Thursday, May 24th, 2018

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Track II: Herscher Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 303-304, Webcast

ICOs, Financing, Packaging & Investment: From Entertainment & Indie Project to Technology & Startups

Greg Akselrud, Partner, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP

Jennifer Post, Partner, Thompson Coburn

Jason Scoggins, President & COO of Slated, Inc.

Steven Masur, Senior Partner, MG+

Michael Leventhal, Partner, Holmes Weinberg, P.C.

Brett M. Brown, Managing Partner, Xsolla Capital

Joey Tamer, President, S.O.S. Inc., Moderator

Greg Akselrud, Partner, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP: He chair's the Firm's Internet, New Media and Entertainment practice group. Greg advises a wide range of public and private clients across a number of industries, including companies in the entertainment, Internet, technology, and apparel industries. Greg's practice involves providing advice in connection with general corporate matters (including company formation, stock incentive plans, executive employment agreements, and various commercial and business contracts), venture capital and angel financings, mergers and acquisitions (including public reverse mergers), private equity and debt securities offerings, public offerings federal and state securities law reporting requirements, intellectual property

strategic counseling, Internet and e-commerce matters, and entertainment, content and digital media transactional matters. Greg is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, teaching Business Planning I: Financing the Start-Up Business and Venture Capital Financing. Greg is the author of Hit Man: The Fourth Circuit's Mistake in Rice v. Paladin Enters., Inc., 19 Loy. L.A. Ent. L.J. 375 (1999).

Jennifer Post, Partner, Thompson Coburn: Jennifer Post serves as primary outside counsel to a variety of individuals, institutions and companies, including entrepreneurs, venture capital firms and emerging companies, as well as domestic and international public companies. As a partner in the Thompson Coburn’s Corporate and Securities group, Jennifer's practice encompasses all areas of general corporate and securities law, including private placements of equity and debt securities, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital fund formation. Jennifer advises her company clients in many aspects of their businesses: capital raising, acquisitions, licensing and distribution, equity compensation, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. Jennifer also represents investment entities including venture capital firms in their formation, fundraising efforts, governance and maintenance, as well as their transactions with emerging companies including complex investment structures, exit transactions and restructurings. Jennifer is a leader in and was instrumental in launching the firm’s Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency practice. She represents clients across the industries that are being affected by the growing relevancy of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, having completed acquisitions involving cryptocurrency companies, structured closed end investment funds in cryptocurrency offerings, assisted a client in forming a start-up Etherium mining company and more. Jennifer has twice been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the Most Influential Women Attorneys in Los Angeles and has been recognized by the same publication as one of the Most Influential Minority Attorneys in Los Angeles.

Jason Scoggins is an entrepreneur and senior executive who has led companies in the entertainment industry as well as the technology space for over 15 years. He is currently President & COO of Slated, Inc., the online entertainment industry marketplace that connects filmmakers, investors and industry executives to projects, talent, financing and sales. The company’s mission is to consolidate the global independent film industry, and Mr. Scoggins’ primary role is to oversee its Film Finance efforts. In the five years prior to joining Slated in late 2014, Mr. Scoggins founded and led a series of entertainment industry data-related start-up companies. The first, ItsontheGrid, Inc., a feature film-related database company, he founded in 2009 and sold to The Wrap News, Inc. in 2011, becoming the company’s Chief Product Officer. After leaving The Wrap in 2012, Mr. Scoggins co-founded Spec Scout, a feature film screenplay analysis and scoring service that has become a key component of Slated’s project scoring system. In mid-2013, Mr. Scoggins joined Baseline, LLC as General Manager of its internal startup company, Signal Entertainment Marketing, LLC, a product placement and brand integration service for advertisers and agencies. Mr. Scoggins got his start in the entertainment business in 1995 as an assistant to the Head of Worldwide Television at ICM. He moved to the The Gersh Agency three years later to become a TV Literary agent, then switched his focus to entrepreneurial pursuits in 2000. A graduate of UCLA, he resides in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

Steven Masur has over 22 years of experience advising emerging and established businesses on new opportunities and business challenges. He focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, emerging businesses and strategic guidance. Steve has extensive experience in angel and venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and cross-border transactions in Europe and Asia. He is passionate about helping new businesses plan a path to success, and helping older businesses bridge the gap to new markets. Steve brings a unique mix of legal, business, and strategic experience to bear on client matters. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped emerging businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and is especially knowledgeable in media, entertainment, advertising, consumer products, food and technology, including mobile, games, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, software and hardware. Steve has been recognized as a “Rising Star” and a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers. He serves on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards and industry associations, and lectures and writes about major issues in venture capital, emerging businesses, entertainment law, technology and corporate strategy.

Brett Brown is Managing Director and General Partner of the Xsolla Capital fund - a royalty investment fund focused exclusively on deals within the video game market. Xsolla Capital is the premier partner within the $116+ billion video game industry, the largest segment of the global entertainment industry. Xsolla Capital provides independent video game developers with capital and access to innovative tools and markets to more successfully launch games. Brett Brown is also a Managing Member to Dorado Peak Capital, a single family office that pursues positive change through innovation and investment in Technology, Oil & Gas, Minerals, Water, Real Estate, Ranching, Farming, Healthcare, and Private Equity. Brett Brown has 25 years of experience in asset management, including serving for more than three years as the Senior Vice President and Head of Operations for a $900 million Private Equity firm with more than 20 portfolio investments. He was General Manager, International Operations & Strategy, for a $25B+ offshore hedge fund and asset manager based in Bermuda where he was tasked with launching the retail fund company to offer access to Orbis Investment’s funds to ‘the man on the street’. The retail fund company was successfully launched in its first market, United Kingdom. Brett also spent over 12 years at mutual fund giants Capital Group’s American Funds and Fidelity Investments’ Fidelity Management & Research – each with assets under management over $1.6 Trillion. Brett has an economics degree from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and a MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York City.

Michael Leventhal, Partner, Holmes Weinberg, P.C., former, Chief Legal Officer and VP, Magic Leap: Michael Leventhal is a partner at Holmes Weinberg, P.C. He specializes in providing corporate, intellectual property and business transactional services for media/entertainment and technology companies. While managing partner of the entertainment law firm Codikow Leventhal & Carroll in the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s, Michael also developed a practice in high technology and digital media, which began even before the internet was a business model. In 1992, he combined his entertainment and digital media practices, when “multimedia” meant the CD-ROM business. Since that time, Michael has been on the forefront of the legal and business aspects of nearly every major technological innovation in digital media, from payment for electronic transmissions of entertainment content (rather than just shiny discs), to dispute resolution over domain names, to co-branding and cross-licensing agreements for online services, to pay-per-click advertising services, to digital music download services, to television/internet hybrids and the development and licensing agreements required to make them run, to user generated content sites, including development in SecondLife, for social media, and for mobile devices, including phones and tablets, to Alternate Reality Games, to 3D display technology, augmented, virtual and mixed reality. Among his clients have been Fortune 500 companies such as Fox Interactive Media, NEC, and Transamerica; digital vanguards like MySpace, Pop.com, Oversee.net, and GoTV; entertainment/digital technology hybrids such as Motion Theory, Compendia Media, Virtual Netcasting Corporation, the Interactive Television Alliance, PaidContent.org, RockWeb, Satellite Events Enterprises, and Vimby; traditional companies moving into digital media,; and various celebrities in need of  digital media guidance or protection. Most recently, Michael spent the last several years as chief legal officer and vice president at Magic Leap, Inc., the well-known augmented/mixed reality venture.  His duties included standard general counsel responsibilities, content and technology licensing, intellectual property strategy and planning, working with the content team, business development, marketing, HR, and the CEO on special projects, among many other tasks. Michael has represented hundreds of entertainment, digital media and high tech start-ups, early stage companies and middle market companies in music, film, visual effects, interactive television, sports, stand-alone online ventures, entertainment and non-entertainment web-based businesses, software, and more traditional businesses—from formation to strategic planning, structuring companies, M&A and alliances, to licensing matters, to obtaining financing. Working with entrepreneurs and visionaries at all stages of development has long been one of Michael’s passions. Michael has been a partner in a large national firm, a co-owner of several boutique law firms and a business consultancy, a solo practitioner and a senior executive at a high flying technology company. The combination of law firm and business consultancy is consistent with Michael’s holistic approach to representing businesses, both large and start up.  Michael is a frequent writer and speaker on all things digital. Most recently, he spoke at VRLA 2016. Michael goes beyond drafting of agreements to understand and support his clients with strong strategic thinking. He brings his considerable experience to his work with clients to develop an overall direction, with legal and business projects woven into the fabric of the larger strategy.

Joey Tamer (www.joeytamer.com) is a widely-acclaimed strategic consultant to technology and media CEOs, U.S. and worldwide. Her work helps create wealth for founders and investors of entrepreneurial ventures, and a high return on investment for Fortune 500 in-house ventures. Her capital strategies drive up her clients’ valuations and profitability. She has a special expertise in working with emerging and disruptive technologies. She consults to Fortune 500 companies, capitalized start-ups, and investment funds, often serving as a “shadow CEO” to extend her clients’ bandwidth. She advises product and service companies and consultants. Her work optimizes her clients’ growth, deal flow and profitability. Successes include the sale of a B2B Internet company for $100M, the IPO of the 1st Internet B2B with $30M to each of the three founders in year 5; the sale of a 2-owners software company for $50M in year 4; and the raising of $2.2M in seed capital through deal-making with no equity out, for a software venture she built in China. Her Fortune 500 clients retain her to start in-house new business unit initiatives; these have included J.P. Morgan Capital, Sony, IBM, Apple, Hearst, Blockbuster, Technicolor, Harper Collins, Discovery Channel, Time-Warner, Agfa and Scitex. Her many early stage ventures include Earthweb (IPO 1998) and iSuppli (sold to IHS 2010). Her clients say she is “a brilliant strategist and a practical, down-to-earth, get-it-done person,” “invaluable in understanding the competitive landscape and alternative strategies” and that she “cuts right through the noise, giving a clear vision of the future,” “protecting us from liability and cutting our costs.” Her clients have been in the business, enterprise and consumer sectors, with companies in technology, SaaS, hardware and software, mobile, media and entertainment, publishing and advertising, distribution, and investment and venture funding. She has worked in the U.S., Europe, China and Qatar. A strategist, policymaker, dealmaker, and negotiator, her work includes strategies on entry, exit, capitalization, return on investment, growth, positioning, pricing, distribution, social media outreach, risk-assessment, new market and international expansion, due diligence, and intellectual property. She speaks and publishes widely on entrepreneurship. Her published credits include 5 books, 60 published articles, and a weblog with hundreds of blog posts of advice to entrepreneurs. Her website is www.joeytamer.com.