Shane Kelly
Mentor at Techstars
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Overview
Work Experience
Founder CEO
2022 - Current
Cinematica Labs was founded to build entrepreneurial ecosystems through community, capital, connectivity, and culture. In 2022, we partnered with Pharrell Williams' Black Ambition, recruiting 51 serial entrepreneurs and venture investors to serve as culturally competent mentors to 242 founders. We help founders grow while remaining true to the mission and vision that inspired their entrepreneurial journey.
Lead Mentor — Cinematica Labs Mentorship Program
2022
Supported 242 Black and Latinx(e) founders and 36 Lead Mentors for the 2022 Black Ambition mentorship program.
Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship
2022
As Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, I teach the Venture Lab course in which graduate level students have the opportunity to make investments out of the USC Marshall Venture Fund. The USC Marshall Venture Fund invests in and receives equity from ventures led by USC students, alumni, faculty, and staff. The Fund’s mission is to bridge the funding gap for early-stage and amplify the impact for later-stage USC-related companies; train students to evaluate, make, and manage venture investments; and engage alumni, advisors, experts, and other stakeholders in helping build the entrepreneurial ecosystem at USC and in Southern California.
Investor
2020
Over the last 8 years, Seed&Spark has developed an unprecedented pipeline of unique voices and award-winning films through our education and crowdfunding platform. In 2020, we launched Film Forward, a platform that delivers stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through our proprietary Impact Screening Platform. We gather the qualitative and quantitative data essential for driving lasting structural change for inclusive and productive workplaces.
Chief Financial Officer
2020 - 2022
Seed&Spark is an entertainment platform for conscious consumers actively increasing diversity and representation in entertainment.
Raised $4,000,000.00 from Payam Zamani, One Planet Group, Techstars and Backstage Capital.
Founder & Managing Partner
2013
We provide early stage investors with cultivated deal flow. We accelerate early stage startups through fundraising support and customer discovery. We do this by leveraging unprecedented access to technology, mentors, executives, and investors in the University of Michigan alumni community. Investments: rrecess, formerly Quirkchat (shop.rrecess.com) Farcast, formerly Dash Shipping (gofarcast.com) Neurable (neurable.com) Phase Four (phasefour.io) FEM | Prizma (fem-inc.com) - Acquired, Nielsen Gracenote TenantBase (tenantbase.com)
Wolverine Angels Network leverages capital and expertise from the global University of Michigan alumni community to accelerate startups.
Mentor
2015
Mentor for Techstars Anywhere and Techstars Los Angeles
Entrepreneur in Residence
2019 - 2019
Techstars is the global ecosystem that helps entrepreneurs build great businesses through the accelerator investment programs now in 25+ cities worldwide as well as the 800+ Startup Weekends and 40+ Startup Weeks managed under the Techstars umbrella. As Entrepreneur in Residence for the Techstars Los Angeles program for 2019, I worked with the founders in the class each week to support them in all facets of the business including growth and culture building.
Techstars is an accelerator that provides pre-seed investment and mentoring for various early stage startups.
Raised $108,919,999.00 from SVB Financial Group and Foundry Group.
Investor in Residence
2021 - 2022
HBCUvc's mission is to direct how capital is formed and distributed to increase opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx innovators. HBCUvc accomplishes this by developing, connecting, and mobilizing the next generation of venture capital leaders in communities where entrepreneurs face barriers in accessing capital and by empowering institutions to employ race-conscious investing practices to foster the development of inclusive innovation economies. As Investor in Residence, I serve as an adjunct professor, teaching investment fundamentals and creating on-ramps to the venture capital industry. Steeped in experiential learning, fellows are given the opportunity to identify startups from their own community to fund and support.
HBCU.vc is a not-for-profit organization connecting and equipping the next generation of black and brown tech innovators and investors.
Raised $250,000.00 from MetLife Foundation.
Member Board Of Directors
2020 - 2022
A network, accelerator, and annual summit bringing investors and mentors together with underrepresented founders, with a focus on Black and Latinx communities including South Los Angeles.
Corporate Development
2021 - 2022
Media Capital Technologies (MCT) is a specialty finance and asset management company focused on strategic investments in premium content. The company provides capital to media and entertainment businesses, including major motion picture studios, significant independent production entities, and preeminent intellectual property rightsholders.
Media Capital Technologies (MCT) is a specialty finance company focused on strategic investments in premium content.
Lead Mentor -- Black Ambition Circles
2021 - 2021
Black Ambition is a non-profit initiative founded by Pharrell Williams, working to close the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship. We invest capital and resources in high-growth startups founded by Black and Latinx entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurs historically left out of traditional investment funnels are building the companies of tomorrow.