The night was electric, the audience was lit, and Lu Yin, CEO of UC San Diego-incubated startup, Ocella, walked away with the $30,000 grand prize at the 2017 John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition!! Ocella is developing printable, stretchable, flexible battery technologies that could enable wearable fabrics and stretchable LED displays to carry their own power source. Congratulations: Lu Yin, … Continue reading "Ep31: Quick Pitch 2017 Part 2"

This podcast was recorded during the 2017 John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition held in Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall. We also captured real time post-pitch thoughts from the finalists to gain insights into the Quick Pitch and the process as a whole. It was an incredibly successful evening–a sold out crowd and ten great … Continue reading "Ep30: Quick Pitch 2017 Part 1"

Gary Benitt is a General Partner at Social Leverage LLC, an established early stage venture capital firm specializing in web-scaled startups. Gary works with their portfolio companies to help them operationalize the business and find ways to scale faster and higher. Prior to his time at Social Leverage, Gary was the founder and COO of … Continue reading "Ep29: Gary Benitt (Social Leverage) Successful Exit as a Founder, Stays in the Ecosystem as an Investor"

Who accelerates innovation and entrepreneurship activity across industries in the San Diego region? Dr. Rossi shouts out two dozen organizations (Federal, Regional, Local, Academic, and Corporate) that do. Also, the Office of Innovation & Commercialization at University of California, San Diego is a nexus of startup activity – she explains why. Dr. Devora Rossi is Senior Manager … Continue reading "Ep28: Dr. Devora Rossi (UC San Diego) Catalyzing & Anchoring a Regional Startup Ecosystem"

What is an impact-driven investment and real estate development firm with an environmental and social mission? That’s Fresh Coast Capital, explains Laura Brenner Kimes, Co-Founder and Director of Ecosystem Services at FCC. Laura’s career has focused on strategy and market creation for environment and energy firms. She has previously worked at Southern California Edison, the … Continue reading "Ep27: Laura Brenner Kimes (Fresh Coast Capital) Business School Project –> Successful Women Owned Social Enterprise"

Young marketing professor earns tenure at San Diego State University AND launches a revenue-generating, SDSU student-run social venture the same year (2017)!! What? #FemaleFounders #Socialimpact #Inspiration Dr. Iana Castro is both an entrepreneur and an educator. She is currently an associate professor of marketing at San Diego State University, researching and teaching in areas that include consumer behavior, retailing and strategic marketing. She was … Continue reading "Ep26: Dr. Iana Castro (SDSU & BrightSide Produce) Attained Academic Tenure & Launched a Social Venture in 2017? That’s Legit!"

Peek behind the curtain of a successful, recent $1 million funding round, led by Tech Coast Angels San Diego, from the perspectives of the deal co-lead and the entrepreneur. If you’re raising seed to series A money in Southern California, then you should definitely check out Rasto Ivanic’s story on Startup Talk with Millard & … Continue reading "Ep25: Rasto Ivanic (GroupSolver) Insights to a Successful Seed Stage Analytics Deal"

An attorney who is approachable and will take your call – gratis – on a Saturday morning? #who’dathunkit Jeremy D. Glaser is a member of the law firm of Mintz, Levin, where he serves as Co-chair of the firm’s Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice. For more than 30 years Jeremy has helped companies raise angel and venture … Continue reading "Ep24: Jeremy Glaser (Mintz Levin) Experience Matters in Startups: Entrepreneur—>Attorney—>Tech Exec—>Attorney"

We sat down with Brittany and Ashok, two previous STMAP guests, to get an update on what they see happening in the San Diego Startup Ecosystem. Brittany Meiling is the Biotech & Startup Reporter for the San Diego Business Journal and has been working at that local business magazine since 2014. You can catch her … Continue reading "Ep23: Real Talk on Startups, Funding, and San Diego Ecosystem Resources w/Brittany Meiling (San Diego Business Journal) & Ashok Kamal (Tech Coast Angels)"

What happens in Mexico, shouldn’t stay in Mexico! Get #MexSD up. Guillermo Mejía Duclaud is Managing Director at Mexico Innovation Development Hub aka “MindHub”. MindHub is a collaborative space for development, innovation and creativity for tech entrepreneurs that create products and services in the Cali-Baja mega region. Guillermo is also CTO And Co-Founder of Pointman Magazine. Pointman Magazine en español es la … Continue reading "Ep22: Guillermo Mejía Duclaud (Mexico Innovation and Development Hub)-Building Cross-Border Technology Bridges, NOT Walls!"