Startup Coaches, Events, and Resources

I have advised hundreds of startup founders across the globe regarding strategy, growth & capital raising. My clients span all verticals, all rounds, and collectively have raised over $600M. The science and methods of 'Startup Alchemy' work. I can guarantee to get you focused, to distill your company DNA, and that you will pitch with absolute clarity, and throw the most powerful punch possible every time you get in the room with an investor, customer, or potential partner. Most startup 'experts' come from marketing backgrounds. I come from 30 years of hands-on Founder experience, 4 IPOs, an acquisition by IBM, and having built and led a practice at Deloitte. Only someone who has been in the room with investors over a lifetime can teach you about the signals investors listen for, and how to manage your meetings for a win.

As Instagram's first hire in Latin America and an early Google Brazil team member, I've spent 8+ years in the LatAm startup and VC ecosystem working with founders and founding teams. I help you unlock how your personal mission translates to your business — and turn that into an engine of growth for partners, customers, and investors. Together, we'll find your unique story, connect it to your mission, and coach you on the best ways to express your authentic superpower.

Building a successful startup isn't just about having a great idea—it's about having the clarity, resilience, and authentic voice needed to navigate the inevitable challenges of entrepreneurship. My journey from corporate accounting to author and coach taught me that the most sustainable businesses are built by founders who understand their "why" and aren't afraid to lead with their authentic selves. Having helped multiple small businesses launch successful endeavors, I've seen how startups thrive when founders combine strategic thinking with deep self-awareness and the courage to advocate for their vision. I specialize in guiding startup founders through both the practical and personal challenges of building a business. Whether you're struggling to articulate your value proposition, finding your voice as a leader, or navigating the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship, I help you build not just a successful business, but one that aligns with your values and leverages your unique strengths. My approach recognizes that startup success requires both analytical skills and emotional intelligence—and that your personal growth directly impacts your business growth.

I believe founders deserve a thinking partner who understands both the business they’re building and the human being building it. With several decades of multi‑sector experience at the board, P&L, and operational levels, I bring a deep understanding of business needs across growth phases and the success factors that shape founder performance, resonance, and well-being. My approach blends entrepreneurship, coaching, strategy, process excellence, critical reasoning, ideation, and execution to offer a multi‑dimensional lens on every challenge. What I do is simple and powerful: I support founders’ thinking, sharpen their focus on what truly matters, and help them drive purposeful, high‑leverage results.

I’m a 3x startup founder (2x venture-backed) with deep experience building companies from research to market. My first startup spun out of my PhD in robotics and machine learning, giving me first-hand insight into turning cutting-edge research into real products and businesses. Moving from Australia to the US to found my first company also taught me the challenges of building a startup as a foreign founder. Throughout my journey, I’ve learned how to balance product development, customer needs, and the complexities of managing research and software teams—all while serving as a CEO and technical founder. I know how valuable it is to have real startup experience on your side—not just advice from consultants or business school frameworks. My goal is to be that resource for founders, helping with pitch decks, fundraising, team building, product strategy, IP and patents, sales, and even M&A. How I can help: - Crafting a pitch deck that attracts investors - Hiring top talent as a small, emerging startup - Balancing research and software development teams - Developing effective interview techniques - Choosing the right investors and navigating negotiations - Creating sales strategies and pricing models - Guiding through the process of selling your startup I offer actionable advice from deep-tech founding, fundraising, and team management experience. If you’re building an early-stage startup and need guidance, reach out! Founder Experience: - Current Startup: Building a consumer iOS app - Robotics Startup: Founded a machine learning company from my robotics PhD, raised $3.7M, secured patents, built a team, and led acquisition talks. - Web3 Ad Startup: Co-founded a venture-backed startup, raised $4M, and developed the initial codebase. - Technical Expertise: Experienced in hardware/software engineering, real-time estimation, and ML code in C++. - Education & Speaking: PhD in Robotics, lecturer, and speaker at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and other universities.

Welcome to my profile! I'm Pedro, a passionate entrepreneur and startup coach with a rich background in both founding and scaling businesses. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Aloi Tech, I bring firsthand experience in navigating the challenges of launching and growing a tech company. My previous roles as a Product Manager at Minu Fintech and an Associate at Advent International have equipped me with a deep understanding of product development and financial strategies in the startup ecosystem. With an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, I am passionate about helping aspiring entrepreneurs turn their innovative ideas into successful ventures. Let's connect and explore how I can support your startup journey!

I co-founded and served as COO of LeagueSide, which we grew to eight figures in revenue while remaining profitable before selling the company to TeamSnap. Along the way, I helped raise approximately $4 million, built a team of 40, and led across product, strategy, hiring, finance, operations, and go-to-market. I now help first-time founders whose companies have traction but still feel held together with duct tape and heroic effort. Whether you are trying to clarify priorities, improve your product or go-to-market strategy, raise capital, build a stronger team, or move from doing everything yourself to leading through others, I can help you diagnose what is actually holding the company back and decide what to do next.

I've founded twice in finance — one of the hardest industries in which to start anything. After a decade on the sell side and a PM seat, I stepped off the institutional track and spent the next 5+ years as Founder, CIO, and Head of Alternative Investments. First came a hedge-fund allocation practice serving family offices; then an asset management firm I co-founded and took through SFC licensing as its Responsible Officer, building compliance, operations, and a team from a blank page. What began as a Private Equity and Real Estate shop grew into a Multi-strategy Alternative Investments platform as I brought my own hedge-fund business onto it and onboarded a fixed-income team — zero to one, then one to many. No accelerator, no playbook; just the unglamorous work of turning ideas into firms that regulators would license and sophisticated clients would trust. And I'm building still, though not a company this time: armed with undergraduate C++ and a beginner's Python course, I've taught myself agentic-AI development and now run an investment platform of my own design. Just as valuable to founders: I've spent years as the capital on the other side of the table. As an allocator for family offices, I ran due diligence on 100+ fund managers — and a fund pitch is a business pitch: I was underwriting the team, the edge, the operational spine, and whether the firm itself would survive, before allocating capital I could pull the moment execution slipped. Money with a redemption right is the most impatient money in finance, and learning what keeps it in the room teaches you exactly how professional capital separates a fundable operation from a good story. Add a 15+ year with institutions — ten as a sell-side analyst, five inside hedge funds as analyst and PM — spent dissecting why businesses win or fail, and you get what investors think but rarely say out loud: where your model breaks, what your numbers really signal, which narrative raises money and which quietly kills the meeting. If you're building in fintech or asset management, raising from family offices or LPs, or leaving a corporate career to found something of your own, I've walked that road — and sat across the table from a hundred-plus teams pitching for capital.