INNOVATION HITLIST First Edition. If
you’re a startup who wants to work with brands, these are the 21 people you need to meet.

MARKETING IS CHANGING. CHANNELS FRAGMENT.
PLATFORMS ARE PUBLISHERS. THERE IS MORE DATA THAN EVER. ROLES BLUR.

Brand Innovation Investors Brands Entertainment
Entrepreneurs Media Agencies Brand innovation is an ecosystem of people transforming how we tell stories, sell, and share. = Bridges

If you’re a startup looking
to work with brands, these are the 21 people you need to know now.

GARY VAYNERCHUK CEO - VaynerMedia
1 “The Guru” WHY: Early pioneer used social media to transform his family wine business - and in the process became an expert in new distribution. Started an agency to translate social media knowledge to the brand world and quickly became a top expert. His personal investment portfolio includes some of the best in adtech and he just launched a new fund.

RACHEL WEISS VP of Digital
Innovation, Content, and New Ventures - L’Oreal “The Internal Innovator” WHY: Weiss is the person one of the world’s largest innovators has tasked with integrating the whole world of new communications channels. She also is a champion of female entrepreneurs and leaders more generally. 2

B. BONIN BOUGH VP Global
Media + Consumer Engagement - Mondelez Int’l 3 “The Intrapreneur” WHY: Former head of global digital and social media at PepsiCo, now VP Global Media & Consumer Engagement for Mondelez International - one of the most respected thinkers, speakers and doers for helping brands adapt to a socially-wired world.

BETH COMSTOCK CMO - General
Electric “The Uberinspiration” WHY: As CMO of GE, Beth Comstock has gone way beyond the fleeting, tepid startup experiments finding their way into corporate America. Instead, she has remade GE into a model for how to partner with emerging tech companies to keep Fortune 500s innovating and aspiring for more. In the meantime, she’s become a huge influence to corporate officers, agency leaders, and more. 4

ZE FRANK Head of Video
- Buzzfeed “The Video Made The Internet Star” WHY: In the mid 2000s The show with Ze Frank became one of the most popular pre youtube video series. It was where we learned that a brand is simply the emotional aftertaste of an experience. When Disney recently came knocking on Buzzfeed's door, it wasn't for cute cats and quizzes. It was about the more than blillion video views Buzzfeed video had quietly wracked up. 5

JEN RUBIO Global Head Of
Innovation - AllSaints “The Retail Futurist” WHY: Formerly head of social media for Warby Parker, the brand that set the template for how to build a new tech-enabled retail brand. Now runs Digital Innovation for AllSaints global fashion brand. Jen is more tech-connected than most brand innovation heads, not to mention more well traveled than, well, anyone. 6

7MICHAEL LAZEROW Founder, Buddy Media
“The Business Link” WHY: Built Buddy Media - a social media management platform for the world's top brands and sold it to Salesforce for $745m. Investor in some of the most important media platforms and properties (Tumblr, Facebook, Buzzfeed) and new adtech properties like Pinfluencer and Social Flow

BRIAN MORRISSEY Editor-in-Chief - DigiDay
“The Recorder” WHY: Of the major advertising publications, Digiday has been a leader in thoughtful interesting coverage at the intersection of startups, brands, and agencies. Their coverage of new platforms under their Editor-In-Chief has gone way beyond the normal fluff of startup coverage, without veering to a priori skepticism, either. 8

TROY CARTER Founder, Atom Factory
“The Guide” WHY: What hasn't Troy done? As Lady Gaga's manager, he showed how an artist can use digital media to weave a closer relationship with her fans then ever before, and then leveraged that insight to build one of the best venture investing portfolios anywhere (Uber + Warby Parker), along with an agency to guide brands through the world of startups and entertainment. He's also, literally, like, the nicest dude you've ever met. 9

JANET BALIS Partner/Chief Revenue Officer
- Betaworks “The Alley Partner” WHY: As a former publisher at the Huffington Post media group, Janet Balis knew her way around emerging technology. At Betaworks, she’s charged with driving partnerships and revenue to the NYC incubator-design studio-investment house. She’s so boss, she has the Twitter handle @digitalstrategy. 10

HOOMAN RADFAR Founder, AddThis “The
Linker” WHY: AddThis is a social media technology that connects sharing plugins with deep analytics to help 15m brands and publishers broaden and understand their audience, reaching 1.6b people each month. If that wasn’t enough, Hooman is an active and highly respected advisor and investor in emerging platforms. 11

ARJUN DEV ARORA Founder, ReTargeter
“The Ultimate Advisor” WHY: Built one of the fastest growing of a new generation of retargeting companies, largely without the aid of venture capital, in the process amassing the most interesting adtech advisory portfolio in Silicon Valley. The level of respect other investors and entrepreneurs accord him is unparalleled. 12

FARRYN WEINER Global Director of
Digital and Social Communications - Michael Kors “The Connectinista” WHY: Oh, you know. Led the development of the first Instagram ad to hit the platform. Helped Michael Kors get named 2013's top brand in social media in research by Starcourt. NBD. NBD. 13

RACHEL TIPOGRAPH Frmr Global Director
of Digital and Social Media - GAP “The Trailblaizr” WHY: Leader of a generation of Millennial thinkers brought in to help old brands connect with new media, Rachel became known for such bold campaigns as buying all mobile ads on Tumblr for a 24- hour period for the Gap's "Back to Blue" campaign. Now she lists her job as "Sabbatical till Fall 2014." How awesome is that? 14

15BRANDEE BARKER Founder, Pramana Collective
“The Image-ineer” WHY: Facebook's PR director, 2007-2010. Image consultant and advisor to Uber (recent valuation $3.5b), Dropbox (recent valuation $10b), Airbnb (recent valuation $10b). Advisor to Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO and author of "Lean In."). Most in demand PR & image advisor in Silicon Valley? Yup.

KEVIN COLLERAN VC - General
Catalyst & Slow Ventures “The Brand-To-Startup OG” WHY: The most active investor you don't know yet, Kevin Colleran was an early architect of brand involvement with modern social networks. Worked his way into Facebook’s first brand partnerships position while representing “college media” sites to brands in the mid 2000. We all know how that worked out. m/ 16

MILANA RABKIN Digital Media Agent
- UTA “The Agent Disrupter” WHY: For entertainers, everything comes down to how they relate to fans. As distribution is rebuild by media startups, bridge builders like Milana are essential for building the new infrastructure. She has worked with dozens of clients to help give them access to new platforms such as Kickstarter, and has an amazing eye for how artists and startups can partner to mutual benefit. 17

BRIAN WONG CEO - KIIP
“The Real World Rewarder” WHY: If there is one thing everyone thinking about digital advertising agrees on, it's that mobile is the most important growth platform of the future. KIIP is one of the leaders of a new generation of native mobile advertising solutions - giving brands the ability to reward in-app achievements with real world products. At the tender age of 23, CEO Brian Wong is poised to shape advertising on the medium for years to come. 18

KRISTINA SIMMONS Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
“The Opportunity Creator” WHY: Having raised $2.5b Andreessen Horowitz is one of today’s most emulated VCs. Interestingly, they modeled themselves after famed talent agency CAA and part of that model is sourcing brand partnerships for their portfolio companies, which is where Kristina comes in. She sits at the intersection of brands and such run of the mill and completely unexplosive companies like Airbnb and Lyft. 19

ADAM HIRSCH SVP, Emerging Media
& Tech “The Educator” WHY: So, the cool thing about Adam’s job is that his company invented it for him. Adam had cut his teeth in startup land as a senior editor at Mashable, and was recruited to help Edelman clients understand the full range of opportunities new tech platforms offered them. So...that’s cool. 20

BRIAN FLUCHT Director, Strategic Investments
& Partnerships - Nike “The Future Finder” WHY: Most corporate investing is for a mix of financial return goals and corporate strategic goals. Nike, led by Brian, takes it to another level, thinking about the nature of production, apparel and fitness a full generation ahead of today when making investments. Just do that. 21

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