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XLA Tech ‘Moves’: Acelyrin’s New CFO, 3Pas Studios Taps Encantos Co-Founder for CBO
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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ACELYRIN, INC., a biopharmaceutical startup, welcomed Gil M. Labrucherie as chief financial officer. Labrucherie previously served as COO and CFO at Nektar Therapeutics.
Multimedia company 3Pas Studios, tapped the co-founder and chief executive officer of Encantos Steven Wolfe Pereira to the new role of chief business officer.
Will Kelly joined engineering firm TheoremOne as chief growth officer. Prior to joining, Kelly served as senior managing director at Cognizant Softvision.
EV manufacturer Fisker Inc., named Alpay Uguz as senior vice president of global manufacturing. Uguz previously worked at BMW's production facility as the general manager of the brand's SUVs.
Warner Records, a record label and entertainment company, added Dionnee Harper as executive vice president of marketing and artist development. Harper served as the senior vice president of marketing at Atlantic Records.
Smosh, a comedy entertainment company, appointed Joel Rubin as the company’s first executive vice president of programming and content; and promoted current team members Lisa Van Lenner to senior vice president of production and operations; and Kiana Parker to director of Smosh Pit. Prior to joining Smosh, Rubin served as the vice president of programming at the SpringHill Company.
Trusted Media Brands (TMB), an entertainment company, tapped former Warner Bros. and Paramount executive Chris Rantamaki as senior vice president of programming who will be working out of the Los Angeles office.
Distributor of independent entertainment Vision Films hired Garrett Thierry as the new director of global digital distribution and marketing. Thierry currently serves as a Partner at Savant Artists.
Terray Therapeutics, a biotechnology company using AI-driven drug discovery, welcomed Fiona Black, PhD to its scientific advisory board. Black previously served as the senior vice president of chief of staff to the chief product officer at Illumina.
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
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Genies Wants To Help Creators Build ‘Avatar Ecosystems’
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
When avatar startup Genies raised $150 million in April, the company released an unusual message to the public: “Farewell.”
The Marina del Rey-based unicorn, which makes cartoon-like avatars for celebrities and aims to “build an avatar for every single person on Earth,” didn’t go under. Rather, Genies announced it would stay quiet for a while to focus on building avatar-creation products.
Genies representatives told dot.LA that the firm is now seeking more creators to try its creation tools for 3D avatars, digital fashion items and virtual experiences. On Thursday, the startup launched a three-week program called DIY Collective, which will mentor and financially support up-and-coming creatives.
Similar programs are common in the startup world and in the creator economy. For example, social media companies can use accelerator programs not only to support rising stars but to lure those creators—and their audiences—to the company’s platforms. Genies believes avatars will be a crucial part of the internet’s future and is similarly using its program to encourage creators to launch brands using Genies’ platform.
“I think us being able to work hands on with this next era—this next generation of designers and entrepreneurs—not only gets us a chance to understand how people want to use our platform and tools, but also allows us to nurture those types of creators that are going to exist and continue to build within our ecosystem,” said Allison Sturges, Genies’ head of strategic partnerships.
DIY Collective’s initial cohort will include roughly 15 people, Sturges said. They will spend three weeks at the Genies headquarters, participating in workshops and hearing from CEOs, fashion designers, tattoo artists and speakers from other industries, she added. Genies will provide creatives with funding to build brands and audiences, though Sturges declined to share how much. By the end of the program, participants will be able to sell digital goods through the company’s NFT marketplace, The Warehouse. There, people can buy, sell and trade avatar creations, such as wearable items.
Genies will accept applications for the debut program until Aug. 1. It will kick off on Aug. 8, and previous experience in digital fashion and 3D art development is not required.
Sturges said that the program will teach people “about the tools and capabilities that they will have” through Genies’ platform, as well as “how to think about building their own avatar ecosystem brands and even their own audience.”
Image courtesy of Genies
Founded in 2017, Genies established itself by making avatars for celebrities from Rihanna to Russell Westbrook, who have used the online lookalikes for social media and sponsorship opportunities. The 150-person company, which has raised at least $250 million to date, has secured partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to make avatars for each music label’s entire roster of artists. Former Disney boss Bob Iger joined the company’s board in March.
The company wants to extend avatars to everyone else. Avatars—digital figures that represent an individual—may be the way people interact with each other in the 3D virtual worlds of the metaverse, the much-hyped iteration of the internet where users may one day work, shop and socialize. A company spokesperson previously told dot.LA that Genies has been beta testing avatar creator tools with invite-only users and gives creators “full ownership and commercialization rights” over their creations collecting a 5% transaction fee each time an avatar NFT is sold.
“It's an opportunity for people to build their most expressive and authentic self within this digital era,” Sturges said of avatars.
The company’s call for creators could be a sign that Genies is close to rolling out the Warehouse and its tools publicly. Asked what these avatar tools might look like, the startup went somewhat quiet again.
Allison Sturges said, “I think that's probably something that I'll hold off on sharing. We will be rolling some of this out soon.”
- Bob Iger, Former Disney CEO, Joins Avatar Startup Genies - dot.LA ›
- Genies Raises $150 Million To Make Avatars For The Metaverse ... ›
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Here's What To Expect At LA Tech Week
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
LA Tech Week—a weeklong showcase of the region’s growing startup ecosystem—is coming this August.
The seven-day series of events, from Aug. 15 through Aug. 21, is a chance for the Los Angeles startup community to network, share insights and pitch themselves to investors. It comes a year after hundreds of people gathered for a similar event that allowed the L.A. tech community—often in the shadow of Silicon Valley—to flex its muscles.
From fireside chats with prominent founders to a panel on aerospace, here are some highlights from the roughly 30 events happening during LA Tech Week, including one hosted by dot.LA.
DoorDash’s Founding Story: Stanley Tang, a cofounder and chief product officer of delivery giant DoorDash, speaks with Pear VC's founding managing partner, Pejman Nozad. They'll discuss how to grow a tech company from seed stage all the way to an initial public offering. Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Santa Monica.
The Founders Guide to LA: A presentation from dot.LA cofounder and executive chairman Spencer Rascoff, who co-founded Zillow and served as the real estate marketplace firm’s CEO. Aug. 16 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Brentwood.
Time To Build: Los Angeles: Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) hosts a discussion on how L.A. can maintain its momentum as one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the U.S. Featured speakers include a16z general partners Connie Chan and Andrew Chen, as well as Grant Lafontaine, the cofounder and CEO of shopping marketplace Whatnot. Aug. 19 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Santa Monica.
How to Build Successful Startups in Difficult Industries: Leaders from Southern California’s healthcare and aerospace startups gather for panels and networking opportunities. Hosted by TechStars, the event includes speakers from the U.S. Space Force, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Applied VR and University of California Irvine. Aug. 15 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Culver City.
LA Tech Week Demo Day: Early stage startups from the L.A. area pitch a panel of judges including a16z’s Andrew Chen and Nikita Bier, who co-founded the Facebook-acquired social media app tbh. Inside a room of 100 tech leaders in a Beverly Hills mansion, the pitch contest is run by demo day events platform Stonks and live-in accelerator Launch House. Aug. 17 from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Beverly Hills.
Registration information and a full list of LA Tech Week events can be found here.
- dot.LA: Los Angeles Tech and Startup News ›
- Here's What's Happening at LA Tech Week - dot.LA ›
- LA Tech Week: NFT Cocktails, Sushi and Networking - dot.LA ›
- LA Tech Week: A Case for the CryptoMondays - dot.LA ›
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Pitbull Ventures’ Brad Zions Is a Seed-Stage Investor and a Web3 Skeptic
Brad Zions saw Web 1.0 flourish—and he doesn’t think Web3 has the same lasting power.
On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, the founder of Pitbull Ventures discusses his career, from his early work at AOL to founding Lemonade restaurants to becoming an angel investor and critic of Web3 speculation.
Pitbull Ventures is an L.A.-based, $10 million pre-seed and seed-stage fund that’s so far invested in 31 startups.
“I am a non-thesis driven investor,” Zions said. “I'm a sector-agnostic investor. So I'll do almost anything except for Web3 or crypto.”
Zions said he tends to invest across different “mini-themes” instead of investmenting in a single overarching theme. Food tech (including software and robotics) are among the mini-themes he’s aiming at in Pitbull’s current fund. Additionally, he said he often taps older founders, which he says gives him a competitive advantage over investors who zero in on “boy wonders.”
“I'm constantly adjusting the lens because that's what's so interesting about early-stage venture, where you make these bets and it takes years to find out if it was a good bet,” Zions said. “So you're constantly readjusting.”
Zions got his start in tech at AOL in 1994, working in its technology division before eventually overseeing the company’s European expansion. He said Europe was behind the United States in terms of internet development, and he had to work with consumers who didn’t know how dial-up internet access worked.
After leaving AOL, Zions moved to the Bay Area and met legendary investor Ron Conway, who was just getting set up as an angel investor. Zions invested in Conway’s first fund, which had its eye on (and eventually invested in) “this little company called Google.”
“With regard to my investing both as an angel and now as a VC,” Zions said, “I feel like I learned a lot from Ron and from being around that fund in the early days.”
He eventually co-founded Lemonade, a fast-casual restaurant chain, and explored the film industry as the producer on the independent film “Kissing Jessica Stein,” which was eventually sold to Fox Searchlight. Both the restaurant industry and the film industry, he said, required quite a bit of luck, but the magnitude of a successful outcome is not as great as it can be investing in tech.
“I would say that the odds of you investing in a company that becomes a unicorn [or] becomes a huge business are probably similar to the odds that you put money into an independent film, and it gets into a film festival, wins all the awards like we did, and then gets bought,” he said.
An even riskier investment, according to Zions, is Web3.
Many proponents of crypto point to the internet’s early days (and the dotcom bubble) as evidence that crypto can make a resurgence. Zions said he doesn’t see in Web3 the same potential that was evident in the early dotcom days, though he doesn’t rule it out completely. For now, he thinks too many people are excited about crypto for the wrong reasons.
“There is tremendous energy in this space. I think, unfortunately, a lot of the energy is driven by just naked greed,” he said. “There are definitely people who are there probably for the right reasons. And maybe they will come up with a use case again. I have yet to see one.”
dot.LA editorial intern Kristin Snyder contributed to this post.
Click the link above to hear the full episode, and subscribe to LA Venture on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.