Speakers Announced for TechFire Ignite 2015

EDITOR'S NOTE: in the weeks after this press release was sent, one of the speakers, Dave Goldberg, tragically passed away. Our hearts and prayers are with his family, friends, colleagues, and all who mourn the loss of this truly wonderful and remarkable man. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David C. Murphy, TechFire, david@techfire.co 

TechFire Ignite 2015 to Feature Prominent Silicon Valley CEOs, May 28 in Santa Monica  

Speakers include Sam Shank (Co-Founder & CEO of HotelTonight), Dave Goldberg (CEO of SurveyMonkey), Tony Conrad (Co-Founder & CEO of about.me, and Partner at True Ventures) and other titans of tech 

Santa Monica, CA (April 23, 2015) -- The second annual TechFire Ignite Summit on May 28 in Santa Monica will feature high-profile CEOs from Silicon Valley -- speakers of the caliber that they've also taken the stage at some of the world's leading tech conferences. Details are at http://techfire.co.

 "L.A. tech is on fire, and to quote a recent news headline, TechFire is catching fire, too," said TechFire Founder & CEO David C. Murphy.  "We're thrilled to host a number of extremely high-caliber speakers at TechFire Ignite 2015. Many of our speakers have also spoken at long-established, world-class conferences like TechCrunch Disrupt, SXSW, and Web Summit, and we're honored to host them at TechFire in just our second year, too," he said. "We believe in L.A.'s thriving tech ecosystem, and so we've been working tirelessly for many months to recruit an incredible roster of speakers from Silicon Valley to come speak. It'll be our best event yet!"

Last year, TechFire hosted seven events attracting 1700+ registrants from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and as far away as Miami and even Istanbul, who came to network and to hear prominent speakers like venture capitalists from Sand Hill Road firms like Kleiner Perkins & Greylock, and some of LA's leading startup CEOs. 

 

SPEAKERS AT TECHFIRE IGNITE 2015:

  • SAM SHANK, Co-Founder & CEO, HotelTonight. This year, HotelTonight won big at the tech industry's annual awards bash, the Crunchies Awards (presented by TechCrunch & VentureBeat). Voters named HotelTonight the Best On-Demand Service, beating Uber, Lyft, and other nominees. HotelTonight currently serves 500+ destinations in 28 countries. → TechCrunch profile.
  • DAVE GOLDBERG, CEO, SurveyMonkey. $2 billion: that's SurveyMonkey's valuation, as of its latest funding round. As CEO, Dave Goldberg has grown SurveyMonkey into a multibillion dollar business used by millions (and, as Business Insider notes, he's also famous for being "half of one of Silicon Valley's most powerful couples" -- he's married to Facebook COO & Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg)). Earlier, he co-founded Launch Music, led it through an IPO and acquisition by Yahoo, and grew it into the internet's biggest video site and music site at the time. → Business Insider profile.
  • TONY CONRAD, Co-Founder & CEO, about.me;  & Partner, True Ventures. Tony Conrad sold about.me to AOL just four days after it launched — but got to have his cake and eat it, too: he later bought it back from AOL for a fraction of the price. Besides running about.me, he's a partner at True Ventures, where he has led investments in WordPress.com, MakerBot, Blue Bottle Coffee, Typekit and High Fidelity. He's also a personal investor in Slack. → Vanity Fair profile
  • DAN MOREHEAD, Founder & CEO, Pantera Capital. Dan Morehead runs a ~$150 million bitcoin investment fund and bitcoin venture fund.  He previously raised $1.3 billion for Pantera as a macro hedge fund, before choosing to focus exclusively on Bitcoin. Earlier, he headed macro trading & was CFO for Tiger Management Corp., also known as “The Tiger Fund" (with as much as $22 billion in holdings).  →New York Times' DealBook profile.
  • THERESE TUCKER, Founder, CEO & Chairman, BlackLine. Therese Tucker founded BlackLine in 2001, growing it into an enterprise SAAS powerhouse, whose modern finance platform is used by a who's-who of blue chip Fortune 500 companies like Verizon, Hyatt, United Airlines, MasterCard and NBCUniversal. An L.A. success story, Woodland Hills-based BlackLine has seven global offices, from Paris, to Sydney. → Fortune profile.
  • BRANDEE BARKER, Co-Founder & Partner, The Pramana Collective. Renowned for her role helping grow Facebook into a global phenomenon as their first Head of Global Communications and Public Policy, Brandee Barker has advised clients like Sheryl Sandberg (on her Lean In campaign), and companies like Uber, Dropbox, and Spotify. → New York Times profile.
  • AND MORE TBA.

 

GREAT NETWORKING:

  • WHO ATTENDS OUR EVENTS: Our 2014 events attracted 1700+ registrants from Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and even as far as Europe: founders & CEOs of VC-backed companies, business leaders, investors, press, entrepreneurs, and key connectors. Companies represented include Tencent, Upfront Ventures, PandoDaily, Creative Artists Agency, Techstars, Hulu, Beachmint, Oracle, Zefr, GumGum, Sony, Technicolor, Toyota, McKinsey, the Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Deloitte, the Los Angeles Times, Factual, LegalZoom, Symantec, Toyota, Live Nation, Hautelook, and many more. Learn more at http://techfire.co/attendees. 
  • Our 2015 summit already is attracting high-profile attendees flying in, like the investment banker who's done more tech IPOs than anyone else in the industry (200+ companies, including Alibaba--the world's biggest IPO ever).    

  

EVENT INFO: 

WHEN & WHERE:  TechFire Ignite 2015 will be Thursday, May 28, 2015, in downtown Santa Monica. Doors open for networking at 8 am, and the program begins at 9 am.

SPONSORS:  Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the 2014 & 2015 Presenting Sponsor for all of TechFire's events. BlackLine is an additional Presenting Sponsor the summit; CBRE is a Platinum Sponsor, and EY is a Silver Sponsor.  Additional sponsorships are available -- email david@techfire.co for details.  

URL FOR TICKETS & INFO (for the public): http://techfire.co.  Early bird discounts are currently available -- ticket prices will keep going up in the coming days & weeks.

MEDIA REGISTRATION: apply for a free media pass at http://techfire.co/press. (Space is limited.)

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ABOUT TECHFIRE (techfire.co)

TechFire is the leading producer of tech events in Los Angeles, featuring nationally prominent speakers. Our events last year attracted 1700+ registrants, to hear speakers like David Lee (SV Angel), Brad Feld (Foundry Group/Techstars), Howard Morgan (First Round Capital), Michael Dubin (Dollar Shave Club), and Beth Seidenberg (Kleiner Perkins).  Visit techfire.co to learn more.   TechFire is led by Founder & CEO David Murphy.  (c) DMBH Group. 

Follow us on Twitter at @DavidCMurphy and @TechFireLA, and on Facebook.

David Murphy