Having a great idea or compelling solution to a problem is a necessary step to becoming the next game changing startup. But somewhere between the lightbulb moment and the series A round, entrepreneurs are faced with the issue of how to go about making their dream a reality. The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people to help you execute on that vision is often repeated.

But how exactly do you go about building that dream team? Our panel of seasoned Founders will discuss - and answer your questions on - who you need and when, how to weed out the attractive mistakes, woo the hard to get, and approach this monumental task with good judgment.

 **Tickets will be sold at the door based on availability, after 6:30 pm on the day of the event, tickets will no longer be available via Eventbrite and only cash will be accepted at the event**

Announcing Liz Gannes of AllThingsD as Moderator!

Julia Hartz, Co-Founder & President of Eventbrite
Julia spends her day focusing on the happiness, productivity, and growth of the team at Eventbrite (aka the Britelings). She strives to foster the culture that has defined Eventbrite, and that has placed the company among the Top 5 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area two years in a row, according to the SF Business Times.

Prior to co-founding Eventbrite with her husband, Kevin Hartz, Julia enjoyed a career in Television Development at MTV Networks and FX Networks. She was fortunate enough to be a part of acclaimed shows such as Jackass, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Rescue Me, and Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days.

Julia graduated from Pepperdine University with a B.A. in Telecommunications. She has served on the board of The Village Well, a non-profit organization that supports slow parenting, and has been active in The Full Circle Fund.

Julia has participated in several keynotes and panels to discuss ticketing, social commerce, and entrepreneurship including 2011 SF MusicTech, 2010 SXSW, 2011 Women in Business Conference, 2010 Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference, and 2010 Women 2.0 Founders Lab and Pitch Night.

Julia lives in San Francisco with her handsome husband, adorable daughters, and a pretend dog.

Rick Marini, Founder and CEO of BranchOut
Rick Marini has been a pioneer in online social media for more than 10 years. Rick is the Founder & CEO of BranchOut, the largest professional network on Facebook, with millions of users. On BranchOut, users leverage their Facebook friend network to find jobs, source sales leads, recruit talent, and strengthen relationships with professional contacts. BranchOut also operates the largest job board on Facebook with more than 3 million jobs and 200,000 internships.

Before starting BranchOut, Rick was the Founder & CEO of SuperFan, a social entertainment site that produced Facebook apps and social games. Clients included world-class companies including CBS, MTV, Sony, Universal Music, and Warner Music.

Prior to SuperFan, Rick was the Co-Founder, CFO & Chief Strategist for Tickle.com, one of the largest social media sites on the Internet. Tickle was the first site to successfully leverage viral marketing through personality tests, photo-sharing and matchmaking products. Under Rick’s leadership, Tickle operated as a profitable company with close to $40 million of annual revenue. In 2002, Tickle won the “Rising Star” Webby Award as the fastest growing site on the Web. It becoming one of the top 20 sites online with more than 200 million registered users. In 2004, Monster Worldwide acquired Tickled for more than $100 million.

Rick is the National Co-Chair of Technology for Obama. He advises numerous companies and organizations, including Dreamworks, HR.com, Fwix, Lumos Labs, Wavii, UrbanTag, Founder’s Den, Stipple, FIGHTER, and Friendster (acquired by MOL). Rick is an angel investor in Wavii, Stipple and UrbanTag.

Rick graduated from University of New Hampshire, and received an MBA from Harvard. He is regularly featured in the media as a thought leader on social media, entrepreneurship, and the future of the Internet.

Susan Gregg Koger, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of ModCloth
Susan Gregg Koger is the Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of ModCloth, an online retailer selling
independent designer fashion and decor with a highly engaged following of millions of female shoppers.

Susan started ModCloth when she was just 17, taking her love of thrifting to start an online business. ModCloth was operated out of dorm rooms and basements for four years, and after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006, Susan and husband/co-founder Eric Koger, made the decision to expand and sell vintage-inspired clothing from talented indie designers all over the world.

Today ModCloth has grown into a thriving business of over 270 employees, and the company has gained attention for its dedication to customer engagement on the site, as well as for being a vanguard in the social media sphere. Their goal is to democratize fashion and build a social shopping community that empowers both independent designers and customers.

Susan was recognized by Inc. Magazine as the "#2 Top Entrepreneur under 30 ” and named to BusinessWeek’s 2010 list of the “Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs.” She was also named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs List in 2010, Forbes' '30 Under 30 in Technology' List, and she was named a White House Champion of Change in 2011. Susan is living her dream and now she has made it her mission to build a community that allows her customers to do the same.

Christian Wiklund, CoFounder of Skout

Christian Wiklund is the co-founder of SKOUT.COM, the leading
location-based application for meeting new people. The free app
connects like-minded singles to one another in real time based on
proximity. Skout evolved out of what Christian perceived as a lack of means for connecting the real world with the virtual world.

Growing up in a small town in Sweden, Christian attended school in Gothenburg where he studied Computer Science and Engineering Mathematics, and subsequently got a BA in Business. In 2005, Christian relocated to Palo Alto, California where he began his professional career working with enterprise virtualization products for VMware.

Since launching Skout in 2007, the 31-year-old co-founder has witnessed the location-based landscape evolve to epic proportions. Today, Skout boasts over 10 million users around the world and five million in the U.S alone. As pioneers of this social scene, the San Francisco-based company is expanding rapidly and Christian intends to keep pushing the boundaries of what online dating can become. Skout has been featured on ABC World News, Good Morning America, CNN, the New York Times, and the CNBC documentary currently airing, Love at First Byte.

Christian spends his spare time hanging out with his wife and two small children and pursuing hobbies including surfing and snowboarding.

Special Thanks to our Partners, Premier :

Premier is a trusted advisor and true strategic partner in all aspects of job placement in the Bay Area.  We bring a wealth of knowledge and success in placing candidates into positions from entry to the C-level, direct hire and temporary staffing.  It is Premier’s highly accomplished team that has helped establish our recognition as one of the top staffing firms in the Bay Area. We provide consistent quality results with each and every placement.

It is our passion for search and career placement that really sets us apart.  As born leaders and entrepreneurs, it is the opportunity to work with companies like yours to build Premier’s reputation that has been our greatest reward.  Our teams of Directors have guided Premier to its recognition as one of the top consulting firms in the Bay Area, receiving many honors including: Inc 5000 Best Companies, Bay Area’s Top 100 Woman Owned Companies, Bay Area’s Top 100 Fasted Growing Companies, Bay Area’s Top 100 Privately-Hel Companies and Top 25 Largest Staffing Firms in the Bay Area. 

Special Thanks to Our Event Sponsors, BranchOut:

 BranchOut is the largest professional network on Facebook, with 10 millions users in 60 counteries and 15 languages. BranchOut users leverage their Facebook friend network to find jobs, recruit talent, source sales leads, and strengthen relationships with professional contacts. BranchOut is the largest job board on Facebook with over 3 million jobs and 20,000 internships.