Karen’s journey has seen her go from startup attorney to moonshot deep tech investing. Karen has extensive experience as a director and advisor to public and private companies valued in the tens of billions. Most recently, as Director of Early Stage Projects at X, Karen managed a deep tech portfolio for Alphabet. Karen has led multiple initiatives at Google over the past two decades, including overseeing operations for its groundbreaking IPO. She is no stranger to complex technology and complex deal structures, but is a straight shooter with a knack for cutting to the core of the critical technology or business issues to address for success – from inception through scale. Karen has taught innovation at Northwestern University, where she earned both an MBA and a law degree following her Princeton undergrad.

As CEO of pocket.watch, Chris is responsible for setting pocket.watch’s vision as well as helping to cultivate a strong working environment where his world class management team is driven to perform at the top of their abilities. Chris is a true pioneer of online video, with 20 years of proven success in both predicting and capitalizing upon marketplace holes that have dictated the future of media and entertainment. Most recently, he served as the Chief Audience Officer of Maker Studios and prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of venture backed startup, Take180. Both companies were acquired by The Walt Disney Company where Chris also launched Disney Online Originals, a division dedicated to the creation of Disney branded short form content. The earlier part of Chris’s career was spent at Yahoo, where he was one of the first 100 employees.

James Andrews is the founder of Authenticated Ventures, a venture advisory designed to build better companies, launch new ideas and illuminate influential people through experiences, content and investment advisory. At the center is The Authenticated, a 300+ membership community made up of influential creative entrepreneurs, brand builders, investors and innovators in culture. The Authenticated has a city tour, mobile/web platform and creates content and community opportunities. Post COVID, The Authenticated has created weekly “virtual Jeffersonian dinners” and produces monthly salons and summits in live stream on a number of topics and themes. Andrews previously founded Social People, a strategic digital agency that was acquired in 2013. Social People worked with clients Nike, Beats By Dre, The Grammy Awards, CNN, Equinox and Lexus on global social media initiatives. Before launching Social People, Andrews was VP, Ketchum PR and built their global social media practice area for clients Monster.com, FedEx, GeekSquad, Nokia, and Wendy’s. In 1999, Andrews built and sold email newsletter SoulPurpose.com to Urban Box Office, a digital entertainment company. At the center of the NYC dot-com boom the company went on to raise $40m and hire 320 employees in 15 months. Andrews formative years were spent as a senior marketing executive at Columbia Records in the mid 90’s, helping develop artists like Nas, The Fugees, Destiny’s Child and Lauryn Hill become household names.

Marisa has over 20 years of experience with entrepreneurial environments in venture-backed and Fortune 100 companies, with specific expertise in strategy, business development, and product development. She most recently co-founded CityXones a hyperlocal news venture, Cartera a payments platform, and Jury Box Films a film investment company. Previous roles include those with Qualcomm, EY, Sara Lee Corporation (now Hillshire), Tribune Media Company, and multiple start-ups in a variety of verticals. Marisa is highly active in the startup community and is a mentor for the globally recognized Founders Institute and is the Chapter Director for The Founders Network, an invitation-only, internationally peer network for technology founders. She is a member of the prestigious Economic Club of Chicago. She is active philanthropically and is a member of the Women’s Board of the Joffrey Ballet, President of the Alumni Club of Colorado for Northwestern’s, Kellogg School and the founder of multiple non-profit philanthropic boards. She has an MBA from Northwestern, JD from the University of Virginia, and a BA from Wellesley College.

Olivier Delfosse is the Head of Strategic Partnerships & West Coast Operations for Jellysmack, a leading data and technology company leveraging proprietary tools to unlock the social potential of Creators and media owners. In his role, Olivier leads a global business development team, manages strategic relationships with all social platforms, and leads an LA based content team responsible for the delivery of over 15+ leading Snap Discover shows driving 5B monthly views. Prior to Jellysmack, Olivier was the Chief Operations Officer (COO) at StyleHaul, the largest global community of fashion and beauty creators, with more than 4500 creators in-network and more than 1.5 billion views per month. As COO, Olivier drove operational excellence and solidarity across each business unit, led platform partnerships, and managed a team of 40+ across Operations, Sales, HR and Production. Before StyleHaul, Olivier was the Global SVP, Digital at Fremantle and part of the central digital group driving global digital strategy.

Sandy Grushow is one of a rare breed of entertainment executives who successfully married his vast experience in traditional media with the worlds of digital and social media and technology. Grushow achieved creative, financial and strategic success as Chairman of FOX’s broadcast network and television studio, where his tenure saw the debut of the “American Idol” juggernaut along with major hits such as “24,” “House” and “Malcolm in the Middle” and the “O.C.” As CEO of Phase 2 Media, Grushow applies his 25 years of operational experience to provide investment and advisory work across the digital and social media and tech sectors. Grushow currently serves as a board member of Monica & Andy, a digitally-native, direct-to-consumer children’s clothing and accessory business and Ghostcast, an audio-first social media company. Most recently, he served as a longtime board member of Tubi, an ad-supported video streaming service acquired by FOX in May 2020. Before that, he served on the board of The Weather Channel prior to its sale to Byron’ Allen’s Entertainment Studios, where he remains an advisor. Prior to Phase 2 Media, Grushow spent two years as Chief Content Officer at MediaLink, where he helped build an advisory practice in the digital content and distribution space, representing companies that included Paramount Digital Entertainment, Machinima, Maker, YouTube and Unilever.

Alex has held leadership posts for more than 25 years with best-in-class media and technology businesses. Early in his career, he held positions at The Walt Disney Company, WarnerMedia, Electronic Arts and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. At Paramount/Viacom, he launched and helmed the studio’s digital distribution division. From 2011-2019, he worked for Google, steering YouTube’s original programming and partnerships businesses across Entertainment, Sports, News, Family and Gaming verticals globally, leading initiatives that supercharged YouTube’s ecosystem of creators, brands and fans. Since 2019, he has focused on the $100B mobile games category, both as a principal of N3twork Studios as well as blockchain games startup, Forte, where he presently works. Mr. Carloss holds a Master of Arts from the University of Edinburgh, and is a recipient of the annual Deloitte Award for Innovation.

At Near Horizon we invest in your company and join your team, working alongside you to build your AI-driven business. As proven entrepreneurs, we do everything from coding and selling to experimenting and scaling. Together, we can take your vision from zero to one.