Silicon Beach Fest - LA

FREE to ATTEND! We open our Silicon Beach Fest with a welcome from LA city officials from the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.  The first Silicon Beach Fest started five years ago in 2012, with a keynote by Eric Garcetti, who was running for mayor, at Cross Campus’ first location in Santa Monica. Eric’s keynote emphasized how LA is a perfect place for tech and startups. Eric also spoke at our fall one-day Silicon Beach Fest in Hollywood later that same year. Eric became LA Mayor, and quickly implemented several tech initiatives, including appointing a Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, open city data, partnering with city-related apps, revamping LA City web sites and internal operations, creating an LA tech day and hackathon at City Hall, creating Entrepreneurs-in-Residence positions, speaking at SXSW, and much more.

Representatives from the Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti will provide an overview of these initiatives and the growth of LA tech. We will also celebrate 5 years of Silicon Beach Fest bringing together LA’s tech community.

5-5:15p: Check in and Arrival

5:15-5:30p: Michelle Garakian presentation, plus Certificate Presentation

– Michelle Garakian, Business Team, Tech Sector will give a brief overview of the Mayor’s tech initiatives and accomplishments over the past three years, and what’s next.

5:30-6:15p:  Panel

A panel introducing new tech city officials will discuss tech initiatives in more details, including how to increase connections among startups, investors, and city officials and initiatives.

– Michelle Garakian, Business Team, Tech Sector
– Lilian P Coral, MPP, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Chief Data Officer
– Juan Vasquez, Mayor’s Operations Innovation Team, Communications & Data Analyst

6:15-6:45p: Jason Nazar Fireside Chat

– Jason Nazar, Comparably, CEO / Co-Founder; LA City Entrepreneur in Residence; founder Startups Uncensored, and Docstoc (acquired by Intuit)

6:45-7p:    After networking with light snacks and beverages