Founder Institute Mentors

Columbus - Chicago Winter 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 Columbus program below.

Mentors

Abdellah Aouf

Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM

Ablorde Ashigbi

CEO, 4Degrees

Adeo Ressi

CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab

Aditya Nath

Head of Sales NA, Mobilisights, A Stellantis Company

Aidan Salvi

Founder, Angel Investor, Advisor, Technologist, Multiple

AJ DeLeon

CEO, Innovare

Alex Glenn

Founder, Automated.af

Alex Gorsuch

Co-founder, CTO, Ascent Integrated Tech

Alex Lambert

Venture Capital Manager, mHUB

Andrew Lee

CEO, Esper

Andrew Loulousis

Vice President of Strategy and Venturing, TechNexus Venture Collaborative

Ashish Rangnekar

CEO & Co-Founder, BenchPrep

Aviv Shalgi

CEO, Solar Simplified

Bart Carlson

CEO, Azuba

Ben Stacey

CEO, Pitchverk

Benjamin Seidman

Co-Founder, Mella Pet Care

Blake Allsmith

CEO, Jumpdocs.com

Bob Gillespie

Managing Partner, REACH Commercial

Bob Matteson

CEO, Relivable

Brad Schnitzer

Program Manager, Techstars Chicago

Brad Spirrison

CEO, Grown In

Brian Lee

Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Roamli

Cate Brady

Founding Director, Bulk AG Innovations

Charles Kwon

Managing Partner, Concitor

Chereesca Bejasa

CEO, Zenevate, LLC

Chris Sorensen

Founder & CEO, Lake Forest Venture Management

Chris Foltz

Global Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Founder Institute

Christina Holloway

Executive Coach, Compass Enterprises LLC

Cory Warfield

Chief Connection Officer, Coryconnects

Dan Ushman

Founder and CEO, TrendSpider

Daniel Roberts

Founder, Scout Alarm

David Culver

Co-Founder, VentureSHOT

David Douglas

Founder & CEO, Yolobe Inc.

David Rosen

CEO, Acrelic Group

David Zaretsky

CEO, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder, Snips Media

David Hurst

CEO, Orbital Transports

Derick Jiwan

Innovation and Business Development Manager, WinField United at Land O' Lakes

Desiree Vargas Wrigley

Chief Innovation Officer & Executive Director of TechRise, P33

Don Bora

Principal Technology/Owner and Co-Founder, Eight Bit Studios

Eddie Patzsch

Co-Founder, PartnerPortal.io

Eric Broughton

CEO, OK2Charge

Fernando DeLeon

Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Innovare

Franklin Kamnang Ngansop

Cofounder , Vitamin C&S Coaching

Garry Cooper

CEO/ Co-Founder , Rheaply

Gary Gaessler

SaaS Community Builder, Nylas, Co-Founder of CloudElements

Gavenraj Sodhi

Senior Product Manager, Hitach Vantara

Gavin Martin

Founding Partner, onPurpose Growth

Genevieve Thiers

Founder, Sittercity

George Powell

Founder, CEO, Easy Beauty

George Khalife

Vice President, U.S. Capital Formation, Toronto Stock Exchange

Greg Jaros

Founder & CEO, PocketKnock

Heather Holmes

CEO & Founder, Genivity

Jacqueline Kuehl

Managing Director, Digital Marketing Concentration, DePaul University

Jason Randolph

Senior Vice President Marketing & Strategic Growth, Tradier

Jason Jacobsohn

Managing Director, Propellant Ventures

Jed Abernethy

Corporate Innovation and Startup Executive, Entrepreneur / Digital Transformation

Jeff Lyons

Operating Director, City Capital Advisors, LLC

Jeff Hyman

Chief Talent Officer, Strong Suit Executive Search

Jeff Weber

Founder, Chalenj

Jeffrey Coney

FI Mentor

Jeremy Baras

Director of Business Development, Startup Space

Jill Miller

CEO, Lunum

Joe Bezdek

Co-founder, DivX, Inc.

Joe Born

CEO, Aiwa Corp.

Joe Lee

CEO, Inverse

John Dallas

CEO, Enclave Academy and Hillview Partners Network LLC

John Ernst

Chief Growth & Technology Officer, Founder, Advisor, Entrepreneur, Executive

June W Choi

Managing Partner, Serval Ventures

Karim Djerboa

Business Development Specialist, MAVENTERSE

Katie Hench

Co-Founder, Infiniteach

Kelly Fitzsimmons

Co-Founder, Custom Reality Services

Kevin Taylor

Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Stetson University

Kim Rubenstein

Cofounder, Chief Research + Product, Compatibility

Kord Kutchins

Principal, Base-K Venture Partners

Laurence Hayward

Venture Partner, Independence Equity

Lavina Ramkissoon

AI Ethics and Technology Policy, African Union

Louis Morales

President, The Catnip Times

Marisa Bryce

CEO, Lightning Snow

Mark Achler

Managing Director, Math Venture Partners

Mark Phinick

Founder, Let's Make It Rain

Marsha McVicker

Founder & CEO, Lyla

Marshall Stanton

Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, Catalina Marketing Corporation

Matt Mandell

Principal, PayNerd.com

Matthew Miller

Director, Product Strategy & UX, Digital Intent

Matthew Willis

COO Americas & General Counsel, Green Planet Group

Meghan Hoover

CEO, SceneSave

Michael Carruth

President/Founder, Fiodan Corporation

Michael Kramer

Founder and CEO, ManageHub, Inc.

Michael Kelly

CEO , DeveloperTown

Michael Carney

President, MWC Accounting

Michael Lamb

Co-Founder & President, nativeMSG

Mike Kritzman

Founder & CEO, SkillNet

Mike Anguiano

Founder, SupplyHive

Mindi Knebel

Founder & CEO, Kaizan Health

Mohammad Hossein Tavangar

Director , Founder Institute Germany

Neil Kane

Founder & President, Illinois Partners, LLC

Nicholas Freemen

Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer, Innovare

Nicole Loftus

Founder & CEO, Pop Venture

Parminder Batra

CEO, TraknProtect

Patricia Riskind

Head of Global Healthcare, Qualtrics

Peter Tapling

Managing Director, PTap Advisory, LLC

Phil Leslie

Managing Partner, Workbox Ventures

Pinaki Saha

Founder & CEO, Anshar Labs

Rajesh Voddiraju

Founder & Group President, HealthiPASS Inc

Reva Minkoff

Founder and President, DigitalGroundUp Inc. and Digital4Startups Inc.

Rinku Patel

CxO Executive Business Partner and Advisor, OSKMG LLC

Ronald Franczyk

CTO & Partner, Red Foundry

Ross Kimbarovsky

Founder and CEO, crowdspring

Ryan Jeffery

MR, gener8tor

Sagar Pande

Co-founder, Blaze Power

Sanjaykumar Patel

Founder & Principal IP Attorney, EXCELON IP - Patent & Trademark Attorneys

Scott Issen

President & CEO, Future Founders

Shaniqua Davis

CEO and Founder, Noirefy

Shawn Park

Founders Team Associate, P33

Stephen Meade

Founder & CEO, MonetaPro

Sukhi Singh

Managing Director, SSS Ventures

Ted Greene

Partner, Old Willow Partners

Timothy Kelley

CEO, TeleRay

Tokiah Kennedy

Head of Platform (S4P), Spotify

Tom Giles

Founder, Megatron Ventures

Ujjwal Gupta

Cofounder & COO, BenchPrep

Vern Chan

Certified Startup Coach, Your Pivot

Vladimir Pletyukhin

Founder and Creative Director, Launch Deck

William Furlong

Founder & CEO, SquareStack

William Mortimore

CEO, Project Foundry

Yarin Gaon

Strategy & Marketing Specialist, Y.G.

Yemi Oluseun

Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive

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