Great Startup Mentors Confirmed for the Silicon Valley Founder Institute

In the Founder Institute's four-month, part-time program, promising startup entrepreneurs participate in weekly training and feedback sessions that are led by Founder Institute Mentors.

Our Mentors provide the passion, experience, and support that helps our Founders launch meaningful and enduring companies.

The Founder Institute is about practical, actionable training and feedback - not theory. To achieve this, we bring in experienced Founders and CEOs to give our companies the most relevant and valuable advice. In a confidential setting, they share horror stories, best practices, and realistic feedback to help our Founders avoid "rookie mistakes" and be successful.

In the upcoming Silicon Valley Fall 2026 Semester, we have secured a truly exceptional roster of Founder Institute Mentors, including many from out of town.

See the full list below:

Aaron Abram: Entrepreneur with 1 exit & Advisor., Pricestack, Kangarootime, & Osurv
Abdellah Aouf: Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM
Adam Matalon: Chief Revenue Officer, ThermaGel Innovations. Inc.
Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
Aditya Kumar: Director, Founder Institute Silicon Valley
Aki Ohashi: Vice President, Evolution Ventures
Aleksandar Bradic: Chief Technology Officer, Supplyframe
Alex Sok: Co-Founder/CEO, Endurance AI
Alexey Semeney: Founder & CEO, DevTeam.Space
Alex M. Dascalu: Lead Director, Founder Institute Central Eastern Europe
Aline Hemmo: Consultant, Pilsoft
Allen Martinez: Founder, Noble Digital
Amit Bhanot: Venture Partner, Loyal VC
Andrea Ramoino: Transformational Leader, Fintech, Payments, Digital Assets, SaaS
Andrea Monti: Managing Director Impact and Sustainability, Founder Institute
Andrew Lockley: Investor and Strategy Consultant, Andrew Lockley
Andrew Miller: Andrew Lee Miller, Consultant
Andy Park: Consulting CFO, Escalon Services
Ankush Bagotra: Product Management Leader , Meta
Anmol Verma: Co-founder, Finvest
Anthony Rose: Founder & CEO, SeedLegals
Asa Goldstein: Founder & CEO, BrandShine Creative Services
Ashutosh Zade: Founder, Inventor / Sr. Principal , Stealth Mode
Avery Lyford: VP Commercial Partnerships, RapidFort
Aviv Shalgi: CEO, Solar Simplified
Ayhan K. Isaacs: Head of Global Growth, Founder Institute
Ben Stacey: CEO, Pitchverk
Bob Rosin: Investor and Advisor, Bob Rosin
Bradley Riel: IP / Legal Strategist, DeepMind
Brandon Steelman: Founder, Clear Gene, Inc.
Brian Proffitt: Partner, Disruptive Capital Finance
Caroline Arzoo: Partnerships, TurboSBIR
Chang Chen: Founder, Hockey Stick
Charlini De Almeida: Non-Executive Director & Trustee, CISI Future Foundation
Chase Harmer: CEO, Wishes
Chris Foltz: Global Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Founder Institute
Christina Trampota: Managing Director, Innovate Grow Scale
Christina Reddick: Founder & CEO, Racedu
Chuck Gitkin: Founder, Marketing Road
Ciaran Byrne: Founder, NOVARA
Cindy Mallory: Emerging Tech Strategist, Worldwide TechServices
Dan Arkind: Founder & CEO, JobScore
Daniyal Ashraf: Social Media Lead, Founder Institute
Daoud Ghannam: Managing Director, Ghamir Ventures
Dat Le: Growth Lead, caffeine.ai | ex-Uber, Afterpay, Amazon
David Yeng: Managing Director, Hong Kong IEC (Singapore), Managing Partner, Founders Venture Capital
Diane Bailey: Head of Accelerator Growth, Founder Institute
Diraj Goel: CEO, Managing Partner, GetFresh Ventures
Dominique Kim, MPH: Health and Healthcare Transformation Leader, InnovatorMD
Dr. Hanan El Basha: Strategic AI & Growth Advisor to SMEs & Scale-Ready Businesses, The Business Doctor
DrWarren Linger: CEO, Certified Innovation
Dustin Betz: Director of Operations, White Rose Ventures
Eleni Lialiamou: Founder, Kimolian Academy
Eli Schwartz: Director of Marketing, APAC, SurveyMonkey
Enrico Dal Re: Head of Finance, Born
Eravi Gopan
Eric Hsu: Corporate Attorney
Fabian Geyrhalter: Founder and Principal, FINIEN
Franklin Kamnang Ngansop: Co-Founder, Vitamin CS Coaching
Freddy Atangana: Founder and Chief Executive Director, Ekamou
Frederic Voyer: Senior Strategy & Execution Advisor, Post-Exit Entrepreneur (multiple: SWAAAP, BVI & HR Inc.)
Gabe Zichermann: CEO, Failosophy
Gabriel Isserlis: Founder , Tutti
Gary Gaessler: SaaS Community Builder, Nylas, Co-Founder of CloudElements
Guillermo Guzman: General Partner, AIDA Ventures
Harsh Rajnikant Patel: CEO, Evolve8 Studio
Ignacio Castro: Managing Partner, 128vc
Ivelin Ivanov: Venture Advisor, Founder Institute
Janne Saarikko: Director, Food Ecosystems Accelerator, Founder Institute
Jason Jacobsohn
Jason Randolph: Head of Marketing, JuiceX
Jeni Chang: Managing Director, Founder Institute San Francisco
Jennifer Love: CEO, LivWeal Institute
Jiaxi Zhu: Head of Analytics, Google
Joaquin Ayuso De Paul: CEO, Rayo
Johanna Behm, Envire
Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute, GP Founder Capital
Jonathan Zaremski: Exec. for Product, Product Marketing, and Strategy, Consulting & Stealth Startup
Jonathan Okanlawon: Co-Founder/Board Executive , Global Croft Ltd
Judith Sanon: Founder & Digital Transformation Consultant, J0D8
Junada Sulillari: Lecturer/Start-up mentor, "Fan S. Noli" University
June W Choi: Managing Partner, Serval Ventures
Karan Mangat: CEO, Skill Beyond Boundaries
Karin Wellbrock: Executive Leadership Coach and Co-Founder., Kay Group K.K.
Karl Shaikh: Founder , Interpreters-On-Call
Kevin Siskar: CEO & Cofounder, Finta
Kimberly Minafra: Division Chief - Partnerships Development and Agreements , NASA Ames Research Center
Kristin Miller: Founder, InMotion Albums
Lance Cottrell: Founder, Feel the Boot
Leena Palav: Board Member, Strategy Advisor, Interim COO/CFO, -med devices, health tech, consumer products, robotics
Linda Carlberg: CEO/Founder/CCO, SpotSyt Inc.
Logan Grizzel: Partner, MUUS Climate Partners
Lubna Forzley: Founder & CEO, Stories
Luke Willoughby: Account Executive , Prolific
Maaike Doyer: Founder, Epic Angels
Madeline Duva: Board Member, Fluxx.io
Mahati Kumar: Senior Staff Software Engineer , Meta
Malte Krohn: Consultant, Faciltator & Coach, mindfulstartup.school
Manpreet Kohli: Senior Principal, Adobe
Mara Rada: Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)
Marcos Polanco: CEO, Prelatent
Mark Frohnmayer: Founder, Arcimoto
Martín Martinez: Founding & Executive Director, Founder Institute Texas
Matthew Willis: CRO, MedTechnologies
Matthew Schwab: Founder, Omnitecht
Mercedes Bankston: Venture Partner, Loyal VC
Michael Zaytsev: Founder, High NY
Mike Sherbakov: General Partner, The Veteran Fund
Mohammed Kashif: Senior Quality Assurance Automation Engineer, Department of Motor Vehicles
Mona Defrawi: CEO & Founder, Radivision
Monica Phillips: President, Spark Plug Labs
Monika Bleszynski: CEO, Greenshoot Materials
Mu Zhou, PhD: Head of Pathology AI, SenseTime
Naeem Zafar
Nicholas Johnson: Founder, Orange Charger
Nilay Jayswal: 5+ Years in B2B Growth Marketing (APAC, EMEA, LATAM) | Experienced in Advertising, Analytics and Automation | Mentor at GrowthMentor | TEDx Speaker, GrowthMentor
Nishanth Bharadwaj Sankaran: Sr Mechanical Design Engineer, Tesla
Niyati Gupta: Product Design Lead, Netflix
Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
Oleh Shkinder: Senior Product Manager, Stockpile
Olga Padulosi: Marketing & Partnerships, AppFollow
Patricia O'Donnell: Former VP Strategy and Partnerships, Deserve
Patricia Picco: Business Impact Lead, Aily Labs
Paul D'souza: President and CEO, The D'Souza Group
Paul O'Brien: Author, Startup Ecosystems
Pete Biggam: Director / Mentor / Advisor, Founder Institute
Peter Ma: Co-Founder, MixPose
Prashanthi Ramamurthy: Engineering Leader, Adobe
Preeti Tikekar: Founder/CEO, Membition
Priyanka Sanghvi: Product Leader, Zoom
Rafael Kartaszynski: CEO, TechEdge Dynamics
Rahul Dey: Product Lead, Glean
Raikirat Sohi: Senior Manager Software Engineering, Walmart Global Tech
Raj Sahu: Founder and CEO at , Utobo Inc
Rajesh Setty: Rajesh Setty - Serial Entrepreneur and Author, WittyParrot
Raluca Bujoreanu: Product Innovation, Strategy & Leadership; Venture Builder
Rawle Annandsingh: Managing Director, Founder Institute Caribbean
Resad Zacina: Chief Growth Officer, Ministry of Programming
Rich Maloy: Managing Partner, SpringTime Ventures
Ron Gentile: Founder, Moodfit
Russell Brand: CEO & Founder, Responsible Solutions Limited
Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
Ryan Kelley: Shareholder, Corporate & Securities, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
Sandy Gómez: Director, FI Caracas
Sanjai Marimadaiah: Managing Director, Spinnovation LLC
Scott Ford: Co-Founder & CEO, SparkRockets
Scout Tweedie Yates: Regional Manager , The Founder Institute HQ
Shruthi Lakshmi Saravanan: Founder, Izome Learning
Sneha Lundia Agrawal: Founder & CEO, Step2Growth
Srdjan Kovacevic: Vice President, Sizmek, Inc.
Sree Lekshmi: CEO, Stealth Mode Startup
Stefano Tresca: Chairman, Sixth Society
Stéphane Nasser: Co-Founder, OpenVC
Steve Bennet: Managing Director, Bodega Partners
Steven Morley: Business Advisor, Success4Execs
Steven Rooney: CEO, Intelligent Vehicle Briefs
Sush Bapna: General Partner, 10Ten Ventures
Tanvi Shah: Principal Product Manager, Upwork
Tim Seears: Angel Investor, Fourth State Ventures
Tom Charman: Co-Founder/CEO, Rassa
Torrey Smith: Co-Founder & Engineering Fellow, Endiatx
Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
Tyler Durman: CEO & Founder, Ignition Growth Consulting
Victor Chapela: Founder & CEO, Contextful
Vincent Mao: Managing Partner/Global Tech Strategist, Bouken Capital/VC firms/Google/Meta
Vishal Reddy: The Entrepreneurologist , entrepreneurology.network
Vladimir Pletyukhin: Founder and Creative Director, Launch Deck
Waqar Hashim: Founder , Smartware Advisors
Will Hunter: CEO, Thred
Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive