Eric Wollberg is the Business Development at Gnowbe

Prior to Gnowbe, Eric was Director of Business Development at VentureOut, Eric sourced the world-class startups that populate our programs. Additionally, he helped develop and run our accelerators, so that our participants have a flawless and fruitful experience.

Eric was also an Israel Government Fellow, working at the Israel Innovation Authority. There he helped bring companies totaling $1.5 trillion in market capitalization to engage with Israeli startups. Eric studied innovation economics at Sogang University and graduated with a degree in economics from New York State’s Public Honors College at Geneseo.

Marcos Dinnerstein is Executive Council Member at NYVC

After being an editor at Digital.com, Marcos is now an Executive Council Member at New York Venture Council, with experience at establishing processes and continually improving them. He is an effective Product Management team member, possessing a ‘Figure it out and get it done’ attitude. New York Venture Council members are leading NYC-area venture capitalists, family offices, angels, entrepreneurs, universities, media and professional advisors, all dedicated to increasing deal flow and ecosystem cooperation in the world's financial capital.

Paul founded Graphite Financial, as an internal service for (nearly 50%) of Venture Capital’s ("ffVC") portfolio of early-stage technology companies since 2008. In 2016, while continuing to serve ffVC's portfolio, Paul oversaw Graphite Financial's transition to operating as an independent company to serve the broader startup community.

He is an expert in helping startups and other young ventures with strategy, financial modeling, fully outsourced or augmented bookkeeping & accounting, tax, compliance and interim CFO work.

Chelsey is an experienced marketing strategist. Her passion is helping businesses find missed opportunities for growth and solving them by implementing digital growth strategies. Using data, Chelsey takes the guesswork out of creating marketing strategies for growing businesses looking to increase their bottom line and see huge returns on their marketing investments.

Her strong interpersonal, writing and organizational skills get her noticed by employers and coworkers alike. She has a strong work ethic that is complemented by her ability to problem solve, think quickly and be a passionate leader and manager.

Sumya is recognized as an efficient business development strategist, innovator, manager and team player who drives strategic partnerships and transactions to accelerate growth.

A visionary brand builder and inventive business strategist, Sumya has worked with corporations, non-profits and individuals building programs, products and partnerships that are sustainable and impactful. Through market and trend analysis, competitive dynamics, value proposition strategies, corporate storytelling and tailored launch initiatives, she leads businesses to realize goals.

A focused listener, Sumya pinpoints a company’s key problems and hurdles, identifies areas of collaboration, drives innovation and unlocks shared value. She uses a unique lens to create practical, measurable solutions to incubate new ideas while building and maintaining broad based relationships with senior management, internal business units and industrial professional networks. She works to develop initiatives and programs that result in a compelling portfolio of growth opportunities.

Alexander is the Director of fischerAppelt's New York office. He has an expertise in market entry consulting, international campaign management, and brand strategy. He is also a Young Professional Ambassador for the German-American Chamber of Commerce.

Alex received a B.A. in International Relations from The George Washington University.

As a startup founder with multiple exits, He thinks there are a lot of things broken with the way that entrepreneurs approach sales and marketing in today’s complex market. His team’s focus in 2018 is to make sure they can help as many people as they can scale their businesses without running out of money. He has knowledge of various fields that is helpful for startups and also can provide insight into many areas such as Team Building & Strategic Planning, Corporate Innovation & Partnerships, Growth Hacking & Lead Generation, Marketing & Community Engagement, Seed & Venture Capital, Emerging Trends & Digital Technology.

Paul is an associate at HOF Capital where he leverages his technical background to build out HOF’s technology stack, which is used to source deals and test investment hypotheses.

He previously was a Software Engineer at Addepar, a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir., and a fellow at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Paul received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a focus in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University.

Previously, he working on sourcing post-Series A companies at Startupbootcamp. In addition, he was an associate at Silver Field Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm. In another life, Han was an engineering lead at Walmart Labs in the Bay Area overseeing development in the eCommerce and R&D division. He’s led efforts in personalizations, adtech, and health and wellness in the engineering org. On the side, he taught coding at Hack Reactor and Redwood City School District. He is actively involved in the Chicago Booth Angels network.

Han earned a Masters in Business Administation from the The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a Masters of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Joseph is the PartnerChief Investment Officer at Studio VC, which is a venture fund that provides capital and operational guidance to growing companies with breakout potential. They take an active role in supporting entrepreneurs with strategic and product planning, business development, and marketing to influence positive outcomes.

Joseph received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and his BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sam Newbold has been supporting VentureOut companies to secure US visas since 2013. He is experienced in a wide range of employment based, family based, and investment based immigration issues, working closely with the global startup and tech communities, representing cutting edge companies and talented individuals who comprise New York’s rapidly growing Silicon Alley.

Mr. Newbold also works closely with foreign investors seeking nonimmigrant or immigrant status through EB5 or E-2 investments, and he is also experienced in helping foreign business owners receive L visa status through establishing New Offices in the United States.

As a business lawyer, Joseph represents startups to publicly-held technology, life science and consumer companies, venture capital and private equity funds and investment banks in a wide range of seed and venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and other public offerings. Joseph has represented issuers and underwriters in dozens of IPOs and follow-on public offerings involving companies in the technology, life sciences and consumer sectors, including leading investment banks such as Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Oppenheimer.

He is currently a partner and Co-Chair of the Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice of McCarter, a 400+ lawyer U.S. law firm with a global practice.

Business and financial leader with the ability develop and deliver strategic development and execution of company-wide financial policies and procedures. Distinguished, hands-on experience in driving corporate development activities, assisting startups, reorganizing financially distressed companies, and the managing the acquisition and integration process. Astute leader who adds value through proactive decision-making, business process re-engineering, and proven global leadership abilities coupled with mentoring and coaching skills.

Michelle is an Associate at Indicator Ventures, an early-stage venture fund focused on opportunities across the digital landscape. She is also the founder of Deaverage.org a platform that aims to increase access to the outdoors through sales of whimsical t-shirts that raise money for non-profits and through a blog that demystifies long-distance backpacking.

Prior to working at Indicator Ventures, she worked as a Management Consultant at AT Kearney for 4 years. Michelle received her Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Bachelor's in Environmental Economics & Policy from University of California, Berkeley.

Charles Smith has been an active NY angel investor since the mid2000s who has invested in more than a dozen companies, and has worked for and sat on the boards of ten more. He founded Extension Entertainment, a social music discovery platform. He is the owner of The Ineo Group LLC. Charles spent three years as the Vice President of Etsy Inc., was Vice President of Sales at Tacoda and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Planning at RealMedia.

Yair, a hands-on sales hacker, leader, and executive, is highly passionate about building excellent Saas and BI sales organizations, helps younger sales professionals to "Moon shoot" their careers, and helps companies improve their business results through modern data analytics.

SiSense is an innovative (BI) software company that is leading the way into a new era of business intelligence, dashboarding and business analytics.

Stephen is an associate with Arc Angel Fund based out of New York City. He actively sources new deal flow to the fund and runs due diligence on the startups and companies that apply. Stephen also organizes FundingPost events nationwide. Fundingpost holds VC and Angel Investors conferences across the nation.

After graduating college, Stephen was the Entrepreneur Director for the Southern California Keiretsu Forum, the nation's largest angel investment group. Stephen managed the dealflow for the group's 250 Angel investors.

Stephen attended Babson College, the nation’s #1 school for entrepreneurship and graduated with a B.S. in business administration, with concentrations in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Ihar is an Engineering Manager at Facebook and Angel Investor at Empire Angels.

As an Engineering Manager at Facebook, he manages a team building a Facebook Local Discovery product, that helps Facebook users to find great local businesses, has overseen the launch of the "Local" bookmark in Facebook iOS & Android apps - which made the Facebook app one of the best tools to discover places nearby, and facilitated the launch of food ordering utility on the Facebook iOS & Android apps. 

As an Angel Investor at Empire Angels, for the last 6 years Ihar has invested in early stage startups that solve old problems in new ways and has an investment portfolio that includes companies such as Instacart, and Meldium and Screenhero which were both acquired.

We partner with early stage companies anywhere on the spectrum: from inception to startups with significant traction ready to raise their pre-seed (angel) or seed rounds. (We’ve even invested in a few entrepreneurs with ideas to change the world but no formal business plan). We’re also available to help scope out your TAM, workshop business models, and discuss product-market fit. Don’t be shy!

Simply put: we get our hands dirty. As former founders and operators, we’ve been in the trenches before. Our team works directly with founders to understand their needs: whether it’s access to capital or something else like hiring the right team, finding office space, or pivoting to the correct strategy - we’re there every step of the way. The question isn’t if we can help you raise capital - it becomes how much, how quickly, and from which funds.

We move quickly but we’re in this for the long haul. We’re looking for long-term partners. Our team works alongside you before, during, and after the raise (and any subsequent raises). Our goal is to continue to be a resource to you throughout your company’s life-cycle. We engage with 3-5 companies at any given time so we are fully focused on your success. Finally, we invest our own capital alongside, and often before, your angel round.

Karel Smékal is the Deputy Consul General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Prior to his current role he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for 5+ years as a Desk Officer for Mexico and Central America, the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Albania, and a Desk Officer for Albania and Kosovo. He also is a member of the Board of Director on the European Procurement Forum.

Jan Chmelík serves as the Director of East Coast Operations at CzechInvest. Prior to his current role he was the Aerospace Sector Manager at CzechInvest, an Administrative Assistant at Siemens Czech Republic, and worked in intern capacities at CzechInvest and Czech Trade, and as a trainne at the European Development Agency. Jan received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in International Relations and European Studies from Metropolitan University Prague.

Lisa is the Founder and CEO of AccentC3. At AccentC3 the accent is on communication with their desired audience, clarity in their speech, and confidence communicating in a new cultural landscape. They have worked with people in several industries, from technology to finance, "big law" and healthcare. They also work with a global clientele from countries such as Brazil, Russia, China, France, and Italy.

Lisa also has a lot of experience in this field. She graduated from The University of Cambridge with an ESOL Certificate in English Teaching to Adults. Lisa has been a Speech and Language Pathologist for many companies, even as an independent consultant.

Josh Rochlin was an early pioneer in the New York Internet venture community, founding MyCalendar.com and serving as its CEO before selling it to Sports Huddle in 2001 (now owned by CBS).

Josh then led business development and strategy at GoAmerica (GOAM), the first wireless internet service provider (now Purple Communications). Prior to IBM's acquisition of Teckst (formerly Xtify), Josh served as its founding CEO. Prior to joining Teckst, Josh served as the Chief Administrative Officer at Marc Ecko Enterprises, where he oversaw all non-apparel businesses and ventures.

Nora is VP of VP of Operations at Creditstacks.

Nora leads operations and business development for a fintech company, CreditStacks. CreditStacks offers premium credit cards to new-to-credit customers. A pre-series A startup where she wear multiple hats including fundraising, investor relations, forming a partnership, operationalizing new processes and business lines, and everything in between.

Rajiv Jadhav is the Sales Director at RSQUARE MEDIA INC. - an award-winning Online Reputation Management company that help clients Be Seen or Not Be Seen, depending on what they want. Clients view Rajiv as a Freelance CMO and Campaign planning expert who works with internal teams to achieve and exceed business objectives within set time frames.

Susanne Greenfield is an Angel Investor with a great knowledge of corporate finance and private equity. She attended NYU on a merit-based scholarship and during her time, there she was on the Dean’s List every semester, which led to her receiving the Dean’s Honor Key. Greenfield graduated Magna Cum Laude from NYU with a double major in Finance and Accounting. She also received CFA Level 1 certification.

A member of 37Angels, Greenfield recently joined Priceline as their Director of Corporate Development, performing M&A, venture investing and strategy work for Priceline Group, which includes Booking.com, Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Kayak and Rentalcars.com.

Rafael is the Head of Talent Attraction at UiPath, a global software company that develops a platform for Robotic Process Automation (RPA). On March 6, 2018, UiPath received a $153 million investment from Accel, CapitalG, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, valuing the company at $1.1 billion.

Rafael received a BA in Finance and his MBA in IT and Sustainability. Rafael has a lot of experience as a consultant, having worked at Linkedin and LML Consultant Group. He has also founded two companies of his own: OwnOut and getAchef.

Prior to his role as the Head of Merchandising & Content for the Brand Incubation department of Walmart, Eric was the former Vice President of Merchandising at Birchbox. He oversaw a team of 15 and was responsible for the merchandise assortment across the Birchbox women's subscription box and e-commerce site. He was also responsible for driving all aspects of the merchandising function including strategic vision, team operations, budgeting and P&L, vendor relations, and organizational structure. Eric sat on the Birchbox operating team representing merchandising at the executive level. Previous to Birchbox, Eric worked at Lipstick Queen and he graduated from NYC with a BFA in Drama in 2004.

Robert joined Michael Page as their Senior Recruitment Consultant in 2017 before he was promoted to his current role as Managing Consultant of their Sales & Marketing division. In addition to working at Michael Page he is the Executive Consultant of Global Sales and Strategy at Beast Technologies. Prior to that he served as the Chief Business Development Officer of Beast Technologies, and the Client Relationships Director of Kforce.

Robert is an experienced professional with 6+ years B2B and B2C sector with a heavy focus on B2B Marketing and Sales. He graduated with a Masters in International Marketing Management from MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business.