Experienced Voices

Product brands surround our everyday lives, but few truly understand what is required to create a brand that is preeminent and enduring. Udaiyan Jatar (UJ) held prominent positions in both P&G and Coca Cola. In the latter he was one of the youngest Global Vice-Presidents where he led the strategy, innovation, and marketing for Global R&D. Now UJ is the co-founder and president of Tecton, a multi-functional health beverage that provides nature’s optimal fuel — exogenous ketones — to promote brain health, boost physical endurance and support weight loss. UJ shares his inside knowledge of making great brands and his latest endeavor to conquer the health beverage space.

Dr. Peter Bonuitti is a renowned orthopedic surgeon who pioneered Minimally Invasive Surgery and has over 500 patents and applications. In a discussion of his two most recently launched products, the world’s smartest mobile UV light sanitizer and a medical device to counter severe headaches, Dr. Bonutti shares insight about the challenges and the rewards of medical device innovation. 

Carol Craig began her career as a Naval Flight Officer flying P3 Orion Aircraft, serving as a trailblazer for women in the military.  Today she is the CEO of Sidus Space, a public company listed on the NASDAQ Exchange.  Hear her story of her first aerospace startup, Craig Technologies, that benefited from SBA programs for women, veterans and minorities that led to her great success as an aerospace entrepreneur. 

Discover how OptionMetrics founder David Hait revolutionized options data organization, scaled a fintech startup to 60+ employees, and achieved a major acquisition by Leeds Equity Partners.

From his time-consuming experience of preparing options data, fintech entrepreneur David Hait saw an unmet need for it to be better organized, cleaned, and made easier to use by portfolio managers, investors, and academic researchers worldwide. 

In 1999 he founded New York-based OptionMetrics when options trading was less common than it is today, with a record 10.38B U.S. option contracts cleared in 2022. 

David shares his startup challenges and how he grew his firm to 60+ employees, which led to its acquisition by Leeds Equity Partners. 

Tom Frazier is the co-founder and CEO of Redivider, which follows his 25-year corporate career in technology to become a visionary entrepreneur driving transformational initiatives in future tech, B2B, and public sectors. Tom's latest venture is building greener data centers in Opportunity Zones across the U.S.  He shares how he pulled together the resources for his startup, the elements necessary for all entrepreneurs to succeed, and how entrepreneurs need to be thinking about AI for their business models.  

If you are an entrepreneur with a growing company, having access to capital is at the top of your list. Hear Robyn Barrett explain the fundamentals of factoring, a finance vehicle that gets cash into the hands of entrepreneurs based on their accounts receivables.  Robyn built her own factoring company, so she knows what entrepreneurs need. Factoring is a great financial tool to have when your sales team is landing great deals and you have the working capital to fill all orders!

Amy Addington is the co-founder of Woofie’s Pet Ventures, LLC, a multi-million dollar animal services company.  Starting in 2018, Woofies awarded its first three franchises in Northern Virginia in 2019 and launched its in-house professional grooming school, Woofie’s Accelerated Grooming School (WAGS). Woofie’s has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally for their innovation, customer service and unwavering commitment to the professional care of animals. In January 2022, Woofie’s became part of the Authority Brands platform and is continuing its expansion into more North American markets with locations around the country.

Amy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and her previous experience includes sales, marketing, and training positions in technology and telecom companies.

Andy Voggenthaler is  CEO and Co-Founder of Nonaste, a complete line of scientifically advanced products to keep active people clean and odor-free. His prior business success prepared him to undertake a product launch in a highly competitive arena. Andy shares how he navigated past development and marketing challenges, sometimes relying upon the endurance of the Ironman competitions he has run. 

Jose Gomez, CEO and Co-Founder of Fluid Power AI, is a first-time entrepreneur. Jose offers a great narrative of his funding experiences. He shares the ins and outs of pitching and how he engaged with the angel network as well as tapping into the resources of the southern California entrepreneurial ecosystem including the San Diego Angel Conference.

Mysty Rusk is the founder of the San Diego Angel Conference and the Executive Director of the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business’ Free Enterprise Institute.

Mysty discusses how the San Diego Angel Conference has grown since its founding five years ago that includes annually awarding a sizeable investment of hundreds of thousands to the top selected venture. She describes the experiences and takeaways that each accepted applicant enjoys. She offers insights to all who are seeking angel funding.