Speakers

Johan Lorenzen - featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #12, 2011/12/26

Johan joined his first venture funded startup 12 years ago and has not left the global startup community since.

Since then he has founded several internet and software companies, within media, finance and enterprise software as well as advised and raised capital for several other statups. Johan holds degrees from universities across four continents and have graduated within computer science, information systems as well as an MBA.

Since 2010 Johan has been a Venture capital investor with Sunstone Capital in Copenhagen. Sunstone is a leading Pan-European early stage VC investor with more than €600 million under management. Sunstone has just raised a new fund of €85 million dedicated to early stage technology starups within mobile, software and consumer internet. Sunstone currently manages around 30 tech investments across Europe and Silicon Valley among others: Prezi, Layar, Issuu, Neo Technology, Microtask, Boozt.com, CloudMade, Infohubble, Podio, Trunk Images

 

Jennifer Cabala - featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #11, 2011/11/17

Jennifer Cabala is the Co-founder of the Startup Foundation in Seattle,Washington. Startup

Foundation promotes the creation of high-growth startups by supporting proven programs and creating new programs for entrepreneurs. Prior to Startup Foundation, Jennifer was the Chief Marketing andBrand Officer at Startup Weekend, where she was responsible for handling global marketing, brand management and strategic and corporate partnerships. Prior to Startup Weekend, Jennifer was CEO of Seattle 2.0, a web resource and event producer for entrepreneurs, and a reporter for KING 5 television, the Seattle NBC affiliate. Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Lukas Hudecek - featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #10, 2011/10/29

Lukas Hudecek, Co-founder at StartupYard

Lukas is an entrepreneur like minded person with a passion for innovation and market disruption. Hehas experience in a wide variety of fields, from e-commerce through software developemnt tomanufacturing electronic devices.

Spend 2,5 years in Skype as a Senior Engineer maintaining secure web systems and developing new products such as SkypeToGo and very first versions of Facebook integrations into Skype client.

Organized IPO48 – startup weekend hackathons, one in Nairobi, second in Prague. Foudned GoToMarket Academy – program helping part-time entrepreneurs to go full-time or fold down. Occasionaly mentors and coach people in startup events like StartupLive, StartupWeekend, Mini-Seedcamp. Lukas is currently running 3 months long accelerator program StartupYard in Prague. He loves creating, sharing and openness. Driven by success, powered by failure

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Carlo Blatz - featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #9, 2011/09/2

Carlo Blatz, CEO and founder at PowerFlasher LTD

For over 14 years, Carlo Blatz has been an experienced manager and entrepreneur. As one ofGermany’s first Flash developers, he began specializing in Flash technology in 1996. Building on his successes he founded his multimedia agency, Powerflasher GmbH, in 1997.

Along with Powerflasher GmbH, he is also the owner and cofounder of Supreme NewMedia GmbH and Power + Radach advertising agency GmbH. In addition to his technical insights, he has grown his expertise to the fields of user experience, usability and online marketing. Pulling from his experiences in these areas, he frequently speaks and hosts numerous international seminars and workshops.

He is also a passionate networker and has excellent contacts in international online business. At international conferences he has always been a frequent speaker and guest. As a ‘Flash Pioneer’, as he is often called, he authored Germany’s first professional Flash book and works in other related topics. Over the last decade, he has contributed to shaping the German Flash scene.

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Michael Sliwinski – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #8, 2011/06/15

Michael Sliwinski, CEO and founder at Nozbe

Michael Sliwinski is a Web2.0 entrepreneur who has been successfully running since 2007 a web-based time and project management application Nozbe.com – inspired by David Allen’s Getting Things Done method. Michael blogs regularly on startups and productivity atMichaelNozbe.com and he is the editor-in-chief of the Productive! Magazine.

Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Business Economics from University of Gdansk, Poland and a Bachelor Degree in Marketing and Management from Univeristy of Applied Sciences in Stralsund, Germany. Happily married to his wife Ewelina (they have a beautiful young daughter), he’s traveled and lived all around Europe and fluently speaks English, German, Spanish and Polish.

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John Lunn – featured co-speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #7, 2011/05/11

John Lunn, Director of Platform and Integration, PayPalX

John has been building payments and fraud systems on the internet for over 15 years and has advised many of the successful and less successful start-ups on their payment strategies. Originally a java certified developer and now an all purpose hacker and Startup mentor. John heads up the technology for PayPals new developer network PayPalX in the EU.

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David Bizer – featured co-speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #7, 2011/05/11

David Bizer is HackFwd’s Chief Talent Geek. He ensures HackFwd is finding the 1% of the best talent with the best ideas, and helps HackBoxes grow and develop.

David is a pioneer in global internet recruiting with a unique bi-continental background discovering talent from Silicon Valley to the technology hubs of Europe. Over the past 15 years, David has recruited and led recruitment efforts resulting in the hiring of more than 4000 top-caliber candidates across more than 25 countries.

David started his career in staffing at Netscape which was at the time, perhaps the most exciting internet company on the planet. Having learned with the best at Netscape, David then joined Trilogy to lead their European Recruitment efforts, sourcing high caliber Computer Science graduates from top universities in Western Europe.

In 2003, David was named the first European recruiter at Google. He hired over 300 candidates in his first 18 months. He then led Google’s staffing efforts across Europe for 20+ sales offices and all technical graduate recruitment.

David holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Colorado, Boulderand has served as President of AIESEC United States.

David resides in Paris with his wife Julia and his children Alexa and Samuel. The family loves living, and especially eating, in Paris.

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Alex Farcet – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #6, 2011/03/30

Alex Farcet, entrepreneur, co-founder and managing director of Startupbootcamp – an European startup accelerator based in Copenhagen, organiser of F1rst Friday networking events for entrepreneurs and editor of Startup Digest, Copenhagen.

As Alex described himself: “French citizen, born in Spain and grew up in Africa, now living in Denmark.”

For almost 20 years Alex has been associated with the new technologies, logistics and venture capital. For over 10 years he worked in different locations for logistics giant, DHL Express, where as COO he has managed budget optimation, implemetation of DHL serices on the new markets and taking operations over by local partners such as Deutsche Post Wordnet. Since 2007, he worked as an independent consultant in the optimization of management processes and business development, including Carlson Wagonlit for Sweden and BUPA International. He worked as a coach for the start-up projects, including Yellowman.dk (since 2008 also as an investor and board member) and the Danish government’s programme to encourage promising young companies IT – Gazelle Growth Program. After becoming a board member and business adviser for the InSilicoMobile.dk start-up, Alex founded his first private venture capital and private equity – Startupdenmark.dk. For over a year he managed the Startup Weekend event, matching young entrepreneurs into project teams and assisting them in finding an investor. In 2009 he was co-founded Startupbootcamp, venture capital fund that invests and advises start-up projects throughout Europe. Ultimately, Startupbootcamp aims to be the largest such initiative in the old continent and will establish offices in Madrid, Dublin, London and Berlin soon. Startupbootcamp is a program known to involve high-class professionals of new technologies and attract prestigious partners such as IBM or Citi.

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Ed Harding – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #5, 2011/02/23

Ed is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), a business graduate and has trained with some of the worlds leading business schools. He is also a member of the faculty of Corporate Finance at ICAEW.

Ed’s career has spanned a number of sectors beginning as a marketing intern at ICL Financial Services Division (now Fujitsu) then 5 years as an accountant, auditor and corporate financier in accountancy practice with Mazars. Ed then spent 7 years in senior roles in the financial services industry setting up a European Internet bank for investment bank Warburg then global business analysis for UBS Wealth Management from Zurich, to CFO of Coutts & Co and Head of Analysis for RBS Wealth Management Division.

Through his consulting firm Harding & Harding LLP Ed has advised clients in Europe, Asia and the US on corporate finance and business performance improvement. As well as advising multinationals he has worked with a range of start-ups, small firms and charities, mostly in the technology and financial services sectors.

During 2010 Ed was Financial Geek (CFO) at European pre-seed investment company HackFwd where he assessed investment deal-flow, balanced the books and assisted individual Hackboxes on their financial journeys “post-beta”.

He is currently Interim Finance Director at RSA (FTSE100 insurance co), a mentor for Springboard, mentor & investor to various startups and cofounder of TH&TS Group.

Outside of work Ed is a keen traveler and mountain biker, is married to Pamela, and lives by the sea in Brighton England.

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Alex Barrera – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #4, 2011/01/26

Alejandro Barrera (of Tetuan Valley / Startup Bootcamp / Okuri Ventures / inkzee.com) is one of the most active European entrepreneurs involved in startups. Trained as a computer scientist, man of various trades: from IT security, through the Artificial Intelligence, Geographic Information Systems up to Web applications.

Geek, innovator and a lover of social interaction.

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Jon Bradford – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #3, 2010/12/15

Jon Bradford, the MD, is responsible for managing Springboard. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Difference Engine and prior to this, he was the Investment Manager at the Design and Creative Fund for North East Finance. Jon has spent most of the last ten years working in and around start-ups; both for advisory firms and venture capital backed start-ups, including an Oxford university spin-out. Jon started his career at Arthur Andersen including a secondment to Melbourne, Australia. Having recently completed the conversion of a Northumberland barn, Jon knows far too much about septic tanks than he really cares for.

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Carlos Eduardo Espinal – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #2, 2010/11/24

Carlos joined Seedcamp in September 2010. Previously, he was at Doughty Hanson where he focused on early stage tech investing and worked with companies like Flirtomatic and Mobango.

Before Doughty Hanson, Carlos was an engineer for the Advanced Communications Technologies group of The New York Stock Exchange (SIAC) where he focused on the next generation of wireless and mobile trading platforms for the exchange. Prior to SIAC, he was a network security consultant for the professional services division of Baltimore Technologies where he worked with global clients in the telecommunication and data services sectors.

Carlos holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University. Carlos was a 2005 recipient of the Paul F. Greene Telecommunications Research Award. He speaks Spanish, English, and French. In his spare time, Carlos enjoys road cycling, blogs about mobile tech gadgets, and is on the steering committee of the European Venture Capital Network.

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Jani G. Byrne – featured speaker at Warsaw Pitch Rally #1, 2010/10/06

Jani started her IBM career in 1988 as a Human Factors engineer in the Networking Hardware Division in Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC.  She has held a multitude of hardware and software leadership and management roles including market research, marketing communications, brand management, channel management, and product marketing.  In addition, she was responsible for designing and launching the highly successful Small Business Program, IBM’s first global sales and marketing initiative targeted at small business.

Jani held a variety of executive roles including IBM’s B2B e-business initiative and xSeries channel, operations and marketing communications.  She also led strategy, business development, sales enablement and marketing activities for IBM’s accessibility efforts.

Most recently, Jani the Director of Strategic Ventures, and an active partner in IBM’s Venture Capital Group, focused on IBM’s hardware and associated software. In this role, Jani is responsible for facilitating strategic relationships with the Venture Community to leverage their insights and guidance, and to build out VC-backed ecosystems for our Systems and Technology Group.

Jani holds a Ph.D. and M.S in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Maryland.  She lives with her family in Driftwood, Texas.

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