Aaron Levie is Chief Executive Officer, co-founder and Chairman at Box, which he launched in 2005 with CFO and co-founder Dylan Smith. He is the visionary behind the Box product and platform strategy, incorporating the best of secure content collaboration with an intuitive user experience suited to the way people work today. Aaron leads the company in its mission to transform the way people and businesses work so that they can achieve their greatest ambitions. He has served on the board of directors since April 2005. Aaron attended the University of Southern California from 2003 to 2005 before leaving to found Box.
A serial entrepreneur, Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics in 2000 as a junior in college at a time when online surveys were a thing of the future. As CEO, he has led the company from a basement startup to the industry leader in online data collection and survey analytics. Qualtrics is one of the fastest-growing technology companies, experiencing triple-digit growth in the past four years. The company has more than 5,000 customers including 500 universities, BusinessWeek’s top 30 business schools and almost all of the Fortune 500. Smith is a frequent lecturer at the nation’s leading business schools and is a member of the advisory board for the Masters in Market Research (MSMR) Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also serves on the executive advisory board of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Before Qualtrics, he worked at HP and Ford Motor Company and studied at the Marriott School of Management.
Aileen is the founder of Cowboy Ventures, a seed-stage focused fund. They seek to back exceptional teams building technology that re-imagines work and personal life in large and growing markets - what they call "Life 2.0". She was formerly a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and the CEO of RMG Networks. A graduate of MIT, Aileen has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Michael Seibel works at Y Combinator as a full-time partner and CEO of the YC accelerator program. Previously, Michael Seibel was the co-founder and CEO Justin.tv and Socialcam. Socialcam sold to Autodesk in 2012 and under the leadership of Emmett Shear, Justin.tv became Twitch.tv and sold to Amazon in 2014. Before getting into startups, he spent a year as the finance director for a US Senate campaign and in 2005, Michael graduated from Yale University with a BA in political science.
Derek Andersen is the Founder & CEO of Startup Grind, a 400,000 person entrepreneurial community with 200 chapters in 85 countries run by more than 1,000 volunteers. Startup Grind's mission is to help every entrepreneur in the world. It's core values are giving before you take, helping others first, and making friends. Derek Andersen spent four years in product management at Electronic Arts working on games like The Godfather, Burnout, The Sims 3, and Mirror’s Edge. He left EA in 2009 to start Vaporware Labs, a product incubator which mostly failed but built products including Commonred which was acquired by Income.com in 2012, and Startup Grind. After running Startup Grind as a side project for 2 years, Derek turned his full attention to scaling it from 3 chapters to 200 chapters today. In 2015 Startup Grind will host 1,200 events for 75,000 entrepreneurs. He currently lives in Palo Alto, California but has lived eight years outside the U.S. in France, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the Cook Islands.
Marlon Nichols is a founding managing partner at Cross Culture Ventures (CCV), which finds the entrepreneurs who are building the future for the rest of America. He’s a former Kauffman Fellow and Investment Director at Intel Capital and a current adjunct professor in entrepreneurship and venture capital at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. Marlon’s unique eye for global trends and shifts in consumer behavior has helped him capture high-potential investments like Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Thrive Market, Fair, LISNR, Mayvenn, Blavity, Wonderschool, and others. He’s been featured on Fortune, Blavity, and Smart Company and is the recipient of SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity’s Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award, and was named Pitchbook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch in 2018.
Christine is the CEO and Founding Partner of 500 Startups. Since the firm’s inception in 2010, she grew 500 Startups to over $500M committed capital, 2,300+ portfolio investments, 100+ team members, 25 accelerator batches, and a vibrant community of founders spanning more than 75 countries around the world.
Christine spent her entire professional career building and investing in Silicon Valley. From 2003 to 2010, Christine held product marketing and operating roles at Google, focusing primarily on monetization and developer products. She was part of the original technical support team that helped launch Google AdSense, an advertising program for website publishers which now accounts for a significant part of Google’s revenue. During her tenure at Google, Christine also drove developer and syndication marketing at YouTube post-Google acquisition. Christine also oversaw marketing for YouTube’s APIs and developer tools, and she collaborated with numerous developers and early-stage startups integrating YouTube into their products.
Christine holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science, with a concentration in Cognitive Psychology, from the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley, she was accepted into the prestigious Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program for Psychology. She was also a National Merit Scholar.
Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a classic seed stage investment firm based out of San Francisco, CA. Precursor seeks to invest in a company’s first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware.
Iliana Montauk is the director of Gaza Sky Geeks, the first startup accelerator in Gaza, launched in 2011 by the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. Gaza Sky Geeks fills a critical need in Gaza, where young tech talent is abundant but opportunities are in short supply. It brought the first international private investment to Gazan startups in late 2013. In 2015, Gaza Sky Geeks ran the biggest crowdfunding campaign to date in the Arab world.
Montauk’s interest in harnessing tech entrepreneurship for development in frontier markets arose from her past experience at Google, a microfinance nonprofit and Wamda, a media outlet focused on startups in the Arab world.
She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 2006 and completed a Fulbright in Jordan in 2012 focused on startups in the Middle East. Originally from Poland and the San Francisco Bay Area, Montauk speaks five languages, including Arabic.
Pablo has participated professionally in different areas. Lawyer by education, before becoming a full time entrepreneur, he was involved in international business, real estate & government consulting, business strategic planning, and technology development. He previously founded 7 companies and currently serves as founder and CEO at INTRINNO the first OI platform in Latin America focused in creating, developing and managing innovation in big companies and implementing an innovation and happiness culture. He is Director of Startup Grind Latam and he participates actively in the organization and development of the Startups and Investors community in Latam with emphasis on creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that provides opportunities on a regional level to latin american entrepreneurs. In 2017 he founded 4founders a Davos style forum focused on identifying and connecting top 20 startups and top 10 investors from a region to Silicon Valley Investors and Key Players; he is also an advisor and investor in 6 startups and 1 VC fund.
He is also a contributing writer for Forbes Magazine and the Huffington Post.
Director at Startup Grind London. Founding Partner at IPM Growth, a VC company investing in top tech companies from Central & Eastern Europe. Board member at Matsuko.com, Advisory board at Tachyum.com, Acquisition Committee at Tate (REEAC).
Founder of BrainTrust, a think-tank helping top tech CEOs and founders in Central Europe scale globally. Ex-Orange, ex-Reebok. Marian was featured in New Europe 100 (organised by Financial Times, Google, Respublica and Visegrad Fund), the list of outstanding challengers who are leading world class innovation from Central and Eastern Europe.
With 3,000 founders and investors, more than 40 keynote and fireside sessions, and over 50 exhibiting startups, this is Startup Grind's largest event ever.
Don't miss a thing with the latest event agenda.
We are a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs.
Founded in Silicon Valley, Startup Grind now spans over 600 cities across the world.
Meet Silicon Valley’s top investors, developers, journalists, and entrepreneurs for over two days of workshops, talks, intimate meetings, and parties.
Apply to be one of only 40-startups selected to exhibit in our Startup Program
“Startup Grind is some of the best community stuff out there.”
“The payoff for me and my partner has been the discussions we’ve had as a result of what we’ve learned and experienced here. In a few short days we have made strategic decisions about what our company will and will not do going forward, and it’s because of information we’ve gathered here.”
“One of my favorite events.”
All companies are invited to participate as sponsors by reaching sponsors@startupgrind.com or fill this form. We work with Fortune 500 as well as newly launched companies to reach entrepreneurs around the world. You’ll reach thousands during our event, and tens of thousands online with a mix of digital & on-site reach.
If your business has raised less than $3MM and has fewer than 20 employees, we’d love to invite you to apply to the 2016 Startup Program for a chance to display your company during the conference, be exposed to our network of 200 investors, and enjoy perks like media opportunities and startup service discounts.
The Startup Program is simple and transparent: if chosen, your startup receives 3 VIP 2-day tickets, including access to a display booth for one of these two days. The price of the package is $1,495 — or the same price as 3 regular attendee tickets.
San Francisco (SFO) is the most trafficked airport in the Bay Area, complete with its own airport BART station. It is the closest (15mi/24km) to the Fox Theater. Travelers will ride the BART to Milbrae, then transfer onto the Caltrain to Redwood City.
Oakland (OAK) is located across the peninsula in the East Bay, offering slightly cheaper airfare and accommodations. It’s furthest (29mi/47km) from the Fox Theater, but offers nearby BART public transit to get into Silicon Valley.
San Jose (SJC) is located at the very bottom of Silicon Valley and is closest to Palo Alto. While not far from the Fox Theater (20mi/32km), SJC doesn’t offer many public transit options.
We usually find the cheapest tickets on Skyscanner, book comfortable housing using Airbnb, and travel with Uber or Lyft. Use code “uberSGConf” for your first ride free.
All the following hotel suggestions are less than a 10 minute drive from the Fox Theater, the Startup Grind Global Conference Venue.
Many guests also choose to stay with local hosts through AirBnB.
Sofitel
223 Twin Dolphin Dr, Redwood City, CA 94065
Expect: luxury, concierge service, modern decor.
Atherton Park Inn & Suites Redwood City
2834 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA 94061
Expect: Central location, business-tier accommodations, free
breakfast & gym.
America's Best Inn & Suites
Marriott TownePlace Suites Redwood City
1000 Twin Dolphin Dr, Redwood City, CA 94065
Expect: Affordable accommodations, natural scenery.
Best Western Plus Executive Suites Redwood City
25 Fifth Ave, Redwood City, CA 94063
Expect: Quiet location, near-luxury accommodations, proximity to Silicon Valley companies.
Red Cottage Inn & Suites
704 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Expect: Near-luxury accommodations, fitness center.
Holiday Inn Express Redwood City-Central
1836 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA 94063
Expect: Business-tier accommodations, concierge service.
Hotel Keen
425 High St, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Expect: Luxury accommodations, central location, free breakfast, wine tastings.
Fairfield Inn & Suites - San Carlos
555 Skyway Rd, San Carlos, CA 94070
Expect: Business-tier accommodations, free breakfast.
Americas Best Value Inn
1562 El Camino Real, San Carlos, CA 94070
Expect: Business-tier accommodations, free breakfast, hot tub & sauna.
Sure is, though street side parking is limited near the venue. Luckily, local garages offer more space by the hour. Most garages offer parking for $1.00 to $0.25 per hour, with the first 1.5 hours free, with free parking after 6 PM.
Jefferson Garage: The underground garage on Middlefield between Jefferson and Winslow provides 1.5 hours of free parking. It's your best bet, with 585 spaces.
The Marshall Street Garage: With entrances off of Marshall and off of Broadway offers 1.5 hours of free parking, and $1.00 per hour after.
Winslow Parking Garage: Located on Middlefield close to the Fox Theater, Winslow offers parking for 50 cents per hour.
The Main Street Parking Lot: Located on Main Street by City Hall, this garage offers parking for $1.00 per hour, and free after 6 PM.
Absolutely. The Fox Theater is about 5 minutes walking from the Redwood City Caltrain station. If you’re visiting us from San Francisco, you can easily take the BART to the Millbrae BART station and connect onto Caltrain.
You may also hire a car using Uber or Lyft. Use code “uberSGConf” for your first ride free.
The Caltrain runs between San Francisco and San Jose, with stops covering the entire Bay Area. See the Caltrain schedule here.
BART is San Francisco’s city rail service, and the best way to commute to and from OAK and SFO airports. See Bart locations and schedule here. It may be wise to purchase a Clipper Card, used for all public transit in the Bay Area.
For bikers and rail commuters, thanks for doing your part to save the rainforests!
Yes. Over 100 Startup Grind Directors are flying in from places like Iran, Mongolia, Australia, and China. They’re definitely not stepping away from their businesses, families, and teams without good reason: this is going to be good.
Absolutely! You can enter and exit the event at your leisure so long as you are wearing your Startup Grind armband, which acts as your ticket.
But do us a favor: do not remove, tamper, or attempt to transfer your ticket to another visitor, or we may have to refuse your entry.
You can shower and sleep with your armband on, and if you wear it for the whole year, we guarantee you a free ticket to our next conference. Yes, really.
Thanks for offering your time! We usually receive many applications for just a limited number of volunteer spots, but if you have the right skill set to be an awesome volunteer please fill out this form.
Want to get even more involved? We’re hiring for a Part Time Events Coordinator.
The entrepreneur’s journey can be a winding one, so we’re collaborating with partners like Pivotal and Fiverr to offer scholarships to a limited number of applicants. Apply for your subsidized ticket here.
If you’re a journalist reporting for a major media outlet or a private blogger with a considerable audience, we’d be happy to have you join as our guest. Please email press@startupgrind.com with your name, the name of the outlet for which you’ll report, a link to the site where the article would be published, and the monthly recurring visitors to the media property (if known).
Please note that speaker access is reserved to select media personnel and is not open to most press pass holders.
Ah, bosses — we know the drill. We have an expert team at the ready for these kind of situation: they’ve spent their lifetimes training in the fine art of tasteful wit, persuasive copywriting, and even the dark arts of corporate speak. Send an email to marketing@startupgrind.com and we’ll make the case on your behalf. But beware! With such great power comes great responsibility — contact wisely.
Though speakers like Vinod Khosla spent over an hour with the audience, most speakers are busy founders who do us the great favor of sharing their time pro-bono exactly because they know we won’t demand much of it. All speakers are encouraged to meet attendees, walk the floor, and enjoy the conference — but we make no guarantees.
There will, however, be hundreds of investors among the audience — many who’d love to meet you. There was over $1 million offered to founders by investors they met during the two days of the event, some who randomly bumped into one another.
Our secret to spotting & connecting with VIPs: say hello to those people who seem relaxed and sit back during networking breaks, as many of them will be those whose networks are already incredible. If they don’t invest, it’s likely they know those who do — so make friends instead of pitching hard.
Want to be matched with investors like these? Apply to our Startup Program.
Aww, we were really looking forward to meeting you. We’re sorry to say we do not issue refunds, but you can definitely exchange your ticket with a friend or business colleague up to a month before the event. Email us at conference@startupgrind.com with your name and the name to which you’d like to transfer your ticket, and we’ll get you sorted.
Hope to see you next year!
Yes: comfortable. Expect some people to feel most comfortable dressed in formal business attire – it can be a nice confidence booster. Also expect to mingle with a Silicon Valley crowd that’s most comfortable in casual streetwear, maybe accented with a company hoodie. Keep in mind the amazing people you’ll be meeting at this conference, and dress to impress and connect with them. However you style yourself, make sure it’s respectful of the beautiful venue and other guests attending the event.
We appreciate your enthusiasm, but we ask our guests to stick to business cards at most. Flyers tend to take time and focus away from the conference experience, so nail your pitch instead.
The only exception are paid sponsors, who also receive a booth and other perks at the event. Please email sponsor@startupgrind.com if you’d like to reach the Startup Grind audience. We’d love to work together.
Trust us, we’re big proponents for a simple and inviting US immigration policy for ambitious entrepreneurs and skilled technologists. Unfortunately, we will not be sponsoring visas for attendees to the Startup Grind Global Conference.
