A spin off of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list—which identifies 50 innovative companies every year—the Disruptor 50 Roadshow will bring together Disruptor 50 company founders, leaders and investors to discuss the challenges and opportunities available to entrepreneurs who are looking to accelerate their businesses, and share actionable insights that can help you take your small business to the next level.
Who Should Attend: Entrepreneurs, small-business owners, start-ups and VCs who want to:
Philadelphia-native Jennifer Carroll is the executive chef and partner at Spice Finch, a modern Mediterranean restaurant and bar located in the Rittenhouse neighborhood at 220 S 17th St. She is also the owner and executive chef of Carroll Couture Cuisine, a catering and consulting company that has traveled worldwide to create delicious experiences for almost a decade.
After attending Philadelphia’s Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in 1996, Carroll worked at Chef Derek Davis' Sonoma and Arroyo Grill, as well as Neil Stein's Avenue B under Chef Patrick Feury. She then spent time in the kitchens at both Julia and Café Kati, under chefs Julia McClaskey and Kirk Webber in San Francisco as sous chef. Shortly after, Carroll moved to New York City in 2003 and began training under three Michelin star chef Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin, where she worked for 9 years. During that time, she was tapped by Ripert to become the chef de cuisine at his 10 Arts restaurant.
In 2014, she began working with chef Marcus Samuelsson at the Red Rooster in Harlem and launched his Bermuda Samuelsson at Hamilton Princess. In September 2015 Carroll and her fiancé, chef Billy Riddle, moved to the nation’s capital, where she designed and built French-Mediterranean restaurant Requin.
Most recently, Carroll returned to Philly to fulfill her long-time dream of planting culinary roots in the town she has always called home. In July 2018, she and Riddle opened Spice Finch together where they showcase dishes inspired by the herbs and spices of the nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
Kevin O’Leary was born in Montreal, Canada on July 9th, 1954. As the son of a United Nations ILO official, he had the opportunity to live and be educated in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Ethiopia, France and Switzerland.
Kevin attended the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada where in 1977 he received an Honors bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and Psychology. He attended the University of Western Ontario where he received his MBA in 1980.
After working briefly as an assistant product manager at Nabisco Brands, he left to pursue a career in television production and became a founding partner in Special Event Television, an independent production company that produced original sports programming such as “The Original Six”, “Don Cherry’s Grapevine” and “Bobby Orr and the Hockey Legends”.
Kevin co-founded SoftKey Software Products in Toronto, Canada in 1986. SoftKey was the first software company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. SoftKey grew quickly as the price of personal computers declined and millions of North American families began to buy software for family education and entertainment.
In January of 1994, SoftKey became a catalyst of consolidation in the software industry, raising over $ 1 billion in a series of debt and equity financings and completing the first trans-border three-way pooling, merging with Spinnaker Software and WordStar International. As a result of this merger the company moved its headquarters to Boston, Massachusetts. In late 1995, SoftKey acquired Compton’s New Media and The Learning Company. In early 1996, SoftKey completed the acquisition of the Minnesota Educational Computer Company. In late 1997 and early 1998, the company acquired three more of its competitors, Creative Wonders, Mindscape and Broderbund making SoftKey the world leader in the development of educational, reference and home productivity software and the world’s second largest consumer software company with annual sales over $800 million, two thousand employees and subsidiaries in 15 countries. In 1996 SoftKey changed its name to The Learning Company. In early May 1999, The Mattel Toy Company acquired The Learning Company for $4.2 billion.
In 2003 he became co-investor and a director in Storage Now, a leading developer of climate-controlled storage facilities. Through a series of development projects and acquisitions, Storage Now became one of Canada’s largest owner/operator of storage services with facilities located in eleven cities serving such companies as Merck and Pfizer when it was acquired by the In Storage REIT in March 2007 for $110 million.
In July of 2007 Kevin became a founding investor and Director of Stream Global Services Inc., focused on the growing outsourcing business services market.
Kevin O’Leary is the Chairman of O’Leary Funds the Manager of the publically traded family of O’Leary Global Equity and Income Funds. He also serves on the board of The Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He is a member of Boston’s 107 year old Hamilton Trust. Kevin O’Leary is a contributing columnist to CTV, BNN and the Bell Media Radio Network. He is a contributor to CNBC, ABC News and Good Morning America and an entrepreneur/investor co-host for the Discovery Channels Project Earth series that explores innovative ways man could reverse global warming implementing large scale geo-engineering infrastructure projects. He is also an investor/host of ABC Television’s Emmy Award winning venture capital reality program “Shark Tank” produced my Mark Burnet/Sony/ABC.
Kevin O’Leary is an active photographer, guitarist and author of three number #1 best selling books “Cold Hard Truth”, “Men, Women and Money” and “Family Kids and Money”.
Renowned internet entrepreneur Michael Rubin is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Fanatics, the global leader for licensed sports merchandise which is changing the way fans purchase their favorite team apparel through an innovative, tech-infused approach to designing, making and selling fan gear. As founder/CEO of Kynetic, he also owns two other businesses at the forefront of online commerce that enhance the way we shop in today’s on-demand culture: the Rue Gilt Groupe, owner of two of the top online private sale destinations in the U.S., and ShopRunner, a members-only service aggregating shopping benefits from top retailers and brands.
At a time when the retail industry is seeing massive upheaval, Rubin has envisioned a new model for commerce – Vertical Commerce. This V-Commerce approach allows for incredible speed-to-market of fan gear, benefitting leagues, teams and retailers looking to serve the insatiable real-time appetite of fans worldwide, fueled by explosive growth in technology, mobile and social media.
Rubin has always been on the cutting edge of commerce. Prior to creating Kynetic, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GSI Commerce, a network of e-commerce, multichannel and digital marketing businesses. In a span of 12 years, Rubin built GSI to service 150 of the top 500 internet retailers before selling the company to eBay for $2.4 billion. He started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12, when he opened a ski-tuning shop in his parents’ Philadelphia basement. At age 25, Rubin became one of the youngest CEOs ever of a NASDAQ-listed company.
Named annually as one of the most influential people in sports business, Rubin is also co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
Maureen Sullivan serves as COO of Rent the Runway, where she drives growth and delivery of customer experience across all areas of the business. In her role as COO, she oversees numerous functions across the company including brand, marketing, product marketing, communications, design, creative and UX, as well as brand partnerships, fashion, merchandising and production. She also oversees the Customer Experience function -- including the RTR store experiences. In her charter as COO, Maureen helps drives cross-functional teams to deliver world-class experiences for RTR customers and reach financial objectives to fuel future growth. Previously, Maureen worked at AOL as President of AOL.com and Lifestyle Brands, where she led all elements of the AOL.com experience including programming, product, and engineering, as well as overseeing strategy, partnerships, and operations. Prior to this role, she was Senior Vice President of Brand, Marketing and Communications at AOL, a role in which she managed brand development and led the global re-branding of AOL. She managed consumer marketing and media investments, as well as public relations, internal communications, and company-wide CSR initiatives. Prior to that, Maureen was Chief of Staff at Google to the Global President of Advertising & Commerce. She serves on the board of the nonprofit Network for Good. Maureen graduated from Stanford University and lives in New York City with her husband and 3 children.
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Philadelphia native Michael Rubin disrupted the market for official sports team apparel. Fanatics, the company he created just 7 years ago, pulls in more than $2 billion in annual sales, turning celebratory sports moments into real-time global merchandising opportunities. His playbook emphasizes an agile supply chain and on-demand manufacturing. Rubin is also one of the front-office leaders responsible for the resurgence of the Philadelphia 76ers – an inspiring sports business turnaround story. He’ll talk about all that and more with CNBC’s own Philly fanatic, Jim Cramer.
Michael Rubin, Founder & Executive Chairman, Fanatics*; Co-Owner, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils
Moderator: Jim Cramer, Host, “Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer;” Co-Anchor, “Squawk on the Street,” CNBC
The e-commerce free market is alive and well. Retail startups continue to disrupt the old guard. Some go narrow and deep, building passionate digital communities where commerce thrives. Others find pricing inefficiencies in a market,exploit them on behalf of consumers and pass along the savings at scale. Whatever the model: the more successful the firm; the faster the growth; the more likely the team will find itself – at some point – looking in the rear-view mirror for a guy in Seattle named Jeff Bezos. CNBC Disruptor 50 company Rent the Runway and Philadelphia-born RevZilla have each uniquely found a place in the hearts of a healthy following of customers who’ve remained loyal as they’ve built formidable brands. Any entrepreneur, current, aspiring or even recovering, will learn much from these journeys.
Anthony Bucci, Founder & Former CEO, RevZilla.com
Maureen Sullivan, COO, Rent the Runway*
Moderator: Julia Boorstin, Senior Media & Entertainment Correspondent, CNBC
Is your cheesesteak getting cheaper? If not, you may want to ask “why not?” Sales of wholesale processed cheese are set to decline for the fourth straight year in 2018, and prices are falling with the drop in demand. It’s another slice of evidence that consumers continue to raise the bar for manufacturers when it comes to what’s in their food and where it comes from. In particular, people (and not just millennials) are demanding local, organic, and sustainable food, and many are willing to pay more to get it. All of this makes for a hearty opportunity for venture capitalists and big food companies investing in startups that make food grow easier, last longer, and taste better. A disruptive farmer and one of Philly’s top chefs share how listening to your customers can have delicious results.
David Perry, CEO, Indigo Agriculture*
Jennifer Carroll, Co-Executive Chef and Partner, Spice Finch
Moderator: Kate Rogers, Reporter, CNBC
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Earlier this year, Duolingo put up a simple billboard along Highway 101 in San Francisco. “Own a home. Work in tech,” it said, and then “Move to Pittsburgh.” The appeal seems to have worked, and about 85% of Duolingo’s workforce moved to Pittsburgh came from somewhere else, many from Silicon Valley (including our guest, Head of Product Jorge Mazal). So, what can Philadelphia startups do to make similar appeals for high-quality employees? What about keeping some of the half-million talented local undergrads from heading west after graduation? We look for ways Philadelphia can compete.
Jorge Mazal, Vice President of Product, Duolingo*
Donna de Carolis, Dean, Drexel University Close School of Entrepreneurship; CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council Member
David Hall, Partner, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund
Moderator: Julia Boorstin, Senior Media & Entertainment Correspondent, CNBC
Entrepreneurship is not about the pursuit of wealth or money. It’s the pursuit of personal freedom,” says Kevin O’Leary, the prototypical entrepreneur who, from the middle seat on “Shark Tank,” has helped dozens of startups in their pursuit of their own personal freedom. He also relishes the opportunity to share his wisdom with his fellow entrepreneurs, looking for advice on how to maximize their time and effort, and he’s come to Philadelphia to do just that.
Kevin O’Leary, Chairman, O’Shares Investments
Moderator: Tyler Mathisen, Co-Anchor, “Power Lunch,” CNBC
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Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs is a collaborative learning environment where startups serious about developing the next generation of media, entertainment and connectivity innovations connect with Comcast NBCUniversal product teams. Founder-focused, LIFT Labs features events and education, an accelerator run in partnership with Techstars, and engagements between company innovators and startups ready to scale.
Beginning as the first ever private jet charter and management company, NetJets has led the industry for 50+ years. Then in 1986, they revolutionized it with the concept of shared ownership and proceeded to build the largest, most diverse private jet fleet in the world. Today, backed by Berkshire Hathaway, NetJets offers a full range of personalized solutions to meet—and exceed—the incredible needs and high standards of the world’s most notable travelers.