Get connected to people who've built category-defining companies.
Every name here has actually built or backed something exceptional, and is involved in selecting and working with fellows.
Alex Monahan
OddsJam Founder (acquired)After Stanford, Alex worked as a quant on Wall Street for two years before quitting to bootstrap OddsJam, a sports data company, without raising venture capital. Three and a half years later, it was acquired for $160M. He brings a quant's mindset to venture: model the probability distribution of outcomes, size the bet, and back the people.
Tim Schumacher
Co-Founder, Ecosia.org & eyeo. Founding Partner, World FundTim Schumacher is a serial founder and climate investor, best known as co-founder of Ecosia.org, the world's largest search engine that plants trees, and co-founder of eyeo, the maker of Adblock Plus. He is a founding partner at World Fund, a leading European climate tech VC. He loves backing young founders who turn big ecological problems into big business opportunities.
Anson Liang
Serial Entrepreneur, Investor, and Stanford EducatorAnson has co-founded, built, and led technology and renewable energy businesses from startup to IPO. His work spans energy, AI, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and venture investment. He lectures at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, guest lectures at Stanford, and mentors founders through StartX and Stanford entrepreneurship programs. His teaching focuses on entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, and venture capital investment.
Ramzi Rizk
Five-Time Founder. WIP Capital & Escape VelocityRamzi is a computer scientist and five-time founder with four exits, starting with EyeEm, one of Europe’s first AI-native image companies. He runs WIP Capital, an early-stage fund backing engineers and scientists, and Escape Velocity, a non-profit that turns researchers at overlooked European universities into founders.
Benedict Kurz
CEO & Co-Founder, KnowunityBenedict is the founder of Knowunity, Europe's leading AI learning companion with 35M+ users, which he started out of high school. Knowunity has raised $50M so far and is driven by the ambition of building the global #1 AI learning destination for 1 billion students. Benedict also sits on the board of the German Startup Association.
Yaakov "Koby" Nahmias
World-renowned bioengineer, Grass Center for BioengineeringFounder of Believer Meats, which raised nearly $400M, and Tissue Dynamics, an organ-on-chip biotech company. Also co-founded BioDesign-Israel, which has trained 250+ fellows and launched 10 startups.
Bryce Johnson
CEO, Vesting. Tech content creator (500K+ followers)CEO of Vesting and a tech content creator with over 500,000 followers. Brings a builder's eye for audience, storytelling, and distribution to the fellows he works with.
Bryan Kim
Building Mido Capital. Ex-Partner @ a16zFounding Partner of Mido Capital, an early stage venture fund focused on AI products for the people, consumers, prosumers, creators, and coders alike. Previously a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he invested primarily in AI applications and consumer products such as Eleven Labs, Function Health, Mirage AI, Slingshot AI, Partiful, and BeReal. He also actively explores new categories and behaviors emerging at the frontier. Prior to a16z, he was at Snap, helping the company scale through its hyper growth and IPO.
Amir Farnoud
PhD, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering. CTO, Eat JustAmir holds a PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and is Chief Technology Officer at Eat Just, the food technology company behind Just Egg, the plant-based egg brand made from mung beans, and GOOD Meat, one of the first cultivated meat brands to win regulatory approval. He brings deep food-science and engineering expertise to the fellows he works with.
Justin Tupper
Founder, Revolution Golf (acquired by NBC Sports)Justin founded Revolution Golf, later acquired by NBC Sports. He's now an active angel investor and advisor to new companies, and brings hands-on founder and operator experience to the fellows he works with.
Matt Pru
CEO & Co-Founder, Stackmatix. Mentor & AdvisorMatt is a two-time founder who has invested in 30+ startups, advised 15+ venture-backed companies, and mentored hundreds of founders through seven leading accelerators. At Stackmatix, he has helped more than 200 startups grow, including Kalshi and Figma. He has generated tens of millions in B2B sales and managed tens of millions in ad spend.
Amy Martin
Consumer & AI Investments, Menlo VenturesAmy leads consumer and AI application investments at Menlo Ventures, where she's led investments in companies including Suno, Higgsfield, ShopMy, Nectar Social, and Alta. Prior to Menlo, she was a partner at Lightspeed, SVP at Warner Discovery, and CFO at Welcome Software (acquired by Optimizely).
Nils Krischan Mertens
Harvard Innovation Labs MentorFormer Global Program Design Lead @ IBM Sustainability Accelerator.
Aylon Steinhart
Founder & CEO, Clearly Labs (acquired) and Eclipse Foods (W19, YC Top Company)Aylon is an exited founder and angel investor. He founded Clearly Labs, an AI startup that exited to Confido, and Eclipse Foods, a food tech startup and YC Top Company. He has raised $60M+ from investors including Initialized Capital and Forerunner Ventures, and has invested in or advised 30+ startups and VC funds.
Eric Cohen
Founder, Livio Labs & Vero Labs. Otis VPEric Cohen is a builder. For over 40 years, he's invented, launched, and shaped products that have generated more than $25 billion in revenue, including the Reebok Pump, Swiffer, and the Giro helmet retention system. He led Capgemini's global connected products practice, co-founded National Sleep Therapy, and has spent over a decade mentoring founders at Harvard Innovation Labs. Eric is the founder of Livio Labs and Vero Labs, building mental Health AI applications and the independent safety certification standard for conversational AI. He works through Otis VP, his strategic advisory and launch lab, where he partners with companies from early-stage to Fortune 500 to find the one thing that creates real impact.
Jake Castillo
Cal AI CofounderScaled Cal AI from 0 to $50M ARR in just 18 months before it was acquired by MyFitnessPal. Brings expertise in marketing and distribution to the fellows he works with.
Roger Joys
Technology Executive; Startup Advisor & MentorRoger Joys is a technology executive and startup mentor with 40+ years of experience building and scaling technology organizations and platforms in complex operating environments. He believes sustainable success starts with people: building strong teams, aligning around common goals, and adapting priorities and execution to each stage of growth. He helps founders navigate critical decisions by asking the right questions, challenging assumptions, and bringing clarity to complex problems. His experience spans technology strategy, cloud platforms, and AI adoption, helping turn ambitious ideas into scalable businesses.
Robert Shelton
Harvard Innovation LabsRob is a coach and mentor with a global reach and decades of experience, scaling social impact with earned revenue. His work includes mentoring enterprises launching second products and entering second markets at Harvard Innovation Labs, and his scaling workshop is featured in Harvard’s online learning program.
Leland Franklin
Outdoor executive coach, SF Bay AreaLeland has worked with some of the top mission-driven founders, executives, and their teams. He was GoPro's first software PM (scaled through IPO) and ran Partner Engineering at Clever, a YC-backed edtech platform ($500M exit). He helps fellows with hard decisions, co-founder dynamics, and sharpening focus and creativity, often on a hike.
Noah Tucker
Founder & CEO, Social Snowball (acquired for $35M)Bootstrapped Social Snowball into a multi-million-dollar SaaS business before its $35M acquisition by Dotdigital. He brings firsthand founder and growth experience to the fellows he works with. Noah is also passionate about alternative proteins and climate.
This is a fraction of the people helping +EV.
There are various other people involved in reviewing applications in specific domains, as well as a variety of other mentors who will help selected individuals. Full lists of mentors will be shared with everybody selected. Companies are also contributing compute/cloud credits and more. +EV is just getting started, so please give us time to add more information.