Startup ecosystem & entrepreneurship speaker.
I speak to founders, sales teams, civic groups, and classrooms — direct, specific, and built from doing the work rather than theorizing about it. Based in Ventura County, California, and at home on any stage from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.
Hear me first
Three conversations — the fastest way to know whether my voice fits your room. A sit-down on Our Ventura TV, on camera for The Hustle, and long-form on the Joe Knows Ventura podcast.
Talks
Building a startup ecosystem in a mid-size city
What it takes to build startup infrastructure outside the major metros: winning over city hall, recruiting mentors and capital, and turning civic pride into deal flow. Drawn from building Startup Ventura from zero in a county that had lost its only incubator.
Go-to-market strategy for startups
How early companies land their first customers before they have a brand: positioning against what buyers are already used to hearing, pricing the pitch, and turning the founder's own selling into a repeatable motion.
In-person selling
Why showing up still out-converts every channel. Reading the room, earning the next meeting, and the habits of high-volume outbound that carry into every deal — built on ten years of carrying a quota.
Event marketing
How to fill a room that converts: designing events that build pipeline and community at the same time, from launch benefits to demo days.
How to break into working in tech
The side door into tech nobody talks about: sales. What hiring managers actually screen for, how to get reps before anyone will hire you, and how to make yourself impossible to ignore.
Recent stages
- Rotary Club of Ventura & Rotary Club of Moorpark
- Startup Ventura launch benefit · the Deputy Mayor’s home
- Reagan Library reception · America 250 celebration
Classroom & campus talks
I mentor students at CSU Channel Islands and gladly say yes to classroom conversations at campuses across the region — entrepreneurship courses, business clubs, and career panels on breaking into tech. It isn’t only college: in October 2026 I taught a one-hour entrepreneurship class at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura — my own story first, then every student picked a real problem, designed a solution, and named the business they’d build around it. If you teach, run a student org, or lead a youth program in Ventura County, reach out.
For organizers
Introduction bio — about 75 words
Luke Erickson is the founder and executive director of Startup Ventura, the 501(c)(3) tech accelerator built to keep Ventura County’s most ambitious builders growing companies locally. A ten-year sales operator with more than $14 million in career pipeline generated, he built and exited the creator-economy fintech One Tap and led business development at Popl. He serves on the boards of the New West Symphony and the Serra Cross Conservancy, and mentors students at CSU Channel Islands.
Materials
- Headshots In the press kit — square and vertical, free to use with credit
- Full bios 50 / 100 / 200 words, copy-ready
- Formats Keynotes, panels, workshops, podcasts, and classroom visits
- Home base Ventura, California — available across Ventura County, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles
- Booking lukeericksonwork@gmail.com — include the date, audience, and topic and I’ll reply within a day