$25
Startup World Cup Event Pass
Oct. 12th (7pm)
- Regional Startup World Cup Event
- DOES NOT include access to the Startup Mountain Summit
'26 Speakers
Meet the founders, operators, and investors headlining the Startup Mountain Summit this October in Johnson City, TN.
Main Stage LinkedInChloe Ho
Startup GTM Leader, Anthropic
Chloe is one of the most respected commercial operators in AI. As an early leader at Scale AI, she built the go-to-market team to 60+ people and helped grow revenue past $500M, then led sales at Contextual AI before joining Anthropic.
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Main Stage LinkedInPeter Kazanjy
Founder, Serial Investor, Author
Pete Kazanjy is a serial founder and seasoned early stage SaaS executive, advisor, and investor. He’s best known as the author of Founding Sales, the authoritative handbook on early stage go-to-market for founders and other non-sales people. He currently runs the Founder-Led Sales Factory, a GTM “personal training” accelerator for early stage founders. He also runs the Founder-Led Sales Forum, a 1k+ founder peer education Q&A community. Pete also produces the Founder-Led Sales Stories podcast, chronicling the stories of founders who have successfully navigated their founder led sales journey.n Prior to Founding Sales, Pete co-founded TalentBin, a category-defining talent search engine and recruiting CRM, which exited to Monster Worldwide in early 2014. After TalentBin, Pete founded Atrium, makers of sales analytics amd data-driven sales management software, which was acquired in early 2025. While at Atrium he founded and ran Modern Sales Pros, the world’s largest sales operations and management peer-education community, featuring tens of thousands of members.n Pete frequently lectures on founder-led sales at Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, and a number of other startup accelerators and is an active angel investor, focusing primarily on B2B SaaS, robotics, and marketplaces.n He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son. (Who he occasionally writes business books for.) $25n n STARTUP WORLD CUP EVENT PASSn Oct. 12th (7pm)n nn Regional Startup World Cup EventThe Startup World Cup is a global startup competition. We are hosting a regional qualifier with the winner going on to compete for $1M in San Francisco with finalists from around the world. Interested in pitching? Click on World Cup at the top of this page for more info.n DOES NOT include access to the Startup Mountain Summitn $150n $200n n ALL ACCESS SUMMIT PASSn Oct. 12-13th (All Day)n nn 2-Day Summit Admissionn Regional Startup World Cup EventThe Startup World Cup is a global startup competition. We are hosting a regional qualifier with the winner going on to compete for $1M in San Francisco with finalists from around the world. Interested in pitching? Click on World Cup at the top of this page for more info.n Adventure Networking IncludedAdventure Networking is a new take on meeting people. Enjoy an adventure with other Founders and walk away with connections that last a lifetime. Activities are available to fit your own definition of adventure..n Startup Directory Accessn Summit Video Library w/ 15+ Past Speaker and Workshop Sessionsn $100 n $150n n SUMMIT PASSn Oct. 12-13th (All Day)n nn 2-Day Summit Admissionn Regional Startup World Cup EventThe Startup World Cup is a global startup competition. We are hosting a regional qualifier with the winner going on to compete for $1M in San Francisco with finalists from around the world. Interested in pitching? Click on World Cup at the top of this page for more info.n Bringing the whole team? Contact Us for special pricing. n
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Main Stage LinkedInJeff Bedard
Founder & Executive Chairman, Revance
Jeff founded Crown Laboratories (now a Revance company) in 2000 and has grown Revance onto the Inc. 5000 list eleven years running, with distribution in over 50 countries. He'll give a special keynote on stage during the Startup World Cup.
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Main Stage LinkedInDeborah Hatley
Co-Owner & CEO, Hatley Pointe
Deborah is Co-Owner and CEO of Hatley Pointe, where she and her husband, David, are reimagining the former Wolf Ridge Ski Resort into a top East Coast mountain destination. She got her start in the hair industry as a young mother and later invested her entire savings into her first business, a salon and boutique in Johnson City, TN.
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LinkedInDana Skaggs
Psychotherapist & Boundaries Coach
Known as “The Queen of Boundaries,” Dana is a licensed psychotherapist with 18 years in private practice and host of the top-5% podcast <em>Phoenix and Flame</em>. Her session, “Stay in Your Own Yard!,” shows you how to say “no” so you can say “yes” to what really matters.
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LinkedInJohn Bentley II
Founder, Product Journey Group
John is the founder of Product Journey Group and former founder and CTO/CPO of 10XTS, with 35 years of experience helping founders decide what to build, fix, or stop before it becomes code. His session, “The Most Forgotten Person in Your MVP Launch,” covers the admin tools, dashboards, and support workflows you need to actually run your MVP.
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LinkedInJose Castillo
Speaker, Host & MC
Jose adds flavor to events around the world, from MCing for hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans at Bristol, New Hampshire, and Charlotte to speaking on technology and marketing at conferences worldwide. Jose also creates video, audio, and written content for publications and media outlets.
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LinkedInLauren Glass Mullins
Co-Founder, Personality Pool
A Kingsport, TN native, Lauren co-founded Personality Pool, an HR screening tool that speeds up hiring by focusing on personality instead of traditional resumes. It’s her third venture and her move into tech, driven by a simple goal: make hiring easier and more effective for everyone.
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LinkedInJason Oglesby, MS
President & CEO, Ergon Insights
Jason is President and CEO of Ergon Insights, helping organizations put AI to work across the whole business through fractional CTO services, AI transformation strategy, and executive coaching. As CTO at Rev.io, he led a 70+ person technology organization through an AI-first transformation.
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LinkedInEller Kelliher
Investment Strategy Lead, Launch Tennessee
Eller leads investment strategy for Launch Tennessee, managing the $70M InvestTN Fund and related capital programs that fuel early-stage innovation statewide. Eller is passionate about making Tennessee one of the most founder-friendly states in the country.
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LinkedInCara Nagy Schoettes
VP of Operations, Sims Venture Capital
Cara leads operations for Sims Venture Capital and its five portfolio companies, which together bring in $25M in annual revenue across insurance, healthcare, marketing, and consumer services. Cara also evaluates early-stage investments and pitches, advising on operational viability, scalability, and risk.
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LinkedInJeffrey Kaplan
CEO, Optimist Ventures | Director, Venture Asheville
Jeffrey is CEO of Optimist Ventures, which uses venture philanthropy to help revitalize Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. As Director of Venture Asheville, Jeffrey has helped propel nearly 75 startups with everything from microgrants to national VC connections.
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$200
All Access Summit Pass
Oct. 12-13th (All Day)
- 2-Day Summit Admission
- Regional Startup World Cup Event
- Adventure Networking Included
- Startup Directory Access
- Summit Video Library w/ 15+ Past Speaker and Workshop Sessions
$150
Summit Pass
Oct. 12-13th (All Day)
- 2-Day Summit Admission
- Regional Startup World Cup Event
Bringing the whole team? Contact Us for special pricing.
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