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Founder Institute Mentors

New Zealand - Australia Summer 2025

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 New Zealand program below.

Mentors

Adam Long

CEO, TheEthicalCEO.com

Adeline Chu

Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Western Sydney University

Adrian Bunter

Corporate Advisor | Angel Investor | Non-exec Director, Modus Partners

Aivee Robinson

Co-Founder, Catalyser

Albert Bielinko

Venture / growth investor, Telstra Ventures

Alejandro Patterson

Principal Product Manager , Honey Insurance

Alex Samson

Founder & CEO, dvhb

Alex Guyer

Partner Firemark Ventures, Associate Partner Black Nova Venture Capital

Allan Lalic

Co-founder, Kebloom

Amit Verma

Senior Manager, Listings, ASX

Anna Cheng

Head of Growth Marketing, Turo Australia. Ex HealthMatch Ex Brighte Ex Spaceship

Anne Marie Elias

chief disrupter, Founder, PrimeLife Partners, innovating longevity & care

Annie Le Cavalier

Venture Partner, FI and Former GM & Community, Stone & Chalk

Ant Moorehouse

CEO and Co-Founder, EarthTech

Ash Ma

Product Manager, Zip Co.

Asher Vukelic

Chair, Southwest Angels

Ashton Bishop

CEO, Step Change hellostepchange.com

Ben Pecotich

Design & Innovation Director/Founder, Dynamic4

Benjamin Ranck

Principal, MacroReactor

Benjamin Chong

Partner, Right Click Capital

Bill Trestrail

CEO, Market Momentum Pty Ltd

Bill Trestrail

Venture Partner, Black Nova Venture Capital

Bjorn Halfmann

Founder & Experience Design Director, muteo.co

Brendan Yell

Former Director, Twilio Startups

Brodie Mc Culloch

Founder, Spacecubed, Perth, WA

Brodie Mc Culloch

Founder and Managing Director, Spacecubed

Bronwen Kaspers

Customer Success Coach, Culture Amp cultureamp.com

Cam Walshe

Director, Pitchblak

Caroline Lepron

CEO & Founder, Skoutli

Cheryl Mack

CEO & Founder, Aussieangels.com + Activator at SheEO™

Chris Clark

FI Mentor

Chris Clark

Chris Clark, GeoSnapShot / Balesk / Pavilion Drinks

Chris Braine

Founder, Cellr

Christopher Krainer

Director of Hardware Engineering at Zoomo, & co-founder at rk-collective.com

Damien Messina

Manager, Impact Angel Network

Dane Eldridge

CEO, 4mation Technologies

Daniel Lohrmann

Managing Director, ikaros

Darsel Keane

Director, University of Auckland

David Kenney

Director, Start Growth Pty Limited

Dean Mc Evoy

Non Executive Director, Investor and Adviser, TechSydney

Debra Taylor

Non Executive Director, Stone and Chalk

Dennis Kibirev

Chief Growth Officer, Mesh Ai

Dmitri Voronenko

CTO & Investor, virtualintegrity.com.au

Dylan Mc Donnell

CEO, Foodini

Eitan Bienstock

Managing Director, Techbench Capital

Elizabeth Kaelin

MSc, RDN & Finance Lecturer, UTS Business School

Eran Ben Shahar

Tech Advisor, KeyQC - AI & Quantum Computing Powerhub

Erwin Van Der Koogh

Founder/CEO, Linc

Franziska Iseli

Founder, Basic Bananas

Gautam Mishra

Founder / CEO, inkl

Gawin Fernando

Co-Founder, CreativeCubes.Co

George Hedon

Founder & CEO, Pause Fest

Greg Campbell

entrepreneur, former Ops Director, information security specialist, Current Head of InfoSec and Compliance

Harshu Deshpande

Start-up & Scale-up Advisor, Google

Jack Qi

Director, William Buck

James Moody

CEO, Sendle

Jane Cockburn

CEO and Founder, Kairos Now

Jeeva Suresh

Founder & CEO, Helix

Jeff Perlman

Founder, Revenue Ninja (revenue.ninja)

Jeremy Chetty

Co-founder, Student Edge

Jo Ucukalo

CEO, Handle My Complaint

Jo Ann Suchard

A/Prof, Sydney Angels & University of New South Wales

Joanne Jacobs

Co-CEO, Disruptor's Handbook

John Pennington

Former CEO & Founder, Rfider Limited

John Pennington

FI Mentor

Kate Ringvall

Co-Founder, Galactic Cooperative

Kim McGuinness

Strategic Relationships Director, SBE Australia

Leila Alem

Chief Design and Innovation and Adj Professor, ArcSense

Liam Darmody

Fractional Product Leader, Advisor & Coach, liamdarmody.com

Magdalena Reith

Startup- and Business Consultant, Magdalena Reith Pitch Decks

Marshall Hughes

Freight Manager, Freight Companies Australia

Marshall Hughes

Consultant, Freight Companies Australia

Matt Allen

CEO, Tractor Ventures

Matthew Browne

Co-Founder @Upflowy upflowy.com, @Donesafe donesafe.com, @Whispli, Investor @Black Nova Group etc

Maxine Lee

COO & Investment Director, Skalata Ventures

Michael Taus

Founder / CMO, Rent.com, CrowdStreet, Rentable, Amplion, FoundersPad

Michelle Gilmore

CEO, heyjuno.co

Mitchell Pham

Chairperson, NZTech

Neil Smith

CTO, Simple KYC

Nhat Nguyen

CEO, Otrafy

Oliver Ranck

Co-Founder | CMO | Exec Director, Future Neutral | MYSALE | Octomedia

Paul Wenck

Chair, Co-Founder Checkbox

Paul Krajewski

Product Management professional, Co-Director Founder Institute Australia+NZ

Paul Grimes

CTO & Founder, OK200

Paula Taylor

Executive Director and Co-Founder, West Tech Fest

Pavel Reddy

Former Managing Director, Clearpoint Ventures Pty Ltd (Formerly)

Pete Cooper

Founder, The Start Society

Pete Cooper

Former CIO, KBZ Bank

Pete Horsley

Founder, Remarkable Tech

Peter Van Bruchem

Co-Founder, Techboard

Peter Browne

Owner, Intangible Communications

Prashant Gami

CEO & Founder, x•enabler

Rachel White

CFO, Part time CFO / fractional CFO

Rajeev Gupta

Managing Partner, Alium Capital

Rayn Ong

Director, Ong Heng Investments

Rebecca Dooley

Partner, Addisons

Reheen Guin

Director & Co-Founder, Digital Crew and PandaMetrics

Richard Dale

Committee Member, Sydney Angels Inc.

Roger Do

Co-Founder, QSearch

Roman Kovalenko

Chief Data Officer, Reserve Bank of Australia

Ron Hill

Managing Director, sunramp.co

Ryan Cross

Manager for Prototyping, AWS, ANZ & APAC

Sam Richards

Managing Director, Brightlight Impact Advisory

Sameer Babbar

Director, SVB Group

Sandrina Postorino

Committee Member, Sydney Angels Inc.

Scott Crowe

Lead Recruiter, Canva

Scott Glew

Organizer, Morning Startup Perth

Sean Geoghegan

Cofounder and former-CTO, Sendle, Tech and People Leader, Iconoclast.

Simon Litchfield

CTO, and serial Founder

Simone Joyce

CEO/Founder, Paypa Plane

Sorrel Kesby

Head of Global Commercial Operations, GumGum

Srikanth Muthyala

Investor, Melbourne Angels

Stefan Korn

General Manager, Callaghan Innovation

Stuart Reynolds

CEO & Founder, Fullstack Advisory

Tal Rotbart

Former Chief Technology Officer, Marketplacer (until Oct-‘23)

Tim Silverwood

Co-Founder, Ocean Impact Organisation

Timo Kugler

Co-Founder, NASH + BANKS

Tom Dawkins

Founder/CEO, StartSomeGood

Tomaj Bayat

Growth, beforepay.com.au

Tony Sinclair

Director of Venture Debt, Cataliize

Vanessa Ronan Pearce

Head of Growth, Wych Money

Vern Chan

Certified Startup Coach, Your Pivot

Will Ericksson

Director, Trainer/Mentor, Momentum Academy / Momentumgroup.tech

William Mc Cahey

Partner, Think & Grow, and Growth Advisor

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