Startup Coaches, Events, and Resources

I’ve worked across multiple startups, helping founders build products, hire early teams, design systems, and make decisions in the middle of chaos. I’ve taken on fractional executive roles, built AI-enabled workflows, shaped product and go-to-market strategy, and supported teams through the messy but important zero-to-one stages. My background blends strategy, operations, product thinking, and real hands-on execution — which means I can help you work through whatever you’re facing as a founder. My coaching focuses on clarity, momentum, and sustainable decision-making. Whether you’re validating an idea, building an MVP, sharpening your GTM, navigating early hiring, or trying to scale yourself as a leader, I help you break things down, see the blind spots, and move forward with a plan that actually works. You get a mix of strategic thought partnership and practical operator-level support.

I help scientists and engineers navigate the lab-to-boardroom transition as startup founders. I work with technically-trained founders in industries ranging from AI to materials to biotech, helping them grow as high-performance executives. I was founding CEO and later CSO of a venture-backed Silicon Valley AI startup (citrine.io). Northwestern PhD, Stanford MBA. Served on the engineering faculty at both Stanford and Northwestern.

Welcome to my profile! With a rich background in AI, biopharma, and medtech, I bring a unique blend of expertise to help startup founders navigate the complexities of launching and scaling their ventures. As a former founder of a venture-backed medtech startup and an advisor/investor in early-stage companies, I understand the challenges and opportunities in the startup ecosystem. My experience at Boston Consulting Group and as a Principal Program Manager Lead in AI equips me with strategic insights to drive innovation and growth. Whether you're refining your business model or seeking investment, I'm here to guide you every step of the way. Let's connect and turn your vision into reality!

Helping architects, engineers, designers, and technical experts become startup founders. I never planned to become a startup founder. I began my career in architecture before earning graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard Graduate School of Design. While at Harvard, I joined Harvard Innovation Labs, where I was exposed to entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem. That experience changed the trajectory of my career. Since then, I've co-founded two technology companies serving the architecture industry, including Zenoya, an AI platform backed by Forum Ventures. Along the way I've validated ideas, built products, raised venture funding, pitched investors, hired teams, and navigated the realities of building startups from the ground up. Today, I help architects, engineers, designers, and other technical professionals take the leap into entrepreneurship. Whether you're exploring your first idea, building an MVP, preparing to raise capital, or simply wondering if startup life is right for you, I'll help you think strategically and avoid common mistakes.

Welcome to my profile! With a rich background in marketing and strategic leadership, I bring over a decade of experience to help startup founders navigate the complexities of launching and scaling their businesses. As a former startup mentor at Founder Space and a 2 time founder myself, I the experience and know how that can help you get to the next level. I addition, my tenure as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley has equipped me with the skills to teach innovative marketing and management practices, focusing on practical skills like go-to-market planning and product management. I am passionate about empowering founders to enhance their brand visibility and customer engagement. Let's connect to discuss how I can support your startup journey!

I've spent years on both sides of the venture table. As an investor at firms including Crosslink Capital, Headline, and Peterson Ventures, I evaluated thousands of pitch decks each year, sat in hundreds of founder pitches, and backed 15+ companies across enterprise software, fintech, and developer tools. I've been in 60+ board meetings and helped founders raise over $75M. I know the exact questions partners ask behind closed doors, how decks get read in the first ninety seconds, and what separates a "yes" from a polite pass. Today I'm a co-founder at ContextOS, a venture-backed enterprise AI infrastructure startup — which means I'm not coaching from a market that's five years stale. I'm raising, negotiating term sheets, and building investor narratives right now, in the same conditions you are. That mix of investor pattern recognition and current founder reality is what I bring to every session: I'll tell you what an investor is genuinely thinking, then

Welcome to my profile! With an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and extensive experience as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Equal Opportunity Ventures and Blue Ridge Labs Robin Hood, I am passionate about helping aspiring entrepreneurs turn their visions into reality. My background includes building innovative solutions, such as an AI voice agent for mortgage servicing, and investing in financial inclusion across Africa, India, and the Middle East with Soros Fund Management. I bring a wealth of knowledge from my time at Credit Suisse and Soros Fund Management, where I honed my skills in strategic investment and financial analysis. Whether you're looking to refine your business model or secure funding, I'm here to guide you every step of the way. Let's connect and start building your entrepreneurial journey together!

I've spent 15+ years in executive seats and operator roles at startups. I cofounded Omni, raising $35MM from top VCs including Highland Capital, Lightspeed, and 8VC before exiting to Coinbase in 2019, where I scaled the organization from 3 to 80+ people. I was first VP of Product at a Series A construction tech startup, growing the product and engineering team from 3 to 18; Head of Brand and Design at a Series C hospitality operator. I've sat in the rooms my clients sit in, made the calls they're making, and felt the weight of leading through ambiguity, fundraising, hiring, and rebuilding when things break. That lived founder experience is the foundation of how I coach. For the last 8 years I've coached 150+ founders and CEOs at early-stage and growth-stage companies backed by Y Combinator, Techstars, Lightspeed, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, and others. I work across the full founder journey from pre-seed through Series C: validating ideas, finding product-market fit, fundraising and pitching, building the founding team, hiring executives, navigating the transition from scrappy do-everything operator to scalable CEO, and growing as a leader along the way. My specialty within founder coaching is cofounder relationships and trust repair, where my structured mediation approach has saved multiple VC-backed companies from dissolution. My approach blends two practices most coaches keep separate: operator-informed tactical advisory on the hard skills of building a company, and the inner work of self-awareness, somatic practice, and the slow development of self-mastery that determines whether a founder can hold the role over time. The founders who build both muscles scale further and stay healthier doing it.

As a Founder you can outsource almost anything you struggle with - except your mindset. My approach to coaching stems from the belief that the relationship we have with ourselves reverberates across every other part of our lives. To succeed in your startup, therefore, requires conscientious cultivation of healthy, enabling self-partnership. My practice combines Alderian and Applied Positive Psychology with a focus on human flourishing. Some of the primary pain points I address are: negative self talk, limiting beliefs, burn out, lack of self trust, purposelessness, unhealthy communication patterns, uncertainty about next steps, stress management, decision making under duress, and failure to take consistent action to achieve goals. Prior to coaching, I spent 8+ years as a 3x founder in B2B climate fintech, consulting, and fiscal literacy, 14+ years as a workshop facilitator & educator, and 5 years as an international speaker. Since starting Mountain Tops Consulting, I have coached 18 professionals and facilitated 200+ hours of executive masterminds, 60 development workshops, and 5 retreats. I currently lead programming at the Entrepreneur House of San Diego, the mission of which is to maximize founders’ personal and professional growth.

I help CEOs and operators as they prepare to raise capital by translating investor expectations into clear, practical fundraising guidance. I have 4+ years across Private Equity, Growth Equity, and VC, and most recently served as an investor on Summit Partners’ flagship $10B fund, focused on technology investments. I also spent a year at Griffin Gaming Partners, where I evaluated earlier-stage gaming companies and infrastructure businesses. I graduated from Harvard, where I taught the largest Venture Capital club on campus to 100+ undergraduates. I designed the curriculum myself and mentored students on investing fundamentals, company analysis, and how to think like a VC or growth equity investor. I bring that same investor perspective to helping founders sharpen their pitch, anticipate diligence questions, and communicate their business more effectively.