The comScore Story: Farming Fruits in Lebanon to Farming the Entire Internet’s Activity.

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In April, Startup Grind Washington DC had the privilege to speak with Dr. Magid Abraham, co-founder of comScore. This event marked Startup Grind DC’s first time hosting a speaker out of 1776, DC’s newest (and very promising) co-working space. The event was certainly an interesting and eventful occasion for all those involved: interesting due to Dr. Abraham’s remarks, and eventful due to an unexpected fire alarm that temporarily moved the event to the building’s lobby, stairwells, and sidewalk (not even kidding, on the street networking definitely happened). It was certainly a Startup Grind first, but in the end, we all came away with some insightful and powerful points provided by comScore’s legendary leader.

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Startup Grind Ottawa Hosts Paul Meek (Kichesippi Beer Co.)

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Thursday, 30 May

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Paul Meek is an international beer agent and the co-owner/founder of Kichesippi Beer Co., an Ottawa-based microbrewery that has been gaining a very strong following since it’s founding in 2009 even scooping up local competitors Heritage Brewing in 2010 and Scotch Irish Brewing Co. in 2011. The brewery recently even launched an “olde fashioned” Soda product line Harvey & Vern’s. Join us on Thursday, May 30th as we learn about Paul’s journey starting and running a successful brewery in Ottawa and what they have planned for the Harvey & Vern’s soda line.

 

Startup Grind San Francisco Hosts Logan Green (CEO at Lyft & Zimride)

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Tuesday, 24 September

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Zimride is the largest ridesharing community in the US with over 200 million miles shared. We provide private ridesharing networks for 150 universities and companies across the US. Zimride also partners with hundreds of events each year such as Coachella, Bonaroo, and the Dave Matthews Band tour.

Startup Grind San Francisco Hosts Halle Tecco (Rock Health)

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Tuesday, 6 August

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Halle is responsible for building partnerships and overseeing Rock Health’s strategic direction. She previously worked for Intel and Apple, and founded YogaBear.org. She earned a BS at Case Western Reserve University and an MBA at Harvard Business School. Halle was named one of CNN’s “12 Entrepreneurs Reinventing Healthcare” and Forbes “30 under 30″.

From The Vault Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC)

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Personally the first Startup Grind event I ever attended, complete with Cash Money Records music, free pizza, and great networking. I was lucky enough to see one of the legendary VCs from Silicon Valley, Jeff Clavier. Throughout this interview he goes over a variety of topics any entrepreneur will still find valuable today such as how to get a meeting with SoftTech VC, how to perfect your pitch, and what NOT to do when trying to get a VCs attention.

[00:00:05.20] QUESTION: What about this thing right now, are you seeing, there’s been a lot of talk of, that just there’s all these companies that were funded at the angel level, they’re now coming in for a series A, not able to get that funding. Are you seeing that with your companies that you’re having, or not you specifically but companies in general, that is this a real trend that’s happening that companies raised angel round are now struggling to raise series A, maybe because they shouldn’t have deserved an angel round or some other reason?

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From The Vault Jason Calacanis

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One of the first big interviews Startup Grind ever hosted was with Jason Calacanis. Jason was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule during his meetings in Palo Alto to come and speak  to small intimate group at the Startup grind offices. Watch and learn more about Jason’s early entrepreneurial ventures during Web 1.0, what catches his eye in an entrepreneur and how to perfect your pitch.

[00:02] DEREK: On that note, let me introduce Jason; he needs no introduction, he’s worldwide.

[00:08] JASON: I’d like one.

[00:09] DEREK: Well then let me give it.

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Startup Grind Ottawa Hosts David S. Rose (Gust)

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Wednesday, 31 July

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David S. Rose is an Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur and super-angel investor who has founded or funded over 80 pioneering companies. He has been described by BusinessWeek as a “world conquering entrepreneur”, by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel”, and by Red Herring magazine as “patriarch of Silicon Alley”.

From his initial involvement with the first online communities in the 1970s, through founding one of the first personal computer training companies in the 1980s, one of the first wireless data information networks in the 1990s, and the first global angel investing platform in the 2000s, David has been at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship.

David is the founder and CEO of Gust, which operates the international standard collaboration platform for startup financing, used by over 40,000 investors and 200,000 entrepreneurs in 95 countries. Gust is the official collaboration platform of NASVF. He is also Managing Director of Rose Tech Ventures; Founder and Chairman Emeritus of New York Angels; and Associate Founder and Founding Track Chair for Finance, Entrepreneurship and Economics at Singularity University, the Google/NASA-sponsored post-graduate program in exponential technologies. David has a BA from Yale, an MBA from Columbia and a D. Eng. (hc) from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Startup Grind San Francisco Hosts Ali Partovi (Code.org, iLike, LinkExchange)

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Wednesday, 24 July

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Startup Grind San Francisco welcomes Ali Partovi, angel investor, startup advisor and serial entrepreneur on Wednesday, July 24.
Ali Partovi
Co-founder. LinkExchange, iLike, & Code.org
Investor/Advisor. Zappos, Facebook, Dropbox
Donor. Vittana, FoodCorps
Based in San Francisco, Ali is an angel investor, startup advisor, and serial entrepreneur. He co-founded and sold two high-profile startups: iLike, acquired by MySpace in 2009, and LinkExchange, acquired by Microsoft for $265 million in 1998. Ali is also a co-founder of computer education non-profit Code.org. His portfolio as an investor / advisor has included such successes as Zappos, Ironport, and Facebook, as well as newer ventures such as DropBox, Viagogo, and OPOWER (see complete Partovi portfolio). As a visionary, he was among the first people to see the potential of the Facebook Platform (in 2007), and among the earliest to grasp the business opportunity of search (in 1997). His current passion is sustainable food and agriculture, based on his recent articles Food is the New Frontier in Green Tech and Hacking the Food System: Focus on the Supply Chain, and related angel investments in Farmigo and BrightFarms, and serves on the board of FoodCorps.

From The Vault David Cowan (Partner @ Bessemer Ventures)

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In one of the earliest Startup Grind interviews, David Cowan from Bessemer Venture Partners joined us to discuss a variety of things going on in Silicon Valley. From what VCs are really looking for, seeing potential in the right entrepreneurs, and being on the board of one of the most successful app developer, Smule.

[02:34] DAVID: OK. I didn’t mean to get involved in the technology industry, it was an accident. I loved computer science and studied it in college. I had some friends that worked with me in the Science Center and we were called Terminal Watchers. They told me when I graduated that I had to interview with a company called Oracle. I didn’t know what it was or care, I was all set to get a job at some investment bank or management consulting firm; that was more glamorous back then. My friends urged me to go to the interview so I did. Back then, Oracle was hiring like crazy and didn’t know who I was, just that I was a computer science major.

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From The Vault Dave McClure (500 Startups)

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Our Dave McClure interview is easily one of the most memorable Startup Grind interviews ever. Dave came to the stage and talked about everything from farting unicorns to expanding out to international cities with 500 Startups. Watch and learn how to get the right VC’s attention, expand into new markets, build a great product, and get a meeting with the pirate VC himself.

[00:01:22.08] QUESTION: Welcome to the Startup Grind. We like to start these things out by just getting to know you a little bit, hear about your background. Tell us a little bit about where you grew up tell us about –

[00:01:30.26] DAVE: I know I’m really hard to find on the web, so it’s all a big secret.

[00:01:37.25] QUESTION: We’re going to dive deep, man, we got handkerchiefs, we got everything. We expect the tears to flow. So, tell us about West Virginia, tell us about your family and tell us all about it.

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