Roger Rappoport is a partner with the law firm of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch, splitting his time between the firm’s San Diego and Silicon Valley offices, and leader of the Emerging Growth & Technology practice group within the firm.  Roger has extensive experience counseling start-up and emerging growth companies in the information technology, telecommunications, life sciences and cleantech industries. He also represents high net worth individuals, angel and venture capital investors who focus on investing in companies in these industries. His practice includes corporate formation and entity selection, corporate governance, assisting clients with the development of a funding strategy (and the alternatives available to entrepreneurs); venture capital and other private equity financings, convertible note and other debt financing arrangements and mergers and acquisitions. Roger is a frequent speaker and panelist in San Diego and Silicon Valley on topics and issues related to the development and implementation of a company's funding strategy, positioning a company to maximize its pre-money valuation, the art and benefits of selecting and partnering with the right investors, and effectively negotiating the terms of a debt or financing transaction.

 Brant Cooper helps startups get started, and is the author of the popular Lean Startup book. As a Lean Startup thought leader, he travels the world speaking to entrepreneurs at conferences, hackathons and workshops. Recent speaking events include the Kuala Lumpur Venture Capital Symposium, Lean Startup conferences in Vancouver and Michigan, the Forward Technology Conference in Wisconsin, the Lean Startup Challenge in Boston, and Lean Startup Machines in London, New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. Brant also consults for and advises startups on Lean Startups and Customer Development. Clients include Qualcomm, MOGL, HubKick, MotherKnows, i.TV, Lean Startup Machine, Discovr and many others. Brant Cooper is passionate about growing the San Diego tech community. He runs the San Diego Tech Founders monthly meetup that consistently draws between 100 and 200 startup people. Speakers have included Eric Ries, Steve Blank, KISSmetrics CEO Hiten Shah, CatchFree CEO Sean Ellis and Venture Capitalist Mark Suster. He is the curator for the San Diego edition of the Startup Digest. Brant mentored at CONNECT for four years and holds open office hours at a weekly coffee meetup that draws 10-20 people a week. Prior to becoming involved in the Lean Startup community, Brant was involved with startups in a more traditional way. He has over 20 years experience in IT and a long track record of bringing high tech products to market. As a leader in Professional Services, Product Management and Marketing, he has directed strategy, design, marketing and implementation of numerous products for a variety of startups including Tumbleweed, Timestamp, WildPackets, Incode and InfoBright.

 Johnny Chan is CEO of eBoost Consulting, a San Diego-based digital marketing consulting firm. Johnny has guided the transformational initiatives for some of San Diego’s fastest growing companies and some of the web’s most ambitious social media projects and online communities, including Jedidiah, RealAge, and Michael Jordan Steaks. His portfolio of work builds on his years of strategic formulation and implementation for hyper-growth companies.  At age 22, Johnny received his certification by Thunderbird School of Global Management in Leading and Managing in Turbulent Times and Global Negotiation. Johnny has a history of leadership in envisioning marketing’s change as the transformational engine of business strategy. He was a proud team member and specialist in marketing for Whole Foods Market, a function that mapped the plan for both industry and market growth. In 2003, he began the first of two stints as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for two Fortune Small Business companies. In both companies, Johnny initiated, created, and guided the implementation of market coverage strategies that spawned profitable business growth including initiatives such as the successful launch of eight verticals in 18 months and a 5x increase in business valuation in less than one year.  Johnny is recognized as the first mover of social media marketing in San Diego and regularly speaks on that topic, along with other marketing and management topics, at industry and academic institutions like iMarketers, San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Rady School of Management at UCSD, and San Diego State University.