Startup Grind Toronto Hosts Michael Terpin (BitAngels & SocialRadius)

Michael Terpin began SocialRadius in 2007, the latest chapter in a 25-year career in public relations, Internet marketing and digital innovation. A serial entrepreneur, he has been frequently written about as a pioneer in online PR and marketing, newswire distribution and social media/Web 2.0 marketing. Since May of this year when Michael co-founded BitAngels, the first multi-city angel network and incubator dedicated exclusively to digital currency startups, it has attracted over 120 investors and US$18-million in capital. Michael has been a frequent speaker at leading technology and marketing conferences, including Ad:Tech, CES, E3, European Technology Roundtable (ETRE), Frost & Sullivan Sales & Marketing Conference, NAB, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Red Herring, Southern California Software Council and VNU Digital Media. He has been profiled in PRWeek and O’Dwyer’s PR Report, and has been a guest columnist for O’Dwyer’s PR Daily. Terpin is the only PR executive to be twice named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of the most influential technology leaders. He was a finalist in the 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Terpin also founded Marketwire, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive international newswires. Originally known as Internet Wire, Marketwire was acquired in April 2006 by Toronto-based media company CCN Matthews, and is now owned by OMERS Capital Partners, the private equity arm of a $41 billion pension fund. Marketwire employs more than 200 people and has annual revenues of more than $70 million, with offices in 12 cities. Marketwire serves more than 6,000 clients, including Bayer, HP, IBM, Merck, Symantec and Wal-Mart. Terpin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from SUNY at Buffalo and a dual bachelor degree in Newspaper Journalism and English Literature from Syracuse University. He serves as an advisor to SU’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he was inducted into its prestigious “Wall of Fame” in October 2000. Terpin is also a private investor and/or board member for several privately held technology start-up companies and trade associations. He has established several industry-related blogs, including Social Media World and CES Party List and he has published analysis, essays and reports on a variety of social media topics, including two case studies for Global PR Blog Week.