Los Angeles 2025

Founder Institute Los Angeles Mentors

Founder Institute Mentors join weekly feedback sessions, host office hours, and in general provide you feedback every step of the way. In addition, through our Equity Collective, Mentors are invested in the success of your company both during and after the program.

See the list of current and past mentors for the Los Angeles program below.

Aaron Ross

Aaron Ross

Author @ Predictable Revenue
Aaron Abram

Aaron Abram

Entrepreneur with 1 exit & Advisor. @ Pricestack, Kangarootime, & Osurv
Abdellah Aouf

Abdellah Aouf

Chief Executive Officer @ GO PLATFORM
Adeo Ressi

Adeo Ressi

CEO @ Decile Group / VC Lab
Aeolan Kelly

Aeolan Kelly

CEO & Founder @ Benchmark Equine
Alan Cole

Alan Cole

Alan Cole - CEO, GovX (San Diego FI) @ Gov X
Alex Lightman

Alex Lightman

Alex Lightman - Chairman, Witkit (Kuala Lumpur FI) @ Witkit
Alex Dang

Alex Dang

Senior Advisor and Former Partner @ McKinsey & Company
Allison Silvers

Allison Silvers

Early-Stage Investor; Startup Advisor @ Tech Coast Angels
Alphonzo Terrell

Alphonzo Terrell

Co-Founder and CEO @ Spill
Amanda Lettmann

Amanda Lettmann

CEO, COO & Co-Founder @ Kardia Ventures/ SimpleDisability, Inc.
Amy Chang

Amy Chang

CEO @ Delta Nutrassentials
André Filho

André Filho

Founder In Residence @ AI Fund
Andrew Beinbrink

Andrew Beinbrink

CEO @ SportsForce
Andy Abramson

Andy Abramson

CEO @ Comunicano, Inc
Angela Lee

Angela Lee

CEO & Co Founder @ From Fat to Finish Line
Angelo Di Leva

Angelo Di Leva

Founder & CEO @ Simply I Do, Inc.
Ar Tabrizi

Ar Tabrizi

Co-Founder @ Human 1st Ventures
Ariel McNichol

Ariel McNichol

CEO & Co Founder @ SmartSpark
Ashtan Moore

Ashtan Moore

Entrepreneur @ A Misfit Plethora
Atilio Spaccarotella

Atilio Spaccarotella

General Partner @ Swivel Ventures
Benjamin Narasin

Benjamin Narasin

Founder & General Partner @ Tenacity Venture Capital
Bennett Batten

Bennett Batten

CEO @ Lumpsucker Studios
Bernardo Herzer

Bernardo Herzer

CEO / Founder @ LEHR Inc.
Bob Saffari

Bob Saffari

Founder @ Flairio Labs
Brandon Hoffman

Brandon Hoffman

General Partner @ Sunset Ventures
Brian Liu

Brian Liu

Chairman & Co-Founder @ LegalZoom.com
Bridgit Lombard

Bridgit Lombard

CEO & Founder @ Marea Partners
Brock Pierce

Brock Pierce

Vice Chairman @ Affinity Media
Bryan Hall

Bryan Hall

Principal Architect (San Diego FI) @ Seismic
Charlie Jackson

Charlie Jackson

Founder @ Silicon Beach Software
Chas Rampenthal

Chas Rampenthal

General Counsel @ LegalZoom.com
Cheryl Yeoh

Cheryl Yeoh

EIR @ Silicon Valley Bank
Chris Studer

Chris Studer

Founder & Former CEO @ ScholarPoint Financial
Chris Snook

Chris Snook

Managing Partner/Venture Catalyst in Residence @ Launch Haus
Chris Bechtel

Chris Bechtel

Managing Partner @ Growth Engine Labs
Christopher Harz

Christopher Harz

Vice President @ VirtualAgility
Cliff Boro

Cliff Boro

Managing Partner @ The Team Group, LLC.
Corey Coto

Corey Coto

CEO @ Kaizen Insights
Cory Rosenberg

Cory Rosenberg

CEO & Co-Founder @ Biista
Courtney Nichols Gould

Courtney Nichols Gould

CEO & Co Founder @ SmartyPants Inc.
Craig Hagopian

Craig Hagopian

CEO & Founder @ Chalk Media Holdings, Inc.
Dan Shapiro

Dan Shapiro

Dan Shapiro - Founder, Sparkbuy (Seattle FI) @ Stealth
Daniel Landsman

Daniel Landsman

Aerospike @ Head of NA/MarTech/Gaming
David Johnson

David Johnson

Co Founder & Chairman of the Board @ From Fat to Finish Line
David Parham

David Parham

Director of Research - Projects @ Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
Delilah Panio

Delilah Panio

Vice President, Capital Formation @ TMX Group
Derrick Oien

Derrick Oien

Dimitri Villard

Dimitri Villard

CEO @ Live Longer, Inc.
Dolly Singh

Dolly Singh

CEO & Founder @ Thesis Couture
Don Di Pietro

Don Di Pietro

Co-Founder/COO @ XIRKL Networks
Don Swan

Don Swan

Private Equity Associate @ Skyview Capital
Donna Antebi

Donna Antebi

Eddie Hartman

Eddie Hartman

co-Founder @ LegalZoom
Edmond Banayan

Edmond Banayan

Entrepreneur / CEO / VP of Biz Development / Board Observer / Investor / Mentor @ See LinkedIn
Elizabeth Topp

Elizabeth Topp

CEO & Co Founder @ MOD - Meaningful Organizational Design
Eric Pulier

Eric Pulier

CEO and Founder @ ServiceMesh, Inc
Evan Rifkin

Evan Rifkin

CEO @ Burstly.com
Fabian Geyrhalter

Fabian Geyrhalter

Founder and Principal @ FINIEN
Fabrice Gould

Fabrice Gould

Founder & CEO @ Diggen
Frank Mastronuzzi

Frank Mastronuzzi

Founding Partner @ Punch Financial
Fred Joyal

Fred Joyal

Fred Joyal - CEO & Co-Founder, Futuredontics (Los Angeles FI) @ Futuredontics
Gabe Zichermann

Gabe Zichermann

CEO @ Failosophy
Gaurav Bhattacharya

Gaurav Bhattacharya

CEO & Co-Founder @ Involve.ai
George Bandarian Ii

George Bandarian Ii

Founder & Managing Partner @ ValueScaler
Gioia Messinger

Gioia Messinger

Gioia Messinger - Founder and Chairman, Avaak, Inc. (San Diego/Orange County FI) @ LinkedObjects, Inc.
Greg Hallinan

Greg Hallinan

Founder & CEO @ ModMedia, Inc
Gregg Spiridellis

Gregg Spiridellis

CEO @ JibJab
Hany Alhamidi

Hany Alhamidi

Founder @ eMentoring
Henri Duong

Henri Duong

Founder, Principal @ Enclave Web Group (EWG)
Irving Hsu

Irving Hsu

Investor @ Mayfield Fund
Jad Meouchy

Jad Meouchy

Jake Tan

Jake Tan

Founder @ ErgoTune
Janet Todorova

Janet Todorova

Head of Expansion @ Founder Institute
Jason Calacanis

Jason Calacanis

Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Author @ LAUNCH, All In, This Week in Startups
Jason Nazar

Jason Nazar

Jason Nazar - Co Founder & CEO @ Crew32
Jason Pang

Jason Pang

COO @ Bodymatter, Inc.
Jason Butcher

Jason Butcher

Founder & CEO @ Orbit Capital
Jay Samit

Jay Samit

Former CEO @ SocialVibe
Jay Tsao

Jay Tsao

CEO & Founder @ GM Technologies
Jay Kossifos

Jay Kossifos

Founder & CEO @ Pay Close Attention, Brand & Venture Partners
Jayla Siciliano

Jayla Siciliano

Founder @ Bon Affair
Jeff Jackel

Jeff Jackel

CEO @ Chatter
Jeffrey Paine

Jeffrey Paine

Founding Partner @ Golden Gate Ventures, Singapore
Jenny Pollock

Jenny Pollock

Founder @ Women and AI
Jesse Dylan

Jesse Dylan

CEO @ Wondros
Jilliene Helman

Jilliene Helman

Co-Founder & CEO @ Realty Mogul
Jimmy Hendricks

Jimmy Hendricks

Jimmy Hendricks - CEO & Co-Founder, @ Light Post Digital & Deal Current Network
Joe Betts Lacroix

Joe Betts Lacroix

CTO @ Vium
Joe Bezdek

Joe Bezdek

Co-founder @ DivX, Inc.
Joe Bayen

Joe Bayen

CEO @ Credit Plus
John Girard

John Girard

CEO @ CIENCE
Jon Carder

Jon Carder

CoFounder and CEO @ Empyr
Jon Funk

Jon Funk

Founder & President @ Ocean Road Partners
Jong Choi

Jong Choi

Co-Founder & Managing Director @ Chaperone Ventures
Jordan Greenhall

Jordan Greenhall

Co-Founder & Former CEO @ DivX
Joseph Yeh

Joseph Yeh

Joshua Azran

Joshua Azran

Founder @ Azran Financial APC
Joshua Lee

Joshua Lee

Founder & CEO @ Ardius (Acquired by Gusto)
Justin Wu

Justin Wu

Founder @ Growth.ly
Kelly Perdew

Kelly Perdew

Cofounder @ Moonshots Capital
Ken Rutkowski

Ken Rutkowski

CEO / Founder @ METal
Ken Ong

Ken Ong

Senior Vice President @ Salesforce.com
Kevin Yamazaki

Kevin Yamazaki

CEO & Founder @ Sidebench
Kim Walpole

Kim Walpole

CEO & Co Founder @ Trials.ai
Liz Gasser

Liz Gasser

Managing Partner @ High Camp Ventures
Lucy Beard

Lucy Beard

Lucy Beard - CEO & Founder @ feetZ
Madeline Fraser

Madeline Fraser

CEO & Founder @ Gemist
Manoj Khani

Manoj Khani

CEO & Founder @ Memorita
Mara Rada

Mara Rada

Chief Operations and Strategy @ Loon (loonbio.com)
Marcos Polanco

Marcos Polanco

CEO @ Deedit
Margot Bushnaq

Margot Bushnaq

Founder & CEO @ BrandBucket.com
Mark Landay

Mark Landay

Managing Director @ Dynamic Synergy
Mark Hellinger

Mark Hellinger

Chief Marketing Officer @ InvolveSoft
Mark Wald

Mark Wald

Managing Director @ Supporting Strategies
Matt Walker

Matt Walker

Founder @ DayPoint
Mercedes Bankston

Mercedes Bankston

Founder @ Funderstar LTD
Michael Stemple

Michael Stemple

Mike Stemple - Founder, Inspirer @ Inspirer
Michael Green

Michael Green

President @ Tech Coast Angels
Michael Taus

Michael Taus

Founder / CMO / TechStars Mentor @ Rent.com, CrowdStreet, Rentable, ApartmentIQ, Amplion, FoundersPad
Mike Fleck

Mike Fleck

Vice President, Security @ CipherPoint (a Covata Ltd. company)
Mike Sherbakov

Mike Sherbakov

General Partner @ The Veteran Fund
Nadav Wilf

Nadav Wilf

Founder & CEO @ ENLTND
Neha Bansal

Neha Bansal

Head of Product @ Meta
Nick Cates

Nick Cates

Founder & CEO @ Showpads.com
Nitsan Tucker

Nitsan Tucker

COO & Co-Founder @ Truemance, Inc.
Noah Wallach

Noah Wallach

Founder @ Hope OS
Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell

CEO and Founder @ uWink
Oded Noy

Oded Noy

Founder & CEO @ Social Approach
Oren Klaff

Oren Klaff

Director of Capital Markets @ Intersection Capital
Patrick Dillon

Patrick Dillon

Co-Founder & President @ Deal Current Network, Inc.
Patrick Barry

Patrick Barry

Founder and CEO @ Kinduce
Peter Guber

Peter Guber

CEO @ Mandalay Entertainment
Rafael Kartaszynski

Rafael Kartaszynski

CEO @ TechEdge Dynamics
Ralph Simon

Ralph Simon

Chairman Emeritus & Founder @ MEF
Rebecca Sadwick

Rebecca Sadwick

Founder & Managing Partner @ Strategica Partners
Reichart Von Wolfsheild

Reichart Von Wolfsheild

Chief Software Architect, CTO & Co-Founder @ Qtask
Renee Zau

Renee Zau

Co-Founder & CEO @ DonationMatch
Richard Koffler

Richard Koffler

CEO @ Greenwings Biomedical
Rick Hernandez

Rick Hernandez

Redefined Logistics @ Head of Business Development
Ricky Velasquez

Ricky Velasquez

Founder @ Mooch (exited)
Rishi Sharma

Rishi Sharma

West Coast Lead @ Newlin VC
Robert Tercek

Robert Tercek

President @ General Creativity Consulting
Robin Lee

Robin Lee

Investment Screening Director @ Tech Coast Angels
Ronen Olshansky

Ronen Olshansky

Co Founder @ CrossCampus
Ruslan Nazarenko

Ruslan Nazarenko

Head of Growth @ Scale AI
Ryan Kaltman

Ryan Kaltman

CEO @ Brevity Inc
Ryan Bettencourt

Ryan Bettencourt

Ryan Bettencourt - Co-Founder, Cursive Labs @ Cursive Labs
Sam Saddigh

Sam Saddigh

CEO / Founder @ Knightsbridge Branding
Sam Strasser

Sam Strasser

Founder & CEO @ Treasure
Sameer Sortur

Sameer Sortur

Founding Partner @ SquareCircle Ventures
Sarah Song

Sarah Song

Startup Advisor @ Los Angeles, CA
Saumya Bhatnagar

Saumya Bhatnagar

CTO & Co-Founder @ Involve.ai
Scott Painter

Scott Painter

Co Founder @ BrightHouse
Scott Tilton

Scott Tilton

Co Founder & CEO @ Hookit.com
Scott Wayman

Scott Wayman

Founder & CEO @ Kangarootime
Sean Markin

Sean Markin

CEO & Co Founder @ Myvana
Serephina Ha

Serephina Ha

Managing Director @ Founder Institute - Los Angeles
Sergey Sundukovskiy

Sergey Sundukovskiy

Co-Founder, CTO and Chief Product Officer @ Certemy
Seth Shapiro

Seth Shapiro

Shaahin Cheyene

Shaahin Cheyene

Shahab Kaviani

Shahab Kaviani

Co-Founder, Chief Entrepreneurs Office @ CoFoundersLab
Shankar Narayanan

Shankar Narayanan

Technology Partnerships & Sales Leader @ Amazon Web Services | Energy & Utilities
Shar Ghoudsifar

Shar Ghoudsifar

Founder & CEO @ Helpkin
Shuki Lehavi

Shuki Lehavi

CEO & Co-Founder @ Gumiyo
Simon Mainwaring

Simon Mainwaring

CEO @ Mainwaring Creative
Sina Roshan

Sina Roshan

Cofounder & CPO @ Peekage (Techstars 2020)
Siobhan Oldham

Siobhan Oldham

CEO & Founder @ Azestfor, Inc.
Snow Lee

Snow Lee

Co-Founder & CEO @ Runbear
Steen Strand

Steen Strand

Director @ Snap
Stephane Fymat

Stephane Fymat

Founder & CEO @ Smartplane Inc.
Stephen Meade

Stephen Meade

Founder & CEO @ MonetaPro
Steve Hansen

Steve Hansen

CEO @ WePlay
Steve Lehman

Steve Lehman

Co-Founder @ "C" Student Entertainment
Steven Morley

Steven Morley

Business Advisor @ Success4Execs
Stuart Oden

Stuart Oden

CEO @ JLink
Susy Pang

Susy Pang

Director of Customer Operations @ InvolveSoft
Talha Basit

Talha Basit

Co-Founder & CEO @ Spiraldot Health
Taryn Rose

Taryn Rose

Taylor Milsal

Taylor Milsal

Managing Director @ Cotor Inc
Taylor Cavanah

Taylor Cavanah

CEO & CO-Founder @ Locai, Inc.
Thom Kozik

Thom Kozik

Chief Commercial Officer @ Loyyal
Tim Norris

Tim Norris

Co-Founder @ J!NX
Tim Drees

Tim Drees

Tim Suski

Tim Suski

Co Founder @ Rush Cycle
Todd Terrazas

Todd Terrazas

Founder, President, & Executive Director @ AI LA
Tom Marchesello

Tom Marchesello

Investor Trend & Strategy Director @ United States Fund
Tom Andrus

Tom Andrus

Tom Walpole

Tom Walpole

CTO @ TrialsAi
Tony Karrer

Tony Karrer

Tony Karrer - CEO/CTO, TechEmpower (Los Angeles FI) @ TechEmpower
Tony Greenberg

Tony Greenberg

Chairman and Founder @ RampRate
Travis Schmidt

Travis Schmidt

Founder @ WorldFare
Trevor Jensen

Trevor Jensen

CEO @ Bullibone
Tyler Turner

Tyler Turner

Founder & CEO @ Beauy Fox
Vidya Dinamani

Vidya Dinamani

Co Founder & Principal @ Product Rebels
Vince Kohli

Vince Kohli

Serial Entrepreneur & Super Angel Investor @ Deleted
Walter O'brien

Walter O'brien

CEO @ Scorpion Computer Services
Wayne Bos

Wayne Bos

Chairman @ Minergy
Wesley St. Louis

Wesley St. Louis

Founder, CEO @ HecTech
William Quigley

William Quigley

CEO @ OPSkins and WAX Token
Yemi Oluseun

Yemi Oluseun

Growth & GTM For FinTechs @ The Change Hive
Yunus Sevimli

Yunus Sevimli

Co-Founder & CTO @ Almond Fintech
CTA BG

Apply to FI Core

Join the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator

The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 7,500 entrepreneurs raise over $1.85BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.


Copyright © 2025, Founder Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved