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Michael Gerber
E-Myth Worldwide
Michael Gerber, founder and Chairman of E-Myth Worldwide, is a business visionary, author, and entrepreneur- and has been the leading champion of small business owners for almost three decades. He has indelibly touched hundreds of thousands of small business owners throughout the world with his brilliantly insightful and original message that he coined “the E-Myth.” The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the idea that most people who start businesses are entrepreneurs, and it follows the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that kind of technical work.
Gerber has worked tirelessly to empower business owners to gain more freedom, more money, more time, and more life. Documented in his mega-best selling books, The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, and The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber prescribes a way out of what he calls “the tyranny of routine,” which drags down the owner’s entrepreneurial spirit with dull, repetitive work. The E-Myth “Point of View” powerfully describes how to rise above that tyranny of routine to build a flourishing, innovative, and sustainable business.
Michael Gerber doesn’t just speak; he changes people’s lives.
Matt Mullenweg
Automattic
WordPress
Recently named alongside Steve Jobs and the Google founders as BusinessWeek’s 25 most influential people on the web in 2009, Matt has lived a classic Silicon Valley story.
There are 200 million people per month who read the blogs he helped create. Among them: CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Icelandic rocker Bjork.
Starting by programming on a computer in his mother’s kitchen just six years ago, the 25-year-old college dropout turned Wordpress into a cultural phenomenon that has now grown to 13 million registered users worldwide. While welcoming anyone to copy, use and adapt his work, yet managed to build a global and profitable company.
In the six years since the 25-year-odl college dropout launched his blog company, 12 million blogs have been created on the platform. Other recent honors given to Mat include being named one of PC World’s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30
Fabio Rosati
Elance
President and Chief Executive Officer
Fabio and the Elance team are building the leading site for online work, where businesses connect with independent professionals to get work done.
Prior to Elance, Fabio worked in the United States and Europe at CapGemini. In the US, Fabio launched CapGemini’s e-business division, led its Strategic Consulting practice, and was COO of Gemini Consulting. In Europe, Fabio headed Gemini Consulting’s Analysis & Design business across Europe and was CEO of the Italian subsidiary.
Fabio holds a B.S.B.A. from Georgetown University.
Hazel Grace Dircksen
Socialbees
A passionate entrepreneur based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hazel Grace Dircksen has helped more then 60 companies leverage social networking tools to expand visibility and reach new audiences. Her most recent company, Socialbees, supports small businesses in using social media through an online resource network and by crafting optimized Facebook Fan Pages and Social Ads that drive engagement from a high target audience - never trash traffic.
As an early adopter, product expert, and industry insider, Hazel Grace has been using and working on social networking sites for the past 6 years from Friendster to Facebook and everything in between. Her technical savvy, forward thinking, and personal connections to numerous social networking companies allows her to immediately cut through the clutter to see the true potential in a particular product and, ultimately, the business value for her clients.
Prior to debuting Socialbees, Hazel Grace was an award winning fashion designer and later launched Fashion for the People (a social fashion site that was a Facebook Developer Platform launch partner at F8 2007), via the San Francisco Ladies Who Launch Incubator Program. She went on to become the Ladies Who Launch Silicon Valley leader and San Francisco co-leader where she consulted to more then 100 female owned businesses, helping them launch and grow.
Her clients include: Closet Couture (a TechCrunch50 startup), The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Andy Baldwin, Ladies Who Launch, Savor the Success, 29-Day Giving Challenge, Feel Your Boobies Foundation, BigSuccess.tv, Hey Lady Shoes, Payson & Co., LLC, CRAVEcompany, Slap Energy Drinks, Lula Lu Petite Lingerie, Curtis Financial and Peternity.
When she’s not working on an exciting new project, you can find Hazel Grace on Facebook (first GEO network user-ask about her top secret Facebook account!), MySpace (member at the 500,000 mark), Yelp (Elite member for the past four years), Savor the Success (where she heads the Social Networking Expert Cafe) and Twitter (@socialbees)… just to name a few.
Edith Yeung is a force of nature.” says Mark O’Leary, Comcast Regional Vice President. Edith is a host of CBS 5 Startup Profile, the go-to consultant in small business marketing, a sought-after speaker, and the Founder of BizTechDay – the most impactful business technology conference serving the entrepreneur community every year in San Francisco.
Edith is passionate about connecting, educating and inspiring entrepreneurs. She delivered many content rich, high-energy and memorable talks in US, Asia and Europe and leads San Francisco Entrepreneur Meetup Group with over 2500 members.
Edith is also cofounder and CEO of Clue Market Inc, a marketing firm specializing in small business marketing. Prior, she consulted and won multiple awards working with Fortune 500 companies including AT&T Wireless, Oracle, Siebel, Autodesk, Cisco Systems, Symantec, American Management Systems (AMS), Telstra Australia, Matav Hungary Telecom and Taiwan Semi-Conductor.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Edith moved to the United Stated by herself at the age of 16 and survived the culture shock with minimum English. Edith has led many lives: pianist, square dancer, software engineer, corporate slave, road warrior, consultant and entrepreneur. Early 2007, she left Corporate America to pursue something really meaningful to her – her entrepreneurial dream of empowering the small business community.
Seth Godin recommends her as “the person I would hire.” Edith Yeung has been featured on CBS, CNN, Comcast, World Journal News, Marketing Sherpa and Sales & Marketing Management Magazine.
A member of the San Francisco Small Business Week and UC Berkeley Entrepreneurship Certificate Program Advisory Board, Edith Yeung graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Information Technology & Marketing. She lives in San Francisco.
Joel Comm
Internet Entrepreneur
Joel Comm is an Internet entrepreneur who has been online for over 20 years. He is the co-creator of ClassicGames.com, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 1997, and now goes by the name Yahoo! Games. Joel is the author of many popular books, including the NY Times Best-Seller, The AdSense Code. He is a social media expert and author of the book, Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time. As Executive Producer of The Next Internet Millionaire, Joel and his team broke new ground in producing an original serial reality series for the web. Joel’s company has produced a number of iPhone applications, one which held the #1 position in the iTunes store for three weeks. His latest projects are designed to help entertainers, musicians, actors, celebrities, athletes and corporations enhance and expand their presence and brand in the marketplace. An in-demand speaker at Internet marketing, personal development and technology industry conferences, Joel’s unique brand of speaking educates, entertains and inspires.
Gary Swart
oDesk
Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the marketplace for online work teams with the best business model for both buyers and providers. For buyers: Guaranteed work (Every hour billed is an hour worked). For providers: Guaranteed payment (Every hour worked is an hour paid) Prior to oDesk Gary was a Business Unit Executive at IBM - Rational Software where he held a number of senior management positions including, Western Field Operations, Americas Medium Business Leader, Area and District Manager, and Director of Telesales. Prior to Rational he held a number of sales, management, and leadership positions with Pure and Pure Atria. Gary holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Maryland.
Alison Covarrubias
Hatch Network
Alison Covarrubias has been helping women entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses since 2005 when she left her job at salesforce.com to start her own consulting business, Business Legs, and to run the Bay Area chapter of a national woman’s networking organization, Ladies Who Launch. Earlier this year, Alison wrapped up her time with LWL and changed her consulting practice to Hatch Network – a business education network for women entrepreneurs. Hatch Network emphasizes the importance of ethical business practices and raising awareness of the triple bottom line philosophy to build and grow sustainable companies. Hatch Network delivers a comprehensive learning program that focuses on tools and techniques relevant to the stage of business the entrepreneur is in today. Hatch programs are delivered in person by a network of experienced mentors and will be delivering home-based learning options by early fall.
Porter Gale
Vice President of Marketing of Virgin America
Porter Gale is the Vice President of Marketing of Virgin America. Porter Gale is an innovative marketing strategist and out-of-the-box thinker with nearly 20 years of experience working in marketing, advertising and independent filmmaking. Prior to Virgin America, Porter ran the Porter Gale Group where she spearheaded a diverse array of projects. Her clients included Country Music Television, Blue Shield of California and Delta Dental. Porter also held the post of General Manager at Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners where she worked with a variety of clients including Vegas.com, Coach, Snapple Natural Beverages, Van Cleef & Arpels, Judith Leiber and Grand Marnier to name a few.
In the independent film world, Porter has produced or directed documentaries that have aired on Lifetime, PBS, Channel 4/England and in film festivals around the globe. The project that launched Porter’s filmmaking career was “2Chicks, 2Bikes, 1Cause”(1998) a multi-media campaign that included a 5,000 bicycle trek that was documented and turned into a 66-minute documentary to educate young women about breast health. The successful outreach effort raised over $100,000 for breast cancer organizations and taught many young women about breast health. The Rosie O’Donnell Show, CNN Headline News, Newsweek, Self, Harper’s Bazaar, New York 1 and over 100 press vehicles all featured stories on the “2Chicks” campaign. Porter’s recent film work has been honored by the Directors Guild of America, The Academy of Motion Pictures & Sciences and an issue of Filmmaker Magazine cited her as one of the top 25 up and coming filmmakers. Porter has a BSBA from Boston University and a Masters in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University. Porter loves running, traveling and has a beautiful daughter named Rylee Eleanor.
Michelle Broderick
Yelp
Michelle has been involved in online marketing ever since the Internet has had marketing.
Coincidence? Probably.
Regardless, she sure has learned a thing or two over the past decade and loves talk about her work with companies like Continental Airlines, Gap Inc, Yahoo, and RealNetworks. She currently works at Yelp.com – a website that connects people with great local businesses. You can find out more than you’ve ever wanted to know about her at michelle.yelp.com.
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