On October 19th, Startup Grind Shenzhen will be hosting our very own “Ask Me Anything” event! Our special guest speaker will be Steve Hoffman, Chairman and CEO of Founders Space, one of the most well-known startup accelerators and mentorship communities in the U.S. He is also the author of the award-winning book, “Make Elephants Fly”, an essential guide for innovators and entrepreneurs. Steve will be joining us to answer all of YOUR questions about entrepreneurship, career development, personal growth and future technologies.
The “Ask Me Anything” concept first originated on the American social news site Reddit. Thanks to its bold, flexible, and open nature, the phenomenon quickly expanded from online chat groups to offline live events. Top leaders like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and former US President Barack Obama have all participated in or held their own "Ask Me Anything (AMA)" events.
Founders Space
Steve Hoffman (a.k.a. Captain Hoff) is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and the Captain and Chairman of Founders Space. He has trained and educated hundreds of startup founders around the world. Founders Space is ranked a Top 10 Incubator in Inc. Magazine and the #1 accelerator for startups coming to Silicon Valley from overseas in Forbes Magazine.
In Silicon Valley, Steven Hoffman is known as Captain Hoff. He’s the Captain and Chairman of Founders Space, where he has educated and trained hundreds of startup founders and corporate executives in the art of innovation.
Founders Space was ranked a Top 10 Incubator in Inc. Magazine and the #1 Accelerator for startups coming to Silicon Valley from overseas in Forbes Magazine.
Always innovating on his life, Hoffman has tried more professions than cats have lives, including serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, mobile studio head, computer engineer, filmmaker, Hollywood TV exec, published author, coder, game designer, manga rewriter, animator and voice actor.
As a boy Hoffman dreamed of making movies and games. He created over 50 short films and 80 games before graduating high school. Pursuing his passions, he earned a BS in Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara and a Masters in Cinema Television from USC.
His first job in Hollywood was reading TV scripts, but he quickly rose to development executive. Moving to Japan, he went on to work at Sega, where his group collaborated with Hollywood on interactive movies and games.
Upon returning to Silicon Valley, Hoffman founded LavaMind, which produced dozens of online and mobile games, as well as designed digital products for Disney, Qualcomm, Intel, MetLife and Sesame Workshop.
Hoffman launched Spiderdance, his second startup, producing interactive TV shows for MTV, NBC, Warner Brothers, TBS, Sony and A&E. At the same time, Hoffman helped found the Academy of Television’s Interactive Media Group and the Producers Guild New Media Council.
After writing a book on game design, Hoffman joined Infospace, as their North American Studio Head, where he ran US mobile games. Hoffman then cofounded three venture funded startups focused on media, games and entertainment.
Today, Hoffman heads Founders Space and works with entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and investors in 22 countries to create innovations that rock the world!
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