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Founder Institute Mentors

San Diego 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 San Diego program below.

Mentors

Aaron Keith

CEO, Buildify Systems

Abdellah Aouf

Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM

Adam Montgomery

Fundraising Manager, Wefunder

A.J. Noronha

FI Mentor

Al Bsharah

Interlock Capital, Managing Partner

Albert Chow

Principal, Anabatic LLC

Alex Bard

Founder & CEO, Assistly

Alex Green

Founder, Kanshi LLC

Alexa Ramos

Marketing, Individual

Amar Harrag

CEO, Allied Green Realty

Amir Emadi

CEO, Skylift Global

Andrew Gottlieb

Founder & CEO, No Typical Moments

Andy White

Startup Operations, Keshif Ventures

Angel Gambino

Founder, Angel Club

Annie Brown

Founder, Lips

Anshul Shah

Head of Accounting and CFO Partnerships, Brex

Anton Monk

Co-Founder/ VP of Technology , Entropic Communications

Austin Neudecker

Managing Partner, Weave Growth Partners

Aviv Shalgi

CEO, Solar Simplified

Bardia Moayedi

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Ben Stacey

CEO, Pitchverk

Ben Cote

Mentor, Founder Institute

Bill Fields

NC Market Leader for Venture Debt, Bridge Bank

Bill Nelson

President & Technical Advisor, Targeted Performance

Bow Rodgers

FI Mentor

Brad Feld

Managing Director, Foundry Group

Brandon Noel

Entrpreneur, Data Droplets Inc.

Brandon Noel

CEO, Droplets

Brendan Aronson

CEO, The Military Veteran

Brian Storms

no title, No company

Brian Ford

Partnership Director, Founder Institute San Diego

Brian Olearczyk

CRO, RevCult

Bryant Walker

Founder & CEO, TAVO Media Group

Carl Thomas

Chief Revenue and Business Development Officer, Hookit

Carlo Rivis

CEO & Founder, Innovation Discovery

Caroline Arzoo

Partnerships, TurboSBIR

Cassius Kiani

Founder & Head of Product , Mora.com

Chad Cazel

Managing Partner, Blackwing VC

Chase Harmer

CEO, Wishes

Chintan Oza

Founder, Anantam Ecosystems

Chris Capdevila

Founder & Former CEO, LogicalApps

Chris Carter

CEO & Co Founder, VideoFort

Chris Foltz

Entrepreneur In Residence, Responsible Solutions Ltd

Chris Stott

Founder and CEO, Lonestar Data

Christina Adams

FI Mentor

Christine "Chrissy" McDannell

Principle, The Magnolia Firm

Cleve Adams

FI Mentor

Coco Sellman

Entrepreneur & Angel Investor, Remarkable Ventures

Court Lorenzini

Co-founder, Docusign

Courtney Gant

CEO & Co-Founder, Skooltopia

Craig Swiatek

FI Mentor

Craig Cummings

General Partner, Moonshots Captial

Dan O'neill

VP Engineering, Certona

Dan Chapman

Founder, Dan Chapman Consulting

Dane Drotts

CoFounder, TangoCode

Daniel O'neil

Executive Director, Smart Chicago Collaborative

Daniel Obodovski

Co-founder, Managing Partner, Diosys Technologies LLC

Daniel Arroyo

President & CTO, AstroPrint

Daniel Shires

Consultant, Independent

Darryl Rettig

Co Founder & CTO, DonationMatch

Dave Tompkins

Founder, 550 Capital Partners

Dave Saxton

FI Mentor

David Stevens

Founder & CEO, Hydroponic Creations

David Metzler

Managing Director, Serenity Ventures

David Steel

CEO, EveryoneLinked

David Baird

FI Mentor

DC Palter

Angel Investor, Tech Coast Angels

Dennis Volpe

Partner, Leadership Research Institute

Derren Burrell

Venture Capitalist, Veteran Ventures

Derrick Oien

FI Mentor

Ed Cleary

Principal, Root Strategy Group

Ellen Chang

Partner, Lightspeed Innovations

Emily McMahan

Partner, Academy Investor Network

Eric Grab

Aspiring Explorer, Technologist, Advisor, and Coach, Formerly: Amazon, Booz Allen, DivX, Jaunt, San Diego State

Eric Weiss

Executive Coach, Full Cycle Executive Coaching

Erik Smolinski

FI Mentor

Ernestine Fu

General Partner, Brave Capital

Fabian Geyrhalter

Founder and Principal, FINIEN

Farooq Anjum, Ph D

Co Founder & CEO, Gro Guru

Florent Groberg

Azure Global Government Expansion, Microsoft

Flossie Hall

Director Of Community Relations, Stella Labs

Frank Peters

Founder & Host, Frank Peters Show

Frank Mastronuzzi

Founding Partner, Punch Financial

Fred Morrison

CEO, Simplexity

Gary Raju

FI Mentor

Gary Peterson

CEO, AllSeater

Gaurav Bhattacharya

CEO, Involve.ai

Gaurav Bhattacharya

CEO & Co-Founder , Involve.ai

Genevieve Le Marchal

Managing Partner, Suncoast Ventures

George Stepancich

CEO, Invisionate

George Ploss

FI Mentor

Gina Campbell

Strategy & Demand Gen (Direct to Consumer Group), SONY, Formerly DivX, MP3.com.

Grant Creighton

CEO & Founder, LooperLink - LOOPER Golf

Grant Winns

CEO, Yuna

Greg Call

FI Mentor

Greg Moser

President & CTO, ShipCalm

Hayley Evans

Co Founder, Women Making Waves

Ian Suttle

Engineering Director, Google

Irina Kukuyeva PhD

AI due diligence, Kukuyeva Consulting

Iva Teixeira

CEO, The Good Face Project

Jacob Sapochnick

CEO, Sapochnick Law Firm

Jacques Chirazi

Director of Student Entrepreneurship , UC San Diego

James Schmachtenberger

CEO, Neurohacker Collective

James Africano

General Partner, Regolith Ventures

James Hereford

Co-Founder, Launch Factory

Jason Pang

COO, Bodymatter, Inc.

Jason Liebrecht

VP of Technology, Activbody Inc

Jason Zinn

Partner, Emerged, Inc.

Jeff Smith

CEO, Growth Catalyst

Jeff Balka

Business Growth & Entrepreneurship Lead - Military & Veterans Affairs, JP Morgan Chase

Jeffrey Martinez

FI Mentor

Jenni Wu

FI Mentor

Jennifer Pilcher

Founder & CEO , Strategic Military Communications, LLC

Jenny Rodriguez

CEO & Founder, IVOREEZ

Jerome Soucy

People & Operations, Hykso FightCamp

Jess Ewart

Senior Partner, New World Ventures

Jesse S

Principal, Terra Legacy

Jessica Pratt

Senior Vice President of Sales, Pop & Bottle

Jim Carlson

Founder, DFL Technology

Joe Bezdek

Co-founder, DivX, Inc.

John Zdanowski

Co-Founder, Assembled Brands

John Stilo

CFO, Peerlogic Inc

Jon Carder

CoFounder and CEO , Empyr

Jon Carder

CEO, Vessel Health

Jon Turdiev

Senior Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services

Jonah Peake

Founder, the Social Coyote

Joris Delanoue

FI Mentor

Jose Doval

CEO & Founder , XBand Sports

Joshua Awad

FI Mentor

Joshua Pacheco

Associate, Military & Veteran Affairs, JP Morgan Chase

Juan Toledano

CoFounder, Sundaze

Judy Tsuei

Founder, Wild Hearted Words

Justin Renfro

Director of Partnerships, WeFunder

Justin Nahama

Partner, FisherBroyles, LLP

Kelly Perdew

Cofounder, Moonshots Capital

Kelly Conkright

Founder, The Brand Terminal

Ken Wahlster

Founder & CEO, BikeBandit.com

Ken Davenport

CEO, Mission Edge

Kim Walpole

Co-Founder / CEO, Trials.ai

Lance Cottrell

Founder, Feel the Boot

Larry Kesslin

Founder, Libr8

Lauren Postler

Founder & Managing Partner, Solution Focused

Lauren Rowley

Director of Investor Relations, Stella Impact Capital

Lee Mills

CEO, Pixly

Leo Spiegel

Managing Partner, Mission Ventures

Lisa Song Sutton

General Partner, The Veteran Fund

Louie Balasny

Director of Tech and VC, First Republic Bank

Lucas Root

Founder, CEO, SGIC Consulting

Mara Rada

Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)

Marc Spencer

Founder, The Recharge Group

Marcus Haney

CEO, Allegiant Vets

Maria Pope

Community Manager, Republic

Mark Haney

CEO , HaneyBiz

Mark How

CEO, NewGrowth & Origins eCommerce

Mark Schmid

CEO, Art Function

Mark Divine

Navy SEAL, Author and CEO, Unbeatable, LLC

Martín Martinez

Founding & Executive Director, Founder Institute Texas

Matthew Hedayat

CEO and COO, Stanford Technical Group

Melissa Li

Managing Partner and Head of Community, Dorm Room Fund

Merrin Muxlow

Executive Director, TiE South Coast

Michael Davidovich

Founder, Direct EDI, Inc.

Michael Floyd

Software Engineering and Product Management Leader, Freelance Software Engineering and Product Management Consultant

Michaela Keady

Michaela Keady, Zendesk

Michel Kripalani

CEO, Oceanhouse Media

Mike Sherbakov

General Partner, The Veteran Fund

Mike Steadman

CEO, IRONBOUND Media

Mysty Rusk

Executive Director, USD School of Business

Nate Mason

VC, Starburst Aero

Nate Parsons

Limited Partner, The Veteran Fund

Nathan Gray

FI Mentor

Neal Bloom

Managing Partner, Interlock Capital

Neil Senturia

CEO, Blackbird Ventures

Nektar Baziotis

Founder, ICARUS

Nelly Yusupova

Founder, TechSpeak.co

Nerissa Zhang

CEO, Bright App

Noah Wallach

Founder, Hope OS

Oliver Muoto

FI Mentor

Pablo A. Fernandez

CEO, Secret Table

Parker Harris

CEO, Junto Global

Pat Walsh

FI Mentor

Paula Sweis

Principal, SILVERWEISS International

Pete Biggam

Director / Mentor / Advisor, Founder Institute

Pete DiSalvo

Founding Partner, Blackwing Ventures

Peter Shaw

Managing Director , Procopio Business Advisors

Ramesh Dontha

FI Mentor

Rebeca Hwang

GP, Kalei Ventures

Regina Bernal

CEO, Trailblazer

Reid Carr

CEO & Founder, Red Door Interactive

Rhana Pytell Kozak

CEO & Founder , BRIGHTERSTEP

Rhett Jeppson

Military and Veterans Affairs - Director of External Programs, JP Morgan Chase

Ricardo Dos Santos

Sr Director of New Business Development , Biological Dynamics

Rick Valencia

Founder, ProfitLine

Rishi Sharma

West Coast Lead , Newlin VC

Robert Pruter

Chief Revenue Officer, SPHER, Inc.

Rocco Cortese

President, Entrepreneurs Organization (E.O.)

Rod Loges

CEO, One Degree Financial

Roger Rappoport

Partner, Procopio

Rosie Arango

COO, Bright App

Rupak Doshi

CEO, TurboSBIR

Russell Brand

CEO & Founder, Responsible Solutions Limited

Russell Wardhaugh

PEO Consultant, TriNet

Ryan Tseng

Co Founder, Warehouse Innovations

Ryan Micheletti

Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute

Saba Karim

Entrepreneur & Investor, Techstars

Safa Aliabadi

Managing Director- Innovation & Tech Banking , Citizens Private Bank

Sagar Pande

Co-founder, Blaze Power

Sameer Sortur

Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures

Samuel Riehn

Chief Executive Officer, SBIR Advisors Inc.

Sara Ledterman

General Partner, 3+ Ventures

Sarah Apsel

Angel Investor, 37 Angels

Scot Chisholm

CEO & Chairman, StayClassy

Scott Davis

Director of Veteran Entrepreneuership, PenFed Foundation

Shahi Ghanem

Managing Director, WI Harper Group

Shahin Enayati

Managing Director, Made Noble Corporation

Shaiwal Priyadarshi

CTO, Co-Founder, MetaMedia

Shaun Alger

CRO, Volohaus

Stacey Cooper

Partner, Stacey Cooper Law

Stanley McChrystal

CEO and CoFounder, McChrystal Group

Steven Morley

Business Advisor, Success4Execs

Stuart Volkow

Program Manager, UCSD

Taj Adhav

Founder, Leasecake

Tanaka Mawindi

FI Mentor

Tarun Gulati

Founder & CEO, Adios

Tay Nguyen

Owner, Gate Consulting

Taylor Mc Lemore

Managing Director, Techstars

Tim Hsia

Managing Partner, Context VC

Tirrell Payton

Tirrell Payton - Founder & CEO, Kaliki (San Diego FI), Kaliki

Todd Goldstein

EVP, Global Partnerships & Business Development, Talent Inc.

Tom Walpole

CTO, TrialsAi

Tony Murphy

Founder & Principal, Ask Tony

Trevor Longino

Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers

Troy Hazard

Global President, Entrepreneurs Organization

Tucker Hamilton

Commander, F-35 Integrated Test Force, US Air Force

Ty Vachon

CEO, ORA Informatics

Tyson Mc Dowell

President, Avadyne Health

Vern Chan

Certified Startup Coach, Your Pivot

Vladimir Pletyukhin

Founder and Creative Director, Launch Deck

Yann Deredec

CEO, Yama Group

Yemi Oluseun

Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive

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