Vetted Mentors

Tamara Alexander-Johnson

Screened

Principal Corporate Real Estate Advisor specializing in global transactions and portfolio strategy

Denver, CO25y exp

“Led acquisition efforts for the Etkin family partners during their transition from construction ownership into industrial real estate investing, focusing on REO acquisitions in the Denver/Front Range market (1990–1995). Built a structured due diligence and underwriting approach, developed financial analysis tooling, and navigated multi-stakeholder family dynamics while leveraging top brokerage relationships to source and lease assets.”

“Built and shipped a production Python service integrating with a helium mass spectrometer for real-time sensing and remote control/monitoring. Combines hardware integration, observability, and Playwright-based automation expertise, with a strong track record of turning brittle or ambiguous real-world processes into reliable systems— including reducing dashboard automation failures from about 20% to under 2%.”

“Startup operator and co-founder who helped build SmartSquash AI from pre-product, pre-revenue stage to $600K ARR in 2 months, 125+ club pilots, a PSA enterprise analytics partnership, and a $1.4M acquisition. Brings a rare mix of 0-to-1 product/GTM execution and trust-sensitive AI deployment, plus process improvement experience at Microsoft that drove major efficiency and cost savings.”

Larry Moran

Screened

Executive Business Leader specializing in operations, growth strategy, and value creation

Lexington, NC32y exp

“Operator/CIO-type leader who has supported multiple founding teams and stepped in early at a high-growth venture (4th employee) to build core operations and hiring as the company scaled rapidly (4→40 employees; ~$1M→~$8M revenue in a year). Implemented an enterprise ATS across ~600 employees to centralize candidate flow and cut talent acquisition costs, and created a standardized operational playbook (30–40 offerings) to improve delivery efficiency in a healthcare/pharma-focused agency.”

“Venture investing/sourcing professional who runs a high-volume, systematized founder outreach motion across warm intros, accelerators, social outbound, and databases (PitchBook/Crunchbase), targeting ~50 personalized founder touchpoints weekly. Uses AI workflows to build targeted lists and monitor company updates, and has converted highly contextual outbound into qualified diligence opportunities (e.g., industrial automation/frontline productivity). Values long-term founder relationships pre-raise through consistent value-add and is motivated by growth toward a partner track.”

Patricia Ang

Screened ReferencesModerate rec.

Senior HR Business Partner specializing in manufacturing and employee relations

Chicago, IL5y exp

“HR Business Partner with experience across R&D, manufacturing, and corporate environments (International Paper), known for leading high-stakes change work including restructures/RIFs and workforce planning. Combines systems thinking and people analytics (RCCM, turnover segmentation) with strong leader coaching—driving outcomes like 15 months of zero turnover and improved productivity/safety metrics—plus deep employee relations investigation experience including sensitive harassment cases.”

“Backend engineer/technical lead with experience building and operating real-time blockchain analytics systems at Merkle Science. Owned high-traffic Django/DRF services and Kafka streaming pipelines processing millions of events daily, with deep focus on performance (N+1 fixes, indexing, caching) and reliability (DLQs, retries, monitoring). Also led containerization and Kubernetes/GitOps-style CI/CD on Google Cloud, including a migration off Google App Engine to reduce cost and improve scalability.”

Maryna Deundiak

Screened

Director-level Product Leader specializing in enterprise automation and platform integration

Florida, USA15y exp

“Product leader at Stellantis with a strong track record in large-scale digital transformation across automotive brands and markets. He combines platform modernization, UX simplification, and AI-enabled connected vehicle services to drive measurable outcomes, including a 30% lift in online bookings, while also mentoring cross-functional teams and future product leaders.”

“Built a live free-to-play web-based financial market simulation game (YouTube-channel stock market) as a hobby project, now serving 3000+ users. Implemented core F2P systems including gacha, timed progression gates, and analytics-driven monitoring of engagement and economy health using a TypeScript/Python stack with Redis and Postgres.”

Rocky Vienna

Screened

Executive Technology & Operations Leader (CIO/CTO/COO) specializing in PE value creation

10y exp

“Operations transformation leader with private-equity due diligence experience who rebuilt KIO Networks’ operating model using ITIL/COBIT/ISO 27001, stood up a PMO, and standardized tooling across countries—helping shift the business from co-location to managed services/cloud and improving EBITDA from -7% to +4% in 18 months. Also serves as a board member/mentor at EvoNexus and UCSD Rady, coaching founders on ICP, GTM, pricing, and investor readiness.”

“President/founder of Kazenet, an early-stage no-code, compliance-focused recurring-revenue SaaS platform with customers and ~$200K revenue YTD, currently preparing a seed raise targeting angels/seed investors. Also mentors founders at C10 (Kendall Square venture studio), bringing hands-on experience scaling revenue, teams, and new verticals across US and international markets.”