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It is with great pleasure that we have welcomed two new Programs Managers, De-Ann Abraham and Keith Mauppa, to the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute!
Among Keith's new responsibilities are leading the Startup School workshop series and providing coaching to our founders. Prior to joining us at the Institute, Keith was COO of Flat World Partners, an impact-focused investment & advisory firm. He has over 12 years of experience covering Management Consulting, Asset Management, Private Equity and Venture Capital.
De-Ann's responsibilities also include coaching, as well as leading the Female Founders monthly events and the Startup Bootcamps. Before joining the Institute, De-Ann was a management and corporate innovation strategy consultant in the public, private, and social innovation sectors working with clients such as the Sumitomo Corporation, GAF, World Bank, Omidyar Network, and Lab@OPM. De-Ann is also the Chief Strategy Officer at I Have A Right Foundation, a girls' leadership nonprofit.
We asked both De-Ann and Keith to fill out a small questionnaire to help you get to know them. Read their answers below!
Keith:
What most excites you about your new role at the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute?
I love working with entrepreneurs & startups on problem-solving and scaling!
What drew you to working with startups?
I come from a very entrepreneurial family and I have started several startups of my own.
What is one piece of advice you've been given that you want to pass on to our community of founders?
Start with the assumption that you know nothing about your market, then begin learning in order to discover valuable insights that you can then build a sustainable business upon.
Starting a venture is notoriously challenging, but helping startups start up isn't easy either – what do you do to unwind?
I’m currently really getting into gardening & woodworking! 👨🏽🌾 🪵 Also, I love biking & hiking 🚴🏽♂️ ⛰
What is a pain point you have that you wish a startup would solve for you?
I’d really like a Screen Recording App that can automatically use Voice Recognition, OCR & ML technologies in order to capture audio &/or text in a story-flow format. My Specific Pain Point: Missing key data points communicated verbally or visually over video conferencing.
De-Ann:
What most excites you about your new role at the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute?
I excited about fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship, resilience and creativity in burgeoning founders as well as working with my team members from the Institute.
What drew you to working with startups?
I love supporting people with a vision to make something new.
What is one piece of advice you've been given that you want to pass on to our community of founders?
Make sure you have a shared vision for your startup and understand the motivations of those who are in the room with you and make sure that you are all aligned. This can prevent a lot of challenges down the line.
Starting a venture is notoriously challenging, but helping startups start up isn't easy either – what do you do to unwind?
I make custom jewelry and I experiment with cooking new types of cuisine.
What is a pain point you have that you wish a startup would solve for you?
Honestly, I can’t think of anything!
