Tahoe Tech Talk 2010

Speakers

• Gary Vaynerchuk

  Host of Wine Library TV, Author

  Gary Vaynerchuk is a New York Times bestselling author and American businessman who was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States as a young child. Gary’s entrepreneurial instincts took over at a young age, when he owned a franchise of neighborhood lemonade stands and made $1,000 a weekend selling baseball cards. Much to his dismay, his father Sasha pulled Gary into the family business, a local liquor store called Shopper’s Discount Liquors.

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  Before long, Gary recognized that consumers collected rare wines just like people collected baseball cards, and he was off to the races. Gary transformed himself into a wine expert, rebranded the store as Wine Library, launched a retail website in 1997, and by 2008 he had raised annual revenue from $4 million to $60 million. In 2006 Gary achieved one of his life-long goals when he was caricatured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in an article about online wine sales.

  In February of 2006, Gary launched Wine Library TV, a daily video blog about wine. With the tag line “changing the wine world,” the show offered an unpretentious approach to an historically stuffy subject. As the audience grew and word spread of his informal and unorthodox approach to wine, Gary made numerous national television appearances as a wine expert, including spots on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Today Show, Nightline, and Mad Money with Jim Cramer. In 2009, Gary was recognized as “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast magazine, and as part of Decanter magazine’s prestigious “Power List” of the most influential figures in the industry. Wine Library TV garners 90,000 daily viewers and has now surpassed 800 episodes, featuring celebrity guests including hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, Travel Channel star Samantha Brown, Food Network host Ingrid Hoffmann, rock star Maynard James Keenan, Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, and esteemed wine critics Jancis Robinson and Daniel Rogov.

  While developing the audience for Wine Library TV, Gary eschewed the traditional media tools he had relied on when building the retail store, turning instead to the social web. Gary joined the online conversation by becoming an active member of blogs and forums, and then proceeded to utilize web 2.0 tools such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with consumers online. The business world took note of Gary’s approach, and before long he was being invited to speak at conferences and corporations around the world.

  Gary launched a second blog, GaryVaynerchuk.com, where he dispenses business advice and comments on emerging technologies and cultural trends. As his following grew online, Gary became one of the first to reach Facebook’s friend limit and accumulated more than 800,000 followers on Twitter. Gary’s first business book, entitled Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion, was released in the Fall of 2009 and debuted as a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Gary proceeded to make tv appearances as a social media expert and business consultant on programs including CNN Your $$$$, Fox Business’s Your Money Your Questions, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.

  As Gary’s career as a speaker and writer continued to soar, companies of varying sizes approached him for consulting advice. The consulting role agreed with him, and in 2009 Gary and his brother AJ co-founded VaynerMedia, a boutique agency that works with personal brands, consumer brands, and startups. Gary is now also an angel investor in various startups, offering sweat equity to the projects he supports in addition to financial investments.

  Gary’s ultimate goal is to one day own the New York Jets. Although his various businesses obviously play an enormous role in his life, he always puts his family first.

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• Kevin Rose

  Founder of Digg, WeFollow

  Kevin Rose is the founder and chief architect of Digg and is currently serving as acting CEO. He oversees all aspects of the management and development of the Web site. Under his leadership, Digg has grown to 26 million unique visitors per month and has been included in TIME Magazine’s “50 Best Websites” list every year since 2006.

  Kevin started Digg in September 2004 as a personal project.

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  His initial idea was to conduct a social experiment in how masses of users could control and promote news and other content on the Web, without external editorial control. After a very short time, he realized the power of his idea, as Digg was becoming a resource for breaking news stories and developed a strong user following.

  Kevin is also a co-founder of the Internet Television Network Revision3 where, as a member of the board, he provides strategic direction to the company. He also co-hosts the popular Revision3 show, Diggnation, a weekly video podcast based on digg.com news stories and content. Diggnation consistently ranks as one of the top podcast downloads from the Apple iTunes Music Store.

  Prior to founding Digg and Revision3, Kevin was a co-host of the popular technology television programs Attack of the Show on the G4 Network and The Screen Savers on TechTV. During Kevin’s tenure at The Screen Savers, a live TV program focusing on computers and technology, it was the highest rated show on TechTV, reaching 55 million households.

  Before working at TechTV, Kevin worked for several technology startups as well as for the U.S. Department of Energy.

  A well-recognized expert on technology and the Internet, Kevin has spoken at a variety of industry events including the Web 2.0 Summit and Expo, Le Web 3, The Next Web Conference, and Ad:Tech. In 2007, Kevin was included in BusinessWeek’s “25 Most Influential People,” and in 2008, Details magazine’s “Mavericks 2008,” and the MIT Technology Review’s “TR 35.”

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• Chris Sacca

  Angel Investor (Twitter, Gowalla)

  An accomplished venture investor, private equity principal, company advisor, entrepreneur, and public speaker, Chris manages a portfolio of over three dozen consumer web, mobile, and wireless technology start-ups as well as an array of mature enterprises through his fund holding company, Lowercase Capital. Among his representative investments is Twitter Inc., where Chris was one of the first investors and works with the company every week as a strategic advisor.

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  Beyond early stage investing, Chris also collaborates with three of the world's largest private equity and hedge funds on late stage acquisitions and turn-arounds in the fields of communications platforms and entertainment/new media.

  Previously, Chris served as Head of Special Initiatives at Google Inc. In that role, among other responsibilities, he founded and headed up the alternative access and wireless divisions. His most visible projects include Google's 700MHz and TV white spaces spectrum initiatives, the company's groundbreaking data center in Oregon and Google's free citywide WiFi network in Mountain View, CA. Chris also spearheaded many of Google's business development and M&A transactions and was on the founding team of the company's New Business Development organization.

  Before joining Google, Chris held a number of executive roles at one of the world's largest streaming and digital media distribution companies, Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies), and was ultimately responsible for their legal and corporate development efforts. Prior to Speedera, Chris was an attorney with the Silicon Valley law firm of Fenwick & West where he handled venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and licensing transactions for technology clients such as Macromedia, VeriSign, and Kleiner Perkins. In 2008, Chris proudly worked on President Barack Obama's campaign as a Telecommunications, Media, and Technology advisor, a speaking surrogate, a field office volunteer, and as Co-Chair of Finance and a Trustee of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

  The Wall Street Journal cited Sacca as "possibly the most influential businessman in America" and he was also recently recognized as a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, annually selecting 20 of the world's most promising leaders and public servants under the age of 45. In addition, Chris serves as an Associate Fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University. Chris regularly appears on television, radio, and in print and has been featured in Business Week, Fortune, Fast Company, and on CNBC, BBC, CNN, FOX, and NPR as an expert in the realms of entrepreneurism, venture capital, and disruptive technologies. In parallel with his frequent keynotes at technology industry events, Chris is perennially hired by many of the world's largest companies, financial institutions, universities, and even some governments to speak about innovation, workplace design, and business strategy in a digital era. Back home, Chris is a fixture in the Silicon Valley startup community, and his reputation for fruitful and fun collaborations with early stage companies earned him a 2009 TechCrunch Crunchie Award nomination for Best Angel Investor and he was named as one of the top 10 angel investors in the country by Business Week.

  Chris graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a member of The Tax Lawyer law review and was honored as the school's Philip A. Ryan and Ralph J. Gilbert Memorial Scholar. He also graduated cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and was an Edmund Evans Memorial Scholar as well as a Weeks Family Foundation Scholar. During his studies, Chris attended university at each of Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, University College Cork, in Cork, Ireland, and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Long before that, beginning in 6th grade, Chris attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for six years of graduate-level mathematics classes wearing thick glasses, awkward braces, and knowing the entire time that technology and computers would be passions of his for life.

  Always taught by his parents the importance of giving back to those who need our help, Chris dedicates much of his time to helping charity:water, Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation, and The Tony Hawk Foundation. If you spend any time with him, he will likely rope you into doing your part as well. When not on the road for his companies, or huddled up in the cramped apartments and coffeeshops where his entrepreneurs often write their code, Chris lives in Truckee, California, is an avid Pacifica surfer, San Mateo kitesurfer, Squaw skier, two-time Ironman triathlete, and recently bicycled coast-to-coast across the United States of America.

  Catch up with Chris on Twitter or at Lowercase Capital.

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• Dave Morin

  Cofounder and CEO of Path

  Dave is the CEO and cofounder of Path. He is also an angel investor and advisor. And, avid skier.

  Before starting Path he was the Senior Platform Manager at Facebook.

  As an early member of the Facebook team, Dave played a variety of product, marketing, strategy, and management roles in expanding the Facebook ecosystem.

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  Most recently, Dave was a co-inventor of Facebook Connect which was created to make the Internet a more social place. Facebook Connect is now used by over 1 million websites and applications to empower over 150 million users to connect and share with their friends across the Web, the iPhone, and many other devices and consoles.

  Earlier, Dave was a co-inventor of the revolutionary Facebook Platform, the world’s first social platform. Since launch, the multi-billion dollar Facebook Platform ecosystem has grown to include over 1 million developers in 180 countries that have created over 550,000 applications used monthly by over 70% of Facebook’s 500 million users worldwide.

  Prior to Facebook, Dave held positions at Apple in product and marketing. In his college dorm room, he also founded a small design focused Internet company called DM Design Studios.

  A passionate and well received speaker, Dave has delivered keynotes and spoken at events worldwide such as South by Southwest, Future of Web Apps, Web 2.0 Expo, Le Web, Microsoft MIX, O’Reilly Foo Camp, and Facebook f8.

  Dave was named #16 of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company in 2009.

  Dave received a degree in Economics and Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

  Dave grew up under the big sky of Montana where he was ranked as one of the top downhill ski racers in the United States. Today, he lives and works in beautiful San Francisco.

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• Travis Kalanick

  Angel Investor (Blippy, Formspring)

  Travis Kalanick is a successful entrepreneur in the areas of consumer Internet, p2p, and enterprise content delivery. His most recent company, Red Swoosh, was sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007. Prior companies include Scour, the world's first p2p search engine where Kalanick also attained the dubious distinction of having been sued for $250 billion. Today, Kalanick invests in and advises kick-ass startups founded by truly awesome entrepreneurs.

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  Just a few of the amazing companies and leaders Kalanick has invested in include: CrowdFlower, DeviantArt, Expensify, Formspring, Kareo, and Unvarnished. Travis Kalanick is also the sole proprietor and chief host of the JamPad, a place for top entrepreneurs and tech thought leaders to collaborate in jam sashes on company creation, company building, and various technology topics. You can connect with Travis on Twitter, read his blog, or ask him anything on Formspring.

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• Ben Kaufman

  Founder of Quirky

  Ben Kaufman is the entrepreneur-in-chief of Quirky, a social product development company that launches one new community-developed consumer product each week. Part platform, part process, Quirky is rapidly changing the way people think about product development by utilizing a unique approach to harness the power of ideas.

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  At 23, Ben has become somewhat of a posterboy for aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. He launched mophie, an iPod accessories company, at the tender age of 18, and took home a MacWorld “Best of Show” at 20. Soon after, he began brainstorming ways to engage his customers in the product design and development process. He spent two years building a team and extensively researching, building, and testing technology platforms, and in June 2009, Quirky was born. By enabling a fluid conversation between a global community of influencers and an expert product design team, Quirky is able to accomplish what was once unthinkable: bringing one brand new product concept from sketch to store each week.

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• Dave McClure

  Founding General Partner of 500 Startups

  Dave McClure is a greedy, blood-sucking venture capitalist & founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet startup seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, CA. He likes to hang out with entrepreneurs, and occasionally help or invest in their startups if they are foolish enough to let him.

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  Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O'Reilly Media, Intel, and Microsoft. Years ago he used to do real work like coding or marketing or running conferences, but these days he mostly does useless stuff like sending lots of email, blogging, and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter.

  Dave also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don't hurt.

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• Alexia Tsotsis

  Writer at TechCrunch

  Alexia Tsotsis is a journalist who attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. She majored in Writing and Art moving to New York City shortly after graduation to work in the Entertainment/Media industry. After four years of living in New York City and attending New Media Business courses at New York University she returned to Los Angeles in order to continue her career in new media — first as LA Weekly’s internet culture reporter, and then as SF Weekly’s web editor. Before she joined TechCrunch, Alexia ran the SFweekly.com website while staying on top of memes, the tech scene, and human behavior in the digital age.

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