Judges



Phillip Alvelda, CEO and Chairman of TaDa Innovations, Inc / founding CEO of MobiTV

Dr. Phillip Alvelda is the CEO & Chairman of TaDa, a technology and media startup delivering live television and voice service over broadband networks, and the founding Chairman of The Westminster Institute for Science Education [WISE], an organization that helps schools extend and enrich STEM education with an emphasis on technical design, creativity, and innovation. Prior to TaDa and WISE, Dr. Alvelda was the founding CEO of MobiTV, the world's leading provider of live TV, video-on-demand and music over mobile networks. Dr. Alvelda and his team took the idea of "rich media delivery over wireless networks" from concept to market leadership with the world's first live television experience over mobile phones, creating an entirely new media distribution channel, now called mobile television. Since MobiTV's 2003 debut on Sprint, Dr. Alvelda grew the service to more than two million paying subscribers on all the major US, Canadian, UK, and Latin American wireless networks. The company now has over 17 million subscribers, making MobiTV the US's 3rd largest television provider by distribution.

Dr. Alvelda received an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, was selected by Fast Company as the US's 15th most influential high technology entrepreneur, and has been granted numerous other technology and industry leadership awards from AlwaysOn, CNET, Fierce, Frost & Sullivan, Mobile Entertainment (One of the top 20 most influential New Media Executives), Red Herring and other influencers for innovation and market leadership. He is a regular invited speaker at media and telecom industry events including the World Economic Forum where he was chosen as a "Technology Pioneer" in 2007.

Prior to MobiTV, Dr. Alvelda was the founding CEO and CTO of The MicroDisplay Corporation, a manufacturer of high-resolution miniature displays for low cost HDTVs. Prior to MicroDisplay, Dr. Alvelda was a developer of spacecraft hardware and software systems, and new computing architectures at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he designed and built a series of sensors that flew on the Space Shuttle as well as the Galileo and Magellan interplanetary spacecraft. Dr. Alvelda holds over 20 patents and patents-pending on a wide range of technologies, a technical Emmy Award, a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell University, and Masters and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

 
Brent Bushnell, CEO of Doppelgames / founder Syyn Labs

Brent Bushnell is an engineer and entrepreneur; he's held founder and executive positions in entertainment and technology companies for the past 15 years. Most recently he was the on-camera inventor for the ABC TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Previously he was a founder and CEO of Doppelgames, a mobile game platform company that sold to Handmade Mobile in 2012; a founder and CTO of Anti-Aging Games, a company creating casual games that reduce the risk of early memory loss; a founder of Syyn Labs, a creative collective that builds content for bands and large corporations including Google, Disney and Sears and a founder and CTO of Tapcode which provided self-service and entertainment solutions for the hospitality industry. In his spare time, Brent advises two companies and mentors children in game development and entrepreneurship. He publishes at brentbushnell.com and @brentbushnell

 

 
Jon Funk, Founder at Ocean Road Partners

Jon Funk is the founder of Ocean Road Partners and has been directing startup investments in LA for over 25 years. He has backed some of southernCalifornia’s most successful companies, including Sandpiper Networks, Rent.comand Shopzilla. Ocean Road Partners provides educational and information resources and selectively considers angel investments. Jon is on the Board and Executive Committee of LAVA and was inducted into the LAVA Hall of Fame in2012.

 

 

 

 Howard Marks, Co-Chair StartEngine / co-founder Activision

Howard is a 30-year industry entrepreneur, having co-founded juggernaut Activision as well as Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he was most recently head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard is now CEO of Gamzee, a new social game company building games for the new Facebook mobile platform in HTML5. Howard the co-founder and co-chair of StartEngine, LA's largest startup accelerator located in Westwood and focused on helping entrepreneurs become successful in 90 days.


 

 Scott Sangster, President of Tech Coast Angels (Los Angeles)/CEO at OrganicStartup

OrangicStartup's is a company that helps Internet startups start. OrganicStartup incubates and accelerates innovative ventures by providing them with strategic early-stage investment, advisory, and operational assistance. Sangster is a serial entrepreneur and M&A executive with experience both founding and acquiring businesses. He sits on several boards and is involved in the virtual worlds, gaming, mobile, media, and healthcare markets.

Prior to running OrganicStartup, Sangster was responsible for strategic planning and corporate development at the Walt Disney Internet Group. Sangster identified new media growth opportunities, developed strategy, and managed the evaluation and execution of acquisitions that helped Disney meet its strategic objectives.

Before Disney, Sangster founded and managed a venture-backed Internet business, served five years as a management consultant to media and technology companies, and oversaw the launch of one of the first online banking services. He graduated from The American University in Washington D.C. and holds a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Sangster lives in Los Angeles and is actively involved in improving early childhood education.
Zao Yang, COO at BetterWorks Inc,/ Co-Creator of Farmville

Sizhao "Zao" Yang is currently the COO/co-founder at BetterWorks, Inc., a perks platform for small medium businesses. Previously, he co-created Farmville, and was the CEO/co-founder of MyMiniLife, Inc. (sold to Zynga Game Networks, Inc.). After the acquisition, MyMiniLife became the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users including games like Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. He also designed the Farmville iPhone application (top iPhone app), and worked on corporate development deals including Microsoft, Yahoo, Zynga Japan, and Zynga corporate strategy. He is also an active investor with stakes in companies like Hipmunk, GroupMe, Facebook, Zynga (acquisition stock), and SV Angels. He received a B.S. in computer science at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

 

Mentors

 

Maha Achour, PhD:  Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Rayspan Corporation
Phillip Alvelda, PhD: CEO and Chairman of TaDa Innovations, Inc / founding CEO of MobiTV
Tom Grasty: Co-founder, Stroom
Paul Grand: Managing Director, RCT BioVentures
Zao Yang: COO at BetterWorks Inc / Co-Creator of Farmville