Podcasts about socaltech

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms. In this episode of the Tacos and Tech Podcast, we sit down with Faisal Mushtaq, a visionary CTO, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and the founder of TechCon SoCal, one of the region's fastest-growing tech summits. Faisal shares his inspiring journey from the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego and how his mission to connect the two thriving ecosystems culminated in the creation of TechCon SoCal. What We Covered: • Faisal's Career Path: From building and scaling Fortune 500 companies to leading startups to successful exits, Faisal shares insights from his extensive experience in digital transformation, operational excellence, and global team leadership. • The Founding of TechCon SoCal: What inspired Faisal to move to San Diego and create a tech summit that bridges the innovation of Silicon Valley with the collaborative spirit of San Diego. • Building Communities Through Tech: How events like TechCon SoCal are fostering partnerships, attracting talent, and sparking innovation between two of California's most dynamic tech hubs. • Emerging Technologies: Faisal's thoughts on the transformative potential of IoT and AI, and how these technologies are shaping the future of industries. • Advice for Entrepreneurs: Faisal's strategies for scaling businesses, building strategic partnerships, and driving impactful go-to-market strategies. • Personal Vision: Faisal's commitment to nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs through angel investing and mentorship. Key Quotes from Faisal: • “TechCon SoCal is about building bridges—between people, ideas, and ecosystems—to create something larger than any one of us can achieve alone.” • “San Diego is a hidden gem for innovation, and I'm passionate about amplifying its voice on a global stage.” About Faisal Mushtaq: With decades of experience as a technology leader, Faisal has driven transformative growth for public and private companies. His expertise in IoT, AI, and health and wellness innovations, combined with his dedication to fostering the startup ecosystem, makes him a key figure in advancing technology and entrepreneurship. Resources Mentioned: • TechCon SoCal Website: techconsocal.com • Connect with Faisal on LinkedIn: Faisal Mushtaq Join us for this exciting conversation with Faisal as we dive into his journey and his vision for connecting the Silicon Valley and San Diego tech communities!

Key Takeaways:Surf Ranch discussion around the whole experience of the eventPlaying competitive volleyball at StanfordTaking an MBA to really find out what Brian is interested inWhat is Crosscut VenturesSense of the emerging future for Los AngelesJust as entrepreneurs tweak their business and their business models, so do Venture Capital funds. The smartest / best VCs stay relevant to entrepreneurs by differentiating their capital.How we show up is more important than what we accomplishFlow and let go mindsetQuotes:All these things I face, I was just carrying the weight of this world. And it was so much about the next achievement instead of being able to stop and say, "You know what, I've achieved enough, like to what end you have to keep grinding?" And I was grinding. In a moment of clarity, I said, "Okay, how do I instead wake up and live in joy every single day?" "How can I wake up content with what I've done?" I'm not saying I'm stopping. I'm still competitive, but content in what I've done and realizing that how I show up is more important than what I accomplish." - Brian Garrett"Don't take any day for granted. It can end in a blink of an eye."- Brian Garrett, co-founder of Crosscut Ventures"How I show up is more important than what I accomplish." - Brian Garrett, co-founder of Crosscut Ventures"I'll take true domain and in the trenches experience, even if it's failed experience over pedigree any day." - Brian Garrett, co-founder of Crosscut VenturesLinks Mentioned:Kurt's Twitter – https://twitter.com/kurtydKurt's Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/kurtyd/Kurt's LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtdaradicsKurt's newsletter – https://www.kurtyd.com/Rate the podcast – https://ratethispodcast.com/kurtydBrian's LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/briangarrett1/Brian's Twitter – https://twitter.com/brianmgarrettThe Inertia's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theinertia/Crosscut's Website – https://crosscut.vc/

Ben Kuo has been a fixture as an evangelist for startups and innovation in Southern California for many years, and I've appreciated our nearly 20 year friendship. We actually recorded this conversation several months ago, and yet it's almost timeless, as the challenges we face in business, in startups and in the ecosystem largely persist. Ben is the founder of SOCALTECH LLC, a company that provides regional high tech news, interviews, venture deal flow tracking, and more. SOCALTECH's flagship publication is socalTECH.com, a web site focused on high tech in Southern California. I consider Ben the tip of the spear for startup, tech and investor news in the region, and remember him as one of the first folks I met in the community when I arrived back in the early 2000s. Before focusing on SOCALTECH, Ben was a product manager and engineer for Troika Networks, which was in storage area networks.  He also started and sold a website RealEats.com for restaurant reviews, well before Yelp!

Alon Goren, Goren Holm Ventures (GHV) What is bitcoin?  Why special?  Why important to average people. Blockchain?  Why special?  Why important to average people. An industry in its infancy with little to no advantage to anyone based on school, geography, socioeconomic status, etc., Where can people go to learn more? What event is coming up??? CIS.LA -  October 15-16 at LA convention Center Alon is a Founding Partner of Goren Holm Ventures (GHV), a Venture Studio that incubates and accelerates blockchain startups. Alon is also Co-Founder of CIS, the world's largest investment focused blockchain conference. He is an investor, speaker, host and leader of one of Southern California's largest group of investors and entrepreneurs, 805 Startups, with a laser-focussed eye on building and supporting startups and entrepreneurs. A pioneer in the crowdfunding space, Alon had been involved in over $200 Million Dollars in online investment transactions. He has developed technology that powers websites and financial transactions for Fortune 500 companies and well-known foundations such as Coca-Cola, American Express, ATB Financial and Global Philanthropy Group. InvestedIn, Alon's previous company, created a white label fundraising portal for individuals and businesses hoping to crowdfund ventures independently of major platforms. Later, his support of the JOBS Act, online media expertise and day-to-day interactions with venture funds, investors and financial professionals inspired him to create a solution to market hedge funds, real estate funds and venture funds to investors over the internet. Before InvestedIn, Alon worked for entertainment tech giants such as Amazon, IMDb and MySpace where he managed customer experience, product development and support. InvestedIn was named “Best Marketplace Platform” by the Los Angeles Venture Association in 2013 and he was named to the Socaltech 50 for his work with InvestedIn. Alon is a thought leader on social enterprise, venture capital and crowdfunding, and has spoken at SXSW V2V, Kingonomics and many other conferences and been featured in prominent publications including Forbes, WSJ, Washington Post, TechCrunch and VentureBeat.

Brad Chisum is the co-founder & CEO of Launch Factory, an entity that creates startup companies, focusing specifically on business execution. This focus, Brad says, makes Launch Factory startups better suited to handle the business challenges in front of them. The El Paso, Texas native attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he studied electrical engineering and math. Although he went into college with aspirations to become a theoretical physicist, Brad always secretly wanted to become an entrepreneur at some point. Challenging himself to live in each of the major US time zones, Brad began searching for a post-college job on both the east and west coasts. He narrowed it down to a job in San Diego and a job in Virginia, but what really sealed the deal was the lunch he had on the east coast. The team at the Virginia-based company told him they’d be taking him out to eat Mexican food and went to Chili’s. At that moment, Brad knew he needed to live in a place where he’d be able to eat authentic tacos whenever he craved one. And so, he made his way down to sunny San Diego, working for STMicroelectronics. Several years in his career, Brad began working as an engineer at SPAWAR, where he met his now-co-founder, Richard Waters. It wasn’t long before the pair began working to build a venture of their own, all while Brad was pursuing an MBA at San Diego State University. Through the many years of Lumedyne, the duo and their team faced numerous setbacks and hardships before being acquired by Google. Brad remained part of the team post acquisition, until he left Google in 2016. It wasn’t until 2018 that Brad began working on his next venture, Launch Factory. James Hereford, a former colleague of his, had the advanced skillset that Brad desired in a potential co-founder. The duo worked on developing Launch Factory, which aims to give startups all the tools and knowledge they need to become successful. Listen in to hear all about Brad’s journey as a two-time founder, his plans for the future of Launch Factory, and his local favorite eats and brews. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.   Brad’s favorites Tacos - Tacos el Gordo (various locations) Beer - Stone Brewing   Keep up with Launch Factory on social media: LaunchFactory.com LinkedIn

Ben Kuo, publisher of SoCalTECH, explores how industry leaders like Kevin Anderson of Appetize, John Keatley of Scratch Financial, and Mike Whitmire of FloQast, went about finding their company’s niches, adapting to new challenges, and navigating market pain points.

Ray Christian is the founder and CEO of Textpert. He’s originally from Washington, DC where he worked as a CPA and business development executive. After years in the corporate world, he founded Textpert as a platform for young adults to get relationship advice from anonymous friends. Ray built the company from scratch and in the process became an expert in the dating world and social media. He has been featured in Huffington Post, BuiltInLA, SoCalTech.com and many other outlets. Join us to learn about how communication has changed in dating and relationships today.

What is Impact Investing? In Episode 8 of Accredited Investor Markets Radio, host Alicia Purdy speaks with Alon Goren, Founder of Invested.In, to explore socially conscious investing. Their discussion will cover different investment opportunities for the socially aware investor, what sort of due diligence is required for these types of investments and how impact investing could change the way aid is rendered in the future.   Learn about a variety of investment options by visiting www.aimkts.com   Learn more about Invested.in and Alon Goren by visiting invested.in   Or find him here: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alongoren Twitter: @alonymous @investedin     Alon Goren is the CEO and co-founder of InvestedIn – a leading technology company that specializes in white-label crowdfunding platforms for reward, donation, pre-sales, equity crowdfunding and lending applications, and of INVST, an invite-only investment platform for sophisticated accredited investors to invest in institutional-quality deals. A thought leader on social enterprise and crowdfunding, Alon has spoken at South by Southwest V2V and the Crowdfunding Professional Association’s Annual Crowdfund Investing Innovation Forum and has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, Mashable, and The Street. Alon was named as one the socalTECH 50 that recognizes the top 50 top technology leaders in Southern California.