Investors Office Hours at TTA
At TTA we are aware of the vital importance of skills diversity among entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are creating and putting their lifeblood into their ideas. Their company is their passion and they want to turn it into a viable business. Programs that support them to get the most out of their venture business are essential in this journey.
A core component of emerging companies is the ability of their founders to communicate with all kind of stakeholders. Investors are a very important element of the startup ecosystem. They support founders and teams by funding their companies and boosting their growth. We want to provide this golden opportunity to our entrepreneurs at TTA.
We have the pleasure to introduce our Investors Office Hours. A dozen or so lucky startups in our Entrepreneur Track will be able to pitch to our investor mentors and get invaluable live feedback. These companies will be chosen based on their performance in the cohort as determined by their mentors. Everyone else is invited to watch the sessions. After all, it’s not very often you get to see how a top investor advises or challenges a peer’s business. Most of the time, that has been behind closed doors and remains a black box. We are here to share the process with you so that everyone can learn and be better prepared.
So … do you have a kickass Transformative Technology business? Are you actively working on gaining traction? Do you think you’re ready to get some serious investment to boost you to the next level? At our Investors Office Hours you can find out just how ready you are!
Zack Lynch, Miri Polachek, Mike Edelhart, Tim Chang & Cheryl Cheng will lead our Investors Office Hours. You can meet them here!
Zack Lynch is an entrepreneur, market maven and futurist. Author of the best selling book “The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing our World” and founder and Chairman of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a global trade association representing companies involved in neuroscience, brain research institutes and patient advocacy groups.
As a General Partner, he brings a rich understanding of the technologies and companies driving the experiential technology market to JAZZ, the leading venture capital firm focused on technologies that extend the boundaries of human performance. They invest in companies at the intersection of digital technology and neuroscience. Their portfolio companies are unlocking human potential in important markets: health, mind-body wellness, peak mental and physical performance, accelerated learning and training, sports, and entertainment.
Good examples are: Eyefluence (Acquired by Google), the company that has created the world’s first eye-interaction solution for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality devices. Or Halo Neuroscience, creators of a wearable novel and powerful neuroscience-based technology for improving motor and cognitive capabilities, from elite athletes and soldiers seeking ultimate performance to unlocking the full potential of individuals to learn new skills and knowledge.
Miri Polachek: CEO at Joy Ventures. Her passion for health & technology innovation and her more than 20 years of international, executive level experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors have led her to the Neuro-Wellness arena at Joy Ventures.
Joy Ventures supports breakthrough scientific research through grants to academia, expanding the knowledge base, data, research, and understanding of neuro-wellness mechanisms, impact, and biology. Joy Ventures is also a long-term partner, supporting teams from the very first stages, through product development, market penetration and beyond. They cultivate and invest in startups and entrepreneurs which bring innovative Neuro-Wellness products to consumers, in ways that are fun and easy to use.
Mike Edelhart is an experienced media and Internet start-up executive. Mike has held CEO and executive positions at numerous start-ups including Inman News, Zinio, Third Age Media and Olive Software.
Current Managing Partner at Social Starts and Joyance Partners seed funds. Joyance Partners is a $20M venture capital partnership that invests in companies with the capacity to deliver Delightful Moments that are part of all human experience. Now, a range of new technologies has the potential to deliver these experiences. They vary from transforming the human (genetics, neurosciences), to creating new forms of human chemistry (personal pharma) to changing human circumstance rather than body (virtual reality). These new technologies constitute powerful tech Vectors of Happiness.
They invest from the earliest stages through the series A rounds of companies such as Councourse Global Enrollment, a platform for educational institutions that brings together college guidance counselors and artificial intelligence to match and connect students around the world with higher education opportunities. Or Hexis, the company that is building a language that will enable technology to understand human emotion. This emotion recognition software creates true personalization and user experience automation.
Tim Chang partners with entrepreneurs unleashing the power of communities and networks, using real-time data combined with personal storytelling, to disrupt the worlds of commerce, health and wellness, and also those innovating on new platforms such as messaging, VR/AR, and smart devices.
Tim has been twice named on the Midas List of top 100 VCs. As Mayfield Fund Partner, he has led Mayfield’s investments in MOAT (acquired by Oracle), Basis (acquired by Intel), Fitmob (acquired by Classpass), Ript Labs, Grove Collaborative, Massdrop, Pillow, HealthTap, 3Drobotics, and Lantern.
Mayfield has been investing in India since 2006 and have a total of $219 million under management. They are currently investing out of the $108 million Mayfield India II, their second dedicated India fund. They follow an early-stage (Seed to Series A) venture capital strategy and invest in companies targeting the consumer and business sectors across non-tech, tech-enabled, and technology verticals.
Cheryl Cheng: Cheryl is a General Partner at BlueRun Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on mobile software and services investments. She focuses on early stage mobile and real-time data opportunities, especially in consumer and enterprise applications. Her investments include Hello Heart, Sendwithus, and ZeeMee.
She is also an advisor to Stanford’s Biodesign program, L’Oreal’s Women in Digital Program, and a board member for Stanford Ronald McDonald House. She also provides guidance and advice to women in product startups.
At Bluerun Ventures, she helps early stage companies build transformational businesses. Their portfolio include companies such as Waze (Acquired by Google), the social traffic & navigation app based on the world’s largest community of drivers sharing real time road info and contributing to the “common good” out there on the road. Or PayPal (Acquired by eBay), an online gateway that enables users to make and receive payments online.
Once more, we have to thank our amazing key sponsors who are giving away their time and support to our participants. The journey from idea to startup to success is long, but building a strong network and embrace the culture of collaboration is key to ensure success.
In excitement,
Nichol, Rui, Jeffery, Paola & the Transformative Tech Team
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