Speaker Bio
Jim Brisimitzis stands at the forefront of technological innovation, boasting a career that spans over 25 years in business development, product management, strategic alliances, venture capital, and developer relations. As the founder of Khasm Labs (aka 5G Open Innovation Lab), he has galvanized a global innovation ecosystem bolstering the telecom industry, edge computing, and artificial intelligence. Under his leadership, the Lab has garnered the support of 20 global technology partners and has onboarded 148 multi-stage startups that have
collectively raised an impressive $3.2B in venture capital. This groundbreaking initiative is further strengthened by its diverse backers, which include global platforms, telecom giants, consulting firms, and enterprise leaders. He and his team have led the development of product initiatives such as the Khasm Enterprise Edge Network (KEEN) and Telco AI Cloud as incubation efforts.
Over the years, Jim's knack for identifying and nurturing potential has found him collaborating with industry stalwarts, including Bell Canada, Nortel Networks, PeopleSoft, Oracle, and Microsoft. Some standout achievements from his career include:
− Leading Microsoft’s $5M investment in Cloudflare’s Series C ($110M overall for the round).
− Spearheading the Microsoft for Startups program across the US and Canada, successfully onboarding over 2,800 startups to the Azure platform within 3 years. Results led to revenue positive ROI initiated through $250M is Azure credit offers.
− Pioneering global operations for Microsoft Ventures and architecting the "HiPo" program, a unique incubator for high-potential startups with high-touch engagement across M12, product, consulting, and field sales organizations.
− Led the BD, partnerships, and product strategy behind developing an enterprise ready hyper-converged datacenter architecture leading to the build of a modular data center for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The initiative was adopted by Microsoft’s Azure division and led to the development of the Azure Stack Edge.
− Formed an internal data science initiative at Microsoft to create an innovative predictive algorithm for the global startup ecosystem. The platform was adopted by Microsoft clients helping them predict which startups demonstrated strong market potential. The algorithm was awarded a US Patent (Patent #:11829855)
− Providing strategic direction as a Managing Partner at Quake Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to nurturing early-stage startups.
A proud alumnus of Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Jim holds a degree in Business Management. He currently resides in Kirkland, WA, with his family. Beyond his professional endeavors, Jim is deeply committed to fostering entrepreneurial success and believes in harnessing the power of technology to catalyze positive societal change.