Vetted Founders

Timothy Washington

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Senior Product Manager specializing in AI-powered products and responsible AI

Cranbury, NJ18y exp

“Mission-driven product and program leader who built WhatsApp’s talent inclusion infrastructure from scratch and later applied AI at Google to scale inclusive product evaluation across 25+ teams, including Gemini. Brings a rare mix of product systems thinking, human-centered AI judgment, and lived experience growing up in public housing that deeply informs their focus on equity, access, and accountable technology.”

Alexandra Esparza

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive Investment Banking & Capital Markets Leader specializing in TMT and Digital Health

Brooklyn, NY15y exp

“Private-capital-focused investment banker (former sports/health-tech banker) building a two-sided wellness coaching marketplace plus SaaS platform to help coaches run their businesses and consumers discover/vet/book non-regulated wellness modalities. Has an MVP, landing page, and waitlist, and is running a data-driven traction plan (ads, surveys, alpha testing, Discord/Reddit) before pursuing fundraising channels.”

“People operations and talent acquisition leader who was handpicked to launch the first Google Operations Center in the U.S., building the entire hiring and people-program infrastructure from the ground up (including selecting/configuring Greenhouse). Experienced scaling in new markets using deep talent intelligence and transferable-skill frameworks, and currently advises founders as a board member for a talent acquisition startup with a data-and-benchmarks-driven operating cadence.”

Paul Boehms

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive COO/CFO specializing in operational excellence, finance transformation, and M&A integration

Grand Rapids and Detroit, MI25y exp

“COO/operator with 12 years in law firm environments who founded an HR consulting startup under Clark Hill PLC, building the full go-to-market, pricing, and standardized service delivery playbooks (including a payroll-percentage fractional HR retainer model). Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with proven results in both manufacturing (raising rooftop AC output from 20 to 50 units/week) and professional services (cut ~1 week from invoicing to improve cash flow). Also runs financial operations for a fast-growing nonprofit sports club (600+ participants).”

“Engineering leader who drove Lightroom Mobile’s roadmap at Adobe by enforcing reuse of Photoshop imaging tech to deliver RAW, non-destructive mobile editing with full Creative Cloud compatibility. In startup environments, has repeatedly scaled and professionalized engineering orgs (career ladders, evaluation systems, delivery process) and led high-stakes cloud/platform transformations—migrating off Heroku and consolidating fragmented AWS/GCP usage into a single GCP platform—improving reliability, deploy speed, and cutting cloud costs by 20%+.”

Alok Kumar

Screened

Director-level Product Management leader specializing in cybersecurity, cloud, and AI governance

Atlanta, GA24y exp

“Senior product leader with substantial end-to-end build experience across Microsoft, Amazon, NCR, and a current AI startup. Particularly notable for creating a machine-readable compliance platform at Microsoft, shipping AI-enabled support workflows, and combining enterprise-scale product rigor with a human-centered view of personalized AI.”

“Entrepreneur building an AI-driven small molecule biotech startup who has already raised $5M from major venture capital investors. Brings 3 years of fundraising experience and a thoughtful approach to aligning investors with different risk profiles across financing stages, paired with strong conviction around founding high-risk, high-upside companies.”

“Serial entrepreneur with multiple startups and demonstrated VC fundraising experience, including raising $125K for a current business plan and building investor relationships across several VC firms. Driven by tackling difficult problems and assessing opportunities through a lens of solution creativity and team execution, while prioritizing sustainable quality of life.”

“Operator with a rare mix of startup creative leadership and big-company strategic execution. Built the design/creative function at Series A hospitality startup Life House Hotels, then at Amazon led cross-functional partnership, marketing, and collectibles initiatives—including a first-of-its-kind sports/outdoor event that drove 10% sales growth without discounts.”

Britney Russ

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive product leader specializing in consumer technology and EdTech

Los Angeles, CA13y exp

“Senior product leader from Codecademy who has spent roughly a decade building and mentoring cross-functional organizations while leading major strategic pivots in education. Most notably, they repositioned Codecademy toward a new learner segment and launched an AI-native learning platform that tripled signup rates, while also creating new revenue streams like live learning and accessible AI workshops.”

“Product leader with experience at ZipRecruiter, Quora, and Turing, spanning marketplace growth, AI/ML moderation, and talent-matching systems. They pair strong product intuition with operational rigor, having driven measurable wins like a rare +5% onboarding completion lift in a mature product, cutting Quora spam exposure from ~8% to <1%, and improving Turing fulfillment from ~20% to ~30%. Strong cross-functional leader and manager with a clear human-centered philosophy on AI.”

“Engineering leader who built and scaled a distributed team (Serbia + US) to deliver an internal multi-tenant Kubernetes-based PaaS, moving a large org from manual ops-driven deployments to automated CI/CD with >99.97% uptime and 100% service adoption. Known for culture change (blameless post-mortems, clear intake via ticketing) and security-first platform practices (tenant isolation, Falco) supporting SOC2 compliance; also operates at exec level with stakeholder communication and fundraising.”

Nishant Pathak

Screened

Executive Engineering Leader specializing in cloud-native platforms and security

14y exp

“Former CTO of EzCred, a fintech embedded finance/digital lending infrastructure startup that built an API-first underwriting and servicing platform using alternative data (e.g., GST and bank statements) to cut loan decisions from days to minutes. Helped raise $1M in seed funding, built the engineering org and compliance-ready cloud architecture, and ran partner pilots before the company shut down during COVID-driven lending market contraction.”

“Four-time founder with hands-on experience inside angel- and venture-backed executive teams, plus accelerator mentorship experience. Brings a practical, customer-validation-driven approach to company building, with strong insight into early-stage team dynamics and investor ecosystems.”

“Former Managing Director of the LimeLife Fempire Fund with 4 years in corporate venture capital, where they built the fund, sourced deals, led diligence, and deployed $2MM into four women-owned early-stage consumer companies. Also brings nonprofit small business accelerator experience, giving them a strong operator-investor perspective on what startups need to grow.”