Retail Tech

Asael Meir is a partner in CohnReznick’s Long Island office and leads the Firm’s Technology and Life Sciences Industry Practice in the Firm's New York offices. With more than 15 years of experience in providing assurance and financial reporting services, Asael serves technology, hospitality, and retail and consumer products companies. He works closely with business owners and management teams of both privately held and publicly listed companies who are seeking guidance on acquisitions, divestitures, and capital formation transactions.

Randolph Adler is the co-chair of Dentons' startup program and a member of the Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice. Randolph represents companies in all stages of development, with a particular focus on founding entrepreneurs, startups, emerging growth companies and small and mid-cap companies. He also counsels founders, executives, boards of directors, family offices and venture and private equity principals on a wide range of issues, including business strategy, capital raises, board governance, general corporate counseling, intellectual property protection, complex business disputes and strategic transactions.

Sam Newbold has been supporting VentureOut companies to secure US visas since 2013. He is experienced in a wide range of employment based, family based, and investment based immigration issues, working closely with the global startup and tech communities, representing cutting edge companies and talented individuals who comprise New York’s rapidly growing Silicon Alley.

Mr. Newbold also works closely with foreign investors seeking nonimmigrant or immigrant status through EB5 or E-2 investments, and he is also experienced in helping foreign business owners receive L visa status through establishing New Offices in the United States.

Alex is currently a Research Associate at Placeholder, he previously studied Economics and Politcal science at the University of Virginia. Before his time at Placeholder, Alex spent two years studying early stage investments with Lowe's Ventures. On his spare time he enjoys reading and publishing literature on crypto currency. In addition to this, in his list of skills and endorsements, Alex has financial modeling, venture capital and public speaking.

Vanessa Pestritto is working with Ripple's investment and incubator program Xpring. She was formally a Program Director of New York Angels and blogger at IamVP.com. Vanessa manages the deal flow pipeline at New York Angels from sourcing through funding and constantly improves the membership experience for investors to increase engagement investment and startup community participation.  She is a true optimizer and is on a mission to make the world work efficiently.

John is Experienced Investment Professional with a demonstrated history of working on both early-stage Venture Capital and Leveraged Buyout deals. He is a former KEC Ventures analyst and associate John was a systems engineer at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) where he built inventory management and incubation software to automate the cell reprogramming process."

Michael holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley where he was the President of the Ice Hockey TeamSocial Committee Co-Chair for Delta Upsilon Fraternity and a Member of the Asian Business Association. He has dedicated the entirety of his career thus far to working with growth-stage technology companiesMichael’s passion lies in helping management teams win. Prior to joining the team at CanaanMichael was with GCA Savvianadvising technology companies on M&A initiatives and private placements.

Sutian is responsible for evaluating new investment opportunities. Sutian was previously Director of Marketing for Norisol Ferraria New York-based luxury outerwear brandand worked in Sales and Marketing at MarketFactorya FirstMark portfolio company developing software applications for high-speed trading platforms. Sutian holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University."

Sumeet Shah has 6 years of experience across the startup and private equity industries, formerly running new business strategies at Gist Digital and handling business development and project work at Gotham Consulting Partners. Former consumer product-focused venture capitalist looking for the next opportunity within a great consumer brand, agency, or consumer VC firm. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering, specializing in Biomechanics.

Jonathan is a dynamic young entrepreneur. Passionate about numbers and statistics, Jonathan Cherki founded ContentSquare straight out of ESSEC Business School in 2009. ContentSquare empowers every member of the digital team to optimize the customer journey and dramatically increase conversions. Jonathan has made ContentSquare a "life project" and is extremely attentive both to the market and online retailers' needs. He is a prominent member of the FrenchTech startup community and described by Gartner as one of the 4 Most Innovative Technologies in eCommerce, ContentSquare is the best way to learn how to make your customers happy.

Nate Checketts is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rhonea premium men's active wear company founded in 2014. Prior to RhoneNate worked for and consulted with some of the biggest technology and entertainment properties in the world including CiscoThe National Football LeagueLegendsandFan Vision. Nate is also an avid entrepreneur who founded and launched 4 companies before the age of 30 including Rhone and Mangia Technologieswhose patents were later acquired by the San Francisco 49ers. Nate graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Finance."

Technology startup co-founder and CEO. Strong background in strategy and product management with heavy agile experience. She is a former Senior Admissions Consultant with The MBA Exchange, where she helped develop content strategy and provide comprehensive admissions consulting for MBA applicants seeking admission to top-tier programs. Michelle also used to work as program manager director at Univision Communications.

Lexie Kier is a Principal Strategist and Founder of AOK Group, a growth consultancy for startups. She advises bold brands and startups on fundraising, customer insights, branding and marketing and often takes on interim leadership roles to help with periods of intense change, entry into new markets, and expansion.

Previously, Lexie founded Cuurio, an index of startups and innovation platform helping bold brands find clarity, context, and connection. ​Cuurio helped a growing number of innovative brands and agencies (including Warner Brother, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oreal, and J. Walter Thompson) to create vibrant native mobile partnerships that activated consumers in new channels.

Josh Rochlin was an early pioneer in the New York Internet venture community, founding MyCalendar.com and serving as its CEO before selling it to Sports Huddle in 2001 (now owned by CBS).

Josh then led business development and strategy at GoAmerica (GOAM), the first wireless internet service provider (now Purple Communications). Prior to IBM's acquisition of Teckst (formerly Xtify), Josh served as its founding CEO. Prior to joining Teckst, Josh served as the Chief Administrative Officer at Marc Ecko Enterprises, where he oversaw all non-apparel businesses and ventures.

Matt Lopez is a Partner at Skaled, which helps companies optimize their sales process, people, and technology to accelerate business growth for scaling success.

Skaled accelerates sales organization growth by examining fundamental sales process and using cutting-edge technology to enable clients to optimize, modernize, and thrive in the constantly evolving world of SMB & Enterprise sales. They have worked with over 80 organizations globally helping larger organizations generate millions of dollars in new and incremental revenue and startups raise over 250 million dollars post-engagement.

Victor M Ramirez is a technology professional with a focus in online marketing and content strategy. He is constantly developing the best strategies using the latest tools and resources combined with the lean / agile methodology. Using continuous improvement, he helps his clients align their goals through data driven decision making and measurable results. His specialties include project management, SEO, social media strategy, and online brand development. I am also a full stack web developer with a focus in WordPress and Ruby on Rails.

Susan Lindner believes that incredible connections change the world. As the CEO and Founder of Emerging Media, an award-winning PR • Marketing • Branding • Social Media agency, she develops breakthrough strategies that connect our clients to the right media, communities, influencers, and prospects. Susan gives back to the entrepreneurial community as a mentor to young domestic and international startups at VentureOut, and as a judge at premier competitions like NY Tech Week, The Mashies and many more.

Michael is CFO of Mineful. Michael was a VP at J.P. Morgan Asset Management where he specialized in derivatives trading and investment strategy. He served as President of the JDRF Young Leadership Committee a Type I diabetes charity. Michael completed the General Course at the London School of Economics. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University and earned his MBA with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

managing director at Infinia Group, where he leads Infinia Ventures, a practice dedicated to the startup ecosystem.

Before Infinia, he was at Havas Worldwide New York following a stint as a freelance strategy consultant at a number of creative agencies. He has done strategy consulting work in brand, digital and growth strategy for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 and the US government

Nael is co-founder and partner at Outbound Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on helping ambitious teams that want to make an impact on a national and international scale. Outbound Ventures has connections in Latin America, the U.S. and the U.K. to connect our portfolio companies with the people and resources they need to make a difference. They primarily invest in pre-seed and seed stage rounds.

Marcos Dinnerstein is Executive Council Member at NYVC

After being an editor at Digital.com, Marcos is now an Executive Council Member at New York Venture Council, with experience at establishing processes and continually improving them. He is an effective Product Management team member, possessing a ‘Figure it out and get it done’ attitude. New York Venture Council members are leading NYC-area venture capitalists, family offices, angels, entrepreneurs, universities, media and professional advisors, all dedicated to increasing deal flow and ecosystem cooperation in the world's financial capital.

Justin is the Vice President of NYCEDC, New York City Economic Development Corporation. NYCEDC consists of teams of skilled and dedicated individuals with know-how and expertise across many fields including community/neighborhood development, workforce development, real estate, industry and sector analysis, design, urban planning, marketing, engineering, financial analysis and more. He graduated from The George Washington University with a B.B.A. in International Business and Marketing. He also graduated N.Y.U. with an M.U.P.

Justin Gage is an investor at Cornerstone.  He works on analyzing early-stage deal flow of software companies in spaces like VR and Big Data and meeting cool people along the way. He helps source companies, does deep diligence on stuff Cornerstone's interested in, and research industries and geographies that might be relevant to the company.

He received a B.S. in Computer Science and Data Science from NYU Stern School of Business.

Peter Liu is a designer and developer. He believes there’s a huge divide in resources and talent between the technology world and the social impact world and his mission is to create technology that empowers people to overcome their biggest challenges. He’s worked with non-profit organizations, small businesses, and tech startups to lead projects from initial designs to actual implementation.

Collectively is a digital consultancy that works with start-ups and impact organizations to create sustainable social impact through design and technology.

Relentlessly pursuing the agile, test-driven discipline of growth marketing. I'm a life-long learner that continuously finds new ways to grow companies.
Ladder is a growth marketing agency that uses proprietary technology and data-driven strategy to increase your ROI. The team has spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours working with over 100 companies in New York and London.

Deb Berman is a Principal at Skaled, a consulting and training company which helps companies to optimize their people, processes, and technology to accelerate business growth for scaling success.
As a leader, Deb has led high-performance Sales, Account Management and Success Management teams specializing in building out repeatable, scalable processes.

Experienced tech and innovation consultant looking to combine my track record of developing strategies and products that solve for business and consumer needs with my experience leading developers and solving technical challenges.
Former engagement manager for Fahrenheit 212, an innovation consultancy focused solely on catalyzing top-line growth.

Chris Errico is Co-Chair of the firm's US Startup Program and member of the Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice at Dentons. Chris is actively engaged in a diverse corporate practice, working with a wide range of fast-growing technology, software, digital media and life science companies at every stage of their development.

Chris regularly counsels emerging growth companies on transactional matters, including venture capital, seed/angel financings; public and private offerings; asset and stock acquisitions; debt financings and mergers and acquisitions. Chris also advises his clients on a daily basis regarding complex securities matters, corporate governance matters, joint ventures, strategic transactions, and general legal issues.

Charles Smith has been an active NY angel investor since the mid2000s who has invested in more than a dozen companies, and has worked for and sat on the boards of ten more. He founded Extension Entertainment, a social music discovery platform. He is the owner of The Ineo Group LLC. Charles spent three years as the Vice President of Etsy Inc., was Vice President of Sales at Tacoda and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Planning at RealMedia.

Mark O'Neill is the CTO at MM Lafleur. MM Lafleur's purpose is to provide women with the rotation of professional, sharp clothes that can be thrown on in the morning with only cursory thought. True to the mission of making women's lives easier by cutting steps instead of adding them, MM.LaFleur will deliver to your door a box of clothes specially picked out for you.
Mark has had over 15 years of experience as a Chief Technology Officer at Thrillist and JackThreads. Mark graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Computer Engineering.

Andy is the Director of Operations for NY Tech Alliance (formerly NY Tech Meetup), a non-profit organization that runs the largest Meetup group in the world with over 55000 members and a mission to build a more sustainable and diverse technology industry for all New Yorkers.

Overall, justice and diversity is a huge passion for him and he is a clear advocates for the importance of diversity in the tech community and business culture.

Michael Hershfield is the Senior Director of WeWork, the leading provider of working space around the world. Michael has spent his career in the technology and internet sector bringing seed-stage companies to hockey stick growth. Prior to WeWork Michael held leadership roles at emerging growth companies including Howcast Media multi-platform media distribution network where he was Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs. Before his time at Howcast, Michael was the CEO and co-founder of LiveStuba secondary ticket marketplace that changed the landscape of the online event marketplace in North America. Earlier in his career Michael specialized in technology and entertainment law at Toronto-based Fasken Martineau DuMoulin.

Kevin Siskar is Managing Director of the Founder Institute in New York. He has built a portfolio of over 80 early stage companies and in 2016 he was named Best Startup Ecosystem Developer in the entire Founder Institute network, which has a global network across over 150 cities. You can find find him on Siskar.co talking startups, products, technology and services — and the people who build them. Kevin is also a Venture Partner at Outbound Ventures, the founder of Brinkway and a co-founder of the NYC Innovation Collective. For more information visit: http://www.siskar.co/about

Robert joined Michael Page as their Senior Recruitment Consultant in 2017 before he was promoted to his current role as Managing Consultant of their Sales & Marketing division. In addition to working at Michael Page he is the Executive Consultant of Global Sales and Strategy at Beast Technologies. Prior to that he served as the Chief Business Development Officer of Beast Technologies, and the Client Relationships Director of Kforce.

Robert is an experienced professional with 6+ years B2B and B2C sector with a heavy focus on B2B Marketing and Sales. He graduated with a Masters in International Marketing Management from MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business.

Sandeep Bhanote has over 15 years of experience as a start-up entrepreneur, building strong product, marketing and innovation teams in the retail technology sector and successfully delivering emerging technologies to market in a profitable and scalable way. Sandeep was the founder and CEO of Global Bay Mobile Technologies, a pioneer in delivering transactional mobile solutions to emerging Omni and Brick and Mortar retailers and driving the wide adoption of Apple mobile devices in stores. This innovation created the path to closing the gap between digital and brick and mortar channels in retailing.

Prior to his role as the Head of Merchandising & Content for the Brand Incubation department of Walmart, Eric was the former Vice President of Merchandising at Birchbox. He oversaw a team of 15 and was responsible for the merchandise assortment across the Birchbox women's subscription box and e-commerce site. He was also responsible for driving all aspects of the merchandising function including strategic vision, team operations, budgeting and P&L, vendor relations, and organizational structure. Eric sat on the Birchbox operating team representing merchandising at the executive level. Previous to Birchbox, Eric worked at Lipstick Queen and he graduated from NYC with a BFA in Drama in 2004.

Ms. Leslie C. Cohen is currently an Adjunct Professor at Parson School of Design at The New School  served as the Executive Director at XRC Labs. She also acts as an Account Director at Taproot, providing pro-bono consulting services for non-profits in the social services and arts sectors. Ms. Cohen previously served as the Managing Director of Technology Ventures at IMG Artists. In this role, she oversaw all aspects of the development and launch of new technologies and digital strategies for artists and divisions.

Gareth joined Northzone in 2015. His main area of focus is consumer and B2B technology, in particular the fintech ecosystem in London and the rest of the UK. He is involved in Northzone’s investments in fuboTV, Zopa, ComerJob, Crosslend, eProspects.

Prior to joining Northzone in 2015, Gareth spent his formative years at OC&C Strategy Consultants, advising on a mix of pure strategy projects and commercial due diligences across a varied selection of markets, from tech, travel and online gambling to distressed debt and pork sausages!

Tanjila Islam is the CEO & Founder of TigerTrade.  An international trade expert and economic development specialist, Tanjila designed and managed large-scale trade promotion and private sector development programs for clients such as the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development throughout South and Southeast Asia. She has facilitated multi-million dollar trade deals and organized international trade fairs in countries such as Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Tanjila is also an Adjunct Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she teaches courses on International Trade and Global Sourcing.

Serial entrepreneur and angel investor with experience pre launch through IPO. As an active early stage investor, I am interested in companies in a wide variety of businesses. I make seed and angel investments in early stage companies that represent game changing ideas or technology rather than small upgrades to the status quo. An advisor and mentor in the early aspects of building companies with expertise in strategy, hiring, branding, business development, sales, communications and marketing.

Tusk Ventures is the first venture capital firm focused primarily on helping startups navigate the political, regulatory, and media hurdles that come with reshaping entrenched industries. Our investment professionals and in-house team of political and regulatory experts partner directly with high-growth companies entering highly regulated sectors and work with them to accomplish their goals through direct advocacy, campaign management, narrative development and strategic execution.

Mr. Rolfe Swinton Co-Founded RealityMine Limited in 2012 and serves as its Chief Research Officer and Director. Mr. Swinton was as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lumi Technologies Limited. Mr. Swinton has extensive marketing experience through his work with Ogilvy & Mather in London and e-commerce, consumer goods marketing and corporate strategic consulting experience as a Project Manager at Monitor Company. Mr. Swinton served as a Seasoned Manager of start-up and LBO companies. Mr. Swinton co-founded Article 27 and served as its Co-Chief Executive Officer.

Sapna Shah is an angel investor, retail expert and three-time entrepreneur. Through Red Giraffe Advisors, Sapna makes angel and early-stage seed investments in retail, fashion and consumer start-ups and offers advisory services to early-stage companies. Sapna is also the founder of Retail X Series, a retail startup boot camp program for pre-seed stage founders who are revolutionizing the future of retail. Sapna has also served on the Board of Directors of New York Angels, one of the most active angel groups in the world.

Karen is Co-founder and CEO of Trendalytics, a product intelligence engine that leverages machine learning to measure consumer demand for brands and products.  She started her entrepreneurial ventures by founding StyleMusée, a visual portal to discover fashion social media by taste preference. At Goode Partners, she executed the firm’s investment in SkullCandy (NASDAQ: SKUL) and worked on the turnaround of a luxury specialty retailer. Previously she worked in Gap Inc.’s Corporate Strategy group, where she assessed acquisition and new retail concept opportunities such as Piperlime.com.

Christopher is a successful corporate finance and strategy professional with experience in strategy development, all forms of strategic execution (mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, joint ventures and partnerships), transactional execution (marketing, due diligence, financial modeling) and leadership of both strategy-based and transaction-based teams.