Advisors
Call them teachers, advisors or mentors; First Growth Venture Network has attempted to collect some of the best minds in the startup technology space to serve as hands-on helpers. Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, executives, and successful people from all walks of life invest their time into First Growth Venture Network startups. Our advisor list includes:
- Joshua Abram, Partner, Coriolis Ventures, Co-Founder Media6Degrees & AdSafe
- James Alexander, Founder & CEO, Vizibility
- Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective
- Eric Arnold, Vice President, Bessemer Venture Partners
- Scott Bales, Director, User Strategy Pte Ltd.
- Scott Belsky, Founder and CEO, Behance
- Nick Belomo, CFO, 8th Bridge
- Jay Bhatti, Co-Founder, Spock.com
- Alok Bhushan, CFO, Yext
- Thayer Bigelow, Managing General Partner, Bigelow Media
- Greg Blonder, Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur and Author
- Stefanie Botelho, Associate, Technology Crossover Ventures
- Josh Brody, Co-Founder Booklr
- Stacey Burr, CEO, Textronics, acquired by Adidas
- Jeff Bussgang, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
- Veronica Chan,Director of Content, Gojee
- Wes Cole, Chief of Staff, Alcatel-Lucent – Wireless Division
- Paul Cook, Founder and CEO, TagMan
- Eric Davich, Chief Content Officer and Co-Founder of Songza Media
- Hil Davis, Founder, J. Hilburn
- Rick Eaton, CFO Hashable, previously CFO Quigo
- John Eley, CEO, Pivot Inc.
- Jorge Espinel, EVP of Strategy & Corporate Development, Digital Media Group, News Corporation
- Matthew Friend, Strategy & Business Development, American Express OPEN
- Pete Fusco, Member, Tech Group, Lowenstein Sandler
- Eyal Goldwerger, CEO, Target Spot
- Theresia Gouw, Partner, Accel Partners
- Paul Greenberg, CEO College Humor Media, previously, President of Digital LifeStyle Group at Time Inc.
- Dayna Grayson, Principal, North Bridge Venture Partners
- Josh Guttman, CEO, Surphace
- David Hahn, Senior Vice President, Product Management, AdSafe
- Samer Hamadeh, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Kiran Hebbar, Partner, Valhalla Partners
- Julie Hansen, COO & President, Business Insider
- Jeremy Helfand, Vice President, Monetization, Adobe
- Darren Herman, Head of Digital Media, The Media Kitchen
- Ari Jacoby, CEO and Co-Founder, Solve Media
- Jeremy Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, 2Tor
- Ed Jordan, CEO, Jagtag; former CFO, Flarion, ITXC and Dialogic
- Ben Kartzman, CEO and Co-Founder, Spongecell
- Matt Keiser, CEO, Live Intent; former President & Co-Founder, Datran Media, angel investor, www.GrapeArborVC.com
- Rishi Khanna, Founder, CardEngage
- Karin Klein, Strategy and Business Development Executive, Bloomberg LP
- Larry Kutscher, CEO Travelclick, formerly, CEO Register.com
- Michael Lazerow, Chairman and CEO, Buddy Media
- Kathy Leake, President & Co-Founder, Local Response
- Ariel Lebowits, VP of Finance, OLX
- Aileen Lee, Partner, Kleiner Perkins, previously Founding CEO of RMG Networks (formerly Danoo)
- Jordy Leiser, CEO and Co-founder of STELLAService
- Harold O. Levy, Managing Director, Palm Ventures, formerly NYC Schools Chancellor, EVP & General Counsel of Kaplan, Inc., Director of Global Compliance of Citigroup
- Robert Macdonald, SVP Business Development Scribd, formally, Head of Strategic Partnerships Google
- Nishant Mani, VP of Marketing, Yext
- Alexis Maybank, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Gilt Groupe
- Adrienne McKeown, formerly, female lead (Christine) on Broadway in Phantom of the Opera (more than 1,000 performances)
- Gordon McLeod , Former President of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network
- Chip Meakem, Tribeca Venture Partners, formerly Managing Partner, Kodiak Venture Partners
- Milind Mehere, Co-Founder & VP Business Development, Yodle
- Shiva Mirhosseini, Director of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Dow Jones
- Peter Miron, SVP Engineering, Bitly
- Chris Moore, Partner, Redpoint
- Dan Murphy, CFO, Conductor
- Alan Murray, Partner, Coriolis Ventures, Co-Founder Media6Degrees & AdSafe
- Paul Nadjarian, Founder/CEO, MojoMotors, formerly at eBay
- Jerry Neumann, early stage investor and advisor
- Joanna O’Connell, Senior Analyst for Interactive Marketing, Forrester, formerly VivaKi and Razorfish
- Dan O’Keefe, Principal, Technology Crossover Ventures
- Brian O’Malley, Partner, Battery Ventures
- Sean O’Neal, President and CRO, Vizu
- Andrew Parker, Senior Associate, Spark Capital
- Deven Parekh, Insight Partners
- Anthony Pergola, Vice Chair, Tech Group, Lowenstein Sandler, angel investor, www.GrapeArborVC.com
- Florent Peyre, VP Strategy and Business Development, Gilt City
- Alan Portnoi, Co-Founder/President, HedgeFund LIVE, angel investor www.grapearborVC.com
- Dini Rao, Chief Merchandise Officer, Lot 18
- Veeral Rathod, Founder, J. Hilburn
- Kathi Rawnsley, Member Tech Group, Lowenstein Sandler
- Micah Rosenbloom, Founder Partner, Founder Collective
- Jen Rubio, Head of Social Media, Warby Parker,
- Yaron SamidFounder & CEO, BillGuard,
- Todd Sandler, Head of Product Strategy, ING Direct
- Anand Sanwal, CEO & Co-founder of CB Insights
- Jeff Shelstad, Founder and CEO, Flat World Knowledge
- Brian Silver, CEO, Travel Ad Network
- Ben Siscovick, General Partner, IA Ventures
- Ryan Slack, CEO, GreenPearl
- Charles Smith, COO, ExtensionFM, previously co-founder Tacoda
- Jesse Solomon, Co-Founder Booklr
- Ajay Sravanapudi, Founder, President & CEO, LucidMedia
- Wendy Stahl, President, WSG Enterprises
- Susan Hunt Stevens, Founder and CEO, Practically Green
- Wendy Sturgis, EVP of Sales & Service, Yext
- Alexander Taussig, Principal, Highland Capital Partners
- Tomasz Tunguz, Associate, Redpoint
- Matt Turck, Managing Director, Bloomberg Ventures
- Matt Witheiler,Principal, Flybridge Capital Partners
- Ron Williams, Founder, BellTag, previously Founder & CEO of Zeevex
- Andy Yang, Member of Investment Management Team, BlackBerry Partners Fund
- Dr. Shaula Alexander Yemini, Angel Investor, previously VP at EMC, Founder & CEO SMARTS
- Edward Zimmerman, Founder/Chair Tech Group, Lowenstein Sandler, angel investor, www.GrapeArborVC.com
All of the First Growth Venture Network Executive Committee members serve as hands-on advisors as well.
Harvest Team
Each company participating in First Growth Venture Network will be assigned a Harvest Team (angels, VCs, seasoned execs and repeat players in Tech/Venture). The Harvest Teams will consist of Advisors and Executive Committee Members.
