It’s time to meet more of our judge’s panel for HATCH pitch 2015!  We’ll be at SXSW Interactive on March 16th for competition day - less than two weeks away!  Read up on who will be there to judge our talented finalists:

SUMEET JAIN, INTEL CAPITAL

Sumeet Jain is currently the Director at Intel Capital, a venture capital firm from Intel that has been investing in startups of all stages since 1991, with more than $11.4 billion invested in over 1,400 companies worldwide.  Jain’s professional experience ranges from product management to business development to investment banking and his industry expertise spans in technology, software, digital media and marketing services.  Jain has served on the boards of numerous firms including HookLogic, Kaltura, SURGIQUEST and Punchbowl.  He is also an accomplished web developer who has built sites for industry giants as well as small scale startups. We’re very excited to see him among our judge’s panel!

Sumeet Jain is currently the Director at Intel Capital, a venture capital firm from Intel that has been investing in startups of all stages since 1991, with more than $11.4 billion invested in over 1,400 companies worldwide.  Jain’s professional experience ranges from product management to business development to investment banking and his industry expertise spans in technology, software, digital media and marketing services.  Jain has served on the boards of numerous firms including HookLogic, Kaltura, SURGIQUEST and Punchbowl.  He is also an accomplished web developer who has built sites for industry giants as well as small scale startups. We’re very excited to see him among our judge’s panel!

JOEL YARMON, DRAPER ASSOCIATES

Joel Yarmon is a Partner with Draper Associates, a dynamic venture capital firm founded in 1969 specializing in enterprise software and mobile technologies.  With Draper Associates, Yarmon has contributed to more than 40 investments in companies like the video sharing mobile app SocialCam  and Vizify (acquired by Yahoo! in March of last year), which translates social media data into interactive information.  Before his time with Draper Associates, Yarmon served as the Technology Director for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.  HATCH pitch is lucky to have professionals of such a high caliber joining our judges team.

KERRY RUPP, DREAMIT VENTURES

Kerry Rupp is a Partner and former CEO for DreamIt Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on cultivating entrepreneurs well-equipped for success, where she has more than doubled the company’s program capacity.  She has developed partnerships with companies like Comcast, Kaiser Permanente, and Johns Hopkins University.  Rupp is an accomplished writer, with two published books on traveling, and also founded the travel management company Holiday Golightly. Rupp served as VP of business development at Jobster and Classmates.com and was a marketing consultant for companies like Allrecipes and Taleo.  Welcome to HATCH pitch, Kerry Rupp!

RICK PLECZKO, SYMPLR

Rick Pleczko was named President and CEO at VCS Database (now “symplyr”), a healthcare software technology company, in May of 2014.  Pleczko has served in senior executive positions for several technology, marketing, and venture capital firms including companies like NetIQ, Austin Ventures and Idera, a software management company Pleczko founded that went on to win the Houston Fast-Tech 50 award for 9 consecutive years. During his time at Idera he earned a nomination for the Ernst & Young’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.  We know Pleczko is looking forward to hearing at SXSW how our finalists are making life better.

We hope to see you at HATCH pitch on March 16th, where you can meet all of our judges and finalists alike.  Competition day is quickly approaching, be sure to get your SXSW Interactive day pass soon, and follow us on Twitter for all the important HATCH pitch announcements or if you want to be sure to attend HATCH pitch SXSW to see Sumeet, Joel, Kerry, and Rick live in person, click below.

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