LendingTree, LeadsCon Announce Judges for First-Ever $25,000 Startup Innovation Spotlight

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingTree®, the nation's leading online loan marketplace, and Access Intelligence, a leading business information and marketing company, today announced the judges for its new initiative to showcase the top startup companies in financial technology (fintech) lead generation at LeadsCon this summer.

The "LendingTree Startup Innovation Spotlight" at LeadsCon's Connect to Convert will recognize the most innovative fintech startups across the consumer lead generation, call center and customer experience sectors. Five finalists will be invited to present their business plan on stage at LeadsCon's Connect to Convert industry conference and expo August 21-23 at the New York Hilton Midtown. Each finalist will have five minutes to present in the form of live demo, video and visuals, followed by questions from the panel in "Shark Tank"-style. The panel will then select and announce the winner of the $25,000 top prize.

The judges for the Startup Innovation Spotlight are:

Doug Lebda, Founder and CEO of LendingTree
After experiencing the frustrations and complexities of getting his first mortgage, Doug Lebda envisioned a way to empower consumers in the loan process where banks compete for the customers' business. In 1996, Doug founded LendingTree, revolutionizing how consumers shop for loans and how lenders reach new customers.  Since inception, LendingTree has grown its lender network to include over 500 of the nation's top lending institutions and allows consumers to comparison shop across a full spectrum of loan and credit-based financial products.

Matt Coffin, Founder of Coffin Capital & Ventures
Matt Coffin is an active investor and was the founder and CEO of LowerMyBills.com – a top ten digital advertiser. Through his investment firm and as a board member, Matt has been involved in over $1B in monetized startups, which include more than 45 early and late stage digital media and internet based companies across gaming, video, mobile, ecommerce, ad tech and healthcare marketplaces.

AJ Agrawal, Founder of Verma Media and Marketing Consultant to Fortune 500 companies
AJ Agrawal is a growth marketer for startup and fintech companies. He is the Founder of Verma Media, a leading growth marketing agency in San Francisco that focuses on partnering with disruptive technology companies including IBM and Shopify. AJ has written about the marketing strategies he's used to help companies 10x their growth in Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post and over a dozen more outlets.

Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round
Chris Fralic has been a Partner at First Round since 2006. He has focused on a number of the firm's investments in areas such as advertising and marketing technology, social/mobile, eCommerce/travel, connected devices and gaming. Some of his investments that have been acquired include Flurry (Yahoo!), Invite Media (Google), Demdex (Adobe), ScanScout/Tremor and MyYearbook, including two, Arbor.io and Circulate, were acquired by the same company (Acxiom) on the same day. Some of the current investments he works directly with include Warby Parker, Hotel Tonight and Refinery29. Overall, Chris has 30 years of technology industry experience, with significant Internet business development roles since 1996.

Shawn Colo
Shawn is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 3L Capital as well as a senior advisor with Spectrum Equity Investors.  Previously, Shawn was a co-founder and CEO of Demand Media and also a director of its domain services spinoff RightSide.  Shawn and his family reside in New York City.

"These startup finalists will have the exciting opportunity to present at LeadsCon among industry executives committed to the latest technologies in driving lead generation and enhancing customer experiences," says Cory Smith, group business director of the LeadsCon portfolio at Access Intelligence. "The LendingTree Startup Innovation Spotlight is a great way to showcase and empower the industry's pioneering startups."

ABOUT LEADSCON'S CONNECT TO COVERT CONFERENCE AND EXPO 
Formerly called LeadsCon NY, Connect to Convert is the lead industry's only roll-up-your-sleeves summer educational conference and exposition dedicated entirely to the most effective and emerging sectors of the lead generation industry: Calls, Clicks, Search and Shares. With dedicated b-to-c and b-to-b content designed around each section of the sales cycle, LeadsCon's Connect to Convert arms attendees with the critical intelligence they need to succeed in 2018 and beyond. The event takes place August 21-23 in New York City. Learn more at leadscon.com/connecttoconvert.

ABOUT ACCESS INTELLIGENCE 
Access Intelligence, a portfolio company of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, is a b-to-b media, event and information company serving the media, PR, cable, healthcare management, defense, chemical engineering, satellite and aviation markets. Leading brands include PR News, AdMonsters, Cynopsis, Cablefax, Folio:, Event Marketer, LeadsCon, Chief Marketer, MultiChannel Merchant, Media Industry Newsletter, Defense Daily Network, Aviation Today, Studio Daily, Power, Via Satellite and Exchange Monitor. Market-leading events include LeadsCon, AdMonsters Operations and Publisher Summits, Folio: Show, Experiential Marketing Summit, EventTech, SATELLITE 2018, OR Manager, LDC Gas Forums, Clean Gulf, ELECTRIC POWER and Western Power Summit. Learn more at accessintel.com.

ABOUT LENDINGTREE 
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation's leading online loan marketplace, empowering consumers as they comparison-shop across a full suite of loan and credit-based offerings.  LendingTree provides an online marketplace which connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business, as well as an array of online tools and information to help consumers find the best loan. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 65 million loan requests. LendingTree provides free monthly credit scores through My LendingTree and access to its network of over 500 lenders offering home loans, personal loans, credit cards, student loans, business loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans and more. LendingTree, LLC is a subsidiary of LendingTree, Inc. For more information go to www.lendingtree.com, dial 800-555-TREE, like our Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter @LendingTree.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Megan Greuling
704-943-8208
[email protected]

SOURCE LendingTree

Related Links

http://www.lendingtree.com