Startup Coaches, Events, and Resources

I run two AI companies while finishing my master's at Harvard. Demystifyd, a career platform serving 2,000+ international students across 38 countries. Aware.ai, an AI maternal health platform. Before founding, I shipped product at Apple, NVIDIA, and Tesla. The U.S. government awarded me an EB-2 National Interest Waiver green card for my work in AI and entrepreneurship. I coach a specific kind of founder: international builders who want to start, scale, and stay in the U.S. — without losing their visa, their company, or their runway in the process. Most founder advice assumes you're a U.S. citizen with no clock running. International founders are operating under conditions almost no startup advice accounts for. The visa decisions you make in years 1-3 of your company shape whether you're still building it in year 7. The fundraising decisions you make affect your immigration options in ways most lawyers and most advisors don't connect. The structure of your company, your role inside it, the timing of when you incorporate, who you raise from, when you file what — all of it interacts with your visa pathway. What I help international founders with: - Founder-track immigration strategy: O-1, EB-2 NIW, and the long game beyond H-1B - Company-building decisions that protect your visa runway (incorporation timing, role definition, fundraising structure) - Positioning your venture for credibility — with investors, with USCIS, with universities and accelerators - Navigating the school question: when grad school helps your venture, when it hurts it, when to defer - AI startup positioning specifically: category, go-to-market, narrative for the current funding climate - Deciding what to build, what to kill, and what to delay — through a founder-with-a-clock lens I'm not an immigration attorney. I'm a founder who built and structured my way through this system, and now I help a small number of others do the same. I take very few founder-track clients per cohort because the work is intensive and the stakes are high. If you're an international builder serious about scaling a U.S.-based company and protecting your future here, I'll be happy to help.

Having founded four companies, I’ve experienced the full spectrum of the entrepreneurial journey—one exit, bootstrapping two ventures, and raising over €1 billion in funding throughout my career. In 2019, I launched the first-ever Techstars accelerator in Italy, which quickly became one of the network’s top-performing programs. My portfolio companies have raised over $100 million post-program, with five successful acquisitions. As an investor, mentor, and executive coach, I focus on early-stage B2B companies (and sometimes B2C) across various industries, supporting the most ambitious founders worldwide. My own founder experience in Germany and Southeast Asia has equipped me to understand and guide entrepreneurs on their path to success, and I've backed companies in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

I'm a 4x founder and founded New Tech Northwest in 2012 which now has 60,000+ members across the Pacific Northwest and is one of the largest independent tech communities in the world. I built it without venture backing, without a co-founder, and with an ADHD brain that made every "simple" operational task feel like defusing a bomb. I hold a Masters degree in clinical and counseling psychology and an ICF PCC credential (the Professional Certified Coach designation, which represents 500+ hours of verified coaching experience and rigorous competency assessment.). Using almost 250 hours of coach training and over 2,000 hours coaching clients, I've spent 20 years coaching founders and tech leaders, including clients from Y Combinator, Techstars, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. But the qualification I lean on most? I've lived the founder experience with an ADHD brain including the hyperfocus sprints, the missed follow-ups, the 2am clarity and the 10am paralysis, the gap between vision and execution that feels impossible to close. I know what it costs. I also know what changes when you stop fighting your neurology and start building with it. I coach founders and professionals with ADHD who are smart enough to see exactly what they need to do but get stuck on the 'how' or the 'why' around starting more than they finish and always seeing new ways to do things better. That's my specialty.

Welcome to my profile! With my combined operator and VC experience, and also coaching many founders, I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of starting and scaling their ventures. Let's work together to navigate your entrepreneurial challenges! Reach out to explore how I can support your journey.

With over two decades of experience in leadership development, strategic consulting, and in technology leadership in C-Suite, I specialize in guiding startups and entrepreneurs to achieve their full potential by bringing enterprise-level expertise and agile thinking to high-growth companies. I work with Series A+ technology-focused companies needing experienced leadership to professionalize their organizations early and establish the right foundation to scale effectively. As the Co-founder of Sullivan Global Consulting, I have worked with high-profile clients like The Honest Company and its founder, Jessica Alba and the CEO (holding over 350 technology patents) of Perceive (acquired by Amazon) providing executive coaching and leadership development tailored to the unique challenges of startup environments. My diverse background from working for large enterprises, such as Intel within Transformation Programs to a Digital Entertainment startup in Ireland as General Manager to serving as COO of technology startup, Reppify and at 22nd Century Solutions by Design impact investment fund, equips me with a unique perspective on innovation and sustainable growth. Whether you're navigating the complexities of scaling your business or seeking to enhance your leadership skills, I'm here to help you succeed. How I work: For Startups: Building the Foundation - Leadership Alignment - Right People - Building effective teams and leadership structures - Right Processes - Establishing scalable systems that grow with you - Right Technology - Implementing solutions that drive efficiency: we help prevent the inefficiencies that come from ad-hoc systems and reactive decision-making, ensuring sustainable growth as you scale. 🎙️Breaking Boundaries: A Podcast of my Leadership Journey 🔹Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-boundaries-from-intel-to-pro-athlete-to-executive/id1769047061?i=1000708555318 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/64kqS1nYpXX5ykmj41kgSb?si=3DMFY04CSWiJBsJ5mX6PgA

I’m a venture-backed founder who has built, scaled, raised capital, navigated regulatory processes and led a company through both growth and structured wind-down. I’ve experienced the full startup lifecycle — from 0→1 product development and fundraising to managing complex stakeholder dynamics and making hard board-level decisions. As Founder & CEO of a healthcare startup, I worked with major hospital systems, built cross-border operations (US & Mexico), negotiated manufacturing and regulatory partnerships, and raised capital from top-tier investors. I’ve also navigated crisis moments — including investor due diligence challenges — which has given me a deeply practical understanding of governance, compliance, and founder accountability. Beyond building companies, I teach entrepreneurship and mentor early-stage founders across fundraising strategy, customer discovery, positioning, and leadership. I specialize in helping founders think clearly under pressure, structure their narrative for investors, and design companies that are both ambitious and operationally sound. If you're building something bold and want a coach who understands both ambition and responsibility — I’m here for that.

I've started multiple companies during business school and am currently the Co-Founder of Lifespark, a fast-growing men's reproductive health company. I'm passionate about all things consumer, healthcare, and tech.

I work with startup founders the same way I approach real-world decision making. No hype, no theory, and no pretending there is a one-size-fits-all playbook. I focus on helping you make clear, practical decisions based on your actual situation, not what sounds good online. My background is built around working with real people, solving real problems, and cutting through bad assumptions that hold businesses back. Whether it is structuring your next move, thinking through risk, improving decision-making, or getting unstuck, I bring a disciplined, straightforward approach that helps you move forward with clarity and confidence instead of guesswork. I am also the author of Who’s Got Your Six?, which focuses on accountability, trust, and making better decisions when it matters most. That same mindset carries into how I work with founders. I am not here to impress you with jargon. I am here to challenge weak assumptions, help you think clearly about risk and opportunity, and build a plan you can actually execute. Whether you are early stage, trying to stabilize, or looking to make smarter strategic moves, I bring a disciplined, straightforward approach that helps you move forward with clarity, confidence, and a much higher level of awareness than most people operate with.

I have 20 years experience in strategy consulting and loyalty/rewards marketing, and have created several successful businesses. I've consulted to numerous startups and NFT projects at various stages from concept/pre-seed through Series D. I have a strong breadth of industry expertise having completed projects and built businesses in web 3/NFTs, travel, financial services, real estate, retail, grocery, gas. I've created reward and membership programs around the world and managed Membership Rewards partnerships at American Express as well as the Black, Platinum, and Gold Cards and developed a portfolio-wide strategy. I have my MBA from Yale University and my BA from Cornell University. I pride myself on multitasking ability (I used to have a day "corporate" job with four of my own successful businesses on the side), reliability, and loyalty/transparency. I believe in developing a tight plan up front for every project and really focus on iterative development. I'm particularly good at taking complex problems and turning them into data-driven clarity. I'm also a game theory expert so I always very much focus on the competition and making sure the businesses I advise on are positioned appropriately.

Welcome to my profile! With a deep background in venture capital and executive coaching, I specialize in guiding startup founders through the complexities of leadership and business growth. As a former leader at 500 Startups, I supported one of the largest early-stage venture capital portfolios, helping numerous founders transition into successful CEOs. My experience as an Executive & Personal Growth Coach allows me to address challenges such as fundraising difficulties, team-building issues, and co-founder disagreements, while also fostering personal development and stress management. Additionally, I teach leadership and change management at UC Berkeley, equipping future leaders with the skills they need to thrive. Let's work together to transform your startup journey—reach out to start the conversation!