International Accelerator × Angelos Angelou Angelos has a long history in helping to build Austins entrepreneurial infrastructure and was part of the effort to establish the Austin Technology Incubator and the Austin Software Council (now known as the Austin Technology Council). Angelos is an active angel investor in several technology start ups and was also an affiliated investor in fund IV of Austin Ventures. He is the Principal Executive Officer of AngelouEconomics (AE), bringing nearly 30 years of experience in economic development and corporate site selection. AE has completed over 600 strategic plans for economic development clients throughout the world and sited over $18 billion of corporate projects. × Norbert Wangnick Norbert came to Austin in 2008 after having sold his company access AG, the leading recruiting consulting firm for Right Potentials in Germany which he had co-founded in 1991. The company had 75% of Europes most attractive employers as repeat clients and was the market leader in the field of recruiting highly talented graduates / Young Professionals in Germany and the EU. Access AG invented the unique concept of recruiting events, followed by its innovative headhunting system and was also the first company to offer complete recruiting process outsourcing solutions where several multi-national companies outsourced their entire recruiting needs. access was acquired in 2007 by Kelly Services, a Fortune 500 company in the U.S. As a founder, Norbert grew the company from a 2-man idea up to 120 employees, focusing on Sales Marketing, IT, the strategic vision, internationalization and the talent development of its own employees. He specifically enjoyed working with the pre-selected Top10% graduates, mentoring them regularly and over time as a career consultant. Norbert received his degree of Dipl.-Kfm. (MBA-equivalent) from University of Cologne after his B.A. of business administration at University of Munich. He also serves on the BoA of AIESEC Austin. × Carmelo Gordian Carmelo has practiced corporate and securities law throughout his 25-year legal career. He is known as a leader in the Texas venture capital and private equity community and was formerly the chairman of the San Francisco-based Brobeck Business Technology Group. Carmelos primary focus is on life science, software, telecommunications, semiconductor and energy sector companies. His practice includes: Advising companies and boards of directors on corporate governance issues. Representing issuers and investment banking firms in public offerings and private financings (including PIPE, 144A and venture capital financings. Representing acquirers and targets in a broad variety of domestic and international mergers, acquisitions and other business combination transactions. In addition to Carmelos company practice, he has an active practice representing GPs and LPs of hedge, private equity, venture capital and real estate funds. These funds range from several tens of millions of dollars to multibillion-dollar funds. × Emil Abirascid Emil Abirascid joined the International Accelerator in 2014. He is the Founder and CEO of Startupbusiness, the social network where startups, investors, enterprises, universities, incubators and scientific parks can exchange experiences, resources, projects, and do business together. Besides running his company and assisting IA to find quality startups, Emil is also an active journalist that writes on innovation. × Yoran Bar Yoran Bar joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the Founder and serves as the Advisory Board Director of an accelerator in Israel, Herzliya Accelerator Center (HAC). Yoran is also currently working on his own startup, OutVGo, a platform through which outdoor enthusiasts can find trustworthy partners, manage teams, and schedule practices and events. × Thomas Bebis Thomas Bebis joined the International Accelerator in 2014. His background combines science and technology with management and policy. Thomas has worked and carried out research on theoretical and experimental nanotechnology at Yale University and TUDelft. Most recently, he was the coordinator of the SXSW 2015 panel titled "Austin: The New Gateway for International Startups" and has also served as a judge at the MIT Enterprise Forum Greece's Startup Competition. × Arie Brish Arie Brish joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He has performed a wide variety of roles and contributed to several corporations. Currently, Arie is a Partner at Levant Energy Group, an Advisor at Almon Alexander (an investment firm), a Member of the Executive Board of Directors for the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce, and the Principal of cxo360 (business development and strategic advisory services). × Farley Duvall Farley Duvall joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of White Bull Summits, an events services company primarily focused on helping TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) businesses succeed through talks given by various speakers and the exchange of ideas and networks. Previously, Farley has served as an Advisor, Partner, and Managing Director for a number of different organizations. × Steve Glange Steve Glange joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the Co-Founder of FirstTuesday, a networking forum in the Greater Region of Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Wallonia, French Belgium, and German Belgium. Steve has assisted in launching and developing several emerging companies and also holds various advisory board seats. × Farouq Hassan Farouq Hassan joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the Founder and Former CEO of Eypreonics, a car theft security solution startup. Farouq is also heavily involved in improving entrepreneurship in Egypt, currently serving as the Chapter Director of Startup Grind Cairo and as an Entrepreneurship and Business Literacy Trainer for INJAZ Egypt. × Efraim Ivener Efraim Ivener and TechGrind joined the International Accelerator in 2015. Being the first private technology incubator in the entire region of Southeast Asia, TechGrind's goal is to create a vibrant community where founders can share, learn, and cooperate with one another. Efraim is a Founding Partner and is heavily involved in not only Thailand's local startup scene, but also the startup ecosystem in Austin. His fields of expertise are software engineering, project management, and entrepreneurship. × Augustin Jarack Augustin Jarak joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the Founder and CEO of Tourism4me, a company that develops software for the hospitality industry. Augustin is a startup enthusiast who is currently involved in Startup Grind Zagreb as the Chapter Director, Startup Digest as the Curator for Croatia, Startup Genome as the Curator for Croatia, and World Startup Report as the Ambassador for Croatia. × Maria Muskus Maria Muskus joined the International Accelerator in 2015. Her expertise lies in market research, financial analysis, and strategic planning with focus on developing projects, increasing ROE, and customer satisfaction. Previously, Maria served as the Project Advisor at Entrepreneurial Park in Colombia, where she advised entrepreneurs in the creation of business plans. Her past experiences also include working as a Consultant for the International Cooperation Agency of Medellin and MI Engineering Services SAS. × Abhiram Muddu Abhiram Muddu joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is a successful entrepreneur specializing in Operations, Marketing and Growth Strategies. × Almaz Nanjappa lmaz Nanjappa joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He is the Founder and CEO of Momentus Software Inc., an award-winning full-service digital agency providing research, design, and development services. In the past, Almaz has been the CEO of AweRena Software, the Senior Project Lead for Adobe Systems, and the Engineering Manager for Barnes Noble. After over 17 years of industry experience in software development, he has now begun to switch gears to the investment and advisory side of business. × Sam Ng Sam Ng joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He previously served as an Investment Banker and a Strategy and Business Consultant at J.P. Morgan. Using his financial experiences and knowledge, Sam went on to co-found and is currently the CEO of Fundnel, an investment crowdfunding platform that connects the most promising private businesses with fundraising opportunities via an active online community of entrepreneurs, investors and professionals. × Matt Salier Matt Salier joined the International Accelerator in 2014. He has had a broad range of experiences, ranging from startup entrepreneurial venture creation to project/business analysis and event management in the social enterprise sector to strategic and change management in the sports management industries. Previously, Matt has served as the Director of New Venture Institute, the National Manager of the Smith Family, the Volunteer Engagement Manager, and the Business Development Manager for Tennis NSW. × Zeeshan Shahid Zeeshan Shahid joined the International Accelerator in 2014. He is a Senior Program Manager at The Indus Entrepreneurs. × Kyrill Zlobenko Kyrill Zlobenko joined the International Accelerator in 2015. He specializes in areas of business development, product development, media analytics, and risk management. Being a big advocate of "entrepreneurship without borders", Kyrill has co-founded and worked with several ventures in various countries. His past projects include eCozy, Pricelessly, BMAT, and more. Kyrill strives to assist startups open up new markets, customers, and cultures. × Diego Echecopar Diego Echecopar joined the International Accelerator in 2016. He's currently the CEO and Founder of Bocadio in Lima, Peru. He specializes in Project development, start-ups, entreprenurial ventures, real estate valuations, financial modelling, mergers and acquisitions and investment management. × Christian Boas Christian Boas joined the International Accelerator in 2016 and will assist startups from Germany and neighbouring countries. He specializes in areas of business development, finance and supporting with investment documentation. He has been encouraging transatlantic relations between Germany and the US since the start of being part of the startup comunnity. Christian has been a VC and assisted several startups of the portfolio internationalising so that he would like to bring this experience to startups interested in joining this program. Christian wants to enable foreign startups suceed in their native markets and make the next progression to the US. × Luca Escoffier Luca Escoffier joined the International Accelerator in 2016 and will assist startups from Japan. Luca has worked for universities, companies, law firms, as a consultant, co-founder and mentor, having lived in Europe, US, and Japan. × Four Yang Four Yang joined the International Accelerator in 2016. He specializes in VC, global business development, marketing, project management and RD. He is an highly motivated professional with 14 years experience in Global TMT industry. He has also helped many potential companies grow from the aspects of technical support, supply chain management and expanding business. × Hilton Lam × Rachel Yang × Tomas Denecken Tomas Denecken joined the International Accelerator in 2016. He's currently the Chilean Operations Manager for Raicap, a VC that invested mainly in LatAm businesses. × Future Advisor Please contact our Country Advisor Manager Giacomo Ghiraldo (giacomo@internationalaccelerator.com) if you're interested in becoming IA's country advisor. × BOB BRIDGE Bob Bridge, PhD, is an active mentor of technology start-up companies. Bob has been in high-tech start-ups since 1985, has been founding CEO at three companies, and has raised $59M in funding since 2000. Bob founded InView Technology Corp, an infrared camera company based upon technology licensed from Rice University. At InView, Bob was co-author of seven US patents. Before InView, Bob took Zilker Labs, a power-management IC start-up from a marketing concept to acquisition by a public company. Bob has also served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Austin Ventures where he co-founded Copan Systems, as VP of Marketing at Agere which was acquired for $430M, and as VP General Manager of public company Cirrus Logic. Early in his career he worked at AT T Bell Labs and Motorola. He has also served on the board of directors of clean-energy company Solar Power Technology. × CRAIG FRYAR Areas of Expertise: BI, DWH, Hardware, Software, Biotech, Gaming, Funding, Entrepreneurship Craig Fryar is the Head of Global Business Intelligence at Wargaming.net, an award-winning online game developer and publisher, and a leader in the free-to-play MMO market. Based out of Wargaming Austin, Craig leads the world-wide data and analytic efforts, and is responsible for informing design, development, marketing and senior management with actionable insights and business intelligence. Prior to Wargaming, Fryar was a Director of Analytics at Electronic Arts, informing design, development and marketing of AAA computer and console games, including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3. He has served in executive positions leading high-performance, innovative teams in hardware and software technology at Apple, Dell, Seedstage and most recently, the International Accelerator. Fryar holds a degree in Business and Communications from Texas Tech; married 33 years with 3 teens. × STAN TIMS × REBECCA GONZALES Rebecca Gonzales brings 20 years of marketing experience to The International Accelerator. In 2012, Rebecca became an entrepreneur, starting her own marketing consultancy after nearly 20 years in high tech. In her tenure in the technology industry, Rebecca launched products, planned and executed marketing strategies, and executed marketing programs around the world. Rebecca has immersed herself in learning all she can about Impact Investing and Social Entrepreneurship. Rebecca is a founding steering committee member of the IMPACT Texas Summit on Impact Investing and Social Entrepreneurship. The inaugural event took place Jan 9-10, 2014 and brought together over 250 social entrepreneurs, investors, non-profits, and philanthropists. She is also a member of the 2014 Leadership Austin Essential program. Rebecca holds a BA in Journalism from Southern Methodist University and an Institute for Managerial Leadership Certificate from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Executive Education. × MONICA LANDERS × YING MCGUIRE × ED VALDEZ Ed has over 20 years of high-tech executive experience in marketing, sales and operations from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has served as VP of Solutions Marketing at SUN (now Oracle) as well as President of Parrot, an international drone and smartphone accessories innovator. Prior to that, Ed was Global Marketing Director at Motorola for the 1st generation RAZR platform and a Product Manager at IBM. He is a member of Central Texas Angel Network. Ed serves on the Board of Advisors for SXSWedu and several Edtech/Mobiletech startups. As a contributor to Technorati and other media, he tracks mobile tech trends and the forces behind them and co-authored Samsung 3.0: Talent, Technology and Timing. Ed holds a BSEE from MIT and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. × MARK MCDERMOTT × STEVE BEATTY × EUN Y. KIM, PH.D Eun is the founder/president of CEO International, an international management consulting firm. She has over 25 years of coaching and consulting in the fields of global leadership, executive presence, cross-cultural communication, and change management. Having worked with numerous multinationals in Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, she has an extensive experience in talent development, cultural integration and strategic partnerships across the globe. Since she was one of the first women professionals at a Korean conglomerate (Hyundai), she is committed to developing female leaders. Eun has served on numerous boards, including the International Board for Texas A M University and Austin Children's Museum Board of Directors. She is an adjunct coach at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), and frequently coaches clients for their startup pitch, business review, board presentation or media appearance. As an author of 10 books on leadership, communication and happiness , she is a popular speaker at international conferences and corporate events. × CHRIS PORCH × ARIE BRISH × APOSTOLOS "TOLI" LERIOS Toli is the CTO of Metanautix, a Silicon Valley Big Data Analytics infrastructure startup funded by Sequoia Capital. Before Metanautix, Toli was at Facebook developing infrastructure behind the world's largest photo repository. He single-handedly created and implemented the dynamic image processing architecture that drives the photo layouts in Timeline and News Feed. Toli is a veteran of several technology companies, including Marketcetera and Techfuel (both learning experiences that died untimely deaths), CenterRun (acquired by Sun Microsystems), and Trilogy Software in Austin, TX. In his earliest venture, as Chief Scientist with Align Technology (a public company now), he was part of the founding team that created the Invisalign clear braces device, prompting an ongoing interest in healthcare, later leading to his co-founding of Alabama's first Residential Treatment Center for Eating Disorders (sold to private equity). He holds an MS and BS in Computer Science from Stanford University, where he also received the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching while part of the PhD program (which he never completed). × CHRISTINE LERIOS Christine is a startup veteran, having spent more than 15 years running operations and marketing efforts for small companies in the technology (Metanautix, Trilogy Software), finance (Honeycomb Wealth, Blue Jeans Millionaire), healthcare (Magnolia Creek), and non-profit (Umlauf Sculpture Garden, Thundering Paws, Kalani Honua) sectors. Christine's early career was in marketing, but her curiosity has led her to amass an evolving set of hands-on skills highly valued by her startup clients. She has launched offices and products, created onboarding protocols, implemented accounting and reimbursement systems, run payroll and banking, coded websites (HTML, PHP, Drupal, and Wordpress), written and designed marketing collateral, authored manuals, planned events and conferences, and - her favorite - wrangled developers. Christine is currently with Metanautix, a funded Silicon Valley based startup in the big data infrastructure space. She was their first non-technical hire and singlehandedly ran operations, human resources, and accounting for two years as the company grew tenfold. Christine holds a BA degree in Human Biology, with a dual degree in Economics, from Stanford University. × KERRY RUPP Kerry Rupp is Chief Operating Officer at Medical Innovation Labs, a new hub for healthcare innovation that commercializes breakthrough medical and clinical research, translating discoveries and inventions into products that meaningfully improve patient care. With over 20 years of executive strategy and operations experience, Kerry has spent much of her career helping to launch and grow startup companies. Most recently, she was CEO and General Partner at DreamIt Ventures, a top-10 US startup accelerator. During her tenure, DreamIt helped launch 165 companies, grew to five cities, raised a $15+M follow-on fund, and initiated the DreamIt Access and DreamIt Health programs, the latter in conjunction with Penn Medicine, Independence Blue Cross, Johns Hopkins University, Northrup Grumman, Kaiser Permanente and others. DreamIt companies now have a market value of over $811M. Kerry was herself the founder of an online group travel service, Holiday Golightly. Before DreamIt, Kerry served in Vice President level positions at Jobster, Classmates and LexisNexis and was a consultant at McKinsey and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). She also provided marketing, strategy business development consulting to senior executives at AllRecipes, ReadersDigest, Payscale, and Taleo. Kerry holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Biology from Duke University. × GAIL S. PAGE × ALMAZ NANJAPPA × HARVEY RING × DAVID ROUSSEL × DAVID SIKORA × ANDRES CARVALLO Area of Expertise: Energy, Telecommunications, Computers, and Software × DAVE MANZER × ED KOWALSKI Areas of expertise: Brand management, Omni-channel sales management, brand development × TED DOUCET Ted Doucet joined Oxford Commercial in 2006 after launching his commercial real estate career in 2004. Ted was recognized in 2012 as Oxford Commercial's Top Producer. At Oxford Commercial, Ted is primarily focused on tenant services and helps his clients locate and negotiate for the lease or purchase of office space. His clients enjoy seamless best-in-class access to local, regional, national and global commercial real estate services, platforms, technologies and value-added partners. Ted currently is a board advisor for International Accelerator, which provides an efficient pathway to bring highly valued international businesses to the U.S., matching them with capital, proven business leaders, top-tier professional services, and residency support. Previously, Ted spent 26 years working in the high-tech industry in sales and sales leadership roles. His experience, including 14 years working at leading Austin based high-tech start-ups, provides him with a unique understanding of the region, its innovation industries and their business objectives. He has a proven track record of helping organizations solve their most significant business challenges through his consultative approach. Teds previous professional accomplishments and experience include being an instrumental member of the executive team that built Pervasive Software into an industry leader and helped guide them through their initial public offering in 1997. Additionally, he has been a top producer at companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Sybase and Triactive. × ADRIAN DIAZGONSEN Adrian offers a successful track record of people management, upstream and downstream product management in Structural Heart, Neurovascular, Peripheral and Cardiology with profitable worldwide product launches. With his strong analytical acumen and ability to execute with little or no support teams and a highly matrix organization, he has successfully put together strategies and implemented tactics for products with lifecycles ranging from new to mature. Leveraging his multicultural background, he has excelled at leading multicultural teams and has created strong global relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs). × WILLIAM T. EDWARDS × ED RIVADAVIA × JENNIFER GALLEGOS Jennifer G. Gallegos, Senior Consultant, combines her technical expertise and unique collaborative energy to solve challenging fire and life safety problems for complex commercial projects. Gallegos graduated with a degree in Environmental Engineering and a minor in Spanish from Stanford University. She also completed coursework in energy efficient buildings, computers and interfaces, spanish literature, computer science, electric power: renewables and efficiency, and politics, culture, and modernization of Chilean society. Gallegos is a licensed Professional Engineer (Fire Protection Branch) in Texas. She also has interests in early stage companies, green technology, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, 3-D printing, and music. × TYRON STADING Tyron Stading founded Innography in 2006 with a vision of redefining the intelligence/analytics landscape. As president and founder of Innography, Mr Stading believes his mission is to make insights easier and more integrated into business processes. He is responsible for product strategy, engineering, technology roadmap and the development of strategic partnerships. Under his product leadership, Innography received two CODiE awards in 2014, for Best Aggregated Content and Legal Information Solution. Tyron has been named IAM's top "300 IP Strategies" in the world, and National Law Journal's "50 Intellectual Property Trailblazers Pioneers". × COLE HARMONSON Prior to co-founding Far West Capital, in 1996 Cole founded, grew, ran and successfully sold a factoring and asset based lending division of a publicly held bank (TXUI), Texas United Bancshares, Inc., which sold in 2007. In 2007, Cole started and grew Far West Capital from a three person office to a nationwide lender with coast to coast offices, including Los Angeles, El Paso, Dallas, Austin, Cleveland, Atlanta and Washington D.C. In 2014, Far West Capital created Far Reaching, Far West Capitals social impact initiative to help galvanize entreprenuerial and non-profit heros, since then Far Reaching has raised and donated over $200,000 for non-profits and through its alliance with Grameen America has help over 1000 minority women in Austin, Texas go from minimum wage worker to business owner. × SALVADOR APUD × MELANIE MAHAFFEY As a mentor, Melanie Mahaffey brings 14 years of public relations, communications and marketing expertise. A budding entrepreneur herself, Melanie recently started her own PR consultancy where she advises clients on strategic communication and marketing plan development, crisis communication, media relations and community involvement. During her career, Melanie has had the privilege to work with civic leaders and corporate executives across a variety of sectors including entertainment, tech, government, sports, consumer and lifestyle, business, retail, and transportation. Melanie received her B.A. in communications studies with a business and marketing concentration from The University of Texas at Austin. × CARLOS ANCIRA × SCOTT GARDNER × Giacomo Ghiraldo Associate at International Accelerator (Austin, TX), investing in high quality technology businesses with strong growth potential. Former Venture Analyst at H-FARM Ventures (Venice, Italy) and Business Development Consultant at SV Links (Palo Alto, CA). M.S. in Business Administration and Technology Commercialization at Recanati Business School, Tel Aviv University and University of Padua. Passionate for Innovation, Finance and Growth. × Kameesh Valliani × Marissa Mann × Gabriel Hidd Menu About Program Team Portfolio For Investors News Apply Now We take international startups to the next level IA helps non-US entrepreneurs access the U.S. markets and funding. Our Program latest updates Featured Foreign Entrepreneurs Have a New Visa! Read More Featured Ultimate Guide To US Taxation for Immigrant Entrepreneurs Foreign Startups Read More Featured List of Best Tech Conferences in 2016 (Prices Schedule) Read More Latest Petrolog Automation Inc. Graduates From International Accelerator Read More subscribe to our newsletter We teach international entrepreneurs how to obtain U.S. visas, raise capital, and grow in the U.S. markets ourprogram Our accelerator program is designed to help non-US founders raise capital and expand their startup in the US. Learn more about our hands-on approach to help you with everything you need. Learn more whyaustin? Did you know Twitter launched at SXSW in Austin? Austin is one of the best cities to run your startup. With over $1 billion in VC funding per year, Austin provides easy access to capital alongside a relatively low cost of living labor. Know More ourteam Meet the team of investors, country advisors, startup mentors, and experienced entrepreneurs with successful exits, from all over the world. We know your pain as we were in your position. Now we are here to help you. Tell me International Accelerator 8121 Bee Cave Road Suite 150 Austin, Texas 78746, USA view map +1-512-225-9333 +1-512-279-0964 hello@internationalaccelerator.com