TMC and EMBRASE Business Consulting announced today that John Sculley, former President of Pepsi/CEO of Apple and recognized leader in big brand marketing, will keynote the seventh installment of StartupCamp: Comms Edition, collocated with ITEXPO Miami 2013, on January 31 at the Miami Convention Center in Miami, Florida.

StartupCamp is a unique forum for early-stage entrepreneurs to pitch their communications offerings to a discriminating audience of industry influencers, media, potential investors and customers who gather for an evening of rich networking. Recent StartupCamp events have all been standing room-only, with more than 500 people crowding into StartupCamp5 in Miami at the February 2012 event.

John Sculley has been an innovator since his youth. By the age of 10, Sculley was dismantling radios and converting them into intercoms. By age 30, he was Pepsi’s youngest vice president of marketing and in 1977, Sculley was named the youngest president to-date of Pepsi-Cola — is known as the man behind the original Pepsi Challenge. By the time Sculley left Pepsi in 1983, before moving on to become CEO of Apple, the Pepsi brand had become the largest-selling consumer packaged goods brand in America, surpassing Coca-Cola in market share.

Today, Sculley is focused on sharing his considerable experience with corporate executives, “serial entrepreneurs,” and third-wave companies that are ready to take risks, to adapt to change or to use technological advances to achieve their goals — much like he will do with the IT and telecom entrepreneurs and market leaders attending StartupCamp7 in Miami.

“The opportunity to share in the experiences and wisdom from the likes of someone as accomplished as John Sculley is nothing short of once-in-a-lifetime,” said Larry Lisser, co-founder of StartupCamp. “In this day of free products and services, user experience is everything. John was a pioneer in experience marketing well before the term ‘UX’ even existed, so his insight will surely be invaluable.”

The fast-paced, “ready, set, pitch” format of StartupCamp will offer four pre-selected early-stage companies the opportunity to validate their pitches in real time and network with potential investors and partners. Companies developing offerings that enable or are enabled by communications technologies such as voice, SMS and video, that are under three years old and are angel or privately funded, should apply for a ‘pitch slot’ here.

StartupCamp7 is proudly sponsored by: Momentum, UberConference, Twilio and Phone.com.

ITEXPO is the world’s largest and best-attended communications and technology trade show, and is held January 30 – February 1, 2013, at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. Registration for ITEXPO Miami is now open.

For information about exhibitor or sponsorship opportunities, contact Joe Fabiano, 203-852-6800 x132 or Maureen Gambino, 203-852-6800 x109. For media registration, contact Ashley Baster. For the latest ITEXPO news, updates and information follow the event on Twitter at #ITEXPO.

About Embrase Business Consulting:

Embrase is a boutique consulting company offers market strategy and a range growth-focused solutions to Telco Service Providers, and to Entrepreneurs innovating the communications industry. Since 2003, Embrase has assisted a cross section of companies around the globe to make strategic decisions, successfully enter new markets and accelerate commercial success.

About TMC:

TMC is a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person and online. TMC publishes multiple magazines including CUSTOMER, INTERNET TELEPHONY, M2M Evolution and Cloud Computing. TMCnet is read by as many as 1.5 million unique visitors each month, and is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is also the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event, as well as industry events: M2M Evolution; Cloud4SMB Expo; DevCon5; Super Wi-Fi Summit, CVx; Asterisk World; StartupCamp, and more. Visit TMC Events for a complete listing and further information.