Online Event

How They Did It: Success Stories & Advice from Top Entrepreneurs in Tech

Hear success stories and best practices from underrepresented founders & startup experts

Date

Oct 20, 2021

Time

08:00 pm - 09:00 pm

Address

Online Event

Timezone

Building a startup is hard, but it's even harder for minority and women-owned startups, and if you want to be successful in your startup journey, it pays to heed the advice of those who have walked a similar path yet have achieved success against all the odds. At this live and interactive event you will hear from underrepresented startup experts from around the world who will share their success stories, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid, to help put you on your path to startup success. Join us for what promises to be an exciting event and come ready with your questions! This event will be hosted by Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder of FI).

Who Should Attend?

Anyone interested in entrepreneurship
Anyone who is keen to learn from an inspiring, enlightening and authentic conversation
Anyone who has an idea for a startup or an early-stage company
Anyone who has been working tirelessly to bring their product to the marketplace

About the Speakers:

Mercedes Bankston is the Program Director of FI London and a Venture Capital Advisor at Loyal VC, a global startup index fund with over 125 investments across more than 35 countries. Mercedes is also the Founder of Jump Start VC, an alternative Venture Capital Firm investing in companies with traction on Kickstarter and IndieGogo. Prior to this, Mercedes was the Director of Business Development for McGraw-Hill Education, responsible for analyzing and developing new investments within Ed-tech worldwide. Her engineering background has allowed her to work for Cisco, NEC and Oracle, designing and driving innovation within healthcare and education. In her spare time, Mercedes has been involved with hosting NASA Hackathons and leading Girls-In-Tech, a global non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology and careers in STEM fields.

Paloma Lecheta is a Brazilian based LATAM Regional Program Director and a Regional Success Manager at Founder Institute who is passionate about helping to find, fund and launch startups to help aspiring founders succeed. Paloma is also a Board Member and Co-Founder of We are All Smart (WAAS), a non profit organization that empowers underprivileged youth, between the ages of 5 and 18, from vulnerable communities in Brazil, to develop problem solving skills using technology as a tool by offering knowledge and inspiration through technological education and human development projects, empowering them to develop and lead solutions to problems encountered in their communities.

Elisa Sepulveda is a Program Director at FI Austin and an EIR at Math Venture Partners, an early to growth-stage venture capital fund focusing on technical and digital companies. Elisa is an operational leader that galvanizes growth through community engagement and go-to-market strategies. She’s an experienced builder, working with startups to bring products to market and expanding that market. Elisa likes to keep busy and is heavily involved in different aspects of the greater Texas entrepreneurial ecosystem. Her former roles included being the General Manager of The Riveter Austin, a community and network of coworking spaces built by women for all. Elisa believes that entrepreneurship is the key to lift up underserved communities and she’s passionate about helping underserved founders build their companies, raise money, and hire people like them.

For more information about the investors, incubators, and tech events available in Pittsburgh, see our list of Startup Resources.

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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.