Nicole Casanova

CEO and Connection Catalyst

Nicole Casanova’s 1995 Masters was on Targeted Marketing on the Web and she was an early founder in three San Francisco startups, Homestore (Move.com), Lycos and Mypoints. All went public. All are still in business. From employee number three to a team of 2000+, overselling a $350k quota by $6.5 mil and negotiating one licensing deal that surpassed a decade’s worth of total revenue, she’s seen rapid growth first hand.

Intrigued with behavior change, she created Shift, a game that shows people why they do what they do. It was sold in hundreds of stores, used in psychology practices, offered in workshops and as an online game with multi-player video chat. And, after working with clients from HP and Coca-Cola to Stephen Covey, she knows the best ways to change behaviors and make them stick - critical for developing the rock star entrepreneurial mindset.

She is a startup junkie that loves working with Digital, Tech, Media, LOHAS, socially conscious and women-led companies to uncover and execute on the lever points that will catapult them to success. Whether it’s strategic monetization, messaging or partnerships, Nicole gives them the tools to create massive traction and drive serious revenue. An all out advocate for serving rather than selling, she believes that when we cultivate great relationships we develop the best businesses.

Carrie Silver-Stock

COO and Magic Maker

Carrie Silver-Stock, MSW, LCSW, is an award winning author and founder of Girls With Dreams.com, a site where girls empower one another to build their best lives and make a positive impact in the world.   As an advocate for women, girls, and entrepreneurs, she has served in many roles including adjunct faculty, radio show host, speaker and contributor.  Carrie is currently working on many world changing projects including Casanova Ventures, Empowering a Billion Women 2020 (EBW2020) and Worldblu.  Carrie is a founding member of the Billionaire Girls Club, a group igniting women to create billions in impact for global good.  Carrie has appeared on numerous media outlets including NBC, FOX, CBS.  Her most recent book is called Secrets Girls Keep:  What Girls Hide and Why and How to Break the Stress of Silence. Carrie lives in St. Louis with her husband, two boys, and her dog Mojo.

Majid Abai

Chief Sherpa

For the past 30 years, Mr. Abai has successfully founded and led several public and private US and global organizations. His focus on cutting edge technologies – including Big Data, mobile enterprise, SaaS, cloud computing, Internet/Social Marketing & Robotics, – and their effective use within organizations have delivered measured results to his companies and his clients. Mr. Abai coauthored the book Data Strategy, has published many articles, and was an adjunct professor of Computer Science at UCLA for nine years. Majid is frequently invited to provide lectures at national and international conferences. Mr. Abai holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science with a minor in Management.

A bit more from Nicole and her why... 

My personal mission is to support 1 Billion people in empowering themselves. Empowering themselves! Done for you doesn't work when it's your belief system 

Success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. The businesses and people that build authentic connections based on collaboration, reciprocity and giving succeed most. For real, research shows it*.

For companies that want to drive revenue, build awareness, or gain traction, their success depends on the value of their relationships. And, if you want to monetize your business quickly, it's all about utilizing the tools that are going to get you impact with ease and grace. 

There's a way to meet and partner with that perfect person or piece of your puzzle that gets your ideas into form, your products to market and your pockets fat. 

There's a way to make money and making friendships that flourish tops the list.

From this point on, I gotta use the I...

My background is online marketing and advertising so I'm often in a role where I'm helping companies (I thrive on start-ups and working with entrepreneurs- usually in online media, tech, LOHAS, and socially-conscious-kick-ass-change-the-world companies) define their brand and drive awareness and dollars. I also have more than a decade in personal and corporate development so I've seen the best ways to change beliefs and behaviors and make them stick.

Back in the day...

Did my Masters Thesis on Targeted Marketing on the Web - in 1995.

Worked for three start-ups in San Francisco that all went public and are actually still in business:

1. Homestore/Realtor.com/Move.com - employee 3 of what became thousands. Took them from 10k visits to 10 million registered users in less than a year

2. Lycos - Top Sales West Coast a few times

3. Mypoints - Oversold my $350k quota by $6.5 million

Let's just say I enjoyed the boom.

Then I got really interested in why people do what they do...

I am incredibly intrigued by what drives people and how to make their behavior change stick. So I created Shift, a physical and online game that shows people why they do what they do.

It was sold in over 300 stores like Whole Foods, Borders and even Deepak Chopra's Wellness Centers and included content from tons of big thinkers from Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle to the cool dead guys like Lao Tzu and Gandhi. We did corporate workshops, held a teacher training and hosted tons of Shift Circles.

The online version even had multi-person video chat so you could call people on their Shi(f)t across oceans.

Yeah, so I guess you could say I'm a game developer. More importantly, I can get anyone anywhere to see what's driving their behavior and keeping them from their full potential in an hour.

And learned how the big guys and best culture companies had something in common... 

I worked in corporate development with a content agnostic SaaS provider that allowed people to apply what they learned in training back in the workplace. Pretty cool since these organizations spend billions and less than 10% of what employees learn actually gets applied.  75% saw their goals to fruition in 3 months.

Lucky me, I got to see what the largest companies like HP and Coca-Cola did to grow their leadership. I saw what Stephen Covey and David Allen do to get people to utilize their concepts and I got to see what companies such as Zappos did to make the best ever corporate cultures.

And always came back to the same thing, I am a startup junkie...

I love vaporware and being involved in the next big thing. I sold online and mobile HD video and live-streaming to sites when they were adamant that no one would watch anything that wasn't on a TV.  

I've spent time in organics (working early on with the first online, non-gmo, organic grocer) and can have a pretty engaged conversation around food banks, healthy eating, school lunches, and best practices when it comes to making kale smoothies. 

I love impact investing and social entrepreneurs and the amazing projects they put their passion into. I make it my business to meet any and every organization you can think of that's putting change to work.  

My parents wish I'd go to work selling Sprite or anything that didn't have to be explained. Yet, being on the inside of at least 10 startups, with a 40% shining star rate means that all the high growth, risk, failure and skyrocketing success has taught me a thing or two.

What else?

I truly believe that when we serve rather than sell, we cultivate good relationships and great business.

- N

*Wharton's top rated professor, Adam Grant, writes about giving as the revolutionary approach to success in his book, "Give and Take".