Lisa Tsou is the founder of The Winning Pitch, a private consulting practice which advises startup companies on growth strategy and funding so they can reach the next level. Lisa has been helping technology and new media startups grow their companies and raise money since she graduated from law school in 1997. Since then, she’s spent time on Wall Street working on financings for companies like DoubleClick, The-Knot.com, and Mapquest and done numerous acquisitions of websites like Apartmen-tRatings.com, DoItYourself.com and BBOnline.com. The list of funds and institutions she has worked with includes Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock, Silicon Valley Bank, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, and Hambrecht & Quist, to name just a few. Now, she enjoys spending her time empowering entrepreneurs with the tools to raise the money they need and grow so they can realize their dreams! She guides founders on how to demonstrate the viability of their businesses, intelligence and passion to in-vestors, by developing and refining their structure, content and delivery. Besides working with private clients, Lisa serves as a board member and judge at Women Founders Network (WFN), as well as running the coaching program at WFN. Since 2013, WFN alumnae have raised over $68 million. Lisa also serves as a mentor at Techstars Los Angeles and as a coach to the finalists of Salesforce’s Dreampitch events, preparing finalists to pitch to an all-star panels of investors, including Mark Cuban, Chris Sacca and will.i.am. Lisa also speaks regularly on issues related to startups, tech and women in business. She has been a featured speaker at events including The West Hollywood Women’s Leadership Conference, The SoGal Summit, The USC Graduate Women in Business Summit, and Bruin Entrepreneurs, and has been featured in The Huffington Post, CNBC, Business Rockstars, Women 2.0, The Standing Out podcast, GenHERation and StartupNation. Lisa is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, received her MBA from the Marshall School of Business at USC with Beta Gamma Sigma honors, and is a mem-ber of both the New York State and California bars.
Bardia has significant experience representing companies and financial firms in a broad range of general corporate governance and transactional matters, including venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, debt offerings, spin-offs/divestitures, joint ventures, IPOs, follow-on offerings, and tender offers. He is a trusted advisor and partner, often serving as outside general counsel or lead counsel to his clients. Before joining the firm, Bardia was an attorney at well-known Silicon Valley and Boston-based international law firms. During law school, he worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., as part of the summer honors program. He was also an executive editor of California Business Practice. Prior to attending law school, Bardia worked at a prominent investment bank, where he focused on hedge funds and private equity funds. As an undergraduate, he played ice and roller hockey at UCLA.
Bryant provides tailored, high-touch assistance to venture-backed companies to strategically plan and develop their intellectual property portfolios. As a co-founder of Cognition IP, he brings founder and executive experience to his strategies for IP development and helps startups effectively use IP in the context of their overall business. He previously worked at Covington & Burling LLP, a top-tier firm in Washington, D.C., where he represented Fortune 500 companies in patent matters including AstraZeneca, Hewlett-Packard, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, and Texas Instruments. His work in IP development is backed by his extensive experience in patent litigations with total value over $100M, including multiple trials, many claim construction hearings, and briefing the Federal Circuit. He has also drafted patent licensing contracts worth millions of dollars. Since founding Cognition IP, Bryant has worked with over 150 startups to develop their IP portfolios. He has deep technical experience in all areas of software and hardware, including artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and cloud software. He was a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where his thesis research related to creating large datasets for training AI and received his JD from Harvard Law School. He has previously worked at Microsoft, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
Azad Virk is a shareholder in Stradling's Corporate and Technology Transactions practice groups. Azad's practice focuses on a variety of corporate, commercial and intellectual property transactions, including the formation of startups, equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, intellectual property and technology transactions across multiple industries. His clients include companies in the following industries: High technology, Pharmaceutical, Medical device, and Biotechnology. Azad practiced law in India before relocating to the United States, counseling clients on intellectual property issues and representing a diverse range of clients in intellectual property, corporate and technology-related litigation before various courts and tribunals. Azad was named a "Southern California Rising Star" by Super Lawyers from 2015-2019.
Ike Kavas is the founder and CEO, with 20 years of document capture, document management, workflow and systems engineer experience. His focus is to guide, innovate and expand the company’s mission of turning the world’s unstructured content into actionable data. His previous role was Chief Technology Officer at Ephesoft and he holds a patent on supervised machine learning for document classification and extraction. He achieved the CDIA+ certification and has been involved with hundreds of projects using products from EMC-Captiva, Kofax, Readsoft, TIS, OpenText, Microsoft and Xerox. He is a serial entrepreneur with three ventures and successful exits. He has not only the technical background by implementing several multi-million dollar projects for Fortune 100 companies but also has solid sales/business experience as he has achieved repeated financial and operational goals in his career. Ike earned his BS degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and studied Computer Architecture at Anatolia University.
Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Funded in part through a grant with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
Mike Daniel is the network director of the Orange County Inland Empire SBDC Network, which assists aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners throughout Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Mike was formerly the director of the SBDC office at Long Beach City College. As business owner and entrepreneur himself, he started his career as the owner of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory location in Manhattan Beach and went on to open a second location in Long Beach in 2001. In 2007, Mike sold the Manhattan Beach store for an above-market offer then invested in several additional locations as a minority shareholder. Mike further expanded his candy empire with venture located in Shoreline Village in Long Beach called Sugar Daddies Sweet Shoppe, based on fill-it yourself candy options.
Mike has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fullerton.
