Spencer Bogart Head Research Blockchain Capital where he does venture investment research on companies in the broader Bitcoin ecosystem. Prior to joining Blockchain Capital, Spencer was on the Internet Equity Research team at investment bank Needham & Company where he led the firm’s research efforts in all things bitcoin and blockchain. Spencer is a specialist in fundamental investment research and regularly publishes in-depth investment research on the industry.
Ken Kruszka, CEO SnapCheck, is a FinTech and Mobile Payments pioneer, who holds the distinction of being the first person to send $1 around the world by mobile. In addition to being an accomplished executive, leader, and entrepreneur, Ken also advises early-stage companies looking to establish product-market fit and accelerate growth on a global scale. Ken leads SnapCheck in revolutionizing business-to-business payments: eliminating $50 Billion in costs, removing $20 Billion in fraud. Previously, as EVP of Product and Service Delivery, Ken Kruszka drove Boom’s strategic product vision and roadmap, as well as their realization through the creation of industry-leading mobile financial products and services. In his role, Ken led the product management, product development, service delivery, and information technology organizations.
Susan Mason. Partner Aligned Partners, has over 25 years of operating management and venture capital experience. She is the co-founding partner of Aligned Partners, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in capital efficient start-ups in the enterprise space. Prior to Aligned Partners, she was a General Partner with ONSET Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm with $600 million under management. Susan specializes in investing in the information technology area, specifically communications, security and financial technology. As an investor and board member, Susan has played a pivotal role in the development of companies including Securent (acqd CSCO), Alteon (IPO), Gadzoox (IPO), SilverTail Systems (acqd EMC), Omney (acqd MA), and many others. Prior to entering venture capital investing, she held positions in high-technology engineering, marketing and business development. She led a highly successful consulting practice, helping Fortune 1000 corporations capitalize on emerging markets and technologies. Early in her career, she held positions in marketing and engineering design of high-performance systems and microprocessors for Fujitsu Microelectronics, Fairchild Semiconductor and NCR Microelectronics. Susan received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a regular guest speaker on entrepreneurial topics at Stanford University, UCLA and many of the local events in Silicon Valley. She is a founding boardmember of the Center for Venture Education, which operates the Kauffman Fellows Program. She has served as its Chairman and continues to serve on the board as Chair Emeritus.
Danielle Deibler, CEO Jurispect is an exceptional technology and leadership veteran with over 25 years’ experience in internet infrastructure, networking, real-time communications, video games, and interactive technology. Her primary focus is on building scalable, real-time interactive platforms that solve challenging problems in a shifting environment. She has led development. engineering and operations teams at a number of high-growth companies, and drove large-scale technology initiatives at Adobe Systems. In 2013, Danielle was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Trinity Ventures. Currently she is the CEO of Jurispect which in the early stages of launching their Compliance.ai platform.
Jelena Ewart, Entrepreneur-in-Residence 500 Startups, advises financial services and technology companies on growth strategy. Her clients range from seed-stage pre-product startups to well-established corporations, such as American Express. Previously, she was a General Manager at NerdWallet, initially as Head of Credit and Banking, and later as Head of Marketplace. She is a Director on the Board of San Francisco Federal Credit Union. Jelena holds an A.B. from Princeton University, and a Master of Architecture from UC Berkeley.
Alex Davidov Investor Core Innovation Capital, a fintech-focused venture capital fund. His career spans financial services and technology, as an investor and an operator. Alex co-founded two companies, Intellitoys (an interactive children’s toy) and SkillSlate (a labor marketplace that was acquired by TaskRabbit). He spent six years in financial services, working to scale a wealth manager and informing trading strategies for Bridgewater Associates. Alex earned a computer science degree and an MBA from Columbia University.
MODERATOR: David Spark, Tech journalist/Founder Spark Media Solutions, a content marketing firm for the B2B technology industry. Spark has reported on the tech scene for more than 20 years in more than 40 media outlets. and he now reports predominantly at trade shows for companies such as HP, IBM, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Dice, Citrix, and Juniper Networks. Read Spark’s musing on his Spark Minute blog or listen to him and his co-host weekly on the Tear Down Show podcast.
