NewCo San Francisco 2014

Session Description: How do we bring manufacturing and fashion creation back to San Francisco? FiSF’s Executive Director and a Board Member will look beyond the big companies like Levi's and GAP and speak to the transformative effects of the yearlong business and production training offered by their Designers in Residence program. FiSF’s premiere workshop space in downtown San Francisco is the backdrop and the locale where experts in the San Francisco fashion and economic development communities lead programs aimed at changing the face of San Francisco fashion manufacturing. As primary mentors for 15 thriving San Francisco Bay Area brands, get an insider's look at the "refreshed" face of the San Francisco fashion industry and the trends and talents FiSF is seeing that is uniquely San Francisco.

Session Description: If you could command a crowd of thousands of people, what would you do? At Quri’s NewCo presentation, they will give you the experience of sending a nationwide crowd out to answer your burning questions and take photos of what is happening in the real world. You'll also learn about how Quri is revolutionizing the retail industry by leveraging the power of crowdsourcing to collect in-store data and perform innovative analytics. Come prepared with your curiosity caps on and megalomaniacal desires... because for 1 hour, our crowd is yours!!

Session Description: Founder and CEO Adeel Ahmad will guide attendees through his team’s innovation process and explain how he incorporates the needs of the over 5000 clients he serves into each new version of his company’s product. His presentation will include a discussion on “being a non-tech business in a high-tech world” and how Shopseen is bridging the tech gap for so many traditional businesses. Shopseen merchants will share their personal examples of successful stories of growing their business through Shopseen.

Session Description: Consumer Loyalty and Frictionless Experiences: For most products to succeed you have to encourage long-term changes to consumer behavior (e.g. always open MY app when you need X). But what happens when you strip out that friction and lower the barrier to participation? How can these principles be incorporated into any product, not just loyalty programs. Founder and CEO Zach Goldstein will share how Thanx has set itself apart from other loyalty programs by using credit/debit card-linked technology to deliver loyalty and data-driven marketing tools with none of the hardware or integration associated with traditional solutions.

Session Description: Betabrand CEO, Chris Lindland will either (A) attempt to eat a 20 lb. turkey while back-flipping on a trampoline or (B) deliver a speech about Betabrand's open design platform. Note that this San Francisco-based e-commerce company designs, manufactures, and releases new products every day.

Session Description: Fast and disposable fashion versus making clothes that matter: Artful Gentleman will explore our relationship with our clothing in the context of their beautiful space on Market Street. Co-founders Jake Wall and Nathan Johnson will take you through a real "tales from the trenches" exploration of fashion entrepreneurship. Artful Gentleman goes against the grain by focusing on brick and mortar, in a way uniquely San Francisco, eschewing the over-crowded Internet "me too" marketplace. There is definitely a place and reason for "fast and disposable fashion,"however, at Artful Gentleman, we believe in the dynamic consumer brand relationship, buying experience and the power of driving your business with a guiding principle: making clothing that matters.