DEMO Europe (Россия)

GENTRY UNDERWOOD

Gentry Underwood is the CEO and co-founder of Orchestra Inc. Prior to this, Gentry led IDEO's Knowledge Sharing domain, which focused on facilitating large-scale collaboration through the human-centered application of technology. He began his career as a software designer after earning a degree in human-computer interaction from Stanford University, but left the Silicon Valley and the world of start-ups to study psychology, anthropology, and community development. At Orchestra, Gentry combines his social science and design backgrounds to focus on building collaborative systems that people actually want to use. Gentry has been a thought leader in social software, writing for Techcrunch, Core77 and keynoting at a number of conferences, including Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and PICNIC.

DR. HENDRIK BRANDIS

Dr. Hendrik Brandis is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Earlybird. He is board member of EVCA and past Chairman of the EVCA Venture Capital Platform Council. Hendrik brings together long standing investment, operational and entrepreneurial experience. He was a board member of element5 AG, where he was a driving force behind the sale to Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV), dooyoo.de AG (Berlin) which was sold to leguide.com S.A and Dianoema S.p.A., which listed on the Borsa Italiana (Milan: NOE.MI). Previously, Hendrik was a Partner with McKinsey & Co. He attended the Technical University of Munich and holds a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc equivalent) and PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering.

ERIC LITMAN

Eric Litman is Chairman and CEO of Medialets, the most widely deployed rich media ad platform for mobile. He is a pioneer of the Internet's commercialization, and as a co-founder of Proxicom, helped to build one of the first, largest, and most successful publicly traded interactive agencies. Eric has also served as Managing Director of WashingtonVC, an early-stage fund and incubator. Previously, Eric held senior executive roles in high-growth Internet businesses, as founder and CEO of Viaduct Technologies, a global Internet and mobile interactive agency. He was also instrumental in building digitalNATION, a web hosting and services provider, from its launch through its $100m acquisition by Verio Internet/NTT. Eric began his career with technical and software engineering positions at GEnie, a pre-Internet online service provider, and NeXT Computer.

SERGUEI BELOUSSOV

Serguei is a self-made entrepreneur and business executive with an outstanding 20-year track record in building, growing and leading high-performing, multi-national high tech companies in North America, Europe and Asia. Noted as an innovator and a thought leader in virtualization, datacenter automation, and cloud computing space, he is a frequent speaker at industry events internationally. 
Mr. Belousov is currently a Senior Partner at Runa Capital venture fund, managed by a team of successful entrepreneurs and professional investors, at the same time he is a Founder, Executive Chairman, and Chief Architect ofParallels, the global leader in cloud services enablement and desktop virtualization software. 
Serguei is also a founder, main investor and Chairman of the Board of Acumatica– young fast-growing leading company in the cloud ERP space, founder and Chairman of the Board of Acronis, and also founder and investors of a number of other high-tech companies.

SHAAN PURI

Shaan is the CEO of The Monkey Inferno, an idea lab founded by Michael Birch (Bebo.com). Leading a team of 21, The Monkey Inferno develops a portfolio of startups - dreaming up ideas, building them, and taking them to market every 9 weeks. 

DAVID COHEN

David Cohen is the founder and CEO of TechStars. Previously, David was a founder of several software and web technology companies. He was the founder and CTO of Pinpoint Technologies which was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:ZOLL) in 1999. 

David is a active startup advocate, advisor, board member, and technology advisor who comments on these topics on his blog at DavidGCohen.com.

DILEK DAYINLARLI

Dilek DAYINLARLI is a Vice President at 212, focusing on investments in Internet, telecom and technology companies.
 
Prior to 212, Dilek worked at Groupon as a Director of Strategy and Analysis where she advised senior management on current performance and future strategies, led company growth through new product category launches, transferred international best practices, and worked with the sales organization to become more effective.

DAVID JUNK

David Junk brings a wealth of experience and a global perspective to the entertainment industry. He helped launch the first Western multinational record company in one of the largest countries in the world, the former Soviet Union, and served as President of Universal Music Group in Moscow. In addition to managing their interests throughout Russia and Eastern Europe for more than a decade, David signed and developed several platinum-selling artists, including the first Russian pop act to hold a worldwide number one record, t.A.T.u and was one of the top selling acts in the world. In 2006, David returned to Los Angeles to help manage the Universal subsidiary Machete (which became the top Latin Hip Hop and Reggaeton music label in the U.S.) Market. In 2007, David founded DJAM, a Los Angeles based international management, marketing and publicity firm. In March, 2013 David joined the Gibson Guitar Corporation to manage their entertainment relations in Russia and the CIS.

An ardent social justice advocate, David believes in the power of art to promote unity and positive social change. In response to the 2004 terrorist attack on a Russian school, he organized and produced the largest charity concert in the countryʼs history. Concert For Children of Beslan aired on MTV and was later released on CD and DVD worldwide. 

LARS BUCH

Managing Director at Startupbootcamp Copenhagen

20+ years experience with hardware development and 12 years with mobiles at Nokia, as Head of Smartphones Copenhagen. Built the “Nokia Bridge Program Incubator” in Copenhagen. During 2011-2012, he helped more than 60 new spinoff startups to life.

MAXIM GURVITS

Maxim (Max) Gurvits is the co-founder of Eleven Startup Accelerator, a EUR 12m acceleration and seed fund based in Sofia, which works in partnership with Google and Springboard. Max was previously a lawyer and investment banker, and has co-founded and exited the first online legal service provider in the Netherlands.

ALI KARABEY

Ali Karabey is a Managing Director at 212 focusing on investments in internet, communication and technology companies. Ali currently serves on the boards of Butigo.com, online fashion retail start-up focusing on fast fashion,Hazinem.com, online jewelry store, and Solvoyo, Software as a Service provider of advanced supply chain optimization software.

After graduating from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ali resumed his career in Arthur Andersen's New York office in the Corporate Finance department, executing mid-market transactions in technology, media and telecommunications industries. In 2002 he joined Morgan Stanley Capital International to manage North American and European finance teams consecutively. Meanwhile he was involved in the valuation, due diligence, and the post-acquisition integration of acquisition targets.

BAKHROM IBRAGIMOV

Bakhrom Ibragimov is a technology VC at EBRD. Previously Bakhrom was leading investments in European and the US technology companies with Virgin Green Fund as a Founding Principal and TLcom Capital as an Investment Director. Bakhrom also was Internet Finance Director and Director of Performance Analysis at Virgin Media. Bakhrom started his career as technology investment banker with Cowen & Co and CSFB/DLJ. Bakhrom holds two Master degrees on academic scholarships from the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, and Bachelor degree from Tashkent State Technical University.

MICHAEL MCFAUL

Ambassador McFaul was nominated by President Barack Obama on September 14, 2011, and confirmed by the Senate on December 17, 2011.  He was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation on January 10, 2012.

Prior to becoming Ambassador, he served for three years as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council.

Michael McFaul is a professor of political science at Stanford University.  At Stanford, he is also the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies.  He is currently on leave from Stanford.  Before joining the Obama administration, McFaul served as Deputy Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute and Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law (CDDRL).  He was also a non-resident Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

EVAN BURFIELD

Evan Burfield is the cofounder of 1776, an incubator platform for connecting the hottest startups in the world to the assets of the most powerful city on earth. Evan’s community leadership flows from his belief in entrepreneurship as the engine for solving the major problems facing America and the world today--from education and energy efficiency to health and government.

MARCIN HEJKA

Managing Director Intel Capital Eastern Europe, Middle East, Afric and Russia

Marcin joined Intel Capital in 1999. Prior to Intel Capital Marcin was Investment Director at the Poland Growth Fund (1995-1999), Resident Polish Specialist at Banexi (1993) and Financial Analyst at Paribas Capital Markets Group (1990). Between 2004 and 2011 Marcin was also Vice President of the Polish Venture Capital and Private Equity Association the largest industry association in Central Eastern Europe. Marcin was a Board Member in iMall and Board Observer in AVG, Siveco, Nokta, Centrum.cz, Index.hu, WP.PL and Wind Mobile. He has also invested in and managed exits from Wirtualna Polska (acquired by TPSA), Centrum.cz (acquired by Warburg Pincus), eTel (acquired by Austrian Telecom), Index.hu (acquired by jv of Vivendi), iMall (acquired by Naspers) and AVG (IPO on NYSE) and invested in Ru-Net/Yandex, Nokta and Wind Mobile. 

MAXIM KRASNYKH

Maxim is Intel Capital Director based in Moscow, responsible for investments in Russia and CIS. He joined Intel Capital team in 2011. 

Prior to joining Intel Capital, Maxim was Investment Director with Alfa Capital Partners, a $700mm private equity fund, where he has completed a number of private equity transactions in Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan, totaling ca. $200mm. Before joining Alfa, Maxim worked in investment banking and direct investing at Fleming Family and Partners, a British multifamily office. Maxim started his career in the Corporate Finance group of PwC, advising multinational and Russian clients on M&As, disposals and strategy. At PwC his focus was on telecommunications, media and technology and he's completed over a dozen of advisory projects representing more than $1bn of capital. Maxim is MBA graduate of Columbia Business School in New York and has a MS in Finance from Finance University in Moscow. Maxim is a member of the CFA Institute.

LEONID BUGAEV

Leonid has 15 years experience in online business. Owner of Nordic Agency AB (digital advertising agency, Stockholm - Moscow). Took senior positions at several marketing agencies in Russia and abroad. Created projects for clients including Heineken, Procter&Gamble, Unilever, Danone, HP, Microsoft, Intel.

KSENIA YOLKINA

After several years in journalism, joined Ozon.ru as an editor-in-chief in 2007. In 2010 became a Chief Operating Officer at Glavstart and has launched Startup Weekend in Russia. Joined Yandex at 2010 as project manager and founded Yandex.Factory, a structure responsible for startup market research and financing startups worldwide. Mentoring at Seedcamp since 2011. Since 2012 also heads International business networking group in Yandex. Ksenia is a graduate of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

KONSTANTIN VORONTSOV

In his role as the head of Yandex.Music, Konstantin ensures that the service stays at the forefront of Russia’s online music streaming industry, with the catalogue of over 9 million tracks and the monthly visitor audience of over 12 million. Prior to joining Yandex to head its online music streaming service in 2012, Konstantin was running a movie ticketing website he founded in 2011. His career included public and investor relations at Rambler Media in 2009, as well as new media product management at Rambler’s news service. Konstantin has a degree in journalism from Moscow State University.

IGOR TABER

Igor Taber is a Director at Intel Capital’s Moscow office.  He joined Intel Capital in 2008 to reestablish Intel Capital presence in the region.  He focuses on investments in consumer internet, ecommerce, enterprise software, mobile and digital media in Russia and CIS countries.  He has invested and serves on the boards as observer or director of kupiVIP (ecommerce), Ozon (ecommerce), Altergeo (mobile), DeNovo (enterprise data center and cloud provider), Rock Flow Dynamics (enterprise software). He also invested and served on the board of Sapato (online footwear retail) before it was acquired by Ozon.

Igor has MBA from Wharton Business School and Computer Engineering degree from University of Kansas.

GRIGORY POVAROV

With 10+ years of experience on the software market Grigory is General Manager, OEM at Acumatica, leading global provider of cloud Enterprise Resource Planning and financial software with rich ISV/VAR/OEM ecosystem & thousands of customers all over the world. Prior to Acumatica Grigory was Product and BizDev Director at SKB Kontur, leading Russian software developer & service provider. Mr. Povarov received Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Ural State University.

DMITRY ALIMOV

Internet investor and entrepreneur, Dmitry has 14 years of experience in private equity and venture capital investment in Internet and media.

Between 2007 and 2010, he worked as the Managing Partner of a leading venture fund ruNet Ltd known for its investments in yandex.ru and ozon.ru. In 2009, Dmitry co-founded ivi.ru Media Ltd (owner and operator of www.ivi.ru). Prior to joining ru-Net, he was the Managing Director of Amedia - the leading Russian producer of television series and movies.

Dmitry received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2004, and in 1998 graduated with honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Missouri at St. Louis (USA), with a major in Business Administration (Finance).

ANTON ABASHKIN

Anton leads the team working with start-ups and venture capitalists within PwC Center for Technology and Innovation. Anton joined PwC in 2004. He has participated in a number of financial modeling, business valuation and corporate finance projects for major Russian and foreign companies. His main area of expertise is strategic and operational financial modeling. 
Anton currently works with start-up companies providing advice on fund raising, strategy and business development. His clients include companies in IT, Internet, media and entertainment and financial sectors. 
Anton graduated from Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation and is qualified by the American Society of Appraisers (ASA, United States).

NATHAN GOLD

Since 2000, Nathan has been coaching companies for DEMO on a professional level and he has produced over 100 DEMOgod Award winners and every People’s Choice Award winner. Scripting, production, and delivery of a 6 minute timed live demo needs professional coaching. It is not a nice to have. It’s a must have!

Nathan will work side by side with the teams getting geared up to do their DEMO's on our stage.

ANDREA COCKERTON

Andrea Cockerton founded Mudhut, the pitch consultancy, in 2005, following on from three years running one of the leading angel investment networks in the UK. Since then she has worked alongside over 600 entrepreneurs and business leaders on de-risking investment and commercial pitches of values ranging between £50K to £10m. Sectors of experience include mobile, digital, online, software, biotech and nanotech, as well as legal, academia, public sector and the arts. Andrea is also the founder of The Dowsing Sound Collective, a genre-bending musical collective launched in Cambridge, UK in 2010.

NIKOLAY DAVYDOV

Nikolay Davydov is on the board of SeoPult group and Garpun.com.

Nikolay is managing full cycle investment activities, including portfolio companies’ corporate governance. Before joining iTech in January 2010, Nikolay developed enterprise services business in Russia for system integration companies and worked with Russian midmarket companies at Cisco. Starting from 2007 Nikolay has been consulting IT startups and individual entrepreneurs in Russia and UK in fundraising and strategic management. 

Nikolay holds a MSc degree in International Business in Emerging Markets from the University of Edinburgh Business School and BSc in Management from State University - Higher School of Economics.

VLADISLAV SOLODKIY

Vladislav Solodkiy is the founder and CEO of Life.SREDA venture fund. He began his career as an expert in advertising and then worked as the director of marketing and advertising for a number of companies which are the leading players in the Russian financial sector — Alfa Bank, Russian Standard Bank. After becoming the vice-president of marketing in Life Financial Group Vladislav simultaneously started to work on his own project – the venture fund "Life.SREDA" that specializes in financial startups. "Life.SREDA" is the first Russian venture capital fund committed to a specific direction in the field of investment in financial innovative startups. Up to today the fund has successfully invested in six projects. Among those the most successful are Instabank - the first bank for iPhone and iPad, LifePay - project in mobile acquiring and LifePAD - Russia's first tablet computer with installed business applications.

IGOR AGAMIRZYAN

Igor Agamirzian, Ph.D., is a CEO of the JSC “Russian Venture Company" since May 2009. In his previous position he was a General Manger of the Software Development Center of EMC Corporation in St. Petersburg in 2007-2009, prior to that a National Technology Officer and a member of the Cabinet of the Chairman of Microsoft in Russia and CIS countries.

In 1991 Igor co-founded Astro Soft Ltd., a St. Petersburg based software development and system Integration Company. 

NATALYA RODIONOVA

Natalia Rodionova is a Senior Manager in Corporate Finance in PwC and a member of PwC Centre for Technology and Innovation. 

Natalia joined PwC in 2005 and participated in projects related to audits of financial statements, due diligence, M&A lead advisory and raising VC financing.

Currently she works with early stage innovative companies and provides them with a comprehensive advisory support on developing business model and strategy, financial model, fund raising and other operational issues which early stage companies face.

SERGEY EREMIN

Sergey is headlining Microsoft's startup activities in Russia - he is the head of BizSpark program, and Managing Director of Microsoft SeedFund. 

ALEXANDER IVANOV

Alexander Ivanov is a partner of venture fund Life.SREDA, founded in 2012, that specializes in financial start-ups. Alexander has seven years of experience in project management in different companies with different types of organizational cultures, industries, and risk management processes of large-scale projects (more than 30 people in project teams with the total investment in the project to $ 1.6 billion). As a head of division, Alexander implemented a number of successful projects for the implementation and development of the strategy of new product development for the major Russian corporations - such as RAO UES of Russia, Gazprom Neft, BrokerСreditService, Life Financial Group. In the area of professional interests are the management of business development, financial planning and budgeting, BSC and KPI, and venture capital investments in high-tech financial products.