Vetted Co-Founders

Richie Bavasso

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive healthcare venture builder specializing in MedTech, digital health, and AI diagnostics

North Charleston, SC32y exp

“Five-time entrepreneur with 25 years across startups, venture studios, and accelerators, including current advisory work with MassChallenge, VentureWell, Scottish Development International, and German Accelerator/Start 2 Group. Most recently helped lead a UK MedTech company through multiple raises totaling over £11M plus grants, while driving FDA clearance, MVP completion, and US customer launch in a tough fundraising market.”

“Composer/music editor using Ableton Live with a precision-focused, minimal-plugin workflow and AI-assisted loudness targeting. Recently scored a high-fashion documentary featuring a past-to-present transition, using a deliberate shift from piano/strings to synth orchestration to change emotion and pacing while preserving narrative continuity. Also has experience iterating with editor/producer notes on corporate training content to maintain retention and comedic timing.”

“Product engineer/designer with founder mindset who shipped a blockchain-enabled investor group/governance platform using Next.js (App Router), TypeScript, Prisma/Postgres, and Temporal. Emphasizes auth-centric onboarding (SSO + embedded wallet) to make dApp UX feel more like SaaS, and brings strong reliability practices (idempotent retries, reconciliation) plus experience demoing to investors and operating in seed-stage teams (ex-Vouched).”

“Growth/brand leader who drives measurable revenue outcomes through rebrands, GTM execution, and multi-channel acquisition. Has delivered on-time/on-budget website + brand rebuilds via sourced expert partners, improved conversion from 3% to 8% for an MSP using outsourced outbound, and helped an industrial manufacturer exceed a $2M revenue goal by reaching $3M through repositioning and market expansion.”

“AI startup co-founder and CTO who helped raise $2.6M in seed funding at RedRex and drove product strategy from ideation through execution. Experienced with rapid experimentation and AI-driven prototyping to validate ideas quickly, and has direct exposure to the VC/accelerator ecosystem (Gener8tor) with a market-first approach to building and pitching startups.”

“Outbound-focused candidate coming from a Cushman & Wakefield internship where they built pipeline by prospecting potential office tenants through email, calls, and LinkedIn. They stand out for signal-based, highly personalized outreach to mid-market and enterprise stakeholders, with experience generating 2-4 qualified tours per week and thinking like a founding SDR around ICP design, account tiering, and repeatable cadence building.”

“Senior technologist (25 years experience) who served as chief architect/CTO for a patented software startup that was acquired. Strong at building scalable, robust, technology-agnostic systems and translating technical value into investor-ready narratives (forecasts, roadmaps, documentation). Currently prefers joining an existing founding team as a key technical leader/mentor rather than leading entrepreneurship solo.”

Gabriel Fagundes

Screened

Mid-level AI/ML & Backend Engineer specializing in AI platforms and computer vision

New York, New York6y exp

“Backend engineer with hands-on experience building real-time, low-latency systems: owned the Python backend for a real-time crowd-monitoring product (top 5% at HackHarvard 2025) using OpenCV, GPU YOLO inference (PyTorch), WebRTC, and OAuth. Also has production Kubernetes/GitOps experience (Helm/Kustomize, GitHub Actions, Argo CD), Kafka-based event pipelines, and executed a minimal-downtime on-prem PostgreSQL migration to AWS EC2.”

Colleen Gray

Screened

Executive healthcare and medtech CEO specializing in capital raising and medical device commercialization

San Francisco, CA18y exp

“Registered investment banker at US Capital Global with roughly 20 years of fundraising experience across startups and growth companies. He has served as both operator and founder/C-suite leader, raising more than $275M+ for ventures including StorageWay and $27M for medtech startup TracPatch Health, with particular depth in healthcare, investor strategy, diligence, and board-level execution.”

Stephan Thomas

Screened

Executive growth strategist specializing in technology, M&A, and digital manufacturing

San Francisco, CA25y exp

“Repeat founder who has co-founded two companies and sold the most recent one three years ago. Currently exploring a fintech-style debt management tool for SMBs focused on covenant monitoring, reporting, and forecasting, and is still in customer discovery with a mock demo and landing page. Brings a thoughtful, customer-first approach to evaluating startup ideas and a solid understanding of how venture studios support companies from 0 to 1.”

“Sourcing-focused early-stage VC operator who stays embedded in high-signal founder ecosystems (YC/Techstars-style accelerators, state programs, investor Slack/angel networks) and runs a curated community of ~45 VCs to drive consistent deal flow. Uses a structured, metrics-driven outbound and screening process (25 reachouts/week; 5–8 calls) plus Airtable-based pipeline management and n8n follow-up automation; has advanced sourced deals (e.g., rare earth materials, quantum/grid optimization, plasma fuel for fusion) into pitch sessions and late-stage diligence.”

Tyler Hurd

Screened

Executive Product & Operations Leader specializing in IoT hardware and water/hydration technology

Milwaukee, WI16y exp

“Founder who has raised $2.5MM from angel investors to build and operate smart beverage fountains in fitness studios that dispense user-personalized hydration. Former Pentair product manager (residential water purification) who identified an on-demand purified + additive-dosed beverage opportunity and chose to pursue it as a startup, using lean customer discovery, MVP prototyping, and pitch-competition-driven fundraising.”