Nait Jones is Head of Growth at Royal. He has a 20-year background in go-to-market strategy with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, startups, consumer internet, and entertainment-driven business (music, gaming, movies). A student of culture and how it impacts brands and consumers from having grown up all over the world and from taking a less traditional path out of hardship into leadership. He now mentors startup executives and shares cultural and leadership insights with brand and digital executives who manage the worlds most recognizable consumer brands.

Dr. Paul Judge has cofounded three companies that were acquired and has invested in over 30 companies. He is Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Pindrop. Previously Paul was cofounder of TechSquare Labs. Paul was also Co-Founder of Purewire, a web security company, that was acquired by Barracuda in 2008. Paul served as Chief Research Officer at Barracuda through its IPO in 2013. Prior to this, Paul was CTO of CipherTrust, a leader in email security, that was acquired by Secure Computing in 2006. Paul is the lead inventor of over 30 patents and has received many awards including being named to the Fortune’s Top 40 Under 40 List.

Since founding BIP Capital in 2006, Mark has built what is now Panoramic into the region’s most active Venture Capital firm and one of the most recognized brands in venture capital outside of Silicon Valley.

Mark has led investment rounds in more than 80 companies in numerous industries (Healthcare, Digital Media, Ed Tech, Enterprise SaaS, FinTech and Advanced Computing).

Mark graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology (where he lettered as a varsity baseball player) and received an MBA from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs. He’s the founder of Capital Factory, a startup community that helps entrepreneurs find investors, customers and employees. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, an Eisenhower Fellow, and a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty.

Mellie Price is an experienced startup executive, venture fund manager, angel investor, and philanthropist. An eight-time entrepreneur herself with several successful exits under her belt, Mellie is a widely respected educator, thought leader, and public speaker on all things entrepreneurship.

Mellie is Founder and General Partner at Purposeful Capital, a Partner at Notley, Program Director for Texas Venture Labs and the M.S. Technology Commercialization program at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, founder of Purposeful Capital, a Senior Advisor at Ecliptic Capital, and a current member of the Board of Directors for PBS Austin (KLRU-TV), Leadership Austin, Notley Impact, BEAM, Medical Informatics Corporation, and Victory Fund. She has also been honored with the prestigious Profiles in Power (2015) and Tech Titan (2014) awards and served on the Austin Mayor’s Technology Advisory Committee.

Mellie holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College of Natural Sciences and a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business both at the University of Texas at Austin.