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The 29th annual EA Conference will be welcoming Sean Rad of Tinder, William Barnes of Uber and about 20 CEOs, COOs, and CFOs to UCLA's campus Friday.
Hosted by two professional student groups at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the 450-person conference is geared toward entrepreneurs in the technology industry and beyond. Bo Pulito is co-directing the conference along with Asmi Shah and Kristina Bidovec, all second year MBA students at Anderson.
“With the rise of Silicon Beach and how tech is gaining so much momentum, there’s just a natural overlap between tech and entrepreneurship,” Pulito said. “We’re recognizing this understanding and taking the two associations at school and joining forces.” Attendees have the option to focus on the technology aspect during the conference, with one event in each of the four sessions talking about the tech industry.
Mirroring this change in the industry, the theme of the conference centers on the “evolving entrepreneur.” Pulito said that it’s not just for startups or students, but that they’re hoping to reach Anderson alumni and the LA community as well.
“The whole idea is to have a conversation, to engage the alumni and the tech community in a two-way conversation, instead of just saying, ‘Hey, we want something from you,'" Pulito said.
He said that established companies could also reap benefits from the conference: “it’s almost like a requirement for larger companies to have an entrepreneurship division.”
Speakers include Sean Rad of Tinder, Oren Michels of Mashery, William Barnes of Uber, and Jonathan Teo of General Catalyst Partners, among others, for a grand total of 32 entrepreneurs and 23 CEOs, COOs, and CFOs. The schedule also features panels about wearable technology, the challenges of social enterprise, entrepreneurship in music and event planning, and the "magic" between a game producer and user.
The most popular facet of last year’s conference—the fast pitch competition—makes an appearance again this year. Participants have 50 seconds to share information about their project and why it deserves to advance beyond the semi-finals round. The finals will be held in the afternoon, judged by Teo and four other industry figures, including serial entrepreneur Dan Weinfurter. A prize will be awarded to the winner of the final round, Pulito said. A "startup demo day" event showcasing six local startups will also take place.
The EA Conference app, available at my.yapp.us/eaconf14, has the most up-to-date information on this year's conference.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
