Appearances Archives - Page 2 of 3

CryptoBlockCon in Los Angeles (4/4/18)

By: Steve Masur

On April 4 at 6:30pm, Steven Masur will present a keynote at CryptoBlockCon 2018 in Los Angeles. The presentation will discuss the landscape of ICO’s and address some of the challenges and opportunities around blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation.

Steven Masur has over 24 years of experience advising emerging and established businesses on new opportunities and business challenges, most recently blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation. He also focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, emerging businesses and strategic guidance. Steve has extensive experience in angel and venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and cross-border transactions in Europe and Asia. He is passionate about helping new businesses plan a path to success, and helping older businesses bridge the gap to new markets.

Steve brings a unique mix of legal, business, and strategic experience to bear on client matters. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped emerging businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and is especially knowledgeable in media, entertainment, advertising, consumer products, food and technology, including mobile, games, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation.

Steve has been recognized as a “Rising Star” and a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers. He serves on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards and industry associations, and lectures and writes about major issues in venture capital, emerging businesses, entertainment law, technology and corporate strategy.

graphic for blockchain and cryptocurrencies event

Cyber Days at UCLA (2/17/18) Panel Discussion: Finding the Balance Between Regulation & Innovation

By: Steve Masur

Join us on Saturday, February 17th for Cyber Days at UCLA for a panel to discuss The Balance Between Regulation and Innovation.

4:20-5: 00 PM PT

Humanities Building
415 Portola Plaza, UCLA 90095

About the Panel:

The landscape for innovation and regulation of technologies developed around blockchain is constantly changing. In this panel, attorneys who practice in the blockchain space will come together with blockchain developers and innovators to discuss the balance between regulation and innovation.

About the Speakers:

Greg Gilman, Founder, Science Blockchain

Greg Gilman has over 15 years experience as an executive, entrepreneur, investor and attorney. Immediately prior to co-founding Science, he was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of RxVantage, the leading online practice platform connecting pharmaceutical and medical vendors with healthcare professionals. Prior to RxVantage, Greg was a Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Law at Pepperdine University School of Law, where he designed and taught courses in Intellectual Property Law and Licensing. Prior to joining the full-time faculty, he practiced law at Gilman/McFadden LLP in Los Angeles, CA, where he was head of the Entertainment, Intellectual Property, and Business Transactions practices.

Greg has represented a number of recording artists, producers, independent record labels, songwriters, screenwriters, and directors, including Billboard, Grammy, Cleo and Tony award winners. He served as corporate counsel for Userplane, and represented the founders of the company during the acquisition by AOL. Additionally, he has represented numerous leading technology businesses, both nationally and internationally, and has consulted for businesses across all stages of development – from startup to public- among them World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE).

Greg has also served as advisor or director of numerous venture-backed companies, including Hello Society, DocStoc, Music180, Tsavo, and FunBits Interactive. He currently serves on the board of directors of a myriad of companies including Ellie Fashion Group, Playhaven, ReFame and Delicious.

He is licensed to practice before all California state courts, as well as the United States Federal District Court for the Central and Southern Districts of California. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2004. Greg earned his JD from the University of Southern California Law School, where he was a member of the prestigious Southern California Law Review, and earned his BA from Tufts University.

Adam Ettinger, Partner, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Mr. Ettinger represents leaders in blockchain technologies and digital currencies, social gaming, internet advertising, mobile apps, e-commerce, semiconductors, and networking technologies. His clients have included AMD, Apple, BitGo, DeviceScape, Fakespace, Get Satisfaction, Intel, Internet Devices (acquired by Alcatel), Magma Design, Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), Orchestria (acquired by CA), S3 (acquired by HTC), Self Aware Games (acquired by Big Fish), Tivo, and Undertone Networks. He has represented investors in investments as diverse as Hootsuite, Houzz, The Social+Capital Partnership, and SpaceX.

Previously, Mr. Ettinger led the legal team at SmartAge as it negotiated over fifty partnerships with companies such as AOL and Microsoft, and raised $47 million dollars from Accel Partners, Softbank Capital, Ron Conway, Roger McNamee, Michael Dell, and Vint Cerf.

Before law school, while with the Center for International and Strategic Affairs (CISA), Mr. Ettinger architected and coded the first system to track nuclear proliferation using overt information sources. He also developed and integrated complex computer systems as a systems engineer with AT&T.

Kelsey Lemaster, Tax Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP

Kelsey Lemaster is a partner in Goodwin’s Tax Practice. His practice includes corporate mergers and acquisitions, fund formations, private equity and venture capital investment structuring, the qualification and operation of REITs, transactions involving REITs, investments in real estate by tax-exempt and foreign investors, and joint venture and other partnership transactions.

Steven Masur

Steven Masur has over 22 years of legal experience advising emerging companies since the days of the Internet and most recently the Blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation. His practice focuses on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, and guiding startups. Steve has extensive experience in angel and venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and cross-border transactions in Europe and Asia.

Previously he counselled enterprise level clients like Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsencounselledics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. His knowledge has guided a wide variety of industries including media, mobile, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, software and hardware.

Amy Wan, Founder & CEO

Amy Wan is Founder & CEO of Bootstrap Legal, which builds legal technology for the future of law. Previously, she was a Partner at a boutique securities law firm and General Counsel at a real estate crowdfunding platform. Amy is also the founder and co-organizer of Legal Hackers LA, which programs around the intersection of law and technology; was named one of the one of ten women to watch in legal technology by the American Bar Association Journal in 2014; and was nominated as a Finalist for the Corporate Counsel of the Year Award 2015 by LA Business Journal.

Amy has also worked in international regulatory and trade policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Transportation. She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a JD from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California.

CES (1/8/17) Panel Discussion: Top Technology and Entertainment Companies in VR and AR

By: Steve Masur

Join us on Monday, January 8th at the Las Vegas Convention Center (9:00AM PST) to discuss the Top Technology and Entertainment Companies in VR/AR.

9-10 AM January 8
Tech East, LVCC, North Hall, N258

About the Panel:

From CES and Tribeca to Cannes and Sundance VR/AR continues to dominate the conversation. VR/AR is transforming everything from entertainment and advertising to gaming and education.

Tony Parisi, Head of AR/VR Strategy, Unity Technologies
Aaron Luber, Head of AR/VR Content Partnerships, Google
Russ Schafer, SVP and General Manager of New Ventures, THX
Tim Dillon, Head of VR & Immersive Content, MPC
Shannon Norrell, Office of the CTO / VR Evangelist, HP, Inc.
Steven Masur

REGISTER TO ATTEND

About the Speakers:

Steven Masur has over two decades of experience advising emerging and established businesses on new opportunities and business challenges. He focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, emerging businesses and strategic guidance. Steve brings a unique mix of legal, business, and strategic experience to bear on client matters. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped emerging businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and is especially knowledgeable in media, entertainment, advertising, consumer products, food and technology, including mobile, games, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, software and hardware.

Tony Parisi is a virtual reality pioneer, serial entrepreneur and angel investor. Tony is the co-creator of 3D graphics standards, including VRML, X3D and glTF, the new file format standard for 3D web and mobile applications.Tony is also the author of O’Reilly Media’s books on Virtual Reality and WebGL: Learning Virtual Reality (2015), Programming 3D Applications in HTML5 and WebGL (2014), and WebGL Up and Running (2012). Tony is currently Head of VR and AR at Unity Technologies, where he oversees the company’s strategy for virtual and augmented reality.

Aaron Luber leads content partnerships for Google’s AR and VR efforts — Daydream and Tango. Aaron’s journey began with launching YouTube360 first as a 20% project and then to a live product in March 2015. During that time, Aaron transitioned from YouTube to the Cardboard team and has been working to bring VR, and now AR, to the masses. Probably the most impressive surprise has been the incredible brand engagement and eagerness for companies (such as the NFL, EA, Mattel, IMAX, Disney and The New York Times) to work with Cardboard, Daydream and Tango. Aaron has been core in leading each of these partnerships for Google and many more. These partnerships have been able to deliver on great content, while building towards the mission of delivering innovative AR/VR experiences to the masses.

Russ Schafer oversees the development of new audio and video products and technologies. He is responsible for leading the engineering and product teams that deliver silicon, software and service solutions for the playback of music, movies, gaming, virtual reality, augmented reality content on mobile, PC, consumer electronics, and automobiles. Current products include the THX AAA – ACHROMATIC AUDIO AMPLIFIER, THX LOUDNESS PLUS, BOUNDARY GAIN COMPENSATION (BGC), and THX® DISTRIBUTED BASS TECHNOLOGY™. Before THX, Russ held a variety of senior leadership roles at Intel, IBM, Yahoo, AOL, and Sybase.

Tim Dillon is Head of VR & Immersive Content at MPC, leading a group focused on the exploration of Original Content, Music, Arts, Causes, Advertising and Entertainment. Tim has been instrumental in the development and production of many notable projects including The last Goodbye (Tribeca Premiere, Venice), ‘Heroes’ (Sundance 2017 Premiere), Legion Sessions (Comic-Con SD 2017), Night Night (Dark Corner Co-Production) Kygo ‘Carry Me’ (Sony Music Playstation launch), The Nature Conservancy ‘This is Our Future’, Google TiltBrush, The Martian VR and Goosebumps VR. This new era for MPC’s immersive projects began back in 2015 with projects for Chris Milk’s U2 ‘Song for someone’ and the horror fan favorite ‘Catatonic’. Tim is a vocal advocate for the experiential and immersive power of VR and MR and has spoken at events such as Sundance, SXSW, AICP, NAB, CES, Digital Hollywood, VR on the lot and many more.

Shannon Norrell works in the CTO Office of HP, guiding vision both internally and externally for XR and speaking at events around the world. He has over 20 years’ experience as an engineer in Silicon Valley at places like Apple, Microsoft, Macromedia and now, HP. Organizer of VRCamp at Burning Man, Silicon Valley WebGL Meetup (largest in the world), co-organizer of Silicon Valley AR Meetup, Organizer of Mars Home Planet Meetup. Chairman of the W3C Declarative WebVR Community, Member of the IEEE Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Working Group and the Khronos OpenXR Working Group.

German American Chamber Of Commerce in New York

By: Steve Masur

On November 7th, Steven Masur is moderating a panel at the Consulate General of Germany German Mission as part of a conference for German businesses involved in event production, touring, ticketing, content licensing and acquisition. This panel is part of a delegation trip for German companies from the event and concert industry who will be visiting New York City and Los Angeles from November 6th-10th. Representatives will meet with local industry leaders and research institutions to exchange ideas and lay the groundwork for future cooperation along with strategic partnership opportunities.

About the Panel:

Growth Opportunities, Legal Roadmaps, and Market Differentiators: From Germany to the United States

The United States is known as one of the most profitable markets for touring, concerts, live events, and content acquisition. While there is a lot of opportunity, there are also many specific legal paths companies must take to operate; especially foreign entities and brands. In addition to this, there are unique market differentiators that are specific to the US for reaching target audiences, building communities and engaging with consumers. In this panel, Steven Masur will discuss the legal path to operating in the US. He will be joined by investor and marketing professional David Wingate and Ritesh Patel, CEO of Ticket Fairy, a touring and concert ticket platform; who will discuss unique opportunities and pain points for operating in the US.

REGISTER TO ATTEND

About the participants:

Agenda Production International is an event and production company for creative full service capabilities and among the leading entertainment industry agencies in Europe. Their product and service spectrum ranges from the conception up to the realization of over 400 performances per year in dance, music and entertainment.

C2Concerts is focused on organizing gigs and shows as well as promoting concerts, tours and events all over Germany and acts as a full service event-planning agency. Since 2013, the Stuttgart based company has also been producing musicals for children and families.

As one of the leading companies in tour production, Showservice Int. is pursuing a very high quality standard, to create a high-class but at the same time affordable cultural program for over 20 years now. All of their musical productions will turn into a one of a kind experience, because of up-to-date topics and professional work in front and behind the curtains and are currently being distributed within Europe.

PMS Crew Support is a professional personnel service provider specialized in the events industry. The company covers most staffing demands of the following event types: concerts, major events, stage and tent construction, trade fair construction, industrial customers’ events, film, television and media productions. The company’s target partners are tour and concert promoters as well as artist and event agencies which are looking for a reliable partner in Europe. PMS would either provide them with the personnel needed or take on the local realization of the project.

Reservix is a leading ticketing company in Germany that supports more than 7,000 organizers in the areas of concerts, sports, theater, tourism, touring and trade fairs. Reservix is a full-service provider and develops individual 360 ° solutions for its customers through all sales channels.

Satis&Fy has solidified its position as a leading international provider of cutting-edge event and media technology, scenic design, and room-in-room solutions. Encompassing a perfect blend of unconventional ideas, the spirit of innovation and the courage to take the path less traveled. The company acts as contact for all services which arise with a professional event production.

Schokopro works in many areas in the event production field such as media technology, scenic design and communication.Their USP is offering one-stop services with an experienced and passionate in house personnel. Schokopro produces events for both the entertainment industry (such as band concerts) and big corporations.

New York Virtual Reality Expo (10/26/17) with Hooke Audio, Silver Sound

By: Steve Masur

This coming Thursday, October 26th at 11am ET, Steve Masur will be moderating a panel at the New York Virtual Reality Conference. The panel features CEOs from the professional audio world that are emerging as experts in virtual and augmented reality and its applications. Participants include Anthony Mattana (Founder and CEO of Hooke Audio), Robin Shore (Founding Member and Co-Owner of Silver Sound), Albert Leusink (Independent Audio & Music Professional), and Karim Douaidy (Co-Founder and Creative Director of Chapter Four). The purpose of this panel is to educate attendees on spatial audio and lead a conversation on how content can be experienced.

About the speakers:

Anthony Mattana is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hooke Audio, a spatial audio company with a very unique product offering. Anthony was originally trained as a theatrical sound designer and has worked on Broadway musicals such as King-Kong and Motown. Anthony will be discussing Hooke Audio’s newest release, Hooke Verse, bluetooth headphones that use binaural microphones to capture 3D audio. Specially placed microphones in the headphones allow an innovative way for you to capture sound as you hear it, allowing you to re-experience moments.

Robin Shore is the Co-Founder of Silver Sound, a post-production sound studio that offers complete audio and video production services. Originally focusing on on location recording, Robin switched into the world of studio recording and post-production. During the panel, Robin will will draw from his experience at Silver Sound discussing how the company is able to take music videos, narratives and animations from pre-production to post-production in the VR space.

Karim Douaidy is the Co-Founder and creative developer for Chapter Four, which is a full service production company that concentrates in VR, 360 and immersive media. The Chapter Four team is dedicated to the creation of cinematic and interactive immersive experiences. Currently, they are one of the few companies that has an end-to-end workflow that operates around spacial media.

Albert Leusink is an independent audio and music professional with a bachelors degree in music production and engineering from the Berklee College of Music. Albert has more than 20 years of experience in the media world including music, advertising, radio, television and film. He contributed to numerous Grammy, Emmy, and Clio nominated projects and has worked with notable clients such as Queen Latifa, Rolex and JetBlue.

If you would like to attend this panel, you can register here.

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series October 10 – Raising Money For Your Startup

By: Rob Griffitts

Thank you for attending our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series on October 10. The series is a first-of-its-kind monthly session working with experts where top industry experts talk about various parts of creating a startup with the goal to help founders over any hurdles that they may have.

On October 10th, the following people spoke:

Asha Saxena, who is a professor at Columbia University, entrepreneur in residence at the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, CEO of Future Technologies Inc. and one of the winners of NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business award. She will be talking about how to raise money for your startup.

Michael Mulvaney is a Regional Sales Consultant within the technology team at TriNet, that helps power business success with extraordinary HR. He also is an advisor to tech startups and founders of various growing companies. He provides an unique perspective, since many of his clients are startups, to the theme of the event.

In addition a panel of entrepreneurs who have raised funds in the past came to share their experiences with us! Panel members included Dilip Rao (Former investment banker & CEO of Sharebite), Lyle Pinder (Founder and CEO of Auviso Inc.), and more. All members of the panel have raised over $1M and have recently closed their rounds.

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series is for you if:
– You are looking to understand the art of converting ideas to reality
– You are motivated to learn more about entrepreneurship opportunities and experiences
– You are ready to step up your game in the world of entrepreneurship with a great community of self-starters
– You are interested in networking efficiently with our newly launched EventMate app

Whether your goal is to:
– Build a strong foundation for your startup
– Understand ways to became an excellent leader and manage your ongoing opportunities
– Expand your networking platform in different sectors and industries
Then this workshop is the perfect fit for you!

Agenda:
6:00-6:10pm: Registration & Welcome
6:10-6:25pm: Asha Saxena’s Presentation
6:25-7:00pm: How to Raise Money for Your Startup Panel
7:00-7:15pm: Q&A
7:15-7:45pm: TriNet Presentation
7:45-8:00pm: Q&A
8:00-8:30pm: Networking

Stay tuned for the next event which will be announced on our site soon!

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series : How to Hire the Right Tech Team

Thank you for joining us at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series at WeWork Soho South! Steve Masur joined Asha Saxena, professor at Columbia University and CEO of Future Technologies Inc and Dasmer Singh, product manager at Venmo. Asha and Dasmer discussed the ins and outs of building a strong tech team for your start up and explained how to expand your networking platform in different sectors and industries.

Asha Saxena is a professor at Columbia University and CEO of Future Technologies Inc.. She is also an entrepreneur in residence at Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center and was rewarded NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business award. The premise of her discussion was about how to hire the right tech team for your company.

Dasmer Singh is currently enrolled at Stanford’s Business School and is the project manager for Venmo, which has skyrocketed over the past couple of years. He constructed and completed a bulk of the coding that went into the Venmo app. And throughout his talk, Dasmer went over the workflows of project management and how to make sure your tech team is productive and efficient enough to bring your ideas to the real world.

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and these guest speakers were here to help you and your team overcome problems you may face when beginning your startup company. This specific series focused on ensuring you how to hire and pick the best fit tech team that will help you bring your idea to life. We are excited that you were able to hear these speakers talk about their companies and how they were able to build their ideas and turn them into successful startups.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite.

Digital Hollywood

By: Steve Masur

Steve Masur was at Digital Hollywood, May 24th from 2:30pm-3:30pm at the Skirball Center in Los Angels moderating a panel focused on VR. The panel, Virtual Reality Transforms Entertainment and Media – TV, Movies, News, Sports & Music, included participants from Fox Sports, Sony Music, Proof, Inc. , and Secret Location. On May 25th at 2:15pm Steve participated on a panel discussing Financing, Packaging & Investment: From Entertainment & Indie Project to Technology & Startups.

On that panel discussing Virtual Reality Transforms Entertainment and Media, Steve talked with other participants like Sean Charles (Vice President, Global Publisher and Developer Relations at ESL), Brad Spahr (Vice President of Product Development at Sony Music and Entertainment), Ted Kenney (Director, Field and Technical Operations at Fox Sports), Andy Cochrane (Independent Digital Director), Eric W. Shamlin (Managing Director/Executive Producer at Secret Location) and Christopher Bellaci (Head of Business Development at Proof, Inc.).

On May 25th, Steve participated on another panel discussing Financing, Packaging & Investment with other speakers such as Diane McGrath (Managing Director Media and Technology at J Streicher Capital), Greg Akselrud ( Partner, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP), Jennifer Post (Partner, Thompson Coburn), Nick Davidov (Co-Founder, Gagarin Capital), Jason Scoggins (President & COO of Slated, Inc.) and Joey Tamer (President, S.O.S. Inc., Moderator).

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series at WeWork Soho

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Series on June 6th 6:30pm-8:30pm at WeWork Soho West. Join Asha Saxena, professor at Columbia University, entrepreneur in residence at the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, President and CEO of Future Technologies, Inc. and NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business, as she presents her Business Model Canvas Walkthrough. Attorneys from MG+ will also lead a brief presentation on business formation and legal considerations for new ventures. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.

App Promo Summit

Every once in a while, we will let you know about events of interest produced by others. On April 6, the App Promo Summit is coming to the Stewart Hotel in New York. The event is about mobile apps. As you have probably heard, regardless of how many they download, the average person uses 5 or fewer apps on their mobile phone. The showstopper at the Consumer Electronics Show was Alexa, which blindsided a lot of people in mobile media. We believe the mobile app market is ripe for disruption, as people adopt voice-activated services over those that require looking at a tiny mobile screen.

App Promo Summit is special because it attracts a much more international crowd, creating something of a miniature, C-level GSMA Mobile World Congress staged in New York. This allows one to gain insights into what is happening worldwide, not only in the US.

The App Promotion Summit will feature presenters from eBay, the New York Times, Jet.com, Urban Airship, 1stdibs, Dashlane, iHeartRadio, TodayTix, Duolingo, Nickelodeon, and many more.