← Back to agenda

Dan Polonka

Sr. Product Marketing Manager
|
Affinity

Dan Polonka is Senior Product Marketing Manager at Affinity, where he leads go-to-market strategy, product launches, and demand-generation programs tailored for venture-capital and private-equity audiences.

conference speakers

Nuno Gonçalves Pedro

Managing Partner, Founder
Chamaeleon

Nuno Gonçalves Pedro

Managing Partner, Founder
Chamaeleon

Nuno Goncalves Pedro is the founder and managing partner of Chamaeleon, a VC firm with a unique disruptive operating model and an AI, quantitative & technology platform - Mantis - developed and maintained fully in-house to augment its deal sourcing, due diligence, risk, portfolio management and liquidation activities, among others. While based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Firm also has offices in Europe, as well, and it focuses on series Seed and Series A investing. Nuno is particularly focused on consumer and consumer-like start-ups, e.g. gaming and social, as well as horizontal SaaS, e.g. consumerized Enterprise and bottom-up SaaS.

Before this, Nuno founded and was the managing partner of Strive Capital, the first quant VC firm in the US and in the San Francisco Bay area. The firm focused on consumer and enterprise software, with investments in DraftKings (IPO), Robinhood (IPO), Ohmconnect (Merger Google), Rubrik (IPO), Gusto, App Annie (Sold), Enish (IPO), Virta Health, among others.

He is the co-founder and co-host of decipheredshow.com, a top 2.5% podcast, globally, across all verticals, and the creator of the “Rejection & Adversity as a path to Growth” methodology. Nuno has served and continues to serve as a board member, advisor and coach to various start-ups, corporations and nonprofits in the US, Europe and Asia.

Nuno was a Senior Expert and member of APAC Technology, Media & Telecom leadership team for McKinsey, where he created impact for Fortune 500 clients, including consumer electronics, network equipment, carriers/operators, Internet players, sovereign wealth funds and private equity funds. Nuno was previously the Head of Strategy, Product, Corporate & Business Development for the GSM Association, where he created and executed, at its inception, the blueprint that led to the GSM Association becoming the leading non-profit for Mobile, as well as the top trade association, globally.

Nuno is a guest lecturer on product management and growth at Stanford GSB, and Haas School of Business and School of Engineering, University of California Berkeley. He is also a guest lecturer on Venture Capital and innovation topics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the College of Engineering of the University of California Berkeley. Nuno is an alumnus of Stanford, London Business School, and other world-renowned organizations.

close

Jason Baibokas

Managing Director
BDC

Jason Baibokas

Managing Director
BDC

Jason Baibokas is a managing director at BDC, currently managing the firm's $100-million Black Entrepreneurs Fund. Prior to BDC, Baibokas has over 25 years of experience in capital markets and entrepreneurial growth, including serving as a principal at investment and advisory firm KASCorp and chief financial officer at Toronto-based digital mortgage platform 8Twelve Financial Technologies.

close

Andrew Brackin

Partner
Gradient Ventures

Andrew Brackin

Partner
Gradient Ventures

Andrew Brackin is a Partner at Gradient Ventures. Prior to Gradient, Andrew co-founded Vial, a tech-enabled clinical trial platform that raised over $100M in venture capital from top-tier firms. Prior to Vial, he was part of the founding team and the Head of Growth at Newfront (YC W18), an AI-powered commercial insurance brokerage valued at $2.2BN, insuring numerous Fortune 500 companies. His career began at Jobr, a mobile job search business that Monster.com acquired in 2016.

Andrew was a 2013 recipient of the Thiel Fellowship. Outside of work, he loves reading about global affairs, working out at Barry’s Bootcamp, and enjoying live music.

close

Sam Campbell

Investor
Samsung Next

Sam Campbell

Investor
Samsung Next

Sam Campbell is an Investor at Samsung Next, where he is focused on AI, Health, and crypto. His recent investments include Saga, Science IO, Manifold, & LayerZero. Previously he was at Stanford Management Company where he supported portfolios with over 1,000+ venture capital portfolio companies across sectors and stage.

close