Wednesday, March 7th, 2018

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Session A: Grand Ballroom (4th Floor)

VCs, Private Equity and Corporate Investments: The Funding and Accelerating the Digital Marketplace

Join a group of influential players in the media, entertainment and tech finance worlds for an enlightening look at growth areas in our industry. They reveal where the value and opportunities are, who's investing and where the space is headed.

Scott Levine, Managing Director, Time Warner Investments

Chris Fralic, Partner, First Round

Gregory Bedrosian, Managing Partner & Co-CEO, Drake Star Partners

Sam Landman, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures

Michael LaSalle, Partner, Shamrock Capital Advisors

Moderator - Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors

Sam Landman, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures: For the last 15 years, Sam’s focus has been on the evolving media landscape. At Comcast Ventures, he’s led investments in media businesses like Fullscreen, Cheddar and Tastemade, in social businesses like Nextdoor and Houseparty, and in commerce businesses like Zola, KeyMe, and Madison Reed. He also co-founded Comcast Accelerate. Before CV, Sam focused on seed-stage investments at

Genacast Ventures and led BD efforts at The Electric Sheep Company, an Emmy award-winning creator of virtual worlds and social games, where he led partnerships with NBC, CBS, Warner Brothers and the NBA. Sam started his investment career at Invemed Catalyst Fund. He graduated from Bucknell University and received his MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

Gregory Bedrosian is Managing Partner & Co-CEO of Drake Star Partners. Gregory is an award-winning, seasoned investment banker and private equity investor whose experience spans both domestic and cross-border M&A and private equity transactions across the US, Europe and emerging markets.  Amongst his numerous honors, Gregory received the 2016 M&A Advisor Leadership Award and is an M&A Advisor Hall of Fame inductee. Prior to Drake Star Partners, Gregory was a co-founder of Renaissance Capital, a leading investment bank focused on the emerging markets of Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa and co-founder and General Partner of The Sputnik Funds, a $1 billion private equity investment firm. Gregory began his career in the merchant banking department of Credit Suisse First Boston in London and the leveraged buyout group of Salomon Brothers (now part of Citigroup) in New York. Gregory is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and he is a regular speaker and panelist at leading industry and academic forums. He has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards across the US and Europe. He is currently an Advisor at the Harvard Innovation Lab (i-Lab) and sits on the Business Advisory Council of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He also chairs the Investment Committee of a $100 million New York-based foundation and sits on the Board of a $100 million emerging markets investment fund. He previously served on the Harvard Business School Alumni Board of Directors (Emeritus). Gregory holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mike LaSalle is a Partner of Shamrock Capital Advisors.  He currently serves as a director of BTI Studios, RBmedia, FanDuel, Giant Creative/Strategy, and Isolation Network.  Previously, Mike served on the boards of Mojiva, Harlem Globetrotters International, Media Storm, and Modern Luxury Media.  Prior to joining Shamrock, Mike was an Associate and Analyst at Putnam Lovell Securities focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the financial services industry. Mike graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and earned an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management as a Venture Fellow.

Scott Levine is a Managing Director at Time Warner Investments, where he is focused on digital media investment opportunities.   Scott has led Time Warner’s investments in NextVR, Caavo, 8i, You.i TV, Krux (sold to Salesforce.com), Conviva and Adaptly.  Scott was previously the SVP of Corporate Development at Sony Music, where he led M&A, venture investments and digital strategy.  Prior to Sony, he was a Vice President at General Atlantic, a growth equity firm with $19 billion under management.  Scott has also been an operator at three digital media startups, including Liquid Audio (online music retailer; IPO, sold to Wal-Mart), MeetMe ($100mm sale to QPSA), and Verance (audio watermarking, anti-piracy).  Scott is a graduate of Stanford University (Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering) and Columbia University (MBA, B.S. in Electrical Engineering).

Chris Fralic is a Partner at First Round Capital. He joined the firm in 2006 and is based in their New York office. Chris has focused on a number of the firm's investments in areas such as Advertising Technology including Invite Media (acquired by Google) and Demdex (acquired by Adobe), Social Media including CoTweet (acquired by ExactTarget) and myYearbook (acquired by QuePasa), eCommerce, Gaming, and more. Before First Round, he was most recently VP of Business Development at del.icio.us which was acquired by Yahoo! in December 2005. Chris previously spent 6 years at eBay, and his last position there was a combination ad sales and business development role, and before that he led the eBay Entertainment categories, managing the transaction, platform and supply/demand aspects of the books, movies and music marketplaces in the US with over $1 billion in transaction volume during his time there. Chris had been the VP of Business Development at Half.com, which eBay acquired in June 2000, where he helped develop many parts of the business including fund raising, content licensing, the affiliate program, supply and distribution partnerships, and advertising and sponsorships sales. Chris has over 25 years of technology industry experience, including significant Internet sales and business development roles since 1996. He was Vice President of Business Development at Nextron, Director of Business Development at America Online, and an Account Manager at Oracle focused on their early Internet offerings for some of their largest accounts such as AOL and Time Warner. Earlier in his career, he held senior sales and management roles in the computer reseller and consulting services industry for companies including The Computer Factory, BusinessLand, and ComputerLand/Vanstar where he was responsible for over $100 million in hardware, services, and consulting sales. Chris is a board member of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute (formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management). He has attended and been involved with the TED Conference since 1994 and helped launch TEDTalks, which have been viewed over a billion times. Chris is a co-inventor of two US Patent for listing goods for sale. He is an avid skier/snowboarder and tennis player and runner, and has finished 4 marathons with his wife and swears he will never run one again. Chris earned his BS in Finance from Villanova University, and his MBA from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors: Founded the Magid Internet and New Media research and consultation practice in 1995, with AOL and Excite as his first two clients. Mike’s team has completed over 2,500 engagements with over 100 Internet clients. Mike began the Magid Gaming Practice in 2001 with EA and Sony Online as his first two clients. The Magid Game Practice now works with most of the major game publishers. Mike provides research and consulting services to a number of major traditional media companies in regard to their new media initiatives, as well as consulting a number of leading Internet and gaming companies. He has also provided advice to venture capital and private equity firms in regard to investments in the media space. Mike has been involved in strategic and tactical consulting, including the launch of new services and programming, as well as development and implementation of online and offline marketing programs. Mike has also been extensively involved in video and PC gaming strategies for a number of our companies, as well as the development of game concepts. Mike has consulted on a number of film projects such as You’ve Got Mail and The Matrix. He holds a B.S. in psychology and sociology from Wesleyan University and has worked as a fundraiser and transfer of technology officer at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. Mike also worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. Senate, and for two Administrations in the White House.