Christopher Celeste has spent more than twenty years catalyzing ideas in politics, marketing and business. Born in New Delhi, India and raised in a large political family in Ohio, Christopher grew up in and around political campaigns. After graduating with honors from Stanford University in 1988, Christopher returned to Ohio and helped to found and lead Participation 2000, a non-traditional political action committee designed to train young organizers. Christopher's affinity for "campaigns" took him from politics to advertising where he spent fifteen years in various marketing agencies, eventually serving as president of several firms including Resource (www.resource.com), a national technology marketing firm, where he managed offices in Columbus and San Francisco. During this period Christopher played a key role in the e-commerce launch and web fashion show for Victoria's Secret that garnered international attention and was named ADWEEK's Marketing Event of the Year.

In 2004, Christopher became a Founder & the first President of FindawayWorld, whose core product is Playaway, the world's first preloaded digital audio book format (www.playaway.com). Called a "genius idea" by Oprah Magazine and the "simplest way to get from the bookstore to Chapter One" by the New York Times, Christopher helped to lead Findaway from a start-up idea to a profitable, Inc 500 success. In 2010, after selling his interest in Findaway, Christopher shifted his attention to Hatch (www.hatch.us.com), a boutique consultancy whose mission is to provide coaching, connections & capital to early-stage entrepreneurs.

Christopher and his wife - fellow entrepreneur Nancy Kramer - have six children between them. While Christopher serves on several boards, he spends most of his free time with family, writing about leadership or helping friends and fellow entrepreneurs catalyze new ideas.

Blake Squires is a media and technology entrepreneur with an appetite for what's next. Early in his career Blake produced concerts and started an artist management company. It was in Los Angeles in the mid-90's where he witnessed first-hand the convergence of technology & media - in this case record companies awakened by the internet. Capitalizing on this "disruption", Blake moved back to his home town of Cleveland to co-found and become Chief Operating Officer of Everstream Inc., a streaming media and digital cable analytics company which sold to Concurrent Computer Corp (NASDAQ: CCUR). Blake then co-founded Adcoda Inc., a digital music download company. From there he became a founding partner and was Chief Strategy Officer for Findaway, makers of Playaway (www.playaway.com), preloaded devices. He again has teamed up with Christopher Celeste, a partner in both Adcoda and Findaway, to harness their combined experience to found Hatch (www.hatch.us.com), a consultancy focused on helping entrepreneurs with their ideas.

Blake has been awarded "40 Most Influential People Under 40" by Crain's Magazine and was named an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2010.  He is a member of The Entrepreneur's Club of America (TECA), is on the Advisory Board of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative and serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence for Lake Erie College.  A graduate of The Ohio State University and fascinated by media and technology, Blake earned a degree from the prestigious School of Journalism with a focus on Telecommunications. 

Blake loves to tinker, dine-out and is inspired daily by his wife & three kids under six years old.