About

Wayne is a designer and digital media thought leader who regularly speaks about harnessing the power of social media to foster creativity, empower communities, and build brands. Wayne delivers value to individuals, organizations, and brands by integrating product and market knowledge to continually improve marketing, sales, product development, and user experience.

Wayne Sutton is the Cofounder of Cosemble. Cosemble is a self-service social media publishing platform for creating events and sharing experiences with the people and organizations you care about. Founder of PitchTo, which manages and rates founder pitches. Cofounder of Student Ventures ( Studentventures.org , a nonprofit oragnization which mission is to expose middle and high school students to the world of entrepreneurship, mobile app development, digital technology and STEM education. Wayne share’s his shares his experiences with entrepreneurs as on of Wall Street Journal Startup Gurus in a weekly article. In 2011, co-founded the NewMe Accelerator, the first minority led startup accelerator/incubator in Silicon Valley which was featured in CNN Black in America 4 in 2011 and launched a mobile location-based startup in 2009. Wayne has 14 years experience in design and business development and has founded two software companies. Wayne has worked with large brands, Inc 500 companies and advises several technology startups.

Wayne has been featured on CNN, BBC, USA Today, TechCrunch, Mashable, Black Enterprise, and various online media outlets. Being an early adopter Wayne was one of the first 1000 users on Twitter which as lead to a loyal following not only on Twitter, but Facebook and Google+. His blog SocialWayne.com has been ranked one of the 50 best technology and social media blogs in the world.

Wayne is a past TED attendee and has spoken at universities, major internet and technology focused conferences such as Stanford, Duke, UNC, NC State, World Wide Web Conference, O’Reilly Web 2.0 Expo, South By South West (SXSW), BlogWorld, and more. While managing PitchTo, Wayne is also an Angel Investor In Training via Astia and the Pipleline Fellowship.

Staying current with the ever changing trends in internet technology, Wayne loves educating and inspiring others to succeed and providing value to his clients.

Company

Event Organizer

Nonprofit

Recognition

(2008) Immediate Influence: 50 Most Powerful and Influential Men in Social Media
100 Smartest People in Social Media
100 Social Media Experts to Follow on Twitter
Social Media Thought Leaders – Who’s No. 1? (Just missed list)
Top 20 Social Media Experts (Honorable Mention)
Social Media Expert Interviews by Brian Carter
@BlackWeb20′s and @HP’s Top 50 Tech Tastemakers
BrandMakers’s 25 Urban Entrepreneurs To Follow on Twitter
The Top 50 Social Media Blogs Of 2010
50 Of The Best Social Media And Technology Blogs In The World
MyMediaInfo’s Top Ten Technology Tweeps
Top 50 Social Media Blogs to revitalize your mind
50 Social Media Phenoms
21 Of The Top Black Social Media Influencers
Top20 Black blogs of 2011
20 Most Influential People in Social Media
The Most Influential Small Business People on Twitter
Top Social Media Strategists to Watch in 2012
Top 10 Social Media Blogs to Follow in 2012
Top 100 U.S. Social Media, Internet Marketing & SEO Blogs – 2012
The Inaugural BiT Top 10 Award Winners awarded at SXSW Interactive
25-best-black-bloggers
10 San Francisco Entrepreneurs To Watch – via YFS Magazine
Blacks on the Brink of Greatness BET.com
(2013) Business Insider: The 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology

Quotes and recommendations:

Wayne is an enthusiastic and pragmatic entrepreneur. He’s built an incredible network due to his ability provide value to others and build trust. I have enjoyed working with Wayne during AgLocals days in the NewMe accelerator and have no doubt he will be successful in building Pitch.to.
Naithan Jones, CEO, Co-Founder, AgLocal
Wayne is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs on the rise with knowledge and resources. He knows the ins and outs of the startup sphere better than most, and what he does with that knowledge day to day makes him a great guy to know and work with.
Rachel Brooks, Founder, Citizen Made
Wayne’s ability to think outside the box and find overlooked opportunities is unsurpassed. , Teresa Savage, CEO & Co-Founder at Gift Caddie
Wayne is hands down one of the most dedicated and balanced advisor/entrepreneurs I’ve met., Naithan Jones, CEO, Co-Founder, AgLocal
Doug Erickson
“Wayne was a great speaker and knows his “Social Media”
David Gray
“ Most Impressive, informative. Wayne is am excellent speaker who gave us all valuable insight into the Social Media market. Our thanks to the Ty and the sponsors for having this meetup ”
Rhett King, DC
“ I thought Wayne was great I think I definitely walked away with more info than I had going in. Thanks ”
Jeff Tippett, Outreach Strategist, Calvert Holdings, Inc.
“Wayne Sutton exhibits a natural passion to connect people. A social media guru, Wayne understands technology and helps people apply tools to meet their overall objective. Wayne has truly won the respect of all those with whom he works.”
Brian Russell, Consultant, Yesh Design
“Wayne is a very energetic and hard working collaborator. He strikes a great balance between serving others and getting ahead. THIS is why I trust him completely. Plus he knows his social tech!”

Angel Investor Training:

Astia Angel Training Program
2012 Bay Area Pipeline Fellowship Conference

Leadership, Community Projects:

Mentor at CODE2040.org – 2013
Mentor at Hack//Meat Silicon Valley Food Hackathon – 2013
Startup Day on the Hill Participant – 2012
NewME Accelerator, Co-Founder, Partner – NewMEAccelerator.com(2011 – 2012)
BlackWeb 2.0 – Guest Contributor (2008 -2012)
The Social Geeks Podcast – Guest Host (2008 – 2012)
Triangle Social Media Club – President, The Triangle, NC (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) (2008-2010)
Ignite Raleigh – Event Organizer, (2009 -2010)
Startup Weekend – (Raleigh, NC) – Event Organizer, (2008-2009)
Triangle Tweetup Event Organizer, (2007-2010)

Hackathon Winner

November 2012 – Code For America Data DeathMatch! – First place winning team

November 2012 – ESPNW Hack Day – Twitter Prize Winner

As Seen In

2013
USA Today – Minorities rush to Twitter, Instagram, smartphones
BET.com – Blacks on the Brink of Greatness
Wall Street Journal – Earvin “Magic” Johnson To Lead Powerhouse Line-Up Of CEOs At Entrepreneurs Conference In Columbus, OH
Inside Scoop SF – Food Hackathon looks to the future of food technology, colorful food searches and more
Xconomy – Food Hackers Cook Up a Storm of Startup Ideas in San Francisco
Business Insider – There’s a Racial Divide On Twitter And Instagram
Business Insider – The 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology
The Root – 25 Most Influential African Americans in Technology
Bloomberg Businessweek – Education, Mentors, Money: How to Boost Black Tech Entrepreneurs

2012
Mashable – How Do We Close the Diversity Gap in Tech Entrepreneurship? [VIDEO]
Black Enterprise Online – Black in America’: Wayne Sutton, One Year Later
Black In Tech Austin – The Inaugural BiT Top 10 Award Winners awarded at SXSW Interactive
TheRoot – 25-best-black-bloggers
YFS Magazine – 10 San Francisco Entrepreneurs To Watch
TechCrunch – The Search For Minority Entrepreneurs Is Over — Now They Need To Be Ready For Investors
ESPN – espnW Hack Day 2012 Wrapup
TechCrunch – 7 New Educational Startups Founded By Minorities in Tech
Diverse Mobile – The most interesting (and humble) brother in technology

2011
News and Observer – Local tech entrepreneur makes his mark on CNN
CNN – Soledad O’Brien Chronicles Journeys of Black Tech Entrepreneurs for Fourth Black in America
Mashable – 3 Reasons Tomorrow’s Tech Industry Will Be More Culturally Diverse
CNNTech – Black entrepreneurs pitch their dreams to Silicon Valley
CNNMoney – 8 entrepreneurs diversifying the tech scene
The Network Journal – NewMe Accelerator Aims At African-American Technological Entrepreneurship
Wall Street Journal – MC Hammer To Minority Entrepreneurs: “Let’s Get It Started
Wall Street Journal – Y Combinator Success Leads To Copycats, Incubator Raiders
CNN.com – Marketers embracing QR codes, for better or worse
Black Enterprise Online – Diverse Startups Connect at SXSW Technology Conference -
Black Enterprise Magazine – Featured in the January edition of Black Enterprise Magazine
Kentucky.com – Growing in popularity, QR codes can help your business grow
Raleigh entrepreneur and blogger Wayne Sutton joins TechMedia as Director of Digital
News14 interview: Foursquare offers ‘Super’ deals for football fans
Grind and Thrive – How Wayne Sutton’s Passion For Technology Helped Him Become A Big-Time Influencer
SmalllBiz Lady – Melinda Emerson – Do you have an idea for the next great tech start-up?

2010
Web Pro News – Using Geolocation to Promote Your Business
Technorati: #28DaysofDiversity with Wayne Sutton
The Atlanta Post – Behind The Click: Wayne Sutton
Black Enterprise - Tech Insider: 4 Things to Consider Before Buying a Smartphone
WRAL – NBA owner, dot-com billionaire praises Triangle’s entrepreneurial energy
Perkett PR – Claire Russell and Wayne Sutton at IMS10 – Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA – Part 1 & 2
CNN Money – Steve Jobs’ big night at the Oscars
50 Social Media Phenoms

2009
Fox News 8, Interview – Social Networking Etiquette
HubSpot Marketing – Want to Build Your Brand? Share Your Content.
MyNC – How To Get Your Next Job
Web Pro News – How Social Media Could Haunt You

2008
Social Media Rock Star – Wayne Sutton Interview
Immediate Influence – 50 Most Powerful and Influential Men in Social Media
North Carolina Startups – Social Media and Startups
FayObserver.com – ‘Twitter’ gains steam in Fayetteville
The Smak: 2 Guys & A Mic: TO Makeover
Triangle Stores – Citizen journalism and community building
NBC Nightly News – Watching Companies rise in 54 hours, ref Startup Weekend.

Most endorsed for on Linkedin

The SocialWayne.com iPhone Appp:

Connect

Social Footprint
Twitter: 43,000 + Followers
Facebook: 106,000 + Subscribers
Linkedin: 2400 + Connections
Google+: 15,000 + in circles
AngelList: 1600+ Followers
PeerIndex Score 80
Klout Score 70
Kred Score 825

WayneSutton on google plus