Giacomo Balli Innovation Consultant

Startup and Fortune 500 experience in business development, legal and executive functions. Innovative, proactive, driven executive with strong business and legal background and a talent for identifying opportunities to increase growth and development. Strong leader, visionary strategist, and adept negotiator with significant experience in the sports, entertainment, online media areas and the technology sector, specifically travel, subscription and B-to-B-based services

I have a passion for technology & working on projects that add value to our world. Self-employed most of my career which enabled me to work with many CEO's & tech teams helping to find product market fit & grow a company from scratch both in the U.S. and internationally. Started in tech in 2005 working on local search & marketing. Worked on numerous local projects & founded a print publication (Webirectory) to promote local websites. Eventually, I moved to Silicon Valley working for Zvents (acquired by StubHub) as the Director of Local Sales & Advertising. Companies I’ve worked with have been venture backed by: Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, Shasta Ventures, SoftTech VC, AT&T, NAVTEQ, Nokia Growth Partners, Red Rock Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, The Entrepreneurs’ Fund III, Innogest Capital, TLcom... Three years ago I shifted my focus to mobile technology working with: Appbackr (Winner PayPal X) we created the worlds' first wholesale marketplace for mobile developers & Xchange for Android distribution. Worked w/ thousands of publishers helping to crowdfund millions of dollars & w/ Paramount Pictures to get mobile IP for: Naked Gun, Old School & The Untouchables. Most recently worked with Beintoo (Winner LeWeb 11') creating a true loyalty program for app users. Helped team scale to over 150 million reachable users and raised $7 million in series A capital. I'm Co-Host at SF New Tech - San Francisco's Largest, Longest Running and Most Loved Tech Event. Featured in NYT, WSJ, Forbes.... 10,000+ members and some of the best networking on the planet. 400+ companies have demo'd and still growing strong.

Business Leader in the Internet and Digital Media Business with proven history of structuring and operating smooth, profitable products/brands in the digital space in a local and global context for more than 15 years (Telco, Online Content and Services, Digital Products). Co-founder of several internet based startups where I coordinates strategy and operations.