Start Up Meet Up

2010 Speakers

The keynote speakers for Start Up Meet Up 2010 will be announced shortly.  Please stay tuned…

2009 Speakers

Lunch Keynote Speaker:

Brett Hurt, Founder & CEO, Bazaarvoice

Brett is the Founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice, where he is responsible for guiding the company’s strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations. Brett is a seasoned executive widely recognized throughout the online industry for turning groundbreaking ideas into leading businesses.

Brett has extensive experience in the online marketing arena, especially as it pertains to the eCommerce industry. He founded Coremetrics in February 1999 after spending 10 years developing Internet-based software. Brett helped grow Coremetrics into the leading marketing analytics solution for the eCommerce industry, servicing more than 1,000 clients today. Forrester Research eventually rated Coremetrics #1 in the industry. Prior to Coremetrics, Brett was the founder and CEO of Hurt Technology Consulting and BodyMatrix, an online retailer of sports nutrition products, which he sold. Before that, he was a consultant at Deloitte Consulting and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Brett has more than 15 years of Internet programming experience and has developed multiple software applications, including Internet marketing analysis solutions, eCommerce platforms, Web-based classroom management applications, virtual communities, multiplayer online games, and Bulletin Board System (BBS) software. He started programming when he was seven years old, launched a BBS on a 110-baud modem when he was ten, and created one of the first Internet-based multiplayer games in 1990. Brett holds an MBA in High-Tech Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin.

Brett was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Austin in 2009. He serves on the Board of Directors of Shop.org, the leading non-profit industry association for retailers online and a division of the National Retail Federation, the largest trade organization for retailers. This is his second term on the Shop.org board, where he previously served for two years. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School and served as a Board of Advisors member to the non-profit Web Analytics Association. Brett actively advises several early-stage technology companies. He is an inventor (US Patent #7,050,989) and a regular speaker at various industry events and universities.

Brett is one of the few, the proud – a native Austinite. Outside of Bazaarvoice, his biggest project is raising Rachel, his beautiful daughter, with Debra, his wonderful wife. He also enjoys spending time with their sometimes insane miniature pinscher, Onyx, and reading AlwaysOn, Business Week, Wired, and almost anything written by Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, or Neal Stephenson (except for the Baroque Cycle… sorry, Neal).

Closing Keynote Speakers:

Kenneth Losch, Manager, CEO, and President, Advanced Green Technologies, LLC

Mr. Losch has more than 25 years of executive management experience in both the United States and Canada. Mr. Losch is co-founder, manager, and CEO of Advanced Green Technologies, LLC – our Parent Company. Mr. Losch has maintained a life-long concern with building healthy environments and life-styles, as well as being an innovator in new community concepts for urban living. He is the co-founder and principal of two real estate companies in Tempe, Arizona – Trillium Residential, LLC, a builder and manager of award-winning, luxury Class A multi-family communities, and Avenue Communities, LLC, which designs and develops innovative urban living communities with a strong focus on unique lifestyle considerations. Using an integrated real estate approach, his companies have collectively purchased, developed, constructed, financed, and property managed close to 10,000 units and 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space, totaling more than $1.8 billion in aggregate value. Mr. Losch is an avid racer, and established Apex Racing Team in 2004 with the goal of building a winning race car team – having competed in the Indy Lights Pro Series and the Best in the Desert off-road racing series. Mr. Losch is dedicated to his community and surrounding area organizations. He is a founding board member of the TRACares Foundation, a non-profit entity that supports worthy causes locally and globally with the passion statement of “Empowering Community” – its most recent work has been in Ndola, Zambia in Africa in the operations of Kafakumba Training Center for education and the successful development of organic farming for community economic independence.

Ingrid Vanderveldt, Chief Synergy Officer, Advanced Green Technologies, LLC

Ms. Vanderveldt brings to our Company over 15 years of experience in developing high level business relationships as a Chief Executive Officer and corporate “rainmaker” that have resulted in driving measurable investment, sales, and media opportunities for her endeavors. Ms. Vanderveldt has experience raising millions of dollars in both investments and sales and has previously attracted the attention of both national and international media. Ms. Vanderveldt is regularly featured in the media. Ms. Vanderveldt has previously hosted CNBC’s “American Made,” which provides a behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Additionally, she is the host of the entrepreneurship show, “On The Road with iV”. Ms. Vanderveldt’s outside ventures and activities include: being a founding member of The Billionaire Girls Club; serving as an advisor to a number of start up companies; and serving as the annual emcee of the Moot Corp Competition – MOOT CORP. Ms. Vanderveldt has also founded the Austin Entrepreneurs Foundation and is a recipient of the 2001 Austin Under 40 Award for Technology, the Austin Business Journal’s “Profiles in Power” Award, and was previously recognized as one of the Austin American Statesman’s female “The Top 10 Tech Town’s Rising Stars to Watch.” Ms. Vanderveldt has previously served as the National Director for the American Institute of Architects, where she developed the first ever Women in Architecture video. Ms. Vanderveldt has a Masters degree in Architecture from the Savannah College of Art & Design and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Panelists:

Market Validation

Rob Adams (Moderator), Professor, McCombs School of Business
Melissa Simpler, CEO, Affinegy
Troy Lanier, CTO, DadLabs.com
Kevin Koym, Founding Partner, TechRanchAustin
Jay Whitchurch, Co-founder & CEO, Campus2Careers
Mark McClain, Senior VP Sales & Marketing, Waveset Technologies

Entrepreneurial Law

John Doggett (Moderator), Professor, McCombs School of Business
Paul Hurdlow, Chair of Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Group, Partner, DLA Piper
Paul Huggins, Associate, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati
Charles Moster, Senior Partner & Co-founder, Moster Wynne Ressler
Matt Lyons, Partner, Andrews Kurth LLP

Marketing in the Digital Era

Ben Bentzin (Moderator), Professor, McCombs School of Business
Lori Kerrigan, VP of Sales, NaturallyCurly.com Inc
Kevin Newsum, Senior Community Manager, Yelp!
Bill Leake, CEO, Apogee Search
Patti D. Hill, Founder & CEO, Penman PR

Capitalizing a Start Up

Jim Nolen (Moderator), Professor, McCombs School of Business
Jamie Rhodes, Chairman, Central Texas Angels Network (CTAN)
Robin Curle, Board of Advisors, CTAN
Jeremy Bencken, Co-founder & Chairman, Buzzstream
Chris Eckerman, Director, Hunt Ventures