Attending our conference this week? Don’t miss out on one of our most popular programs, Lunch Mentorship. Meet our mentors below.
By Jessica Schimm (Assistant Editor, Women 2.0)
Lunch mentorship is one of the most talked-about conference sessions, and if you’re registered for the General Conference Session – good news – you can sign up (in the Eventbrite registration) to participate!
How does Lunch Mentorship work?
Our conference attendees are placed in small groups and matched with a seasoned entrepreneur and/or investor (depending on their preference) at a round-table, for discussion and Q&A over lunch. Our CEO explains:
“Lunch is a social thing, that’s why we created lunch mentorship. It’s a way to meet like-minded founders, investors and other people in technology so they can help each other and build community. Communities are powerful – find support, find inspiration, find your next business partner, find your next funder – innovation happens in communities, innovation happens through connected people.”
We asked our mentors to give a 140-word blurb about themselves. Read on to see what they had to say, plus it’s a great way to gain some ice breakers!
Adam D’Augelli (Senior Associate, True Ventures)
Early-stage venture capital at True Ventures. Live music, burritos, and open source robots.
Alexa Andrzejewski (Lead Experience Designer, Foodspotting (Part of OpenTable))
Founded Foodspotting because I couldn’t find Okonomiyaki in San Francisco. It was acquired by OpenTable in 2013.
Cindy Alvarez (Director of User Experience, Yammer)
Cindy Alvarez runs User Experience and Product Design for Yammer (a Microsoft company).
Mike Rothenberg (CEO, Rothenberg Ventures)
Mike founded 3 companies including VC firm Rothenberg Ventures.
Rebecca Kaden (Maveron, Principal)
Obsessed with consumer brands and the people who dream them, fresh powder, new adventures and destinations, great novels.
Lisa Oshima (Managing Consultant, Socialize Mobilize)
Lisa loves mobile & social start-ups and has worked with dozens over the last decade to help them grow.
David Kochbeck (CEO, GoBeMe)
Dave’s the Women 2.0 PITCH coach.
Josh Elman (Partner, Greylock)
Josh helped make LinkedIn, Facebook Connect, and Twitter. Now a VC, still prefers to think and talk product.
Annie Kadavy (Investor, Charles River Ventures)
Annie filed her first of 3 product patents while in high school; she is psyched for the hardware revolution!
Hiten Shah (Founder, KISSmetrics)
Started two SaaS companies, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. One is self-funded & the other is venture backed.
Margaret Wallace (CEO, Playmatics)
Forbes-Listed CEO of @Playmatics. Entrepreneur & Speaker. Passionate about Gaming, Digital Media, Tech.
Brendan Baker (Tomfoolery, Greylock Partners)
Brendan currently works with Greylock Partners, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Before that, he was the second hire at AngelList.
Leah Busque (Founder + CEO, TaskRabbit)
Classically trained ballerina. Engineer turned entrepreneur. Boston transplant.
Katrina Lake (Founder & CEO, StitchFix)
Katrina is passionate about helping women achieve everyday confidence. She founded Stitch Fix to help women everywhere discover and explore their style through a truly customer-focused shopping experience.
Rebecca Watson (Vice President, RadiumOne)
Rebecca is an expert at devising revenue models for digital media businesses.
Shelley Zhuang (Founder and Partner, Eleven two Capital)
Founder of Eleven Two Capital • Worked at Draper Fisher Jurveston, Ecoplast, Microsoft and NASA.
Johnathon Kresner (Sir, Airpair)
I’m awesome.
Nnamdi Okike (Founder and Managing Partner, 645 Angels)
More than two-thirds of my portfolio companies were founded by women.
Marwan Roushdy (CEO, Tag)
Started my first company building online games at the age of 12.
Sarah Cone (Associate, Illuminate Ventures)
Sarah loves swimming while dreaming up new business models.
Hetal Pandaya (Easilydo, Co-Founder and Growth Hacker)
Best ideas come when I’m in my spinning class!
Juliana Pantent (Associate Director, Beehive Holdings)
Juliana is a lawyer and investor. Obsessed with monetization brainstorming sessions over swiss fondue.
Dianna Mullins (Co-founder & SVP Marketplace Operations, Glam Media)
Film Lover. Co-founder Glam Media. I care deeply about women’s safety globally, LGBT equality, women in film, women in leadership.
Sumeet Jain (DIrector, Intel Capital)
Did two startups; one failed, one succeeded. Previously at Goldman and CMEA Capital.
Sumaya Kazi (CEO & Founder, Sumazi)
Founder @Sumazi, BizWeek Top Young Entrepreneur, Led Social Strategy @ Sun Microsystems, Berkeley Alum.
Jenny Fielding (BBC Worldwide, Head of BBC Labs)
Jenny stands on her head everyday.
Dhana Pawar (Vice President, Mobile, Coupons Inc)
Started Mizpee-mobile bathroom finder. VP Mobile at Coupons.com.
Sarah Kunst (Web mobile investor, MDV)
Sarah Kunst is an investor, philanthropist and startup obsessive.
Cecilia Pagkalinawan (Founder/CEO, Applaud)
Started 3 companies BoutiqueY3k, StyleTrek, Apploud. Ran e-commerce & digital for Burberry and La Perla. Advisor BetaAngels, GiantStep, NextDayBetter. Board Venture4America Music Unites.
Jonathan Eibinger (General Partner, BlueRun Ventures)
Jonathan loves the creation process, having started a few companies himself. Now relegated to investing in others. Two daughters at home outshine my creativity every day.
Everett Harper (Founder & CEO, Tetherpad)
Started two mobile companies, managed community & acquisition at Linden Lab, NCAA soccer champ & Barça fan, will share homemade limoncello if you ask nicely.
Alexis Giles (MOX, Co-Founder, VP Business Development)
Alexis has worked for 2 tech giants, started 2 companies, lives clean and fights dirty.
Christine Lu (Co-founder & CEO, Affinity China)
Christine co-organized the first GeeksOnAPlane with @davemcclure. She threw a Dr. Seuss hat on clipart as a joke and he made it the logo.
James Maiocco (Director, Microsoft Ventures)
James is a serial entrepreneur and enjoys helping others achieve their dreams.
Mark Ferlatte (Co-founder, Tetherpad)
I make things (software, teams, steak). Sometimes they work!
Jeff Tannenbaum (Investor, Bluerun Ventures)
Jeff has leadership experience building consumer web companies in the entertainment, mobile and technology industries.
Jennifer Leech (Coder & Co-Founder Tetherpad)
Jen traveled the world for a year while launching her startup.
Kirby Harris (Partner, BaseVentures)
Lost just enough to appreciate winning!
Shruti Challa (CEO, Mentorzen)
US State Department sponsored Shruti on a three week speaking tour across Sri Lanka & India.
Brett Laffel (Principal, Microsoft Ventures)
Brett helped to launch Microsoft’s startup investment arm, and currently serves a Principal @MSFTVentures.
Christine Lemke (Co-founder, The Activity Exchange)
Christine knows what it’s like to fund your startup on your credit card.
Holly Liu (Co-founder & Chief of Staff, Kabam)
Holly co-founded Kabam – a global rocket ship pushing to new heights. Keeps a usability “bug list” and wacky ways to solve them.
Jason Putorti (VP of Design, Causes)
Designed mint.com, co-founded Votizen, would rather be playing soccer.
Obi Felten (Head of getting moonshots ready for contact with the real world, Google[x])
Seven years with startups, seven years Google, beekeeper’s wife, mother of two.
Jason DePerro (EVP Product, GoBe.Me)
At GoBe.Me we are heads down creating tools to help the 23M American’s find good jobs.
Will Young (Director / General Partner, Zappos Labs / VegasTechFund)
I don’t dress like it… but i really do love all things retail/fashion. And donuts.
Betsy Aoki (Senior Program Manager, Microsoft)
Ask Betsy about games, social and urban chicken blogging!
Alice Han (Self-employed, UX Designer)
Maybe it’s just Middle Child Syndrome, but Alice finds it thrilling knowing people are experiencing her designs worldwide.
Ryan Stern (CEO, Collectively)
Founder & CEO @CollectivelyInc. A gal with a guy name, I build brands, start-ups, & communities. I love to dream big and prove it possible.
Betty Huang (Partner, Launchtime)
Betty is a Partner in an early stage seed fund and founder of social and ecomm startups.
Carrie Whitehead (Product and User Experience Manager, Zappos Labs)
Excited by the intersection of business and design. Obsesses over great customer experiences. Outdoorsy type. Lives to master the handstand.
Robert Schwentker (PayPal, Startup Relations)
Robert is connecting startup incubators across the Americas. Enjoys Natarajasana pose, tho mostly wobbles about.
Photo by Erika Kawamoto Hsu.
Register for our conference Feb. 13th & 14th here.
Jessica Schimm (@JessicaSchimm) is the assistant editor at Women 2.0. She is a recent graduate of San Francisco State where she earned a B.A. in journalism and was the editor-in-chief of SF State’s Her Campus chapter. She has a strong interest in women’s topics and writes about them on her blog.