the original linkedin post went a little crazy and there were so many excellent names suggested in the comments. I’ve updated my original list and added them here.

Let’s get more connected in San Diego together!

p.s. all names are linked to their profiles

If I was new to San Diego and wanted to get more connected in the startup and entrepreneurship scene, these would be the people I would follow first:

🐺 Hussein Yahfoufi - North County, Startup Beach

🐺 Neal Bloom - Investor, Community Builder, Hiker, Interlock Capital

🐺 Mike Krenn - Connect, Venture Guy, Padres Fan

🐺 Silvia Mah PhD, MBA - Investor, Impact & Investing through Action, Stella Foundation

🐺 Fred Grier - Business Journalist, Realestate, Tech, Life Science & VC Firms, Business San Diego

🐺 Chad Lohrli - AI Community Builder, SDx

🐺 Cheryl K Goodman - AI, Author, Startup San Diego, Has a robot coyote

🐺 Ryan Kuder - Techstars San Diego, Startup Advocate, Huge Fathers Fan

🐺 Misti Cain - Techstars Anywhere, San Diego Superfan

🐺 Stephen Fay - Plug and Play Tech Center San Diego, Welcome

🐺 Ashok Kamal - NuFund Venture Group, Retired San Diego Rapper

🐺 Eric Otterson - SVB, Investor, San Diego Super Fan

🐺 Felena Hanson - Supporting Female Entrepreneurs through Education Hera Hub

🐺 Alex Waters - Builder of Economic Empowerment Programs, Overall good dude.

🐺 Julius Alejandro, M.S. - Non Profits, Business, Village Up San Diego

🐺 Faisal Mushtaq - TechCon SoCal, SF Transplant

🐺 Andy White - AI leader, Investro, Keshif Ventures

🐺 Hem Suri - Founder of Spark Growth Ventures
...
…

Added by the community, and I tend to agree!

🐺 Nick Mourlas & Natalija Van Braeckel Budimir, PhD - JLABS (Johnson & Johnson)

🐺 Michael G. B. - The Port of San Diego

🐺 Jason Giffen & Paula Sylvia - Blue Tech Incubator at The Port of San Diego

🐺 Shane Moise & Paul Roben - Design and Innovation at UCSD

🐺 Laura Buffard - AVP of Innovation at SDSU

🐺 Mark Castellano & Haydar Majeed - Engineering and Cyber at USD

🐺 Eduardo Velasquez - San Diego Regional EDC

🐺 Lolita Taub - North County SD with huge global reach & impact

🐺 Taryell Simmons - diversity leadership - Village Up San Diego

🐺 MyPhuong Le, PhD & Leah Villegas, PhD, MBA - East County & life science champions at Aquillius

🐺 Cathy Pucher - SDSU Innovation & entrepreneurship + SDAC - she knows everyone

🐺 Caitlin Wege - HUGE leader of leaders (Silvia quote) - NuFund Venture Group

🐺 Regina Bernal, M.A. - has loved & been part of the SD ecosystem forever

🐺 Oralia Alvarez - A financial hippie⚖ - passionate champion of diverse startups and investors

🐺 Mysty Rusk - phenomenal human building the SD investor ecosystem

🐺 Kanani Breckenridge - Headhuntress, Notabelles, Tech & Executive Recruitment

🐺 Greg Horowitt - UCSD, investor & advisor

🐺 Claude Jones - Founder of San Diego Tech Hub

🐺 David Loseke - Startup Ecosystem Enthusiast, Strategist

🐺 Amy Duncan - Startups, Life Science, and Angel Investing


more to come?

Last note:

Next step, organize into useful groups. Maybe even leaders in different sectors. The idea for now is that these folks move the needle in San Diego and should be on your radar.

Now get out of your cave and get a little more connected!

Howl yeah,

Jonah, The Howl Guy