State of San Diego Startups
Thursday, 6pm to 8pm
Join StartupCircle Founder Robert Reyes, Ansir Innovation Center Founder Ping Wang and other local startup leaders for a discussion of the current programs, opportunties and advancements of San Diego startups. Learn about our work with Ansir Innovation Center, Co-Merge Workplace, StartupAmerica and local universities. Gabriela Dow will review the Startup Survey conducted by StartupCircle to tell you what we learned from the challenges and opportunities our startup ecosystem faces and also discuss what Mayoral-elect Bob Filner told us he plans to do to help startups and entrepreneurs in our region. Finally, we are excited to unveil an announcement with a Silicon Valley venture grop that is launching a joint program with us in San Diego!
Featured Startups include:
- Robert Reyes:
Founder of StartupCircle San Diego, the Entrepreneur community focused on collaboration and contribution by following an architecture of Trust. Robert has over 15 years of experience in the fields of Sales, Marketing and Supply Network Management. Robert is on a mission to make San Diego a recognized city for Collaborative Entrepreneurship. He has been involved with companies worldwide in a diverse number of industries; conducting business internationally. Robert has Founded, Invested and/or Advised over 25 statups worldwide. Robert received his Bachelor of Accountancy and Supply Chain Management from the University of San Diego. In 2002 he received his Masters of Business Administration, from Pepperdine University focused in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
- Ping Wang:
Entrepreneur, scientist, engineer, and founder of the Ansir Innovation Center, a startup accelerator program in San Diego, Ping Wang focuses on bridging and finding synergies between disparate realms of technical and business disciplines, as well as cultures. The Ansir Innovation Center hosts a dozen or so early-stage technology companies and facilitates mentorship, business development, and funding for them. He is a also “Visioneer” (strategyinnovation engineering) at Mytek International, a diversified business group that now produces over 200 products in the home appliance and consumer electronics space with operations and sales in Asia, US, and Latin America, and is a major brand in Latin America. Recently, he has led new initiatives in innovation and design, spearheading a ‘Venture Manufacturing’ model to accelerate commercialization of product concepts by local entrepreneurs.
- Kathryn Cloward:
Founder and president of Natural Kidz Inc. and Kandon Unlimited Inc., which is home of Kandon Publishing and Kathryn the GrapeŽ Company, Kathryn is an award-winning author, songwriter, and entrepreneur who is passionate about helping others experience unlimited personal and professional growth. A risk-taking visionary, Kathryn companies are focused on nurturing the development of healthy, compassionate, and responsible children. In adition to the Kathryn the GrapeŽ children’s book series and inspirational music, Kandon Publishing is experiencing growth into novel and memoir book publishing by assisting other authors. Kathryn was honored in San Diego Metropolitan magazine's top 40 Under 40 in 2010 and is featured in multiple media outlets for her entrepreneurial leadership.
- Jed Sundwall:
Co-founder of Measured Voice, a social media management tool for government used by USA.gov, the State of Missouri, the government of Sweden, and many others. Measured Voice is also part of the first ever Code for America Accelerator program. A proud and committed San Diegan, Jed is also the founder of Open San Diego, a group working to make data about San Diego freely available for anyone to use. Launched late in 2009, Open San Diego has quickly developed a vibrant community of volunteer software developers, journalists, and citizens interested in leveraging the power of data to improve the quality of policymaking, journalism, and overall decision making in San Diego.
- Michael Limbrizi:
Founder and inventor of the patented ecoATM: a self-service electronics-recycling kiosk deployed in about 30 retail locations in the United States. The ecoATM pays consumers cash for their unwanted mobile phones based upon worldwide wholesale prices. EcoATM is the recipient of a National Science Foundation phase 1 SBIR grant for 2011, the UCSD Most Innovative Product Award for 2010, and Coinstar’s Next Big Idea award. The company has raised over $15 million in financing from Coinstar and other investors, and intends to deploy thousands of machines across the USA.
He also advises several student entrepreneurs, and is an active mentor with Lavin VentureStart for 2011-2012 sponsored by SDSU Entrepreneurial Management Center