based private equity investor where he has been actively involved in equity investment in both China and US. Some cases including the equity investment of YangQuan City Commercial Bank and a mixed-use REITs portfolio in Taiyuan, China. Yipeng also helped ZMXY Global Investment set up their venture investment arm (ArcheMatrix Investment Group, LLC) in Los Angeles as a part of the global strategy. Yipeng also worked at UCSD as research statistician focused on Nonparametric and Semiparametric estimation and inference problem in Econometrics. While at UCSD he spent time on the application of big data in customer behavior research and game-theoretical econometrics approach to customer behavior research. Yipeng also has extensive research experience in financial risk management and time series data Analysis.

Every week, the Friday Coffee Meetup brings together a cross-section of interested innovators (investors, entrepreneurs, programmers, CTO's, VC's, angels, etc) who are eager to more actively engage with other members of our local community at the Cross Campus co-working space in Pasadena. These sessions occur every Friday from 8:15am to 9:30am and are informal. We typically have a short structured presentation on a specific topic or do a deeper dive on a local company. All interested parties are welcome to attend. You can learn about upcoming meetups and about how you can attend in person at FridayCoffeeMeetup.com (http://fridaycoffeemeetup.com/) Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEpMLu3sr... (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEpMLu3srTmz_hbS0ucCBQ) The weekly Friday Coffee Meetup is brought to you by Echo-Factory, a Pasadena-based marketing and advertising agency that specializes in helping healthcare, consumer goods, cleantech and aerospace companies achieve rapid, sustainable growth. Echo-Factory's CEO Mike Schaffer is a co-founder and co-host of the Friday Coffee Meetup. If you're interested in how Echo-Factory could help your company achieve rapid, sustainable growth, you can learn more at echo-factory.com (https://echo-factory.com/).

Design consistently improves the most profitable companies and products but why do many startups fail to integrate design strategy as they grow. Learn ways to utilize design to build teams, streamline products, connect to users and acquire customers. Bio: Robbie Nock is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Professional Practice at ArtCenter. His background spans media production, new technology and venture development and he is driven to connect design, business and engineering partners to develop new synergies for early-stage innovation. Robbie produces academic programs and provides strategic services for a global community of entrepreneurs, educators, investors and philanthropist. At ArtCenter, Robbie has initiated and grown: BOLD, ArtCenter’s entrepreneurship symposium; Launch Lab, a capstone accelerator for graduating students; RE/BOOTCAMP, a mid-career professional training program; and the Ethics and Emerging Technology Roundtables, an interdisciplinary thinktank to prepare designers for the future. Robbie received an MA from the University of Edinburgh and MFA California Institute of the Arts. He is a practicing visual artist and surfs, skis and runs whenever possible. http://www.artcenter.edu/academics/interdisciplinary-programs/professional-education.html @robbienock, Robbie.nock@artcenter.edu

Yipeng Zhao is a Managing Partner at Embark Ventures, a Los-Angeles based venture capital firm focused on early-stage companies. Embark Ventures particularly interested in Frontier/Deep Tech companies such as cyber-security, AI/ML, Robotics and Data Analytics. Yipeng co-founded Embark Ventures in 2017 where he manages Embark Ventures’ new investments and portfolio companies. Since founded Embark Ventures, Yipeng lead 8 investments and is on the board of directors of multiple venture-backed companies. Prior joining Embark Ventures, Yipeng serviced as Executive Vice President of ZMXY Global Investment, Inc., a China-based private equity investor where he has been actively involved in equity investment in both China and US. Some cases including the equity investment of YangQuan City Commercial Bank and a mixed-use REITs portfolio in Taiyuan, China. Yipeng also helped ZMXY Global Investment set up their venture investment arm (ArcheMatrix Investment Group, LLC) in Los Angeles as a part of the global strategy. Yipeng also worked at UCSD as research statistician focused on Nonparametric and Semiparametric estimation and inference problem in Econometrics. While at UCSD he spent time on the application of big data in customer behavior research and game-theoretical econometrics approach to customer behavior research. Yipeng also has extensive research experience in financial risk management and time series data Analysis.

Every week, the Friday Coffee Meetup brings together a cross-section of interested innovators (investors, entrepreneurs, programmers, CTO's, VC's, angels, etc) who are eager to more actively engage with other members of our local community at the Cross Campus co-working space in Pasadena. These sessions occur every Friday from 8:15am to 9:30am and are informal. We typically have a short structured presentation on a specific topic or do a deeper dive on a local company. All interested parties are welcome to attend. You can learn about upcoming meetups and about how you can attend in person at FridayCoffeeMeetup.com (http://fridaycoffeemeetup.com/) Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEpMLu3sr... (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEpMLu3srTmz_hbS0ucCBQ) The weekly Friday Coffee Meetup is brought to you by Echo-Factory, a Pasadena-based marketing and advertising agency that specializes in helping healthcare, consumer goods, cleantech and aerospace companies achieve rapid, sustainable growth. Echo-Factory’s CEO Mike Schaffer is a co-founder and co-host of the Friday Coffee Meetup. If you’re interested in how Echo-Factory could help your company achieve rapid, sustainable growth, you can learn more at echo-factory.com (https://echo-factory.com/).

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to enhance life in ways that we are just beginning to explore. But along with its advantages comes new challenges for ethical system behavior. We must work together to mitigate the risks associated with AI solutions. Bio: Maria Alvarez As the General Manager of Shared Engineering Services in the AI + Research division at Microsoft, Maria and her team provide services and programs that support Search, Ads, News, Maps, and Microsoft Research. Maria is a technical leader with over 20 years of experience. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2011, she was promoted through positions at Symantec, HP, CoCreate Software, and Yahoo! She also served as CTO of Panda Security in Spain. Maria has a B.S. in Information Systems and a M.S. in CS from California State Polytechnic University. Twitter handle: @lacatiraa

New Year's resolutions aren't like ordinary goals. In theory they have a far more powerful effect on our psyche because the start of a new year symbolizes new beginnings, a new chapter and a clean slate. Nevertheless, researchers tell us that over 1/2 of us will fail to commit to their New Year resolutions past six months. No sooner have we set our resolutions and announced them on social media, we find ourselves finding reasons to give them up. So why then should meditation and mindfulness be the first two resolutions on your list? Because life is unpredictable, stress is normal and mindfulness can help you with all of it. A mindful meditation practice can helps you develop enough stillness to become aware of your internal state and the forces that drive your day to day behavior. In this way your meditation practice can go a long way to helping you keep your other promises to yourself! It also allows us the time and space to sit with difficult feelings and make better choices toward more helpful behavior. Finally, our time in meditation naturally spills over to become everyday mindfulness and the next thing you know, you're actually paying attention to the actual moments of your actual life! How radical! Biography: Nick Stein is an award-winning TV Producer and Show-Runner who has produced countless hours of non-fiction television for myriad networks and production companies for the past 40 years. Most recently, as the Series Producer of the National Geographic Channel's “Border Wars” series, Stein and his crews gained unparalleled access to contested areas of the U.S. /Mexican border, embedding with the operational units of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ICE, DEA and the Coast Guard. As a result of witnessing the extreme psychological and physical suffering so prevalent in the border zone, Stein began a journey from meditation practitioner to mindfulness meditation facilitator by studying at UCLA's Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (MARC) and attending various silent retreats in locations such as Spirit Rock. After completing two years of MARC's Intensive Practice Program (IPP), Stein was accepted into the Engaged Mindfulness Institute's (EMI) inaugural class and received a Certification of Mindfulness Facilitation in June 2016. Due to years of immersive work with the men and women of law enforcement who serve along the U.S. Border, Stein has dedicated himself to introducing the concepts and techniques of mindfulness meditation to foster resilience in this community. He has traveled to New Mexico, Texas and Washington D.C. to bring this knowledge to U.S. Border Patrol agents and CBP's Officer of Field Operations Officers and Chaplains. In addition, his work is expanding to local and regional law enforcement departments in the San Francisco East Bay area and most recently, to the Greater Cambridge Massachusetts area. Stein lives in Studio City, CA with his wife, Susan McGuire, a CA licensed MFT Psychotherapist and Jungian Analyst. Website: strategicstillness.com Twitter: SteinNicholas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasstein/

What does it take to commercialize new technology? Evan Tsang of Leap Biomed, a boutique medical device engineering and manufacturing firm, outlines the challenges entrepreneurs encounter and how to meet those challenges. Bio: Evan Tsang is currently Vice President, Business Development at Leap Biomed. Prior to this, he led engineering and product development teams at General Motors and Beckman Coulter before jumping into the startup world, where he has led multiple product development teams make the leap from idea to the clinic and beyond. Evan received his BS from Caltech in Mechanical Engineering and an MS from Oakland University in Industrial/Systems Engineering. http://www.weLeap.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/ectsang/

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to enhance life in ways that we are just beginning to explore. But along with its advantages comes new challenges for ethical system behavior. We must work together to mitigate the risks associated with AI solutions. Bio: Maria Alvarez As the General Manager of Shared Engineering Services in the AI + Research division at Microsoft, Maria and her team provide services and programs that support Search, Ads, News, Maps, and Microsoft Research. Maria is a technical leader with over 20 years of experience. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2011, she was promoted through positions at Symantec, HP, CoCreate Software, and Yahoo! She also served as CTO of Panda Security in Spain. Maria has a B.S. in Information Systems and a M.S. in CS from California State Polytechnic University. Twitter handle: @lacatiraa

New Year’s resolutions aren’t like ordinary goals. In theory they have a far more powerful effect on our psyche because the start of a new year symbolizes new beginnings, a new chapter and a clean slate. Nevertheless, researchers tell us that over 1/2 of us will fail to commit to their New Year resolutions past six months. No sooner have we set our resolutions and announced them on social media, we find ourselves finding reasons to give them up. So why then should meditation and mindfulness be the first two resolutions on your list? Because life is unpredictable, stress is normal and mindfulness can help you with all of it. A mindful meditation practice can helps you develop enough stillness to become aware of your internal state and the forces that drive your day to day behavior. In this way your meditation practice can go a long way to helping you keep your other promises to yourself! It also allows us the time and space to sit with difficult feelings and make better choices toward more helpful behavior. Finally, our time in meditation naturally spills over to become everyday mindfulness and the next thing you know, you're actually paying attention to the actual moments of your actual life! How radical! Biography: Nick Stein is an award-winning TV Producer and Show-Runner who has produced countless hours of non-fiction television for myriad networks and production companies for the past 40 years. Most recently, as the Series Producer of the National Geographic Channel’s “Border Wars” series, Stein and his crews gained unparalleled access to contested areas of the U.S. /Mexican border, embedding with the operational units of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ICE, DEA and the Coast Guard. As a result of witnessing the extreme psychological and physical suffering so prevalent in the border zone, Stein began a journey from meditation practitioner to mindfulness meditation facilitator by studying at UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (MARC) and attending various silent retreats in locations such as Spirit Rock. After completing two years of MARC’s Intensive Practice Program (IPP), Stein was accepted into the Engaged Mindfulness Institute’s (EMI) inaugural class and received a Certification of Mindfulness Facilitation in June 2016. Due to years of immersive work with the men and women of law enforcement who serve along the U.S. Border, Stein has dedicated himself to introducing the concepts and techniques of mindfulness meditation to foster resilience in this community. He has traveled to New Mexico, Texas and Washington D.C. to bring this knowledge to U.S. Border Patrol agents and CBP’s Officer of Field Operations Officers and Chaplains. In addition, his work is expanding to local and regional law enforcement departments in the San Francisco East Bay area and most recently, to the Greater Cambridge Massachusetts area. Stein lives in Studio City, CA with his wife, Susan McGuire, a CA licensed MFT Psychotherapist and Jungian Analyst. Website: strategicstillness.com Twitter: SteinNicholas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasstein/

What does it take to commercialize new technology? Evan Tsang of Leap Biomed, a boutique medical device engineering and manufacturing firm, outlines the challenges entrepreneurs encounter and how to meet those challenges. Bio: Evan Tsang is currently Vice President, Business Development at Leap Biomed. Prior to this, he led engineering and product development teams at General Motors and Beckman Coulter before jumping into the startup world, where he has led multiple product development teams make the leap from idea to the clinic and beyond. Evan received his BS from Caltech in Mechanical Engineering and an MS from Oakland University in Industrial/Systems Engineering. http://www.weLeap.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/ectsang/

How long have you been working on your idea? Or looking for that next disruptive investment? Better still, how do you perfect your skill in doing all that? How do you lock-down your idea, your technology, your business or even your approach to investments? Consider this: the key stems from a very practical understanding how the abstract world (where disruptive innovations come from in the first place) actually works. Amazingly, it is something we were never accurately taught. Hard to believe right? But change that…and we change everything. So take a step into both the past and future. Come to a talk that will change the way you understand the world forever – something that will actually make you smarter. How cool would that be? Winston is the founder of a discipline called Concept Modeling, which is at the root of all other disciplines – but don't let the word “discipline” scare you. This talk will be very practical and may just be the key to your success going forward. He is the author of an award (Visionary Award) winning new book, Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept. Reviewers have called his book (thus his work) “brimming with insights,” “intellectually fun,” “a startling fresh perspective on our world.” NY Times has called him “the guru of concept modeling.” With past and present clients that include Warner Bros., Dreamworks, NBC/U, Interscope, Relativity and many others, Winston works on films, TV Shows, technologies, businesses and management models for executives. How cool is Bug Bunny? Very. With dozens of movies, technologies under his belt, his presentations are unique, insightful, informative, and yes, fun — he even concept modeled baseball. Love that! As Winston always says: “Let's rock this thing!” Biography: As featured in the New York Times, and Deadline.com, Winston is the creator and founder of Concept Modeling, and author of his coming award (Visionary Award) winning book, Concerning The Nature And Structure Of Concept. His concept modeling helps studios and companies perfect films, ideas, technologies, science or businesses. It is considered revolutionary (truly, no cliché) by more and more professionals. The NY Times called Winston the “guru of Concept Modeling.” Based on a discovery made on Feb. 6, 1989, -- a massive eureka moment as described in his book-- Winston developed a unique practice of deconstructing ideas based on deep insights on how the abstract world actually works or doesn't – his past and present clients include Warner Bros., Dreamworks, NBC/U, Interscope, Relativity and many others. His work may just represent a revolutionary advancement that launches you and your successful idea or investment, right here, right now. As Winston is fond of saying: ‘Let's rock this thing!” Twitter: @conceptmodeling Website: www.conceptmodeling.com Book Purchase link: (Limited copies till Jan, 2020) http://conceptmodeling.com/book-and-products Email: Winston@conceptmodeling.com Deadline.com Article: If Bugs Bunny Met Immanuel Kant, It Would Be In Winston Perez's New Book On ‘Concept' http://deadline.com/2017/11/winston-j-perez-book-bugs-bunny-immanuel-kant-concept-model-1202216514/ NY Times Article: Forget the Pitch, What's the Concept? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/business/26steal.html?_r=0

The story and strategy on how founder Edward Bullard took an idea in his head to a fully working product amongst countless obstacles, through leveraging the product and earning a one million dollar investment. Biography Edward Bullard is a four time entrepreneur, DJ, and film maker. He is the CEO & Founder of Bacpak, a DJ booking app that allows you to book a DJ in 5 minutes, much like Uber. Edward has deep hands-on experience in building digital and brick & mortar ideas with minimal to no preset structure to solid products ready to launch. From starting his first business at 16 mowing lawns to opening a brick & mortar bar and launching digital apps, Edward has over a 15 years of struggles and success to share. Instagram: @djpurplelove @bacpak.app www.bacpak.app

How long have you been working on your idea? Or looking for that next disruptive investment? Better still, how do you perfect your skill in doing all that? How do you lock-down your idea, your technology, your business or even your approach to investments? Consider this: the key stems from a very practical understanding how the abstract world (where disruptive innovations come from in the first place) actually works. Amazingly, it is something we were never accurately taught. Hard to believe right? But change that…and we change everything. So take a step into both the past and future. Come to a talk that will change the way you understand the world forever – something that will actually make you smarter. How cool would that be? Winston is the founder of a discipline called Concept Modeling, which is at the root of all other disciplines – but don’t let the word “discipline” scare you. This talk will be very practical and may just be the key to your success going forward. He is the author of an award (Visionary Award) winning new book, Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept. Reviewers have called his book (thus his work) “brimming with insights,” “intellectually fun,” “a startling fresh perspective on our world.” NY Times has called him “the guru of concept modeling.” With past and present clients that include Warner Bros., Dreamworks, NBC/U, Interscope, Relativity and many others, Winston works on films, TV Shows, technologies, businesses and management models for executives. How cool is Bug Bunny? Very. With dozens of movies, technologies under his belt, his presentations are unique, insightful, informative, and yes, fun — he even concept modeled baseball. Love that! As Winston always says: “Let’s rock this thing!” Biography: As featured in the New York Times, and Deadline.com, Winston is the creator and founder of Concept Modeling, and author of his coming award (Visionary Award) winning book, Concerning The Nature And Structure Of Concept. His concept modeling helps studios and companies perfect films, ideas, technologies, science or businesses. It is considered revolutionary (truly, no cliché) by more and more professionals. The NY Times called Winston the “guru of Concept Modeling.” Based on a discovery made on Feb. 6, 1989, -- a massive eureka moment as described in his book-- Winston developed a unique practice of deconstructing ideas based on deep insights on how the abstract world actually works or doesn’t – his past and present clients include Warner Bros., Dreamworks, NBC/U, Interscope, Relativity and many others. His work may just represent a revolutionary advancement that launches you and your successful idea or investment, right here, right now. As Winston is fond of saying: ‘Let’s rock this thing!” Twitter: @conceptmodeling Website: www.conceptmodeling.com Book Purchase link: (Limited copies till Jan, 2020) http://conceptmodeling.com/book-and-products Email: Winston@conceptmodeling.com Deadline.com Article: If Bugs Bunny Met Immanuel Kant, It Would Be In Winston Perez’s New Book On ‘Concept’ http://deadline.com/2017/11/winston-j-perez-book-bugs-bunny-immanuel-kant-concept-model-1202216514/ NY Times Article: Forget the Pitch, What’s the Concept? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/business/26steal.html?_r=0

The story and strategy on how founder Edward Bullard took an idea in his head to a fully working product amongst countless obstacles, through leveraging the product and earning a one million dollar investment. Biography Edward Bullard is a four time entrepreneur, DJ, and film maker. He is the CEO & Founder of Bacpak, a DJ booking app that allows you to book a DJ in 5 minutes, much like Uber. Edward has deep hands-on experience in building digital and brick & mortar ideas with minimal to no preset structure to solid products ready to launch. From starting his first business at 16 mowing lawns to opening a brick & mortar bar and launching digital apps, Edward has over a 15 years of struggles and success to share. Instagram: @djpurplelove @bacpak.app www.bacpak.app

Boards are an inevitable part of the startup journey. Your decisions in the early stages of your startup around your cap table and your board structure will persist and have implications throughout the life of your company. Chang Xu will share her experience from sitting on and observing a number of startup boards as well as give advice for how you can set up your board for success. She will dive into topics such as: -- What does a board do? -- What is it useful for and what is it not? -- What rights do they have? -- When do you form a board and is it ever too early? -- What are the benefits vs. tradeoffs? -- Should you give an investor a board seat and how do you choose your first investor board member? -- How do boards evolve over more rounds of financing? -- How does your relationship with your board change? -- How do your rights with respect to your board change? -- What are the features of a well-functioning board vs. a dysfunctional board? -- What precipitates the latter and how do you avoid it? Bio Chang Xu is a venture partner at Basis Set Ventures, a $140M seed fund that invests in AI and the future of work. She previously spent three years at Upfront Ventures, the oldest and largest SoCal-based early stage venture capital firm with $2B in AUM. Prior to joining Upfront, she was a founder and an operator. She was the first Product Manager at the Minerva Project. She co-founded and was the COO of Onion Math, an ed-tech startup in China that has raised $90M to-date. She started her career at BCG where she advised clients across technology, retail, healthcare and private equity. She holds an MBA and AB in Applied Math and Computer Science, both from Harvard. Twitter personal https://twitter.com/_changxu Twitter official https://twitter.com/BasisSet LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/changx/ Medium https://medium.com/@changxu Website https://basisset.ventures

Boards are an inevitable part of the startup journey. Your decisions in the early stages of your startup around your cap table and your board structure will persist and have implications throughout the life of your company. Chang Xu will share her experience from sitting on and observing a number of startup boards as well as give advice for how you can set up your board for success. She will dive into topics such as: -- What does a board do? -- What is it useful for and what is it not? -- What rights do they have? -- When do you form a board and is it ever too early? -- What are the benefits vs. tradeoffs? -- Should you give an investor a board seat and how do you choose your first investor board member? -- How do boards evolve over more rounds of financing? -- How does your relationship with your board change? -- How do your rights with respect to your board change? -- What are the features of a well-functioning board vs. a dysfunctional board? -- What precipitates the latter and how do you avoid it? Bio Chang Xu is a venture partner at Basis Set Ventures, a $140M seed fund that invests in AI and the future of work. She previously spent three years at Upfront Ventures, the oldest and largest SoCal-based early stage venture capital firm with $2B in AUM. Prior to joining Upfront, she was a founder and an operator. She was the first Product Manager at the Minerva Project. She co-founded and was the COO of Onion Math, an ed-tech startup in China that has raised $90M to-date. She started her career at BCG where she advised clients across technology, retail, healthcare and private equity. She holds an MBA and AB in Applied Math and Computer Science, both from Harvard. Twitter personal https://twitter.com/_changxu Twitter official https://twitter.com/BasisSet LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/changx/ Medium https://medium.com/@changxu Website https://basisset.ventures

Coachability in its simplest form means that an individual is receptive to feedback and will act to improve their performance in response to constructive criticism. For founders coachability is a critical quality as they are rapidly learning beyond their past experience and the founding team is a key part of an investor's evaluation of their start-up's likelihood of success. A coachable founder has a willingness to learn and the ability to change for the better, positively impacting themselves, their employees, and their investors while driving success for their business. Being labeled “uncoachable” in contrast comes with the assumption that an individual will not adapt to changing needs and circumstances in their business and is unable to recognize and act on personal growth areas. Who would you rather invest in? We'll discuss ways to cultivate a growth mindset and demonstrate coachability for the benefit of the founder and their start-up. Biography Helen McBride, PhD is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Caltech, focusing on life science start-ups. Previously, she was at Amgen for 13 years in roles of increasing responsibility across research and translational sciences. After joining Amgen's Discovery Research organization as senior scientist and principal scientist leading target discovery in the Inflammation space, she moved to the Discovery Toxicology group to focus on the application of imaging to drug safety and the development of improved cell models for predictive and investigational toxicology. Her last role at Amgen was as Director, Biosimilars Research where she was responsible for functional and nonclinical pharmacology assessment within the Biosimilar Business Unit, contributing to the approval of 3 biosimilar medicines and the regulatory submission of 3 more, spanning multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation and hematology. Helen now assists Caltech and JPL founders with multiple aspects of life science start-up creation including ideation, value proposition, and fundraising. Helen received her BS degree from Texas A&M University. She earned her PhD in Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and performed her postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology focusing on neuro-developmental biology and biophysics prior to joining industry. She is an author of over 30 publications spanning diverse topics including imaging, molecular, developmental and cell biology, immunology, and oncology.

Stender has been an angel investor for over 25 years and has invested in over 100 startups. While he usually talks about his portfolio strategy and his diligence process, we've asked him to talk about mistakes. While he says his biggest mistakes are picking the wrong horse or the wrong jockey....we've convinced him to talk about the things he's done wrong over the years.

Coachability in its simplest form means that an individual is receptive to feedback and will act to improve their performance in response to constructive criticism. For founders coachability is a critical quality as they are rapidly learning beyond their past experience and the founding team is a key part of an investor’s evaluation of their start-up’s likelihood of success. A coachable founder has a willingness to learn and the ability to change for the better, positively impacting themselves, their employees, and their investors while driving success for their business. Being labeled “uncoachable” in contrast comes with the assumption that an individual will not adapt to changing needs and circumstances in their business and is unable to recognize and act on personal growth areas. Who would you rather invest in? We’ll discuss ways to cultivate a growth mindset and demonstrate coachability for the benefit of the founder and their start-up. Biography Helen McBride, PhD is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Caltech, focusing on life science start-ups. Previously, she was at Amgen for 13 years in roles of increasing responsibility across research and translational sciences. After joining Amgen’s Discovery Research organization as senior scientist and principal scientist leading target discovery in the Inflammation space, she moved to the Discovery Toxicology group to focus on the application of imaging to drug safety and the development of improved cell models for predictive and investigational toxicology. Her last role at Amgen was as Director, Biosimilars Research where she was responsible for functional and nonclinical pharmacology assessment within the Biosimilar Business Unit, contributing to the approval of 3 biosimilar medicines and the regulatory submission of 3 more, spanning multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation and hematology. Helen now assists Caltech and JPL founders with multiple aspects of life science start-up creation including ideation, value proposition, and fundraising. Helen received her BS degree from Texas A&M University. She earned her PhD in Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and performed her postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology focusing on neuro-developmental biology and biophysics prior to joining industry. She is an author of over 30 publications spanning diverse topics including imaging, molecular, developmental and cell biology, immunology, and oncology.

Stender has been an angel investor for over 25 years and has invested in over 100 startups. While he usually talks about his portfolio strategy and his diligence process, we've asked him to talk about mistakes. While he says his biggest mistakes are picking the wrong horse or the wrong jockey....we've convinced him to talk about the things he's done wrong over the years.

Brentt's presentation will briefly discuss the alternative assets returns landscape, focusing on market trends within the venture capital asset class and how those trends have affected the early stage fundraising process. Brentt will suggest strategies that may be valuable to early stage Founders as they navigate the current environment, as well as, highlight common reasons why VC don't invest and talk to common pitch related issues that Founders should be aware of. Biography: Brentt Baltimore Based in the Greycroft Los Angeles office, Brentt Baltimore's responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating, and executing venture stage investment opportunities. Prior to joining Greycroft, Brentt led business development at Operator Inc., a venture stage company in the conversational commerce space and worked on technology commercialization at Numenta Inc., an artificial intelligence research company. Brentt also worked at Detroit Venture Partners, where he led investment diligence and supported portfolio companies. Brentt started his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse in Los Angeles, focusing on leveraged buyouts and debt financing transactions. Brentt received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Claremont McKenna College.

Brentt's presentation will briefly discuss the alternative assets returns landscape, focusing on market trends within the venture capital asset class and how those trends have affected the early stage fundraising process. Brentt will suggest strategies that may be valuable to early stage Founders as they navigate the current environment, as well as, highlight common reasons why VC don’t invest and talk to common pitch related issues that Founders should be aware of. Biography: Brentt Baltimore Based in the Greycroft Los Angeles office, Brentt Baltimore's responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating, and executing venture stage investment opportunities. Prior to joining Greycroft, Brentt led business development at Operator Inc., a venture stage company in the conversational commerce space and worked on technology commercialization at Numenta Inc., an artificial intelligence research company. Brentt also worked at Detroit Venture Partners, where he led investment diligence and supported portfolio companies. Brentt started his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse in Los Angeles, focusing on leveraged buyouts and debt financing transactions. Brentt received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Claremont McKenna College.

Come learn everything about early-stage startups & investing in Los Angeles. Abha Nath will give a brief history on the growth of the Los Angeles tech and venture capital scene and dive into how it has affected the startup ecosystem to date. She will also go over how venture funds evaluate early-stage business opportunities, share best practices around fundraising conversations, and give advice on getting your company in front of an investor. Bio Abha Nath started her career at the Disney Accelerator, where she helped identify and source new investment opportunities for the Walt Disney Company's core businesses. She joined the team as the Disney Accelerator was starting to scale up operations and invest in later-stage companies, including Epic Games, Kahoot!, Brit+Co, and Hoodline. In late 2017, Abha joined the team at Ring. She worked closely with the marketing team to help develop the company's digital marketing strategy, while also working with the Product team to define GTM strategy for Neighbors, Ring's consumer-facing social app. Abha was at the company during its acquisition by Amazon in early 2018. Abha received her B.S. in Industrial Systems Engineering from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. https://wondervc.com twitter.com/abhanath

Co-Founder of ARRIVE Hotels and Restaurants and previously early dude at Facebook, Ezra Callahan has spent most of his professiona life at the intersection of company culture and brand development. Hear his experiences helping to lead Facebook's early efforts at cultivating and scaling its corporate culture and the lessons learned from similar efforts in the hospitality world. Bio Ezra previously served as the sixth employee and first product manager at Facebook. Following his departure from Facebook, he co-founded Artist & Recreation, a Los Angeles-based real estate and hospitality group, which redeveloped the Regent Theater in downtown Los Angeles into a 1,000-capacity live music venue. He is a graduate of Stanford University. https://arriveenterprises.com

Come learn everything about early-stage startups & investing in Los Angeles. Abha Nath will give a brief history on the growth of the Los Angeles tech and venture capital scene and dive into how it has affected the startup ecosystem to date. She will also go over how venture funds evaluate early-stage business opportunities, share best practices around fundraising conversations, and give advice on getting your company in front of an investor. Bio Abha Nath started her career at the Disney Accelerator, where she helped identify and source new investment opportunities for the Walt Disney Company’s core businesses. She joined the team as the Disney Accelerator was starting to scale up operations and invest in later-stage companies, including Epic Games, Kahoot!, Brit+Co, and Hoodline. In late 2017, Abha joined the team at Ring. She worked closely with the marketing team to help develop the company’s digital marketing strategy, while also working with the Product team to define GTM strategy for Neighbors, Ring’s consumer-facing social app. Abha was at the company during its acquisition by Amazon in early 2018. Abha received her B.S. in Industrial Systems Engineering from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. https://wondervc.com twitter.com/abhanath

Co-Founder of ARRIVE Hotels and Restaurants and previously early dude at Facebook, Ezra Callahan has spent most of his professiona life at the intersection of company culture and brand development. Hear his experiences helping to lead Facebook's early efforts at cultivating and scaling its corporate culture and the lessons learned from similar efforts in the hospitality world. Bio Ezra previously served as the sixth employee and first product manager at Facebook. Following his departure from Facebook, he co-founded Artist & Recreation, a Los Angeles-based real estate and hospitality group, which redeveloped the Regent Theater in downtown Los Angeles into a 1,000-capacity live music venue. He is a graduate of Stanford University. https://arriveenterprises.com

The key to success in the hospitality industry is creating a memorable and sharable guest experience. Yet for various reasons, hoteliers don't spend their time on new, innovative guest initiatives. Those who do often find themselves fast-tracked to the top. Bio James Gancos is CEO & Founder of The Guestbook - a rewards and loyalty platform for over 700 independent & boutique brand hotels that utilizes cash back incentives to drive meaningful business results and higher guest engagement. Prior to founding The Guestbook, James held General Manager positions at the W Los Angeles, W Istanbul, and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas as well as Hotel Manager positions at the Sheraton Seattle and Sheraton Kauai Resort in Hawaii. He also worked for Starwood Hotels as Director of Operations for the North America Division and as a consultant at Ernst & Young. James graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. URL: theguestbook.com/hoteliers Email: bookdirect@theguestbook.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/theguestbk #theguestbook #directbookings

Come hear how VCs think about investing in early stage companies, how best to connect with VCs, and when you should think about raising. Maaria Bajwa will also present on the different types of VCs and how to find the investors who are best suited to invest in your idea. Lastly, she'll provide some tactical advice on what entrepreneurs should and shouldn't do when trying to raise capital. Bio Maaria Bajwa is an early stage investor at Sound Ventures, covering everything from crypto and fintech to B2B SaaS to direct to consumer. Sound Ventures is a $150M early stage venture fund founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary in 2015. Maaria joined the firm over 2 years ago and was previously on the LP side of venture investing, working at a $4B investment advisor called ICG Advisors. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maaria-bajwa-1a970425/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/maariabajwa

The key to success in the hospitality industry is creating a memorable and sharable guest experience. Yet for various reasons, hoteliers don’t spend their time on new, innovative guest initiatives. Those who do often find themselves fast-tracked to the top. Bio James Gancos is CEO & Founder of The Guestbook - a rewards and loyalty platform for over 700 independent & boutique brand hotels that utilizes cash back incentives to drive meaningful business results and higher guest engagement. Prior to founding The Guestbook, James held General Manager positions at the W Los Angeles, W Istanbul, and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas as well as Hotel Manager positions at the Sheraton Seattle and Sheraton Kauai Resort in Hawaii. He also worked for Starwood Hotels as Director of Operations for the North America Division and as a consultant at Ernst & Young. James graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. URL: theguestbook.com/hoteliers Email: bookdirect@theguestbook.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/theguestbk theguestbook #directbookings

Come hear how VCs think about investing in early stage companies, how best to connect with VCs, and when you should think about raising. Maaria Bajwa will also present on the different types of VCs and how to find the investors who are best suited to invest in your idea. Lastly, she'll provide some tactical advice on what entrepreneurs should and shouldn't do when trying to raise capital. Bio Maaria Bajwa is an early stage investor at Sound Ventures, covering everything from crypto and fintech to B2B SaaS to direct to consumer. Sound Ventures is a $150M early stage venture fund founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary in 2015. Maaria joined the firm over 2 years ago and was previously on the LP side of venture investing, working at a $4B investment advisor called ICG Advisors. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maaria-bajwa-1a970425/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/maariabajwa

Ampaire today is test flying the world's largest hybrid-electric plane, with plans to conduct demonstration flights on commuter airline routes in the coming months. The company is on the fast track to introducing, cleaner, quieter, less costly aircraft to benefit airline and general aviation operators, and improve the passenger experience. The future begins with in-service aircraft adapted for electric propulsion and proceeds to exciting new, clean-sheet and high-performance all-electric aircraft. Hear firsthand from Ampaire's Co-founder and CEO, Kevin Noertker on Ampaire's vision, plans and industry-leading progress toward making a new era of electric aircraft a reality. Bio Kevin Noertker is Co-Founder and CEO of Ampaire, an aerospace startup based in Los Angeles. Ampaire is on a mission to be the world's most trusted developer of practical, compelling electric aircraft. The company is building commercial electric planes that are cleaner, quieter, and significantly less costly to operate. Leading Ampaire enables Kevin to combine his technical and management skills with his entrepreneurial vision, love for the outdoors, and passion for things that fly. He graduated with honors from Caltech, and serves as a Director of the Alumni Association. Prior to Ampaire, Kevin held positions of increasing responsibility in research and development and program management at Northrop Grumman, leading the development and deployment of advanced aircraft and satellite technologies. He has a proven track record for initiating and delivering innovative technical solutions, building and motivating teams, and optimizing systems. Kevin is committed to building communities and connecting the world. [masked] www.ampaire.com www.linkedin.com/company/ampaire/ Twitter: ampaireinc Instagram: ampaireinc Facebook: Ampaire-Inc