2019 Bend Venture Conference: The Next Big Thing
2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Tore Steen
CEO & Co-Founder, CrowdStreet
The Next Big Thing: When Finance and Technology Collide
Tore co-founded CrowdStreet in 2014 on a mission to democratize access to commercial real estate investing. He has deep internet and software industry experience in strategy, business development, sales, and marketing for both publicly traded and private companies.
Prior to CrowdStreet, Tore helped take Janrain from early-stage growth phases to a leadership position in the social identity space. He has also held senior leadership roles as the Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at WebTrends and Director of Business Development at EarthLink.
Tore earned a Master of Business Administration from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Notre Dame.
2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Shamir Karkal
Co-Founder, Simple Bank
The Next Big Thing: When Finance and Technology Collide
A true FinTech pioneer, Shamir Karkal played a crucial part in building the infrastructure that would pave the way for online banking. In 2009, he co-founded Simple, the first bank of its kind in the United States, and later headed the Open Platform at BBVA.
Shamir was drawn to serve smaller companies, co-founding Sila in 2018 with the goal of empowering financial innovations.
Shamir studied physics and computer science at Bangalore University and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys jiu-jitsu, long-range target shooting, and studying history whenever possible.
2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Matt Compton
General Partner, Oregon Venture Fund
The Next Big Thing: When Finance and Technology Collide
Matt has been an active startup investor and advisor in Oregon for the past decade. Previously, he held various product, partnership, and marketing leadership roles at Yahoo! during their rapid growth period from 2002 to 2007. In 2008, he moved back to Oregon and began investing with the Oregon Angel Fund, leading our investment in Jama Software. He has been a venture-backed CEO and, most recently, was COO of Simple Financial where he led its growth to 350 employees.
Matt has served on the boards of several early and growth stage companies including Jama and Simple Financial and is currently on the board of REI. He received a dual BA in Economics and International Relations from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.
