CorpDev.Ninja with Andreas Penna

David Moricca is the founder & CEO of Socialive, an enterprise video creation and live streaming SaaS platform. Trusted by organizations from startups to the Fortune 100, Socialive brings unprecedented ease and scale to high-quality video content creation for teams across the enterprise.

With 15 years of leadership and innovation in digital media, David is helping drive and shape the video-first communications revolution in business. Before Socialive, David developed and launched Scholastic’s first digital learning platform and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.

A New Jersey native, David holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Sonia is a Founding Partner of VentureSouq, a UAE-based investment platform focused on global early-stage tech-enabled businesses.  Previously, she worked with Microsoft, Viacom and Turner in London and  Dubai.  She is a Charter Member & Board Director for TiE's Dubai chapter, serves as the UAE Director for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee and is a Board Member and Mentor for e7 Daughters of the Emirates. Sonia holds a B.A. from Yale University, a MSc from the London School of Economics and is a Kauffman Fellow.    VentureSouq (VSQ) is a UAE-based investment platform focused on early-stage technology companies both regionally and globally. Launched in 2013, we've organically built a network of over 1000 angel and institutional investors, creating one of the largest venture platforms in the GCC with a global portfolio of over 160 companies. VSQ develops rich educational content around venture investing, and delivers it via a number of programs throughout the MENA region.

Robin Chan is an internet entrepreneur & investor. Robin was the CEO & Co-Founder of XPD Media, which sold to Zynga in 2010 to become Zynga China before their IPO. He was CEO & Co-Founder of Operator. Robin is General Partner of Goat Capital with Justin Kan.  Robin was an angel investor of Twitter, Square, Ramp Financial, Xiaomi Technology, etc...  He is best known as a unique bridge between the technology communities of China and the US. He advised Uber in their entry into China, introducing them to DiDi when both companies were below 50 employees. He advised Bird on their China supply chain, negotiating all their supplier agreements in Chinese and built their China team. He also helped Xiaomi expand internationally.  Most recently, he founded Operation Masks, a 501c3 non-profit to bring factory-direct PPE supplies from China to the US medical front line. Since March 2020, Operation Masks has delivered over 50MM PPE to governments and hospitals throughout the US, with a goal of disrupting immoral profiteering in this global crisis with direct factory cost. Customers include the states of Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, and institutions Cedars Sinai and Johns Hopkins.

Aryan Rashed is the founder and CEO of Tremble, a chain of boutique Pilates studios in South Florida and growing. Aryan focuses primarily on strategy & vision as well as oversight on operations in the Company.

Ben Pasternak is 20 years old and well known for being the youngest tech entrepreneur to receive VC funding from Silicon Valley, when he was just 15. After his first company Monkey was acquired in 2017, Ben turned his attention to the nutrition space, launching NUGGS, a chicken nugget simulation. NUGGS raised $11 million in funding, led by McCain Foods.

Raaja Nemani , a certified Business Ninja, is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of MarketerHire, a talent marketplace with a mission to make expert marketing accessible to everyone. MarketerHire has scaled rapidly with hundreds of clients from early stage startups to Fortune 100 companies in less than a year and a half. Prior to MarketerHire, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Bucketfeet, a footwear brand collaborating with a global community of artists to create the most unique shoes in the world. Bucketfeet raised over $20M in venture capital (including from adidas) and sold ~1 million pairs of shoes shoes in 30+ countries, before it was acquired by Threadless in 2017. As a passion project, Raaja co-founded Counterpoint in 2019, a “both-sides” political cartoon newsletter with approximately 200,000 subscribers, written and illustrated by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonists. He began his career in Private Equity and Investment Banking and he graduated from Northwestern University in 2004. On the personal front, Raaja is an avid traveler, and from 2008-2009 backpacked around the world by himself for a year and a half, traveling to over thirty-five countries on every continent.

Emil Michael is the former Chief Business Officer of Uber. He raised the most amount of funding in history for a private company $15B! Emil is a true Business Ninja having also built three successful companies: Tellme (sold to Microsoft), Klout (sold to Lithium Tech) & Uber.  At Uber he built $10B in market value as THE KEY EXECUTIVE for Uber China and Russia. Emil also struck partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies including American Express, AT&T & Softbank.

Sonia Weymuller is a Founding Partner of VentureSouq, a UAE-based investment platform focused on global early-stage tech-enabled businesses. Previously, she worked with Microsoft, Viacom, and Turner in London and Dubai. She is a Charter Member & Board Director for TiE’s Dubai chapter, serves as the UAE Director for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee, and is a Board Member and Mentor for e7 Daughters of the Emirates. Sonia holds a B.A. from Yale University University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and is a Kauffman fellow.

VentureSouq (VSQ) is a UAE-based investment platform focused on early-stage technology companies both regionally and globally. Launched in 2013, we’ve organically built a network of over 1000 angel and institutional investors, creating one of the largest venture platforms in the GCC with a global portfolio of over 160 companies. VSQ develops rich educational content around venture investing and delivers it via a number of programs throughout the MENA region.

Ravi Sarin, a verified Business Ninja, is Founder and Managing Partner at ROCA Partners, a Los Angeles-based growth equity investment firm focused on tech-enabled services and healthcare services.

Ravi previously was a Principal in the Private Equity Group at Ares Management. At Ares, Ravi helped lead investments in healthcare services, retail, and gaming, lodging & leisure among a few other sectors and served on the Board of Directors of Floor and Decor, Jacuzzi Brands, OB Hospitalist Group and Unified Women’s Healthcare.

Prior to Ares, Ravi was a private equity investor at Bain Capital and a consultant at Bain & Company.   

Ravi has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MS in Management Science & Engineering and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

David Moricca is the founder & CEO of Socialive, an enterprise video creation and live streaming SaaS platform. Trusted by organizations from startups to the Fortune 100, Socialive brings unprecedented ease and scale to high-quality video content creation for teams across the enterprise.  With 15 years of leadership and innovation in digital media, David is helping drive and shape the video-first communications revolution in business. 

Before Socialive, David developed and launched Scholastic's first digital learning platform and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.  A New Jersey native, David holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.