You're invited to the 2nd annual fnSummit in Napa Valley on Oct. 19-21.
Escape the startup grind at a private resort with fellow founders, investors and partners. Make deeper connections and re-energize before year's end with distinctive farm-to-table meals, keynotes and guided discussions, real fireside chats, hiking, sunrise yoga, pool time and multiple wine tastings. This is the culimination of the Founders Network experience.
Book your ticket and room today as this event will sell out.
*Transportation, room and board not included.
You're invited to the 2nd annual fnSummit in Napa Valley on Oct. 19-21.
Escape the startup grind at a private resort with fellow founders, investors and partners. Make deeper connections and re-energize before year's end with distinctive farm-to-table meals, keynotes and guided discussions, real fireside chats, hiking, sunrise yoga, pool time and multiple wine tastings. This is the culimination of the Founders Network experience.
Book your ticket and room today as this event will sell out.
*Transportation, room and board not included.
Opening Sabrage Ceremony
Female tech founder and certified sommelier Neha Sampat (March '13 Cohort) will lead a champagne opening ceremony.
In this fun and interactive workshop will you'll learn how to open a champagne bottle with a sword - a key survival skill to navigating the ups and downs of founderhood!
As Napolean once said, ""Champagne! In victory one deserves it; in defeat one needs it."
Wines provided by: Liana Estates
Wine selection: vintner's red, viognier, pinot noir, orange muscat + sparkling rose
Neha Sampat (@nehasf) is the CEO of Built.io, a company that delivers tomorrow’s digital experiences for its customers today. With 15+ years experience in enterprise software, Neha is a recognized industry leader and has led product marketing, cloud computing and online experiences for companies like Sun Microsystems and VMware. She is a proponent of diversity and an outspoken advocate for nurturing women leaders in her industry. As an acclaimed entrepreneur, Neha can be found appearing on keynote stages or expert panels discussing her experiences as an entrepreneur, a female leader, or how Built.io is changing the world through automation. Neha was named a “San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40” honoree and one of “50 Women in TechDominating Silicon Valley” in 2015.
Based in San Francisco, CA, Neha Sampat is an avid traveler, technologist and wine enthusiast. She consistently challenges herself to pursue projects of passion alongside her full-time career. She is a founder of a non-profit foundation called 4B Global which aims to inspire and empower young women to unlock their potential as leaders. As a certified sommelier, Neha hosts special Wine+Tech mixers to share her passion for both domains with industry peers and also provides sommelier services through her Velvet Rope Wines venture.
Neha holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a B.A. in French and Mass Communications and a minor in Leadership from the University of Denver.
Fireside Chat: The Wine Bottle Strategy; Growing in a Niche Vertical
Sit down for a real fireside chat with fellow FN'ers and Wine Tech Founders. We'll explore the different ways founders pursue their passions, at work and in their free time, and the advantages and trade-offs of doing so.
Chris Barnes (November '15 Cohort), Founder of ProofLoyalty
Anthony Poston (January '16 Cohort), Founder of WhichWinery
Moderated by: Neha Sampat (March '13 Cohort), Built.io, 4B Global, Wine+ Tech Mixers and Velvet Rope Wines.
Chris Barnes (November '15 Cohort) is the founder and CEO of LoyaltyProof, a mobile first mCommerce and marketing platform specifically for wineries and wine retailers. Earlier in his carerer, Chris led the team that acquired George Lithograph, one of the top technical documentation printers servicing Silicon Valley. After heavy investments in technology, he helped scale it from $20 million in 1990 to over $75 million in 2000 before selling to Kohlberg Partners. He later aquired Informed Publishing, a publisher of guidebooks that give first responders and health care providers instant access to vital information. Chris then extended the brand to a series of apps, which helped make Informed's medical reference titles the industry standard for first responders and RN's. Over a million copies of Informed field guides and apps were sold globally. Because of the strong brand and the mobile platform, Informed was acquired by Ascend Learning.
Anthony Poston (January '16 Cohort), is the founder of WhichWinery, the # 1 search based site for the global wine industry with over 20,000 wineries across 47 countries. Anthony is also the founder of ESM Solutions, Inc., a Workers' Compensation Risk Management Consulting Company.
Sunrise Yoga
Breath work, meditation, yoga asana (movement/poses) for a full and well-rounded experience.
Led by Christina Dikareva, Founder & CEO at Analyst Market and Certified Yoga Instructor
Please wear flexible clothing for ease of movement. Yoga mats & props provided.
Christina Dikareva is the Founder & CEO of Analyst Market, the leading online financial research marketplace. She is also certified yoga instructor, having received her 200 hour certification from Yogaworks in New York City in 2012. Christina has taught studio classes, workshops, corporate yoga and private yoga sessions. As an entrepreneur, she designs her yoga training to improve fitness, reduce stress and increase mental capacity. Christina has a BA from University of Michigan and MBA from University of Chicago Booth.
Will Bunker, Founder of Match.com, will speak about the different aspects of Growth. As the central theme to this year's fnSummit, growth is integral to all of the members of Founders Network. It can be difficult to know how to classify growth, and with his extensive background in growing Match.com, Will Bunker will unpack growth into its base components. Explore how to classify the areas of growth for your startup, and get actionable insights into the meachanisms that will drive you from Bootstrap to Billions
Yu-Kai Chou is a world leader in gamification, with his Octalysis Framework. Learn from an industry leader how to grow by studying the motivations of people's subconscience. We are all driven by hidden motivations, and during this session, you will learn how to align your startup with the motivations of your customers and future customers to gain traction and grow.
Thought Leadership: Keynote
"Personalization That Matters: Psychometrics in Engagement and Retention"
Keynote by Dave Herman
After receiving his Ph.D is Neuroscience from the University of Southern California, Dave Herman delved into Data Science at PayOff. Over the course of his career, Dave has developed a passion for understanding human behavior at mass scale and leveraging those insights to build truly transformative experiences that improve as many lives as possible. Specifically, Dave develops algorithms and control systems that are focused on product needs and develop analytical teams around those designs to take those and other emergent ideas to scale.
Dave has over 12 years of experience researching and managing data/algorithms in: psychometrics, human-machine interaction, psychophysics, biophysics, robotics, MRI, image processing, machine vision, time-series algorithms, matching, recommendation, & reinforcement algorithms, animal-models, control systems, standard and alternative credit risk models, financial forecasting, cost-optimization models, and iterative bayesian methods.
Workshop: Growing your Team Culture With Intention
Led by: Johannes Waldstein and Greg Tutton
"Whether it’s co-founders, employees, or business partners, you need to attract people who have the same deep culture of habits and virtues and working as you, or you’re setting yourself up for massive conflict down the line."
- Johannes Waldstein, Founder, FanAi
Join Johannes and Greg from FanAi for this culture workshop. Work with Johannes & Greg to define your "non-negotiables" in terms of your unique company culture. And learn how to maintain those values as you hire and grow.
Johannes Waldstein is the Founder of FanAi, and has co-founded 5 different companies in 4 different countries, in 3 different languages, with 4 different cultures. Having scaled his Product team to over 100 employees at Dunnhumby, Johannes has a keen focus on the relevance of growing your team culture with intention.
Back when Pixar was ILM, Gregory Tutton worked alongside it's founding members. At the London Summer Olympics in 2012, Gregory represented the HealthTech industry. Later at Manage Star, he managed 40+ engineers, and lpreviously was the Head of Strategic Planning at Network Architects, a startup that existed pre dotcom bust.
Mark DiTargiani is the Head Coach at Satori Sales Strategies. Mark helps salespeople grow their results by growing themselves. Mark coaches sales leaders in being more conscious, aware, and motivated in their coaching with their direct reports. Using expertise used in over 7000 companies across the US from the Cargill Consulting Group, Satori implements a repeatable and scalable sales process and manages clients' salespeople to the process.
Outdoor Foundation
*An invigorating Napa Hike (45 mins, 1 mile) Sturdy shoes recommended.
*Poolside lounging with Charlie the Unicorn, conversation
*Bocce & volleyball on the meadow
Enjoy Mayacamas Ranch! Take time to relax and soak in your surroundings. Decompress by the pool overlooking Napa Valley. Explore the grounds on a 1 mile hike through the natural property. Play bocce ball and volleyball in the meadow. There will be private 1:1 Office Hours held throughout the property with experts from our partner companies - by appointment only.
1-1 Office Hours
*1:1 Office Hours by appointment with Howard Kim and Caleb Hunter from IBM
*1:1 Office hours by appointment with Natalie Wilson of Hanson Bridgett
*1:1 Office hours by appointment with Mark diTargiani of Satori Sales Strategies LLC
*1:1 Office hours by appointment with Daniel Hoffer of Tandem Capital
*1:1 Office hours by appointment with Will Bunker of GrowthX and SVG Syndicate
*1:1 Office hours by appointment with Mark Oden of Cisco Spark
Dig in to your current technical and business obstacles with startup mentors Howard and Caleb in a private session. Previously at NASA and a former startup founder, Caleb has over 17 years of experience in the tech space, specifically Project Management. With expertise in marketing and strategic parternships, Howard now mentors early and later stage entrepreneurs full time.
Receive legal counsel from Natalie Wilson, Senior Counsel at Hanson Bridgett. Discuss mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, public offerings, public company reporting, and private equity fund formation and investments in your 30 minute, private session.
Mark DiTargiani is the Head Coach at Satori Sales Strategies. Mark helps salespeople grow their results by growing themselves. Mark coaches sales leaders in being more conscious, aware, and motivated in their coaching with their direct reports. Using expertise used in over 7000 companies across the US from the Cargill Consulting Group, Satori implements a repeatable and scalable sales process and manages clients' salespeople to the process.
Daniel Hoffer, Partner at Tandem Capital, focuses his efforts on new consumer Internet and related opportunities. Dan was previously Founder/CEO of CouchSurfing. He has expertise in product ideation and development in the pursuit of new opportunities, team and company building, fundraising, business development, and deal structuring, strategy. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Harvard College.
Will Bunker is the Founder of GrowthX and SVG Syndicate where he invests alongside experienced founders with revenue and then "coaches them up."
Mark Oden is a Product Manager for Cisco Spark, a startup within Cisco;. Mark is an experienced product manager who can help founders focus on increasing efficiency, boosting morale, and scaling teams with an operations mindset.
Fireside Craft Spirits Tasting:
Craft Spirits Tasting
Joe Cannella, Founder of Cannella Spirits
Professor Emeritus of Fun and Games, Idle Times
Grew Google retails ad spend from $20M to $150M
Joe Cannella is the founder of Salute Spirits, maker of Cannella Cinnamon Cordial and Amaro Cannella. Growing up in Las Vegas, his dad owned a baseball card shop and a pool hall, igniting his entrepreneurial tendencies and appreciation for small business owners. In college he founded the Santa Clara Entrepreneur Organization, an undergraduate group that survives today after 17 years. After graduating he took an entry level sales position at Google, and after 9 years working with large retailers (Macy's, Wal-Mart, eBay, Williams-Sonoma), he hung up his laptop to build the foundation for his family owned and operated spirits company. Starting completely over in 2014 as an industry outsider, his products are now in over 100 locations in California and Nevada, with near term plans to expand to major markets around the US.
Fireside Chat: Growing your network with integrity: Increasing Trust, Reducing Transaction
Moderated by: Blake Caldwell
Panelists:
Arun Aghrari
John Lyotier
Sit down and roast s'mores with our founder panel. Participate in an intimate discussion surrounding the "new" way to foster business relationships with integrity and intent; both with your internal company culture, and your external network.
Serial Entrepreneur Blake Caldwell founded Iarc in 2013, and is currently the CEO & Founder of MoGuard Inc. With deep roots in the Southern California tech community, Blake has acted as the Co-Director for Startup Next LA, powered by Techstars and Google for Entrepreneurs, since 2013. Blake is actively involved in providing mentorship for, and growing the tech community in his region.
Arun Agrahri co-founded Airseed in 2012 and served as its Chief Technology Officer before its acquisition in April 2015. Prior to that, Arun worked at NetApp where he enjoyed building large scale systems. Arun has expertise in search relevance, distributed systems, security, e-commerce, full stack development, building distributed scalable systems, technical recruiting and is an entrepreneur at heart. Arun's current project is Nucleus; a messaging app that makes you be more social and less transactional with your professional relationships.
John Lyotier is an entrepreneur and a successful marketer with more than 20 years of experience in promoting, launching, designing, and jumpstarting new businesses and products through innovative marketing concepts. John’s forte is to leverage technology and marketing automation to ensure that early-stage companies compete on equal footing to large, established companies. John has launched several internet and mobile ventures and has worked with domain names, enterprise software, and online technologies for several years. As one of the co-founders of YO! and as the Chief Marketing Officer for the parent company, Left of the Dot Media, John contributes to the global strategy, vision, and technology roadmap to help propel YO! onto the global stage.
Sunrise Yoga
Breath work, meditation, yoga asana (movement/poses) for a full and well-rounded experience.
Led by Christina Dikareva, Founder & CEO at Analyst Market and Certified Yoga Instructor
Please wear flexible clothing for ease of movement. Yoga mats & props provided.
Christina Dikareva is the Founder & CEO of Analyst Market, the leading online financial research marketplace. She is also certified yoga instructor, having received her 200 hour certification from Yogaworks in New York City in 2012. Christina has taught studio classes, workshops, corporate yoga and private yoga sessions. As an entrepreneur, she designs her yoga training to improve fitness, reduce stress and increase mental capacity. Christina has a BA from University of Michigan and MBA from University of Chicago Booth.
Thought Leadership: Keynote & Discussion
Excellence through Coaching
Discuss the current social norms of being a Founder/CEO and accompanying "lifestyle" with Helge Hellberg, Founder of The Organic Media Network and Certified Holistic Nutritionist. Takeaway actionable insights on how to effectively manage your business goals while doing your health justice.
Helge Hellberg is creator of An Organic Conversation, an award-winning national podcast and website on green living. After 5 years of incredible growth and current reach of 3M users he is scaling the platform to become the Organic Media Network, the online publisher of education and entertainment for the lifestyle of health and sustainability. Helge is an organic food advocate, business consultant, inspirational speaker, and writer. Before that Helge was Executive Director for Marin Organic. He holds an MBA from Communications Academy of Hamburg and is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist.
Investor Panel: Tech Trends 2017
Moderated by Michael Gorback of Hanson Bridgett
Panelists:
Dan Hoffer of Tandem Capital
Will Bunker
Kal Deutsch
Daniel Hoffer, Partner at Tandem Capital, focuses his efforts on new consumer Internet and related opportunities. Dan was previously Founder/CEO of CouchSurfing. He has expertise in product ideation and development in the pursuit of new opportunities, team and company building, fundraising, business development, and deal structuring, strategy. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Harvard College.
Will Bunker is the Founder of GrowthX and SVG Syndicate where he invests alongside experienced founders with revenue and then "coaches them up."
Kal Deutsch is the CEO of Batchery. Batchery is a Berkeley-based global incubator for seed stage startups ready to go from idea to launch at lightning speed.