​About

​We’re hosting a speaker panel featuring successful founders who have been VC-backed, angel-backed, or raised significant capital, offering insights on fundraising strategies and scaling businesses.

​Our Speakers

​Josh Kaplan

​Josh Kaplan is the Founder and Co-CEO of Ghost, one of Los Angeles’ fastest-growing startups, leveraging real-time data to help brands optimize inventory distribution. Ghost recently raised $40 million in a Series C round led by L Catterton. Before launching Ghost, Kaplan was the CEO of New Republic, a digitally native fashion collective. He also held leadership roles at Buck Mason and United Entertainment Group. Kaplan earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, a degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

​Landon Brand

​Landon is cofounder and CEO of Wren, a company dedicated to solving the climate crisis. Their flagship product is a website for learning what you can do about climate change and funding the most promising climate solutions. Founded in 2019, the company has raised over $12MM for climate solutions, and has raised an additional $6MM of venture capital.

​Artin Nazarian

​After graduating from film school, Artin joined Walt Disney Studios, rising to an executive role before the age of 30. Eager to create more impact, he pursued several tech ventures, where he raised $4 million, launched a B2B/B2C enterprise, and achieved a startup exit—all while advancing at Disney. This experience led him to author Side Adventure, an Amazon best-seller guiding professionals to balance corporate roles with side ventures. After 19 years, he left Disney to join the leadership team at Qvest.US consulting firm, and is now pursuing his next venture.

​Calvin Chen

​Calvin is the founder and CEO of Fetchr, an AI personal shopper that helps people save time and money when shopping for clothes.He previously built two startups in the e-commerce software space, one of which reached $1.5M ARR with a bootstrapped team of 3 and was acquired for $9M while in high school. Calvin studied business and CS at USC before leaving to join Y-Combinator in the W23 batch. Since then, he's raised a $2.5M seed round for Fetchr and is based in San Fransisco.

​Contact juraboev@usc.edu for questions