The Digital Hollywood Experience

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Thursday, October 18, 2018

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM – Immersive Hollywood: VR – AR - MR

Session I: Haas Conference Center, Rm. 172 & 173

Funding and Business Development in ICOs, Blockchain, AR/VR, AI and Immersion – From VCs to Kickstarter and Corporate Investments

Sohrob Farudi, CEO, Fanchise

Robert Binning, CEO, StreamSpace

Mike Parker, Partner, AGC Partners

Michael Terpin, founder and CEO, Transform Group

Tom K. Ara, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Grant Cohen, GM, Kochava Collective

Moderator - Mariana Danilovic, Founder and Managing Director, Hollywood Portfolio

 

Mike Parker, Partner, AGC Partners: Mike is a Partner, and Head of the Chicago Office, at AGC Partners. His focus areas include enterprise software/SaaS, consumer technologies, digital media, internet of things, artificial intelligence/machine learning and technology services, among others. Mike is a seasoned M&A banker with experience advising, and executing transactions for, technology leaders from Fortune 500 members to high-growth venture backed startups. Most recently, Mike was an M&A banker with Lazard based in Chicago. Prior to Lazard, Mike spent a number of years in Silicon Valley as Vice President of Business Operations & Strategy at SuccessFactors, which sold to SAP for over $3.6 billion and an investment banker with Barclays Capital advising technology, media and telecom companies. Mike holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he was an Amos Tuck Scholar.

Robert Binning, CEO, StreamSpace: Robert Binning is an active cryptocurrency, blockchain, and distributed systems enthusiast. Robert was introduced to blockchain technology through mining Bitcoin back in 2012 and then Litecoin in 2013. In 2014 while experimenting with the 21Bitcoin distributed computing ecosystem, Robert created a text-based digital marketplace that accepted fractions of bitcoins for the viewership of pet photos. It was through this experimentation that the fundamentals behind StreamSpace were born. Since founding StreamSpace in 2016, Robert has been traveling the world speaking on the future impact that blockchain technology and distributed computing systems will have on the film industry. Robert attended the University of Texas and is an active member of the National Eagle Scout Association.

 

Grant Cohen, GM, Kochava Collective: Grant Cohen is a mobile app content and marketing industry veteran, having been in the industry since the iPhone was merely a figment of Steve Jobs’ imagination. He is a co-founder of FANchise, the owners of the FCFL, where he leverages his industry expertise to help lead product efforts and business development. Additionally, he serves on the Executive Team at Kochava, the leading mobile app and game analytics provider, where he served as GM of the Kochava Collective – the largest independent mobile data marketplace in the world. Prior to joining Kochava, Grant co-founded ChirpAds, a native mobile ad business funded by Science Inc., which subsequently acquired and merged with Playhaven, resulting in a leading edge mobile ad network that supported 25k+ game developers driving monetization and user acquisition globally. In 2015, Grant led the Playhaven business through its acquisition by RockYou, a San Francisco-based social gaming company. Before that, he joined GradientX as the Head of Sales and Business Development and led their successful commercial launch, resulting in a quick acquisition by SingTel/Amobee, a multi-billion dollar APAC TelCo. Grant started his foray into the wireless space in 2004 by managing marketing for AskMeNow, the most popular app in the world at the time, running on connected Blackberry and Palm Pilot devices. He has also served in management roles for Softbank-funded mobile ad network AdInfuse, which was acquired by global marketing provider Velti, and as an executive consultant for OpenX.

Grant has a BSC in Media Management from the University of Miami (Fla.).

 

Tom K. Ara, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Through his involvement in a multitude of transactions in both traditional media and emerging technologies throughout the world, Tom Ara has gained a unique perspective on the state of the entertainment and media industry and the opportunities and pitfalls that it presents. With his business-minded approach to counseling his clients, Tom has successfully counseled banks, private equity groups, hedge funds and investors, as well as feature film studios, television networks, production companies and distributors in connection with in excess of a billion dollars of complex financing, corporate and M&A transactions. He has been involved in transactions involving some of the most successful feature film and television franchises and several iconic comic book properties. He is presently guiding one of the most innovative technology companies that is disrupting the century-old theatrical film business through the entertainment legal landscape. As one of the early legal pioneers to work in the Asian media and entertainment market, Tom gained valuable experience during the period of the emerging market’s most rapid historical advancement. Tom offers valuable insights into this complex and opportunistic market, both as a lawyer and as a present Trustee of the prestigious DC-based US-Asia Institute, where he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees and frequently hosts US Congressional delegations to China in furtherance of the Institute’s mission of advancing mutual understanding between the U.S. and China.

 

Sohrob Farudi, CEO, Fanchise: Sohrob is an accomplished international C-level executive and venture-backed entrepreneur. He’s held the CEO role at multiple startups, spent two years overseas working in Europe, raised more than twenty million dollars in angel and venture financing, and served as an investor and advisor to numerous companies over the last decade. He has spoken at events including SXSW, Hashtag Sports, MIT Sloan Sports & Analytics Conference, and Block-Con. He is currently the CEO of the FCFL, responsible for strategic direction, partnerships, and financing. Prior to the FCFL, Sohrob founded Fanchise in 2015, the company that built the real-time play calling and fan engagement application with the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles that lead to the creation of the FCFL. In his time with Fanchise, he secured millions of dollars in angel funding, led product design for the mobile play calling app, negotiated partnerships with Sports Illustrated and Twitch, and attracted notable executives from the worlds of entertainment and professional sports to help push the league forward. Before disrupting the world of sports and entertainment, Sohrob led companies across sectors in analytics (SeeVolution), digital marketing (ActBold), and mobile (Flipswap). As co-founder and CEO of Flipswap, Sohrob led the company from “garage startup” to venture-backed company, securing $14M from RRE Ventures and NGEN Partners. Under Sohrob’s guidance, Flipswap secured the #81 ranking on Inc Magazine’s list of 500 fastest-growing companies, and in 2011, Sohrob led the merger/sale of Flipswap to HYLA Mobile in a transaction that included a $35M investment from Kleiner Perkins. Sohrob started his career as a consultant at Accenture. He holds a MS in Information Systems from the George Washington University School of Business and a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland, where he graduated in just three years. He currently resides in Manhattan Beach, CA with his wife and two young daughters.

 

Michael Terpin, founder and CEO, Transform Group: Michael Terpin has more than 25 years of PR agency management. He has directly supervised many renowned PR campaigns of the digital media era, including early-stage PR for America Online, Earthlink, Jupiter, Motley Fool, Match.com, and Shapeways, as well as full-service campaigns with established brands, including Alpine, AT&T, Diamond Multimedia, Fujitsu, JBL, Konami, Marriott, Memorex, Philips, Rackspace, Red Herring, and TEAC. In the blockchain sector, Terpin has led the PR efforts for more than 150 blockchain companies and foundations, including some of the leading token crowdsales. Client successes include the launches of Aeternity, Augur, Bancor, Ethereum, Factom, Gnosis, Golem Network, Lisk, MaidSafe, Qtum, and Tether, as well as ongoing campaigns for Bittrex, Counterparty, Dash, Eos, Kraken, NEM, Neo, Storj and Shapeshift. In early 2013, Terpin co-founded BitAngels, the world’s first angel network for digital currency startups, which gave birth in 2014 to the successful CoinAgenda series of blockchain investor conferences in North America, Europe/EMEA, Asia and Caribbean/LatAm. He cofounded early blockchain incubator bCommerce Labs; the Bitcoin Syndicate on AngelList (with legendary super-angel Gil Penchina), and the Dapps Fund, which was a lead investor in the initial crowdsale for Ethereum, Factom, MaidSafe and Storj. He currently heads up the ICO investment committee for Alphabit Fund, a $300 million digital currency fund registered in the Caymans, and advises numerous blockchain companies and foundations, including Bancor, ICOBox. Prior to his exclusive focus on blockchain, Terpin founded Marketwired, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive international newswires, for which he was a finalist in the 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Originally known as Internet Wire and funded by Sequoia Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Marketwired was acquired in April 2006 by Toronto-based media company, CCN Matthews, and is now owned by NASDAQ, which acquired it in February 2016 for $200 million. Terpin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from SUNY at Buffalo and a dual Bachelor Degree in Newspaper Journalism and English Literature from Syracuse University. He serves as an advisor to SU’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he was inducted into its prestigious Wall of Fame. He is also an advisor to the Consumer Electronics Show, where he helps programs the blockchain content, including for CES Asia.

 

Mariana Danilovic, CEO, hollywood portfolio: Ms. Danilovic is the Founder and CEO of hollywood portfolio, a crowd-centric accelerator that develops and operates Augmented, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and digital media companies. Through hollywood portfolio, Ms. Danilovic launched and helped develop numerous technology and digital media companies, and served as the President, CEO and Director of ultralivetv, served on the Board of Directors of Emerge Digital, serves on the Board of Advisors of Transmosis, LoveTV, and NightFlight. Ms. Danilovic was the EVP Business Development for NTN Buzztime, Inc. (AMEX:NTN) and Head of Business Development, Content Aggregation and Programming for MediaZone, broadband video company owned by NASPERS/MIH media conglomerate. She also founded and directed the Digital Media Incubator at KPMG LLP, which launched about two-dozen digital media companies. The companies Ms. Danilovic helped develop received institutional funding from KPCB, Sequoia Capital, Hummer-Winblad, Constellation Partners, Softbank, North Star Ventures, HP, and Intel. Ms. Danilovic headed business development for Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment and was on the management team of the venture fund at Sony Pictures Entertainment, investing in media companies worldwide. Ms. Danilovic also worked for Michael Milken’s Knowledge Exchange and at the Twentieth Century Fox International Television Group. She serves on the Board of Directors of C3, the Arts and Media Node of the Millennium Project, served on the Board of Directors of the Producers’ Guild of America, and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Tim Draper’s Zone Club and was a member of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's Digital Coast Roundtable. Mariana earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, with a Minor in Biomedical Engineering from University of California, San Diego.