Curtis Spencer is the co-founder of Spool, a company that revolutionizes the way we consume the Internet in a device centric world.

He started his career working in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford, focusing in automated robots and speech recognition. In 2006, he and Guha Jayachandran went on to start Cruxlux, a semantic search engine that utilized AI techniques to analyze text content for sentiment and surface interesting connections between topics. He later sold the company to Kosmix/Walmart, where he worked on twitter stream analysis.

He currently lives in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco where he
works on Spool. Come say hi.

Charles Smith is the Founder & COO of ex.fm. Previously, he was involved in many early stage companies including Real Media, Tacoda and Etsy. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and resides in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children. His first concert was Journey, at JFK stadium in Philadelphia.

Chris Shipley is a leading technology market analyst. As executive producer of the DEMO Conferences from 1996 – 2009, Chris helped technology companies bring over 1,500 products to market. The co-founder and CEO of Guidewire Group, Chris works with emerging technology companies around the world to identify market opportunities and accelerate business growth. Chris has covered personal technology since 1984 and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology and consumer media. She is often cited as a thought-leader in entrepreneurship and technology trends, and is a sought-after speaker at industry events. Chris holds bachelor of arts degrees in literature and communication arts from Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa.

Fred Wilson has been a venture capitalist since 1987. He currently is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and also founded Flatiron Partners. Fred has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Fred is married with three kids and lives in New York City.

Ian Sigalow is a Partner with Greycroft LLC. His investment focus includes advertising technology, Internet software, and mobile services. He currently serves or observes on the boards of Greycroft’s investments in Buddy Media, Buzzd, Collective, CrowdFusion, Extreme Reach, MarketBright, OggiFinogi, Panvidea, Tynt, and Vizu. Ian previously invested in and advised several companies, including Airpath Wireless (acquired by Aptilo) and SensorLogic.

Prior to joining Greycroft, Ian founded StrongData Corporation, a pioneer in digital encryption, and spent several years as a venture capitalist with Boston Millennia Partners, where he focused on early stage companies in the software and Internet sectors.

Ian’s past experience also includes investment banking in the technology group at Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette and strategy consulting with the Arnold Business Strategy Group.

Ian holds a BS in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Read more: Ian Sigalow | Greycroft Partners LLC.

Jim Meskauskas is a Partner and Co-Founder of Media Darwin, Inc. and brings a wealth of online advertising, media knowledge and experience to the company.

Most recently, Jim served as the SVP of Online Media at ICON International, an Omnicom Company, where he spent nearly five years. He was responsible for the development of media buying and planning strategies across a wide variety of clients, extending to content integration, social media, video, widget distribution, UGC media and implementation of Demand Side Platforms.

Prior to joining ICON, Jim was at at Underscore Marketing, helping build it from the ground up, serving as Partner and Chief Strategic Officer. He oversaw cross-platform and online media strategy for the agency and won new business in excess of $10M in media revenue. Jim was also Co-Founder and VP, Media Director of Pericles Consulting Group, developing strategy for the first use of online advertising for a Presidential election in 2004. He also oversaw Senatorial and Gubernatorial races.

With a background in both traditional and online advertising spanning 16 years, Jim has worked at Hawk Media, Left Field, Mediasmith Inc. and USWeb/CKS. His account assignments have included Nestle Beverage, Burger King, Electronic Arts, Eidos, Amazon.com, Bank of America, Real Networks, ABC Networks, Hormel, Schering-Plough and Fuji Film.

Linda Holliday is a media, internet and marketing veteran, serial-entrepreneur and active angel investor in digital media companies including Comixology, ScrollMotion and Organized Wisdom. She recently formed a start-up to publish serious non-fiction mobile apps. Founder and former president of Medical Broadcasting Company, now Digitas Health, a Publicis Company.

The company, a digital pioneer, built more than 1000 web sites, ran complex relationship programs on and off-line, designed robust educational programs and led industry efforts with major media and search companies. In addition to general executive responsibilities as President of MBC, Linda also led marketing, media, innovation, and business development. Digitas Health now operates with more that 500 employees out of 4 cities.

Linda’s digital communications passions include search, user experience and information architecture. A contributor to TED conference founder Richard Wurman’s Understanding series, she has been recognized for bringing fresh thinking to traditional and new media. Linda is an active advisor-consultant whose interests still center on the intersection between old and new media.

In addition to helping clients such as Johnson and Johnson launch various new products and businesses, She also successfully created and exited a thought-leading internet business intelligence company (ePharmaceuticals) as well as a production business that produced syndicated television programs (including Bodysense hosted by Mike Rowe.)

After receiving a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Wharton School, Linda led marketing for a nationally known commercial, film and Imax film production company and for several Cablevision sports channels.

Sam Decker is CEO and Founder of Mass Relevance, a leader in social curation technology and services. Sam is a recognized expert in digital strategy, social media and word of mouth marketing. Sam was founding CMO at Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales. Before Bazaarvoice, Sam spent seven years of leadership at Dell, Inc. in marketing, eBusiness, CRM, and customer-centricity. There he led Dell’s consumer web site, building Dell.com into the largest consumer eCommerce site at $3.5B in annual sales, and established global best practices in merchandising, analytics, product management, and operations. Sam pioneered Dell’s customer-centricity strategy and customer segmentation using Six Sigma methodology. Prior to that, he consulted with companies such as Apple, Claris, Adobe, and Borland to help them develop word of mouth and loyalty marketing strategies. He’s a frequent speaker at marketing and eCommerce events and author of an award-winning marketing blog (www.deckermarketing.com). Sam has authored two books on word of mouth marketing, serves on the Proctor & Gamble Digital Adivory Board and previously on the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

Scott also founded and served as chairman and CEO of About, Inc. as it grew to a public market value of $1.7 billion and was the 5th largest of all Web properties. About invented the forerunner to Google’s AdSense in Sprinks (purchased by Google in 2003) and the first family of ad networks in Luna. Kurnit sold About U.S. to Primedia in 2001 for $724 million. About is now owned by the New York Times Company.

Scott has founded four companies, all of which continue operating today. He’s a holder of four patents, led the team that embedded the first Web browser into an online service, started the first Pay Per View cable network and co-led the team that implemented the first use of national caller ID. He was also the youngest program director in the PBS system and served as program director for Qube, the world’s first fully interactive cable system. He was president of Showtime Event Television when it generated the largest one night gross in the entertainment business and aired the first rock concert (broadcast in 70 countries) from the former Soviet Union.

Scott serves on the Boards of AdKeeper, Appssavvy, Brightcove, Dotomi, OpenSky, SendMe Mobile, and The Paley Center for Media. He is an advisor to About, Black Arrow, Mashery and SmartBrief.

He has been a Filmmaker, TV Director, Station Program Manager, Marketer and CEO. He has worked at the highest levels of Warner, Viacom, News Corp., PBS, IBM, and MCI companies.

Shiv Singh is a recognized digital marketer who focuses on how brands are being forced to transform with the rise of digital marketing and media. In his day job he serves as the Head of Digital for PepsiCo Beverages America (across paid, owned and social media), where he drives PepsiCo Beverages’s digital marketing agenda for its beverage brands. Prior to PepsiCo Shiv worked at Razorfish Inc for over twelve years in its New York, London and San Francisco offices serving most recently as its VP & Global Social Media Lead. In September 2009, he was recognized by Ad Age as a Media Maven and was featured on the publication’s cover.

Shiv has been published widely, and he has spoken or keynoted conferences such as Digital Book World, the Online Publishers Association Annual Summit, South by Southwest Interactive, Web 2.0, the Direct Marketing Association’s Leader’s Forum, OMMA Global, O’Reilly Graphing Social Patterns, the Advertising Research Foundation Annual Summit and The Big Money Untethered Conference. He is the author of Social Media Marketing for Dummies and is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Ad Age, Adweek, USA Today, The New York Times, Fortune Magazine and several other similar publications discussing digital strategy and social influence marketing. Shiv is also on the advisory board of Buddy Media Inc, Social Media Week and the Pivot Conference.

Trace Cohen is an Account Executive at iFluence PR where he creates understanding for a complex world. He specializes in strategic PR for tech companies looking to develop their communications, branding and outreach strategies to connect with their communities and costumers with transparency.

Trace is a graduate of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with a double major in Entrepreneurship and Marketing, which empowered him to start his first company at the age of 18 out of his dorm room. Brand-Yourself.com helped students and young professionals manage their reputation and personal brands online by teaching them how to SEO for their name so they could control their Google results while utilizing social media platforms to engage potential employers and make a name for themselves. Best class he has ever taken.

Trace is also the President of Launch.it, a new PR platform for all product announcements that will be launching soon.

Peter Bordes is Founder & Executive Chairman of MediaTrust, a leader in performance marketing and creators of the PerformanceExchange. Mr Bordes is a founding board member & Board President of the PMA Performance Marketing Association, mentor in the 20 under 20 Thiel foundation program, angel investor, advisor and board member to digital media, advertising & technology companies.

Ian Schafer, CEO and Founder of Deep Focus (a part of Engine USA), is one of advertising’s most influential voices in interactive marketing and social media. Prior to founding Deep Focus in 2002, Ian was Vice President of the New Media division of Miramax Films.
Deep Focus is an award-winning engagement and innovation agency boasting a client roster that includes brands such as AMC, Microsoft, Capital One, WellPoint, The National Association of Realtors, Samsung, and MoMA.
Under Ian’s guidance, Deep Focus has been lauded for its expertise and excellence at using digital media, technology, creative, and communications strategies to create engaging, value-driven experiences that get people talking. The Emmy®-nominated firm has been responsible for many memorable, award-winning efforts over the years including 2009’s MadMenYourself.com, and has been the recipient of numerous distinctions, including several Webby Awards and a Cannes Gold Lion.
Named a ‘Media Maven’ by Advertising Age and one of Adweek’s “Young Ones”, Ian has been featured in Wired, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Adweek, Advertising Age, USA Today, New York Magazine, Variety, CNN, Fortune, The Hollywood Reporter and The Harvard Business Review. Ian also sits on the executive board of the Social Media Advertising Consortium, and the Global Advisory Board of Global Social Media Week.
An avid technologist, Ian blogs at http://www.ianschafer.com and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ischafer.

Jon, an ad industry visionary and thought leader, co-founded Kirshenbaum & Bond, considered the first modern integrated agency. Kirshenbaum & Bond was also perhaps the original “word-of-mouth” agency, which was its positioning at its inception in the late 1980s.

Jon helped build the agency, now Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, into one of the largest independent agency networks in the world. It included the digital agency dotglu; Media Kitchen; Lime Promotions; and VMM, a digital media buying/technology shop. Billings exceeded $1 billion at the time the agency was sold to MDC Partners in 2009. Its clients included BMW, Capital One, Diageo, NetJets, Target, Tommy Hilfiger, among others. Jon also co-founded iballs, one of the first digital media agencies. Iballs later became the New York office of Avenue A.

In 2010 Jon was featured as an Adweek Executive of the Decade. He is an investor/advisor to the popular social influencer tool Klout, which just brought on the venerable Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a next-stage investor. He is also involved with social sentiment analysis firm Crimson Hexagon; social targeting pioneer Media6degrees; DSP DataXu; crowd source agency Victors and Spoils; and VC firm Metamorphic.

Don has led marketing, sales, and BD teams at some of the world’s leading Internet and media companies. Most recently, he was the VP and General Manager of the Americas and Advertising for Skype for 5-1/2 years, through Microsoft’s agreement to acquire the company for $8.5 billion. In addition to driving Skype’s growth in the Americas (US grew 10X), he and his team launched and managed Skype’s advertising revenue streams globally. He is currently a board member and advisor to several startups.
Prior to Skype, Don spent 4 years at eBay, where he and his team formed strategic partnerships with marketers and built a significant advertising business. He was recognized in 2004 as a Marketer of the Year by Promo magazine for his team’s innovative marketing partnerships.

Prior to joining eBay, he held senior management roles at several leading Internet and media companies, spanning marketing, advertising sales, and business development. He was Sr. VP Marketing & Sales at mobile startup fusionOne and Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales and E-Commerce at rich media pioneer PointCast.
He led early efforts in local online advertising (classified, display and directory) at AOL’s Digital City and at washingtonpost.com, where he was SVP of Advertising Sales and part of the launch team. Don’s online experience dates back to Prodigy in 1989, where he sold and launched some of the first online stores and ad campaigns. He was a charter member of the IAB, and a founder and Vice Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association.

In addition to his Internet experience, Don has held senior marketing roles at several leading media companies. He served as Director of Marketing and Sales Development for both Sports Illustrated and Newsweek magazines, and held various sales and marketing management positions at the New York Times. Don holds a BA in Politics from Princeton University, and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Dr. Howard Morgan is co-founder and partner in First Round Capital, a seed stage venture capital investment firm specializing in information technologies. He began working with Idealab in 1996 and serves on their board. He has more than 30 years of experience with more than two hundred high-tech entrepreneurial ventures. He serves on the boards of Internet Brands (NASD:INET), 33Across, Intelligize, Energy Innovations and other private companies. Howard was Professor of Decision Sciences at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor of Computer Science at the Moore School for almost 15 years. He a Trustee of Cold Spring Harbor Labs and Math For America and is a respected author. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1997. Howard received his Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University in 1968 and his B.S. from the City University of New York in 1965.