Join Los Angeles’ Community here.
Sam Osborn, Los Angeles Chapter Director
Sam is a Los Angeles based producer who has created television
programming around topics ranging from surfing and music to martial arts
and social media. A graduate of the Annenberg School for Communication and
Journalism and two-time College Television Award winner, Sam’s mantra has
always been to create content that Educates, Inspires, and Entertains. In addition to producing several web television shows, Sam serves as the creative director of Bibop U.S., an interactive television company that is changing the face of social television. He lives in Manhattan Beach, CA, and surfs whenever possible.
Patrick Hustad, Chapter Co-Director Los Angeles
As the original Startup Grind Chapter Director, Patrick is officially our “first follower”. Patrick is currently the founder of MyStorya, Plaedio, and VP at Emporium Creative. Prior to his digital life, from 2004 to 2010 Pat successfully operated and eventually sold Las Brisas Resort in Costa Rica. He’s an avid surfer, lucky father, and proud Los Angeles entrepreneur.
Founding: November 2011. Los Angles was the first Chapter started outside of Silicon Valley and thanks to Pat believing in the power of the community, and Sam’s connections, Los Angeles has been thriving since late 2011.
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Prior to founding Surf Air, Wade worked in national defense, filling various roles for an intelligence agency. He served as a Senior Business Consultant leading Lean Six Sigma process improvement activities for the National Security Agency, and spent four years as an intelligence officer with the Department of Defense. Before leaving politics to work for the government, Wade worked on two Presidential campaigns, including time as a Press Advance Representative for Vice President Dick Cheney. Lear more here.
Thom Kozik, a veteran Yahoo! and Microsoft exec, currently runs the startup Context Digital Media, a Publisher/Distributor of online & mobile games. Prior to launching Context he was most recently Exec VP ofAtari, who brought Kozik on board in late 2009 to develop the company’s Online and Mobile businesses, and leverage it’s deep IP catalog. Earlier in 2009, Kozik along with partner Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari, and Chuck E. Cheese) formed Nüko Games as both an independent studio, and to roll-up fledgling online game developers, and intellectual property to capitalize on the growth in this category. Bushnell was subsequently re-named to the Atari Board of Directors.
Christian Jacobs, Founder of Yo Gabba Gabba and The Aquabats, 06.14.12
Christian Jacobs writes, produces, and directs Yo Gabba Gabba, a series on Nikelodeon that mixes live-action segments, short animated sketches, and musical numbers for kids. The costumes on the show give the appearance of the characters being cartoons or toys. Christian’s background as a child actor, an extra-curricular that left him without much time to hang out with other kids, fostered his passion for toys. As Christian grew-up, he decided he did not want to be an actor, and turned his ambitions towards music with his band, The Aquabats, a group notorious for their cartoonish costumes and larger than life persona.
Aaron DeBevoise, Executive Vice President of Programming for Machinima, 04.19.12
Aaron is the Executive Vice President of Programming for Machinima, the dominant video entertainment network for serious gamers around the world. Machinima’s global content network features official publisher content, fan-created gameplay videos and original content, including over 20 original weekly shows, all aimed at the coveted 18–34 year old male demographic. The number one entertainment channel on YouTube, Machinima served over 2 billion video views in 2010 alone, reaches over 116 million gamers monthly, and delivers over one billion video views a month.
Tracy DiNunzio, Founder at RecycledBride, 03.07.12
Tracy DiNunzio is the CEO and Founder of RecycledBride.com andRecycledStyle.com. She is a wedding expert and makes frequent speaking and media appearances on the topics of weddings, fashion, technology, entrepreneurship, and sustainable living. Tracy is also a painter (art, not houses) and enjoys long walks on the beach.
Gabriele Gresta, CEO of BiBop and MyCast, 02.15.12
Gabriele is one of today’s foremost global leaders on the digital media and technology landscape. Gresta has led successful mergers and acquisitions, overseen the turnaround of 26 companies, designed, developed and patented the MyCast® technology used by several national broadcasters worldwide and been a key principal in companies that have raised more than $60 million in capital. Gabriele founded and currently sits on the board of two publicly traded companies – Letsbuyit.com and Brainspark Ltd; is President of Bibop S.p.A; and, a venture partner in Digital Magics where he is responsible for international venture scouting.
Jason was CEO and co-founder of Weblogs, Inc., a network of widely read blogs including Engadget, Joystiq, Autoblog, and Blogging Baby ranked # 1 by Technorati. Founded in January 2004, Weblogs, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL in November of 2005. Calacanis maintained editorial supervision over Weblogs, Inc. as a senior vice president of AOL. In June 2006, Calacanis relaunched Netscape, the iconic browser owned by AOL and was named its general manager.
Brian Norgard, Founder of Chill and Ad.ly, 12.07.11
Brian is a Founder of Chill, Namesake, Newroo (acquired by Fox Interactive Media when he was 25) and Ad.ly (the world’s largest celeb endorsement network). He likes to surf and fish in The Sea of Cortez with his dad. He is from Del Mar and his personal site is briannorgard.com. He graduated from Santa Fe Montessori and Brown University (with honors) where he won a National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators …
Rich Raddon and Zach James, Founders of Zefr (Frmly MOVIECLIPS), 11.09.11
ZEFR provides solutions for professional content owners on YouTube and has built a premium network that brings together the largest and most diverse collection of movies, television, music and sports content. With more than 700 million monthly views after only 10 months on the platform, ZEFR is the fastest growing YouTube partner. They are the dominant company in the movie category on YouTube and have partnerships with six major Hollywood studios along with several prominent independents. ZEFR is headquartered on Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice Beach, California, in what was once home to artist Ed Ruscha’s studio.
