Francesco Marconi is a computational journalist turned startup founder who built AppliedXL, a New York company that points the tools of investigative reporting at machine data to detect events before they become news. After serving as the first R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal and co-leading AI strategy at the Associated Press, he wrote the field-defining book Newsmakers and now applies 'pre-news' event detection to clinical trials and biopharma, surfacing the earliest signals of trial risk for partners including STAT News and the Bloomberg Terminal.

Ben Casselman is the Chief Economics Correspondent for The New York Times, where he turns labor reports, Fed decisions and inflation prints into stories people actually read. A self-described 'unapologetic econ nerd,' he built his name on evidence-first, data-driven reporting at The Wall Street Journal and FiveThirtyEight before joining the Times in 2017. He shared a Gerald Loeb Award and a Pulitzer finalist nod for Deepwater Horizon coverage, is a frequent voice on the NYT podcast The Daily, and teaches economics reporting at the CUNY Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Jon Auerbach is a General Partner at CRV (Charles River Ventures), one of the oldest and most storied venture capital firms in the US. A former Pulitzer Prize-nominated technology journalist who covered conflict zones for The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal, Auerbach pivoted into venture capital in 2000, co-founding M-Qube (acquired by VeriSign for $275M) before joining CRV in 2004. Over two decades at CRV, he has backed transformative companies including Zendesk, DoorDash, and Affirmed Networks (acquired by Microsoft for $1.35B), earned a spot on the Forbes Midas List (ranked #16 in 2020), and now leads the firm's founder support operations spanning legal, finance, marketing, and talent.

Kara Swisher is the sharp-tongued conscience of Silicon Valley - a three-decade veteran tech journalist who has interviewed every major figure in tech, co-founded Recode, written the bestselling 'Burn Book' memoir, and hosts the 'Pivot' podcast with Scott Galloway and 'On with Kara Swisher'. Known for her fearless, no-BS style, she's the journalist tech executives fear and secretly want to impress. In 2026, she launched a CNN docuseries exploring the booming longevity industry.