Co-Founder and General Partner
- Ranked Top 100 Powerlist VC
- 10+ years of VC/PE Investing, 80+ Portfolio Companies
- Select Prior Portfolio Companies: Beyond Meat (IPO'd), Sensity (Acquired by Verizon), ShopKick (Acquired by SK Telecom), FabFitFun, MeUndies, Le Tote, Helix Sleep, ZeroCater, Deliv
- Former Managing Director of Investments at Cleveland Avenue (VC/PE Fund co-founded by Former CEO & President of McDonalds), focusing on food and beverage brands, food related technologies, and new restaurant concepts
- Founder, Head, & Former Managing Director of Simon Venture Group (investment arm of Simon Property Group, S&P 100, largest retail real estate company in the world), grew to top 5 corporate VC focused on commerce alongside Google Ventures, Intel Capital, and Comcast Ventures
- Adjunct Professor at New York University teaching Venture Capital Intensive
- Creator of Multiple Top Ranked Entrepreneur Resources: #1 Startup Investor Pitch Deck Template (viewed & downloaded 500,000+ times, used by leading business schools and accelerators)
- Co-Founder of the #1 Startup Board Game: The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
Andrew Zalasin
General Partner
- 25+ years of venture capital and private equity investment and operational experience with entrepreneurial growth companies
- Former General Partner for 17 years at RRE Ventures, a leading technology venture capital firm with $1.5B across seven funds
- Involved in nearly 200 investments and has served on more than 30 boards in the US, Europe and Asia, and has been instrumental in generating industry-leading returns and providing experience and resources to help companies build teams, attack new market opportunities, identify and secure strategic initiatives / partnerships and achieve profitable growth in all phases of development
Joel Palathinkal, Ph.d
Associate Partner
- 4+ years of venture capital experience, 30+ portfolio companies
- Select prior portfolio companies: Epinomics (acquired by 10x Genomix), Melo (acquired by Ucommune), Ample, Sense Photonics, Bioaesthetics, Cypre, Persephone Biome, Nebulas Genomics, Phenomic Ai, Mendo, Navan Technology, Skymind, Alcatraz ai, Apprentice, Paladin, Tensorflight, Prime Discoveries, Securrency, Fr8, SkyFChain, Blockseed, AiCoin
- Former General Partner at Genesis Block Ventures: A Blockchain Venture Capital Fund, Cryptocurrency Quant Hedge Fund, & Crypto Mining Company based in NYC & Wyoming
- Venture Capital investor at Hemi Ventures
- Family office investor/advisor to high net worth individuals & families in Asia, Singapore, & the middle east
- Led technology platforms at a major financial institution which managed $300 Billion AUM
- Cornell University, Finance
- University of Central Florida, Ph.d in Modeling and Simulation
- University of South Florida, Electrical Engineering
- Adjunct Professor at Cornell University teaching Finance & Management
- Author of 2 books published in all major bookstores globally
Aakash Jain
Principal
- VU Cohort 2 Alum
- Venture Fellow, Jump Capital
- Co-Founder, Booth Bay Area Angel Network (Booth BAAN)
- Technology Investment Banking (Growth Equity), Financial Technology Partners
- Fixed Income Quant Trading, Morgan Stanley
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA
- Cornell University, MEng (Computer Science)
- Jacobs University, BA (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
Michael Siegel
Analyst
- Member of the Marketplace and Consumer investment teams in Venture University's First Cohort
- Venture Fellow, VentureSouth
- Clemson University, MBA, Entrepreneurship
- Wofford College, BA, Business Economics
Jenna Fernandes
Co-Founder, Operating Partner, & Head of Human Resources
- Venture Backed Serial Entrepreneur
- Co-Founder & CEO of The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
- Ranked Top 10 Female Tech CEO by Women 2.0
- Former CEO of Largest Student Run Business in The Country (Tufts Student Resources)
Consumer Team
Patrick Allen
- Previously a President and Portfolio Manager at Colite International.
- Previously in Business Development at Colite Technologies.
- BA in Global studies from the University of South Carolina, minors in Business and Italian.
- Passionate about investing in the next generation of CPGs.
Gilyana Saldusova
- Director at KPMG in Deal Advisory Department focused on financial due diligence of chemical, consumer and industrial market companies
- Auditor at Deloitte focused on the audit of telecommunications, media, and technology companies
- Avid Runner
J.P. Bowgen
- Former Macy’s Corporate Venture and Innovation & ex-strategy consultant
- Interested in tech-enabled consumer companies, food & beverage, and disruptors shaking up age-old industries
- The University of Chicago Booth School of Business MBA
Birju Trivedi
- Former Strategy & Performance Improvement Consultant at Protiviti
- Passionate about Consumer brands, PropTech, and Real Estate
- Interested in how technology innovation are making processes more efficient and dependable in the Real Estate & Retail space.
- 6+ years of experience in Construction, Real Estate & Retail business family office
- Mechanical Engineer from the Georgia Institute of Technology
Daniil Chen
- Previously Venture Intern at True Capital Management
- Co-founded the Bull & Bear Club and worked on creating NEU Alumni Angels @ Northeastern University
- Studied Finance & Economics at Northeastern University
- Enthusiastic about Consumer, FinTech, and GreenTech
Enterprise & Healthcare Team
Johan Richards
- Passionate about the entrepreneurial and economic development of Africa
- Serial entrepreneur and Angel Investor in many entrepreneurial startups
- Former Strategic Management Consultant focusing on entrepreneurial development
- MBA form Wits Graduate School of Business (WBS) in South Africa
- Served as Chairman of the WBS Alumni Association and member of the WBS Advisory Board
- Certified Leadership Coach, Mentor, Mediator and part time lecturer at leading South African Business school
- Consultant on the Stanford University’s Seed Transformation Program for entrepreneurs in developing economies
- Angel investor & involved with the startup of Africa’s biggest Snow Ski & Adventure Mountain Resort in Lesotho (www.afriski.net)
Sterling Duggan
- Lead intern at VentureCapital.Org, building relationships with founders, venture capitalists, and angel investors in the Pacific Northwest while attending school full time
- Master’s in Accounting from Idaho State University, winning multiple intramural championships, and a semi-professional baseball championship with the Gate City Grays
- Passionate about connecting driven entrepreneurs who are attacking large markets to opportunities to raise capital and build sustainable businesses
- Looking to join an early stage fund, bringing differentiated deal flow, challenging conventional wisdom, and learning from General Partners and entrepreneurs
Vidya Raman
- 12+ years in multiple enterprise verticals — Telecom, Healthcare, Energy and IoT.
- Ex-Director of Product Management for Cloudera’s Machine Learning platform.
- Prior experience includes eMeter (Sequoia-funded, acquired by Siemens), Silver Spring (Kleiner funded and IPO exit), Medtronic (healthcare).
- Looking to join an early-stage venture investor, leveraging my deep and broad connections in Silicon Valley and whetting my appetite for the next big thing.
Anna Tishchenko
- Launching an impact investment venture fund
- 12+ years of career in brand & marketing in EY, IBM, startups, and venture funds
- Advisor for early-stage tech startups on business and marketing strategies in the US and abroad
- Built a brand strategy for Venture Capital Holding Company disrupting early-stage startups investing
- Strategized EY Center of Innovations
- Led marketing strategy for IBM Hardware RCIS
- Launched and scaled a brand strategy for an enterprise technology company that reached $100M annual revenue in 3 years
- Launched a social change platform and built a community of business leaders (2000+) driving positive social change
Fintech / Blockchain Team
Ebube David-Osuagwu
- Associate/Ambassador @ Campus Coin project: Cryptocurrency digital medium of exchange shared over a peer-to-peer network utilizing blockchain.
- Co-Owner and founder of Big Wave Wash N Shine
- B.S.B.A.: Coastal Carolina University Wall College of Business. Degree in Finance
- President/Founder of Entrepreneurs Organization at Coastal Carolina University
- Passionate about innovation & entrepreneurship through Venture Capital
Henry Ngan
- Investment, Finance & Accounting professional with an emerging technology bent
- Founder of HHN Capital LLC, Fracitonal CFO & strategic advisory firm
- Startup consultant, advisor, and mentor
- Areas of Focus: FinTech, Blockchain & Cryptoassets, AI (Data Science), IoT & Consumer
- Fordham Gabelli (MBA), UAlbany (BS), CPA in NYS
- Certified Blockchain Expert, Certified Cryptocurrency Expert
- Passionate about US - China relations & the potentials
- Die-hard NBA fan and a Contrarian at heart!
Tarek Waked
- Former startup founder and pre-seed advisor / investor
- Experienced Angel Investor
- Multi-cultural experiences and upbringing gives a unique perspective on the future of the world and the startup ecosystems
- Avid futurist, sci-fi movie aficionado, super-connector and history buff
Frontier Tech Team
Vida Asiegbu
- Investment Banking / M&A Advisory at Evercore and Citi with broad industry coverage
- MBA graduate from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business
- Received BA from New York University in Economics (College of Arts and Science) and Business (Stern School of Business)
- Interests include developing the burgeoning FemTech segment and investing in disruptive Tech and Consumer companies
Samira Gholami
- Technology advocate and business leader with over 14 years of experience in the Tech Industry including positions with Palm, WebEx, Dell, Symantec, and Forrester Research.
- Former Director at the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
- Global Executive MBA – Hult International Business School, BA, Computer Science – University of Ansterdam
Benoit Foulon
- Previously an investment banking and consulting analyst in Paris
- Worked as Financial officer in a mobile learning app
- Studied in Paris @ESCP Europe Business School
- Sports and AI enthusiast
Daniel Grampa
- Broad experience spanning finance and entrepreneurship
- Generally interested in multi-sided platform business models; the convergence of disparate categories; decentralization
- BS Business Administration (Finance); MS Finance
Azim Ghafoori
- Entrepreneur and founder of consumer brands and enterprise brands.
- Former President of a Private Equity Firm in London
- Focused on Frontier tech with expertise in Quantum Computing & alternative meats.
- Adept at building brands and developing strategies.
- Angel Investor
75+ VU Venture Fellows
Joshua Pineault
fsdfsdf