GuruStorms

Laura Beck, marketing and PR consultant, entrepreneur, T-shirt lady, Sports nut, Mom. As of May 1, 2010, Laura Beck is focused on independent marketing and PR consulting, as well as starting her own ecommerce business, after 18+ years PR agency-side. Until then, she ran the Austin office of Porter Novelli, a global PR firm, for nearly 10 years, opening it at the very end of the dot com bubble in 2000 at 29 years old.

Elias Bizannes is an Australian technology executive, based in San Francisco. He currently manages the finance department at Vast.com, inc (a white-label vertical search engine) and is the chairperson of the DataPortability Project (an advocacy group for people to control their data). He created the  Silicon Beach Australia community, the largest grouping of industry technology entrepreneurs and recently founded the Startup Bus, an experiment in innovation that yielded impressive results.

Jason Cohen is the founder of Smart Bear, makers of Code Collaborator, the most popular software development peer code review tool. In 2006 Jason wrote Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review which is now the most popular book on the subject with over 30,000 copies in print. Smart Bear's customers include Adobe, Autodesk, Qualcomm, Cisco, Intuit, Cognos, RIM, Pfizer, and Siemens; Code Collaborator has won many awards including the coveted Jolt Award. In 2007, with a record of doubling revenue annually with a 50% profit margin, Smart Bear was sold to to AutomatedQA.

Sam Decker is a recognized expert in eCommerce, word of mouth marketing, and direct marketing. A frequent speaker at marketing and eCommerce events and author of an award-winning marketing blog (www.deckermarketing.com), Sam brings more than 15 years of marketing and online retailing experience to Bazaarvoice. As Chief Marketing Officer, Sam is responsible for leading Bazaarvoice’s corporate marketing and PR.

Nick is CEO and a co-founder of an Austin data commerce startup called Infochimps.org. Previously, Nick was a startup lawyer and co-founded various startups, including JDspace.com (which has since been white-labeled). Nick blogs on social media at http://nick.vc.

"If I couldn't interrupt you, how would I reach you?" That's the question Dave starts with as a social media strategist focused on marketing communications and the impact of the Social Web on businesses. Dave currently serves with India’s 2020Social, based in New Delhi.

BJ Heinley is Principle and Creative Director of Heinley Design, a creative firm focused on website development, UI and UX, illustration, infographics, print, and social media integration. Clients over the last six months include Nova Spivack, Jones-Dilworth, Cuvee Coffee, Infochimps, LugIron, Viral Heat, Totem, Stage One Capital, Aptimize, Help Attack, and BlueLine Strategies.

Formerly a leading member of Porter Novelli’s digital practice, Josh brings specific expertise in blogging and social media. This is an area that he has focused on extensively over the last five years, guiding award-winning campaigns for clients large and small, including the pioneering #2 selection in Marketing Sherpa’s 2007 Viral Video Hall of Fame. His clients have also been cited repeatedly as examples of successful companies that “get it”.

Kevin Koym is Founder and CEO of Enterprise Teaming, LLC. Drawing on his experience of driving the adoption of technology through building seven different startup companies, Kevin has continued to show his vision in where human needs go and how to drive solutions to these needs through the appropriate acquisition of technology and practices. Kevin has led many multi-cultural teams in in his career with which he has been involved, in roles of Founder, CEO, Chief Technology Officer, and Vice President of Professional Services.

Jonas Lamis is the founder and Executive Director of SciVestor, a research and advisory firm focused on understanding how the coming waves of technology (artificial intelligence, robotics, life enhancement and others) will disrupt the business, economic, and social frameworks of society.

Lenore Mackey is a professional usability consultant with over sixteen years of practical experience in usability and user centered design techniques. She was a lead usability consultant with IBM Storage Systems for twelve years and is based in Tucson, AZ.

Matt Marshall, founder of VentureBeat.com, covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News until he left in 2006 to launch VentureBeat as an independent company. In 2008, the New York Times called VentureBeat one of the “best blogs on the Web,” and now the NYT runs VentureBeat’s articles on its Web site. In March 2009, VentureBeat signed a partnership agreement with IDG to produce DEMO, the leading conference for launching emerging technology products.

Hall T Martin is the Director of the Austin Entrepreneur Network based in Austin, Texas, providing assistance for startup and early stage companies. He serves on the board of the Baylor Angel Network. Previously he served as the Director of the Central Texas Angel Network where he established the network and grew the membership to 50+ with $4.5M invested in 20 deals.

Bryan Menell is the Director of the Collaboratory for the Dachis Group. He has 20 years of experience in technology services, having founded Exact Systems (1991), Perficient (1997), and Fusion Learning Systems (2001).

Marc is experienced in intensively assisting technology-oriented companies with business strategy, capital acquisition, market development and revenue growth. He is the founder and CEO of Bulldog Financial (http://www.bulldogfinancial.com), a professional angel investment and venture consulting firm and has served as the Director of Entrepreneur Development at the Houston Technology Center (http://www.houstontech.org).

Clint Nelsen is one of the three partners of Startup Weekend, an initiative in 82 cities spanning 19 countries that brings entrepreneurs together around the world to rapidly prototype new innovative ideas. Clint is passionate about early stage startups and likes to serve as a bridge connecting smart people with great ideas. Before running Startup Weekend Clint was valuing privately held companies. Clint is based in Seattle, WA travels often, loves biking, flying, and snowboarding.

Cia Romano is a respected evangelist for end users of digital products such as the Web, apps, software, and touchscreens. A hands-on user interface researcher, Cia developed the widely disseminated Usable Times 5 criteria for ranking computer screen effectiveness - a major factor in profitability for companies and organizations conducting business online. The metric, based on her usability lab studies, focuses on user response to five consistently observed factors: Orientation, Permission, Interactivity, Relevance, and Speed. "Every one of our user tests validates Usable Times 5," says Cia. "The criteria are relevant across differences in age, gender, education, and technical expertise."

Phil joined IDG Ventures SF as a Managing Director in September 2006. He was previously a General Partner at WaldenVC for 10 years. Phil focused on early stage investments in new media and IT at WaldenVC. Phil currently sits on the Boards of Vivox, Telltale Games, Simply Hired and i2we and was responsible for investments in VitalStream (VSTH), Bamboo.com (IPIX), NIKU (NIKU), Sina.com (SINA), Adknowledge, and People3 (IT).

Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the executive producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG Executive Forums, Chris has helped technology companies bring over 1,000 new products to market since 1996. As a founding partner, chairman and CEO of Guidewire Group, she analyzes emerging technology companies around the world to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market.

A veteran of the emerging tech industry, Carla Thompson has counseled startups around the globe on creating, launching, and sustaining smart businesses. With Sharp Skirts, Carla is working to create a self-sustaining network for women entrepreneurs at every level. She also consults independently with select women-owned startups on business strategy and continues to keep a finger on the pulse of emerging tech as a member of Guidewire Group’s Affiliate Analyst program.

James Werner has over 20 years of experience in technology consulting and sales. He has coached and counseled hundreds of salespeople, created successful new-product launch programs, revitalized stalled markets, and improved the strategic thinking of organizations of all sizes.