Gary Livingston

Gary is a Ventura County native that began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 12 selling snow cones and simple programs designed in Visual Basic. While attending Agoura High School, he began his photography career under the tutelage of Mr.Neely and took up the role of manager for the band, Underwood.

These experiences led to Gary starting his first startup in 2001, a social network and online magazine mashup called A.Refuge. It saw modest success and resulted in Gary being recruited as a Product Lead for Iteration Group, a local experience design and product development firm.

After helping many founders and companies design, develop, and launch new products Gary moved on to co-found another startup in Santa Monica, began a consulting career, and furthered his photography career where he had the privilege of photographing the LA Kings during both of their Stanley Cup runs, here at home.

Eventually, Gary would return to Conejo Valley and reconnect with his childhood friend, Alon Goren, the founder of 805 Startups. After attending a stellar event in downtown Ventura, Gary excitedly asked Alon if he could come on board to help take 805 Startups from a successful meetup group to a full-fledged organization serving our wonderful region. Alon of course said yes and the group grew from 300 members to over 1200 in just six months.

Gary has since become the President of 805 Startups and continues to leverage a wide range of skills and background experiences to serve the community. He can be labeled as a founder, co-founder, experience designer, producer, photographer, event organizer, product manager, and more.

Above all else, Gary is a champion of the region and actively working to improve the well-being of the community and individuals it relies upon as proven by his work at 805 Startups.