Paul Powers is the co-founder and CEO of Physna, the Ohio startup teaching computers to understand the physical world by turning 3D geometry into searchable 'Physical DNA.' A homeschooled kid who entered Harvard at 16 and later passed the German bar exam in a foreign language, he turned an intellectual-property obsession into a geometric-search company backed by Sequoia, Tiger Global, and Drive Capital. Physna also runs Thangs, a community platform of tens of millions of 3D models that he describes as the GitHub for hardware. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Powers is one of the most prominent founders building deep-tech outside Silicon Valley.
Robert W. Jones is a Cincinnati-based venture investor who spent 30 years rising through General Electric - from GE Plastics to GE Capital to GE Aviation - before retiring as Senior Executive of Human Resources for GE Aviation's Global Engineering organization. In retirement, he founded Realm Capital Ventures, a family venture investment firm focused on global innovation, became a Limited Partner at Y Combinator and Kearny Jackson, and joined Queen City Angels as an Investor Member. He is also a community leader with board roles at the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, University of Cincinnati's Lindner College of Business, and more.
Jane Friedman is one of publishing's most trusted independent voices - a Cincinnati-based author, educator, and industry analyst who has spent two decades demystifying the business of writing. Through her newsletters Electric Speed (30,000+ subscribers, running since 2009) and The Bottom Line (8,000+ paid subscribers), her book The Business of Being a Writer, and her widely-read site janefriedman.com, she helps authors navigate a publishing landscape that keeps reinventing itself. She came to prominence beyond publishing circles in 2023 when AI-generated fake books appeared on Amazon under her name, making her an unlikely but authoritative voice on AI, authorship, and copyright.