Thursday, May 23rd, 2019

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM

Session I: Haas Conference Center, Rm. 172-173

Funding and Business Development in ICOs, Blockchain, AR/VR, AI and Immersion

Michael Terpin, Founder and CEO, Transform Group

Elizabeth Kukka, Program Director, ETC Labs

Maxim Wheatley, Founder & CEO, WeScreen

Max Brody, Founder and CEO, Cent

Benjamin Tsai, President & Managing Partner, Wave Financial Group and Co-Founder & CFO, LA Blockchain Lab

Randall Crowder, Chief Operating Officer, Phunware

Moderator - Mariana Danilovic, Founder and Managing Director, Hollywood Portfolio & Managing Director, Transform Grou

Michael Terpin, founder and CEO, Transform Group: Michael Terpin has more than 25 years of PR agency management. He has directly supervised many renowned PR campaigns of the digital media era, including early-stage PR for America Online, Earthlink, Jupiter, Motley Fool, Match.com, and Shapeways, as well as full-service campaigns with established brands, including Alpine, AT&T, Diamond Multimedia, Fujitsu, JBL, Konami, Marriott, Memorex, Philips, Rackspace, Red Herring, and TEAC. In the blockchain sector, Terpin has led the

PR efforts for more than 150 blockchain companies and foundations, including some of the leading token crowdsales. Client successes include the launches of Aeternity, Augur, Bancor, Ethereum, Factom, Gnosis, Golem Network, Lisk, MaidSafe, Qtum, and Tether, as well as ongoing campaigns for Bittrex, Counterparty, Dash, Eos, Kraken, NEM, Neo, Storj and Shapeshift. In early 2013, Terpin co-founded BitAngels, the world’s first angel network for digital currency startups, which gave birth in 2014 to the successful CoinAgenda series of blockchain investor conferences in North America, Europe/EMEA, Asia and Caribbean/LatAm. He cofounded early blockchain incubator bCommerce Labs; the Bitcoin Syndicate on AngelList (with legendary super-angel Gil Penchina), and the Dapps Fund, which was a lead investor in the initial crowdsale for Ethereum, Factom, MaidSafe and Storj. He currently heads up the ICO investment committee for Alphabit Fund, a $300 million digital currency fund registered in the Caymans, and advises numerous blockchain companies and foundations, including Bancor, ICOBox. Prior to his exclusive focus on blockchain, Terpin founded Marketwired, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive international newswires, for which he was a finalist in the 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Originally known as Internet Wire and funded by Sequoia Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Marketwired was acquired in April 2006 by Toronto-based media company, CCN Matthews, and is now owned by NASDAQ, which acquired it in February 2016 for $200 million. Terpin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from SUNY at Buffalo and a dual Bachelor Degree in Newspaper Journalism and English Literature from Syracuse University. He serves as an advisor to SU’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he was inducted into its prestigious Wall of Fame. He is also an advisor to the Consumer Electronics Show, where he helps programs the blockchain content, including for CES Asia.

Benjamin Tsai, President & Managing Partner, Wave Financial Group and Co-Founder & CFO, LA Blockchain Lab: Benjamin has 15 years of experience in banking and asset management in Asia.  He formerly served as Head of structured products and Head of the commodities desk in Asia for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, out of Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.  Subsequently he was Head of Alternative Investments Asia for AllianceBernstein.  Ben is a Co-Founder of the LA Blockchain Lab, a non-profit which connects academia (UCLA, USC, Caltech, UCI) with the government (LA City government) and other organizations in the blockchain space.  He is also part of the formation team for Wave Financial Group, a crypto asset management firm and California registered RIA.  Ben holds a BS from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Randall  Crowder is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Phunware (NASDAQ: PHUN), a technology company in Austin, TX developing complex digital ecosystems for marquee brands and launching a unique cryptocurrency called PhunCoin. Prior to Phunware, Crowder led over 40 angel investments and deployed over $60M across 14 companies as a venture capitalist. Crowder is also co-founder and Managing Partner at TEXO Ventures where he focused on tech-enabled health services and he is the sole founder and Managing Partner at Novē Ventures where he focuses on companies leveraging blockchain technology. Prior to venture capital, he led the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) to becoming one of the most active angel networks in the country. Crowder also founded and launched Texas Venture Labs (TVL) at UT in order to give the next generation of investors unique experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Before getting involved in venture and entrepreneurship, he was a Captain in the United States Army and is both Airborne and Ranger qualified. He served over six years active duty and deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he was awarded two Bronze Stars for his actions during combat operations. Crowder holds a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business. He is also a Kauffman Fellow and one of the co-founders of The Crypto Watch, a group dedicated to helping others successfully learn about and invest in cryptocurrencies.

Maxim Wheatley, Founder & CEO, WeScreen - co-founded LifeFuels, and was the founding Chief product officer where he won multiple industry awards, including the CES Innovation Award. He is a prolific inventor with over 20 patents, both issued and pending. Wheatley has also led national sales teams driving seven- and eight-figure deals across both private and public sectors. He was instrumental in capturing and winning a record-breaking $100M+ deal in the public sector within his first 90 days at TTEC, a 55,000 person enterprise. He has worked in venture capital atFortify Ventures, an investment firm and accelerator, he was also an Associate Producer & Business Development Director for Startupland (screened in 60+ countries, in partnership with the World Bank, United Nations Foundation, Startup Weekend, and UP Global.

Mariana Danilovic, CEO, hollywood portfolio: Ms. Danilovic is the Founder and CEO of hollywood portfolio, a crowd-centric accelerator that develops and operates Augmented, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and digital media companies. Through hollywood portfolio, Ms. Danilovic launched and helped develop numerous technology and digital media companies, and served as the President, CEO and Director of ultralivetv, served on the Board of Directors of Emerge Digital, serves on the Board of Advisors of Transmosis, LoveTV, and NightFlight. Ms. Danilovic was the EVP Business Development for NTN Buzztime, Inc. (AMEX:NTN) and Head of Business Development, Content Aggregation and Programming for MediaZone, broadband video company owned by NASPERS/MIH media conglomerate. She also founded and directed the Digital Media Incubator at KPMG LLP, which launched about two-dozen digital media companies. The companies Ms. Danilovic helped develop received institutional funding from KPCB, Sequoia Capital, Hummer-Winblad, Constellation Partners, Softbank, North Star Ventures, HP, and Intel. Ms. Danilovic headed business development for Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment and was on the management team of the venture fund at Sony Pictures Entertainment, investing in media companies worldwide. Ms. Danilovic also worked for Michael Milken’s Knowledge Exchange and at the Twentieth Century Fox International Television Group. She serves on the Board of Directors of C3, the Arts and Media Node of the Millennium Project, served on the Board of Directors of the Producers’ Guild of America, and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Tim Draper’s Zone Club and was a member of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's Digital Coast Roundtable. Mariana earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, with a Minor in Biomedical Engineering from University of California, San Diego.