The Siemer Silicon Beach Summit will draw to a close with the Siemer Wavemaker Awards on September 28th ─ a ceremony to honor the mavericks, milestones and metrics-shakers of the year and to toast the thought leaders of tomorrow. Television personality and newspaper columnist Kurt Knutsson,  the “CyberGuy,” will host the event.

Kurt Knutsson discovers and shares exceptionally powerful technology on a media platform reaching millions of people as the “CyberGuy.” He has been America’s most watched tech authority since 1996, airing daily in partnership with 140 affiliate television stations, in national radio from New York to L.A., on digital media properties, in a syndicated weekly newspaper column and at major  events. In addition to wearing the CyberGuy hat, he also oversees a private investment tech fund and enjoys mentoring start-ups and other entrepreneurs who share the same curiosity that attracts technology into his life.

 

Judges have been drawn from our network of leading industry executives. We have solicited their nominations for stand-out, early-stage companies in the following categories:

Awards of Distinction

•   Silicon Beach Award
Person who most builds and strengthens the SoCal digital media ecosystem

2011 award winner: Jason Nazar, Docstoc

•   WaveMaker Award
Person who brought the most disruptive/innovative platform to scale

2011 award winner: Brian Lee, ShoeDazzle.com

Industry Awards

•   Cowabunga Award ─ Mobile and Apps
Mobile tech, services, apps and communications

2011 award winner: Mobile Roadie

•    Hang Ten Award ─ Advertising
Online and mobile ad networks, digital agencies, ad targeting and analytics

2011 award winner: GumGum

•    Impact Zone Award ─ Data
Data marketplaces and aggregators; location data and analytics

2011 award winner: Klout

•    Party Wave Award ─ Social Media, Content and Distribution
Social media, online and mobile content; content discovery and sharing

2011 award winner: Chill

•    Sand Dollar Award ─ eCommerce and mCommerce
Online, mobile, local and social commerce as well as comparison shopping, couponing and subscriptions

2011 award winner: Postcard on the Run

Confirmed judges include:

Amit Ahuja, Adobe
Sim Blaustein, Highline Venture Partners
James Cham, Trinity Ventures
Daniel Clemens, Google
David Cremin, DFJ Frontier
Curtis Feeny, Voyager Capital
A. Jody Gessow, One Equity
Aziz Gilani, DFJ Mercury
David Greenberg, JMI Equity
Peter Gross, Hewlett-Packard
Josh Gutfreund, Clarity Partners
Klaus Koch, Vicente Capital
Ben Kuo, SoCalTech News
Rachel Lam, Time Warner Investments
Yair Landau, MK Capital
Eric Manlunas, Siemer Ventures
Brian Mesic, Anthem Venture Partners
Brian O’Malley, Battery Ventures
Victor Parker, Spectrum Equity
Nate Redmond, Rustic Canyon
Evan Rifkin, Burstly
Dana Settle, Greycroft Partners
Rick Smith, Crosscut Ventures
Redg Snodgrass, Alcatel Lucent
Marc Sternberg, RisingTide
Mark Terbeek, MK Capital
Vince Thompson, Middleshift
Mark Yi, Intel Capital

Award nominees are: