Loren Bendele

I have been in the software industry for the past 20 years as an owner, operator and investor in various software businesses (SaaS, marketplaces, consumer, media/UGC). I’ve been lucky enough to be the first investor in two unicorns (Thrive Market and Veho). I’m also passionate about and directly involved in reform movements of foundational systems that help society function better (K-12 education, media and political reform). Currently I’m most interested in user generated content systems to bring people and AI together to debate and discover how to best drive positive change in society (think of this like a cross between Reddit, Wikipedia and local town hall meetings to better engage experts, elected officials, citizens and AI at massive scale). We’ve piloted and tested systems with the general public and with Stanford and MIT media labs and initial results are very inspiring. Twitter/X, Facebook and Reddit were not designed for civil discourse and healthy discussions - they won’t get society what we desperately need to make better decisions (true engagement, civil discourse, healthy discussions, transparency). We are working on building the best tech for civil discourse and true engagement on a global scale. My family (wife Kristen, daughter Avery and son Jackson) and I moved to Boulder from Los Angeles in 2018. We are excited to welcome the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder in 2027. I enjoy snow skiing, fly fishing, sailing, mountain biking, playing music (mostly guitar and singing) and traveling.

Idea exchange, civil discourse and leveraging UGC + AI for positive change.

Tech, UGC + AI can bring people together and help open people’s minds. Social media has been a big part of the problem (fake news, divisiveness, hate) but better social media can, and likely must, be a major part of the solution.

Riding a unicycle.