Meet the Advisors

Software development leader and visionary with 20+ years success leading product vision, roadmap, and execution within SaaS, multimedia, and entertainment industry at Crystal Dynamics, EA/Pandemic Studios, and Activision. Currently working with multiple developers on NFT/Blockchain web3 game products.

Charlie Berg has been actively engaged in building & leading teams that have successfully brought new technology products to market, in energy, in healthcare, in design and discrete manufacturing markets, in entertainment, and in financial services. An engineering executive with 20+ startups and 7 exits, he vast experience of bringing innovative products to market. "Jazz musicians have a tradition of the older, established players mentoring the up-and-coming 'youngbloods'; helping them polish their craft, showing them the ropes of their industry, even telling them how to dress & behave. As a senior high tech executive, I do the same in our field." :-)

Senior Entrepreneurial Product and Technology Executive with a career track record of collaborating with business leaders to deliver technology transformation from idea to quarter-billion-dollar annual revenue streams, $500-750M cumulatively, across tech stacks and industries. Astute Product Leader, expert in identifying emerging mega-trends in technology, formulating/investment/disruptive product strategies and delivering on that vision, developing transformative product suites to capture market opportunities. Track record of turning around under-performing corporate innovation initiatives. - Industry Recognition: Recipient of multiple awards, including IoT Evolution Product of the Year, M2M Evolution Product of the Year Award, and IoT Excellence Award - Startup Mentor and Angel Investor: at Stanford Graduate Business School - Ignite, Alchemist Accelerator and the German Accelerator, Silicon Valley with exits >$250M, having raised >$160M in capital across clients

Cody has 10+ years experience in the data and technology space. He is a corporate development leader with expertise in analytics and operations optimization, along with scaling organizations to enterprise and IPO readiness. The key to his success has been understanding, collaborating and co-creating efficient and innovative solutions to best enable the business. Currently, Cody is a strategic growth leader who works directly with executives and leaders to align organizations to business processes measured by relevant and indicative KPIs. He has a proven track record of driving cross-functional initiatives through a delicate balance of hands-on and empowering leadership that yields higher productivity and lower costs. Cody is skilled in bridging the gap between technical and business users through the linking of technology, strategy and operations. Cody's strengths include data analytics, leadership and brand cultivation. He excels in process articulation, agile methodologies, systems ingenuity and overall scalability. When not in work mode, he enjoys exploring the outdoors, pretending to be good at sports, stuffing his face with food and living the dream with his wife and two sons. Depending on the scope and availability, he can be open to freelance contract/consulting engagements. His contracting portfolio can be found at www.the-data-guy.com with the key value ads typically including: - getting data (Web Data Scraping, APIs) - integrating and storing data (Data Warehousing, Systems Integrations, ETL Development) - visualizing data (Tableau, All Things SQL)

CTO with deep experience in technology-related corporate strategy. My first job after graduate school was founding a computer science department at an elite prep school in the Boston area - so education is my first love (especially as it pertains to mathematics and the hard sciences). My second love was (and is) quantitative finance. Perhaps it has to do with the challenge of helping people avoid outliving their income. Perhaps it's the tough intellectual challenges. What do I enjoy doing professionally? Well, I've always tried to work at the intersection of technology and significant business problems - especially those where many people will be affected. Most of my positions the last 20 years have been CTO-level at companies where technology is the heartbeat of the business value. Specialties: Pragmatic Marketing coupled with Agile Development to create products that delight markets (and create companies remain nimbly responsive). Machine-learning applied to human performance (evaluation and feedback at scale). Educational publishing (technology-based) - including author acquisition and partner selection. Design of closed-loop instruction and formative assessment architecture. Selecting and negotiating development partners (including overseas development). Integration of ERP and CRM into business processes to enable high-volume sales. Enterprise architecture - including an understanding of how products my team builds will "fit in" to a customer's emerging infrastructure.

As the founder and CEO of Arcanium Ventures, I help founders build successful companies in various domains, such as healthcare, education, gaming, finance, food, voice, AI, e-commerce, real estate, and more. With over 10 years of experience in the digital products space, I have contributed to over 100 projects spanning web, mobile, voice, AI, blockchain, cloud, IoT, recruiting, staffing, and creative services. My academic background includes a PhD in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford, where I received the John G. Martin Scholarship and the EPSRC Challenging Engineering Award. I was also a US Fulbright Scholar and an engineering intern at government labs at the US Dept. of Energy and NASA. I'm an AWS Cloud Practitioner and a graduate of the NewChip Series A Accelerator. I'm a high-EQ leader and lifelong learner who is passionate about helping founders bring ideas to life. I'm also a proud member of the Austin startup community, where I serve on the advisory boards of several startups, including Keyspan, where I'm helping the company leverage data and automation to help people live healthier for longer. If you're a founder looking for help building your company, I'd love to connect.

With a diverse background in B2C and D2C marketing across several industries such as Software, CPGs, Retail, E-commerce, and Gaming, I have guided Startups and Fortune 500 companies through various stages of growth. My core expertise lies in digital marketing, advising on lifecycle marketing strategy and digital capability building. For over two decades, I have played a pivotal role in steering local and global brands through product launches, market penetrations, and strategic expansions. I help founders and functional leaders establish a solid go-to-market foundation, refine their vision, assemble talented teams, plan and execute comprehensive marketing strategies, and deliver frictionless consumer experiences. I am here to assist you: If you are a CEO/Founder seeking support in refining the company's vision, ideating innovative approaches, and orchestrating the development and execution of a robust marketing strategy. If you are looking for leadership eyeballs for your product/service to go to market, launch, or expand.  If you need assistance optimizing your organizational structure, recruiting top talent, navigating agency selection, or fostering cross-functional cohesion. If you seek expert advice on tools, processes, methodologies, and current industry trends.

Haftan has thirty years of combined industry and academic experience building internal data science capabilities at companies like AIG, Amazon, Albertsons, and academic facilities in Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry. Early academic research appointments focused on developing technologies in data management, data analysis, and statistical modeling for longitudinal studies, and novel approaches to networked storage and parallel processing for simulations in computational neurobiology and genetics. Haftan co-authored more than twenty peer reviewed publications and was investigator on more than $30M in federal grants. Corporate appointments to build internal capabilities started at post melt down AIG, followed by Audible — the audio-book subsidiary of Amazon — to build out their data science capabilities in the US, EU, and Japan. Launching Newark Venture Partners pulled him into startup land at Plated — a US meal kit delivery service for pre-portioned raw ingredients and recipes across the continental US. There he built out the data science capability introducing novel approaches to acquisition, retention, sourcing, recipe development, and distribution. After being acquired by Albertsons, Haftan moved to Understood.org, providing digital solutions to millions of households of people who think and learn differently, their parents, their educators, and their employers. He also launched mission aligned investment funds: Difference Partners, a VC fund, and Planet9 Studios, an incubator fund. Haftan currently advises data heavy startups like Abacus Insights (data engineering as a service), Flagship (data science as a service), and Synonym (underwriting continuous fermentation facilities). Haftan holds graduate degrees in Biostatistics and Developmental Psychology from Columbia and Cornell Universities. Haftan was born and raised in the United States, and often visits family in Sweden. For the past thirty years, he has been living with his husband in Brooklyn, New York.

John is a Product/Project Management Consultant & Trainer. His leadership brand is 'helping teams see they can win!'. This is achieved through visual management systems which are common in the Lean community. John's Lean background stems from GE Six Sigma certifications ~20years ago and more contemporary Danaher Business System ~10 years ago. Despite being conditioned in Aerospace, Defense, MedTech, and Life Sciences, the practice is industry agnostic and applies to physical and/or digital products. His practice is process-oriented, so a certain level of maturity or 'readiness' is required in the client. The project management methodology is hybrid Agile-Waterfall, allowing uncertain development to dovetail into robust business planning. The practice starts with building an analytical Product Roadmap then effectively managing the daily tactics & people to achieve it. Past results have included 10x Productivity, 10-100x ROI, and 10x New Product Launch Rate.

Kirsten has over 20 years of experience working as a product and technology leader in the Bay Area. She's been a product manager for platforms, consumer apps, productivity tools, web and mobile experiences for knowledge sharing, agtech, entertainment, data and AI. Her breadth gives her an exceptionally diverse perspective on customers and user experience. Her mission is to help leaders and teams do things differently, especially in the realm of Product Discovery. Using a customer-centric product mindset, she helps founders and their teams ask the right questions and bring the right products to market.

Lyndsay Handlos has nearly two decades of experience in both B2B and B2C marketing. Her career has covered various industries, including healthcare, technology, and SaaS organizations. She started at a pharmaceutical startup, where she had a wide range of responsibilities, including growing the business, working on submissions to the FDA, and designing pre and post-launch brands. Later, she worked for a global healthcare advertising agency, where she created campaigns that crossed all marketing channels, including digital, social, email, print, and direct marketing, across different therapy areas and product stages. She used her unique experience to expand into technology and e-commerce, consulting for companies such as Gap, eBay Enterprise, eBay, and McKesson. While working with these companies, she worked on various projects, including designing new strategic marketing operation processes, rebranding campaigns, and technology stack design. After returning to the healthcare sector, Lyndsay partnered with McKesson to work on their corporate marketing team, incorporating digital marketing across each business pillar. She was also hand-selected to work on the marketing and promotion of a company-wide Global Business Services effort. She has since held the position of Head of US Marketing for Biocodex, working in neurology, and Senior Director at Gilead Sciences, rebuilding marketing operations teams, launching omnichannel efforts, and implementing new marketing technologies. Most recently, Lyndsay has been a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), advising organizations of all sizes on commercial strategy, launch planning, and brand development.

Accomplished executive with successful experience leading commercial, financial, and operations strategy, with focused expertise gained through key leadership roles in mentoring and advising start-ups through the various stages of growth.

A creative marketing executive with VP, CMO, and CEO experience across 30 years of leadership in the youth culture, action sports & outdoor industries, I've had a career resuscitating, building, accelerating, and creating brands in the apparel, accessories, footwear, watch, nutrition, brewing, spirits, eyewear, skateboard, and bicycle categories. I've conceived and produced award-winning campaigns, ground-breaking events, product innovations & collaborations, and award-winning films. Serving in all facets of marketing and leadership with many iconic brands, I've been honored to oversee both strategic direction and marketing execution while empowering international teams to craft and implement sales and marketing strategies to deliver regionally on global initiatives. I've also done a Tedx Talk. With a love for creative solutions in advertising, content creation, product, digital & experiential marketing, I have held leadership positions with adidas, Nixon, Billabong, SPY Inc, Ocean Pacific, Globe Intl, and 100%. In addition to leading global brands, I have helped new brands launch, and served as Chairman of the Board of Surfrider Foundation, Vice President of Surf Industry Members Association, and on the board of directors of Superbrand, Beachly, Group Y, SDSI, and SIMA. I currently serve as a Brand Strategist, on the board of Drink Monday, and Board of Councilors at the University of California, Irvine, where I'm an alumnus. I have been a publisher with the largest surf magazine in the world and written for numerous media outlets. I've also created or managed successful partnerships with Star Wars, Disney, Santa Cruz, Marvel, Metallica, The Clash, Devo, G-Shock, Splatterhouse, Gears of War, Spitfire, Christies of London, Canyon, and Craig Stecyk III. Having produced events in eight countries and 10 states, I may be best known for the creation and execution of unique global events, along with a large catalog of related television shows, film projects, commercials, and web-based content. I'm the founder of the Belgian Waffle Ride, a Monument of Gravel, which has blossomed into the largest gravel race series in the world with seven events throughout North America. I helped create Two Farmtables and a Microphone with Group Y, directed three World Surfing Championship events in Fiji, the World Cup Skateboarding at Rod Laver Arena, the Orange County Marathon, the Ironman for Gatorade, Slaughter at the Opera at the Sydney Opera House, and two other international skateboard events, the Global Assault!!, and the Double Cash Stack Attack.

Management Consultant and Interim C-Level Executive for High Tech Companies. I assist software and hardware companies in increasing revenue and profits whether in turnaround or high growth mode. The focus of my consulting practice is on customer and market facing activities. I also engage in interim CEO and COO assignments, as well as board seats with software and hardware companies.

Revant is a serial entrepreneur and an expert in revenue and growth who has scaled startups to over $200M in annual revenue. He has also invested and advised 10+ startups alongside tier 1 VCs. Founder of private investment and advisory firm Wind Sprint Capital that supports early-stage companies across sundry sectors, including B2B SaaS, Digital Marketplaces, Fintech, Healthtech, tech-enabled service, and Web3. He was previously the de facto Head of Finance at HD Home, Home Depot's first internal startup, focused exclusively on e-commerce home décor which he helped scale from $180M to $270M in annual revenue in 15 months, with yearly forecasted revenue of $400M which the team subsequently beat. Revant is currently Chief Revenue Officer at a profitable VC-backed Future of Work startup while still operating his private investment and advisory firm Wind Sprint Capital which specializes in fundraising, strategic finance, product strategy, go-to-market strategy, and revenue ops.

Hello, I'm Russell! I run my own business, Thistle Growth, as an early-stage investor, startup consultant, and fractional COO supporting early-stage high-growth companies in the Pre-Seed stage through Series C. I help companies prepare for the fundraising process and support through fundraising. I specialize in building, launching, and scaling infrastructure for a company to snowball. This support includes building operations, customer experience, product, people operations/HR, and recruiting. I have over 12 years of experience in health care, ride-sharing, food delivery, hospitality, residential & multi-family real estate, trucking, and transportation. My focus has been on services and two- and three-sided marketplace businesses. I worked at CVS Health for five years, focused on building new programs around medication adherence for chronic conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Depression. In the last year, I helped rebuild CVS Medicare Part-D enrollment department. I joined Uber and spent nearly three years helping grow the business in the earlier stages. I oversaw 20 market launches and management of 20 markets in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, launched UberEats in Arizona, and grew the business from $40M in gross revenue to $500M. At Sonder, I launched the Arizona market, creating a go-to-market strategy, recruiting and hiring 25 employees, constructing an operational model and supply chain, negotiating 180 short-term rentals, and growing revenue to a $6.5M run rate in the first 15 months. While at Getlabs, I was responsible for building a launch strategy to expand from 1 market in Phoenix to 8 nationwide, covering 15% of the country. I also helped raise a $16M Series A round, built the operational infrastructure, and grew the company from 10 to 45 employees in 8 months post-Seed fundraising.

Rusty builds Revenue Engines by approaching Go-to-Market like product development. This comes as no surprise, his first job out of MIT was designing snowboards and medical devices. By applying the same style of deep discovery, innovative experimentation and disciplined execution to business, he helped grow Salesforce from 1 product and ~200 AEs to many products and 1,000's of AEs. The Sales team he started at Square brought the company up-market and delivered +20% of the growth going into their IPO. Rusty then probed the line between PLG/Sales by growing Wizeline's conversational ai platform to the point of acquisition. Rusty focuses on: • Building Initial Traction through Robust ICP & Personas definition, Pricing Structures, Sales / Demo Scripts, and driving Pipe Gen Experiments • Creating Scale and putting the team in a position to succeed by linking Strategy, Ops, Process & Tech in an executable GTM Roadmap

Accomplished IT Executive in Technology, Banking/Finance, Manufacturing, and Transportation industries with proven success leading teams and programs. Works with companies to improve information systems strategies, re-engineer business processes, improve information security, execute M&A, and build IT operations that enable business success. Able to see the “big picture” and align technology strategies with overall business plan. Effective leadership and team building skills combined with deep technical expertise. Highly organized with the ability to manage projects and people in an efficient and team-oriented environment. Effective liaison among technology organization, internal lines of business, and clients. Specialties: Human-focused technology strategy, with an emphasis on building agile, adaptive platforms for competitive advantage. Running high-performing tech organizations in highly-regulated industries. IT Leadership and enterprise transformation.

I'm a strategic, growth-oriented business leader with a deep specializations in strategy, product management and marketing. Plans can too easily get disconnected from strategy, even in the smallest companies. Clarity and focus are key to turning your aspirations into effective action and value-creating results. I help founders grow SaaS and software-enabled service revenue through: - Strategic vision and execution plans CEOs, boards, investors, team members and customers all understand and believe in - Best-practice product management, marketing and go-to-market processes - Qualified, motivated teams - A market-driven roadmap delivering products that sell - Customers who serve as advisors and loyal fans I've run my own start-up and held leadership roles at venture-backed, PE-backed and public companies, giving me the perspective to help you where you are today, but also to "see around the corner" and make smart moves which will help your business as you progress.

I am an influential, innovative, and well-regarded C-Suite executive with extensive experience creating and leading world-class strategies and operations in diverse and ever-changing environments. Additionally, I demonstrate a proven track record of success scaling operations, providing exceptional direction, and propelling operational excellence positioning the organization as an industry leader in a highly competitive landscape.