INTRODUCING ‘WSJ STARTUP OF THE YEAR’

NEW YORK (April 29, 2013)—The Wall Street Journal will be launching ‘WSJ Startup of the Year,’ an episodic video documentary for WSJ Live, the Journal’s online video platform. Slated to premiere June 24, the documentary matches global business leaders and influencers with 25 innovative startups, capturing their stories from startup to success over the course of five months. Throughout the documentary, editors from The Wall Street Journal, working closely with mentors and considering viewer votes, will narrow down the businesses to decide who will be the Journal’s first ‘Startup of the Year.’

The Journal has engaged nearly 30 business leaders and influencers to mentor entrepreneurs participating in the series. Startup of the Year is WSJ Live’s most expansive foray into original content programming to date. WSJ Live is currently available on 30 platforms and generates on average between 20 and 25 million streams per month.

Some of the influencers who have agreed to participate include:

• Sir Richard Branson: Founder of Virgin Group
• Peter Diamandis: Chair and Founder, X Prize Foundation
• Steve Case: Chairman, Case Foundation; Chairman, Startup America; Co-Founder and Former CEO, AOL
• Jean Case: CEO and Co-Founder, Case Foundation
• Tory Burch: CEO and Designer Tory Burch LLC and Founder Tory Burch Foundation
• will.i.am: Founder, i.am.Angel; Co-Founding member, Black Eyed Peas
• Carly Fiorina: Chair, Good360; former Chairman and CEO, Hewlett-Packard
• Ray Kurzweil: Director of Engineering, Google
• Lynn Tilton: CEO, Patriarch Partners, LLC
• Scott Case: CEO, Startup America; Founding CTO, Priceline
• David Sacks: CEO and Founder, Yammer; Producer, “Thank You for Smoking”
• Dean Ornish: President and Founder, Preventative Medicine Research Institute
• Jeff Pulver: Co-Founder, Vonage; Chairman and Founder, Pulver.com
• Liz Lange: Founder & President, Liz Lange Maternity
• MC Hammer: Entertainer and entrepreneur
• Vivek Wadhwa: Vice President of Academics and Innovation, Singularity University

The initial 25 startups will be announced in coming weeks. Each has been chosen by Wall Street Journal editors, are based in the U.S., have a prototype or proof of concept in place, and less than $10 million in revenue.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the exclusive sponsor of the eight-month project. Launched in 2012, NYSE launched Big Startup initiative is a nationwide jobs-growth program designed to connect young companies and entrepreneurs with corporate America.

NYSE is not involved in the creation of the content, which is solely the responsibility of The Wall Street Journal news department.

WSJ Startup of the Year’ is produced in conjunction with New York-based production company Ish Entertainment.

Media Contact:

Sara Blask (@sarablask @wsjpr)
Dow Jones & Company
(212) 416-2312
sara.blask@dowjones.com