Wow, less than a week until Startup Iceland 2016.
Another speaker and mentor announcement that I am excited about. Jud Valeski co-founded Gnip and was the first startup to aggregate social data way back in the days when people were still thinking that Facebook was just another fad. Jud is also an avid photographer and you can find his blog, pictures and his reflection here. Gnip was acquired by Twitter in 2014 for $134.1 million. I am so happy to get Jud to participate in Startup Iceland. Jud has been to Iceland before, Brad Feld connected me to Jud but we could not meet while he was here the last time. I think it was just after the acquisition of Gnip by Twitter. Jud is currently the CTO of Techstars.
I think Technology and Data is transforming everything we do and the personal journey that founders take, navigating this transformation is fascinating and transformative. I want to hear all the stories and learn. I am sure Jud has a ton of stories to tell since founding Gnip, I could not find the exact date when it was founded, but Gnip raised capital in 2008 and was acquired in 2014. That is a 6 year journey. I am sure there were a number of twists and turns and booby traps along the way. Jud is spending sometime in Iceland after Startup Iceland driving around taking pictures and see Iceland. Jud will also act as a mentor in the Startup Iceland mentoring sessions.
