For over 25 years, Gerry Hays has been working at the crossroads of entrepreneurship, education, and innovation — launching and exiting startups, mentoring early-stage founders, and teaching venture strategy and mindset everywhere from Indiana University to classrooms around the world. But Gerry isn’t just another serial founder.
After years of watching the capital markets become more exclusive and less effective, he decided to stop playing defense — and start building alternatives. He’s the founder of Doriot (Dor-ee-o), where he’s pioneering VentureStaking™ — a patent-pending, community-powered model for startup investing that flips the traditional system. He also created Fantasy Startup®, a gamified investing platform as addictive as fantasy sports, and QAI, a first-of-its-kind certification that offers a practical on-ramp to accredited investor status for the everyday person.
Gerry talks fast, thinks bold, and doesn’t hold back — especially when it comes to equity, access, and the future of investing. If you are interested in disruption, democratizing finance, or what’s really broken in venture capital, Gerry brings a conversation that doesn’t just observe change — he builds it.
James Elliman Founder of Elliman Technologies LLC has been working on computers since he was in 5th grade installing antivirus for his neighbors. In 2019 he launched Elliman Technologies LLC with one goal in mind to simplify IT and more importantly simplify IT for small businesses.
Yaakov Sash is the founder and CEO of Novospir and the former Head of Digital Asset Markets Technology at Credit Suisse. At Novospir, he's pioneering the future of gaming through digital and non-digital game currencies. The company’s flagship release, Stack the Pixels, is a next-generation series of games showcasing breakthrough monetization, social gameplay, and massively multiplayer technology—from one player to millions.
Learn more at www.stackthepixels.com.
Elipaz Tanzman is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cygnostic, a specialized firm in application security. With over nine years in the cybersecurity field, Elipaz has held pivotal roles such as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in the Israeli Navy and Senior Cyber Security Advisor at the Israeli Ministry of Defense. His extensive experience includes managing the cyber defense of submarines and leading offensive cyber initiatives at the Ministry of Defense.
Elipaz’s entrepreneurial journey began with Wake-Up Cyber, a service and consulting company he co-founded and successfully ran for four years before selling his stake a year ago. At Wake-Up Cyber, he established the company as a leader in cyber and information security, providing services to numerous well-known local and global corporations. His focus on integrating deep cybersecurity expertise with business processes set Wake-Up Cyber apart in the industry.
Currently, at Cygnostic, Elipaz specializes in application security, helping organizations seamlessly integrate security into their development processes. His mission is to solve the communication and resource challenges between security and development teams, ensuring that security measures enhance rather than impede innovation. Elipaz is also a dedicated member of the ISO 2700 international committee, contributing to global cybersecurity standards.
