//www.quantummedia.com/event/media-disruptor-jon-axelrod | Printed on: April 24, 2024
Event
Media Disruptor Jon Axelrod
Managing Director, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
March 13, 2013
ER Accelerator is a leader in the new incubator and accelerator categories of venture capital. The company finds and helps fund start ups – and introduces the new companies to the New York VC and angel investment community. As part of their being accepted into the program, each accepted company receives a $25,000 investment and three months of Free collaborative office space in midtown, among other material help. Axelrod will discuss the media companies that ERA has funded in its first classes– and why he believes accelerators help innovation. Some of those companies:
- Glossi (create a magazine “of you”)
- Numberfire (next generation sports analytics)
- Strayboots (orienteering in cities for fun and tourism)
- Pictorious (something between Instagram and Draw Something with a photo-sharing platform that fosters competition.)
- BespokePost (the Book-of-the-month on steroids for cool men)
At its founding, ERA lined up some 140 mentors to participate, including heavyweights in the New York startup and investment community such as Fred Wilson, Brian Cohen, David Pakman and others. Participating startups also get help from on-site developers and administrative support through the program. Jonathan Axelrod as a Managing Director leverages his own background as a technology and media entrepreneur for those start ups in his field. He was Co-Founder and Co-CEO of MusicGremlin a venture-backed startup that was sold in 2008 to SanDisk Corporation. MusicGremlin was a pioneer in the delivery of digital media content direct to wireless devices. Its WiFi MP3 player was named one of Time Magazine’s “All Time Top 100 Gadgets.” The company filed numerous patents and was recognized with several innovation awards. Prior to launching MusicGremlin, Axelrod was Co-Founder and President of Music123, a first-mover musical instrument e-commerce company that became one of the largest musical instrument retailers in the United States. Founded in 1999, Music123 grew from startup to profitable market leader in less than four years; it is now a brand of Guitar Center. Axelrod holds an A.B. in Social Studies magna cum laude from Harvard University. Quantum Media Principal, Stefanie Lemcke, moderated the event.