Entrepreneurial Institute

2025 NYU Summer Launchpad: Meet the Mentors Guiding This Year’s Founders

Posted By Keith Mauppa
on Thu, Jun 26, 2025

Stay up to date on upcoming events, deadlines, news, and more by signing up for our newsletters!

Nine intense weeks, 12 fearless teams, and 53 incredible mentors — that’s Summer Launchpad (SLP) 2025 in a nutshell. While our founders refine business models through customer discovery, rapid iteration, and milestone‑driven goals, these entrepreneurs and investors volunteer their time (and candor!) to propel every team further.

30x Entrepreneur Mentors

  1. Adrian Grant (Stern ‘05) — Entrepreneur & Engineer with ventures backed by Comcast, Samsung & Dreamit; music‑AI DJ with 49K followers. 
  2. Andrea Breanna (Gallatin ‘97, Tisch ‘03) — Founder & CEO, RebelMouse (powers The Dodo & Axios); ex‑CTO, HuffPost; champion for gender‑expansive voices. 
  3. Austin Hunt (Tandon ‘18) — CTO & Co‑Founder, Stepwise; ex‑Raytheon radar engineer and NYU Motorsports founder. 
  4. Dan Kantor (Tisch ‘05) — Two‑time exited founder (Exfm, Streampad) & former Clarifai product exec; builds AI‑driven media products end‑to‑end. 
  5. Dana Mauriello — Serial entrepreneur & former Etsy exec; Sidewalk Labs advisor; teaches entrepreneurship at NYU Stern. 
  6. Devon Dolan — Sci‑fantasy storyteller & IP strategist (Coachella, Sesame Street); Partner in a new AAA game + TV studio. 
  7. Gabe Warshaw (Tisch ITP ‘23)— Musician‑Technologist; Founder & CEO, Baton—unlocking royalties for unreleased tracks. 
  8. Henry Armistead (SPS ‘24) — Biz‑Dev Director, Splash Sports; built responsible‑gambling startup Hedge at the Leslie eLab. 
  9. Hilary Dubin — Co‑CEO & Co‑Founder, Jones (nicotine cessation); ex‑Atlassian PM & cognitive‑neuroscience researcher. 
  10. Ian Martin (Stern ‘12) — CFO, Bread Alone Bakery; co‑owns Woodstock Meats; fuels sustainable CPG growth. 
  11. Jackie Kroeger‑Donovan (Stern ‘20) — Transformed NYU’s Kuku Canteen (4× revenue); now heads Customer Success at Richardson. 
  12. Jesse Wachtel — Founder, Investor & CFO/Co‑Founder of Huddle; long‑time tech operator & mentor.
  13. Jo Schneier — Founder & CEO, Circle; built & sold two ed‑tech firms; TEDMed speaker tackling social‑impact challenges. 
  14. Joe Landolina (Tandon ‘14) — CEO & Co‑Founder of Cresilon, a rapid hemostatic‑gel innovator that's shaking up trauma care. 
  15. Joe West — Tech Exec (Cover Whale, Radian Capital, Wunderkind) building high‑performance teams & digital experiences. 
  16. Julia Schulhof — 15‑year product leader; recently launched a mental‑health app; passionate NYU mentor. 
  17. Karen Gordon (Tisch ITP) — Company builder at the AI–hardware–sustainability nexus; guides deep‑tech teams from lab to market. 
  18. Marcos Brisson (Shanghai ‘23) — Co‑Founder & CEO, Kaizntree (inventory SaaS); NYU Shanghai alum mentoring e‑commerce ops. 
  19. Michael Glantz (Stern '15) — Media‑Tech Exec at The Trade Desk bridging programmatic supply & demand. 
  20. Mir Hwang (CAS ‘19) — Founder & CEO, GigFinesse; Forbes 30 Under 30; raised $10 M to reshape live entertainment.
  21. Noah Dinkin (Stern ‘06) — Founder & CEO, Stensul; $50 M raised, 140‑person team transforming enterprise content workflows. 
  22. Nobu Nakaguchi (Tisch ITP ‘10) — Veteran UX/product leader fusing design thinking with agile engineering. 
  23. Nyamitse‑Calvin Mahinda (Tandon ‘23) — Co‑Founder & CEO, Vital Audio—AI vocal biomarkers for remote health monitoring.
  24. Olivia Landau (Steinhardt ‘13) — Founder & CEO, The Clear Cut; Forbes 30 Under 30 jeweler reshaping diamond transparency. 
  25. Oscar Adelman (Stern ‘17)— Founder & CEO, Remi; ex‑Sinai Ventures VC; night‑guard disruptor & globe‑trotting foodie. 
  26. Ron Goldman — CEO, Wisdo Health & NYU adjunct; previously co‑founded Kognito (acq. Blackstone). 
  27. Seth Weil (Stern) — Strategy & Corp‑Dev Leader across consulting, health systems & tech startups. 
  28. Wayne Mackey (GSAS ‘16) — Founder & CEO, Statespace; cognitive‑science PhD turned $100 M‑funded gaming‑analytics mogul. 
  29. Whitney Rothe — PLG marketing lead at Dremio; ex‑Insight Partners; scales go‑to‑market engines.
  30. Yasser Ansari (Tisch ‘10) — Product builder tackling environmental ed, hospice tech & analytics; collabs with Google & Pinterest.

26x Investor Mentors

  1. AJ Smith (CAS ‘14) — Investor & brand builder at Outlander VC (18 unicorns); co‑founded LvlUp Ventures; chart‑topping musician. 
  2. Amy Ho (Stern ‘20)— PepsiCo Ventures strategist & Naturally NY board member; two‑time NYU alumna.
  3. Ash Cleary — Associate, LDV Capital; backs founders leveraging visual tech & AI. 
  4. Ashika Kalra (Stern ‘14) — NYU MBA empowering global changemakers; authoring a book on 25 remarkable NY women. 
  5. Aya Somai — Investor at NEA ($25 B AUM) focusing on infrastructure & AI/ML.
  6. Brian Lew (Stern ‘01) — Partner, Oceans; 17 yrs media/tech M&A and NCAA/Bleacher Report mega‑deals. 
  7. Chika Ogele (Stern) — Newark native & NVP associate; ex‑Eight Sleep CoS and Goldman Sachs banker. 
  8. Craig Wilson (Stern ‘14) — Venture Partner, Collaborative Fund; ex‑NYU Tandon exec & regenerative‑ag founder. 
  9. Jamey Stout — Network‑effects, Ethereum & AI enthusiast driving inclusive tech growth. 
  10. Jaspreet Singh (Stern ‘09) — Operating Partner, Collaborative Fund; 25 yrs scaling high‑growth firms. 
  11. Jesse Wachtel —  Founder, Investor, and Advisor of technology companies; CFO and Co-Founder at Huddle; mentor and operator.
  12. Kelsey Holland — Jet.com founding team; Walmart Store No 8 alum; now running Balance Rock Partners. 
  13. Kunal Mehta (Stern ‘11) — Managing Partner, Isos Capital (media & entertainment); author on legendary VCs. 
  14. Lia Zhang — Investor, Makers Fund ($1 B gaming/UGC); ex‑Primary & Stripes. 
  15. Lori Berenberg (Stern ‘17) — Investor at Bloomberg Beta, building the future of work; ex-MongoDB, AppNexus; NYU Tech Alumni.
  16. Mirit Lugassi — Early-stage B2B software VC; builds teams, supports underrepresented founders.
  17. Morgan Hitzig — Venrock investor focused on nat‑sec & public‑safety tech; ex‑NYPD analyst. 
  18. Navi Singh — General Partner at Antler and Sinai Ventures, currently building a startup.
  19. Nelson Schubart (Stern) — Managing Partner, Company Ventures; AI & data pre‑seed focus in NYC. 
  20. Nihir Patel (CAS ‘11) — Physician‑Founder, Kurbside Partners; angel bridging clinicians & startups. 
  21. Phuong Ireland — Partner, Interplay; runs high‑touch incubator; ex‑founder of venture‑backed apparel brand. 
  22. Rachel Baruch (Gallatin ‘17) — Principal, Growth Warrior Capital; backs enterprise AI at Seed/Series A. 
  23. Skylar Dorosin — Principal, Newark Venture Partners; fintech & industrial SaaS investor
  24. Thomson Nguyen (Courant Faculty) — Co‑Founder, Metaplane & Saga VC; 2× exit founder; led data science at Square Capital. 
  25. Zac Geinzer (Gallatin ‘23) — Investor, Commonweal Ventures; co‑founded Washington Square Angels at NYU.
  26. Zoe van den Bol (Stern ‘21) — Investor, Alpha Partners; growth‑stage deals in AI & digital health.

Why Their Guidance Matters

Our evidence‑based curriculum pushes founders to pressure‑test business models every week, but it’s the nuanced, real‑world feedback from mentors that turns lessons into traction. Collectively, this year’s mentors have:

  • Launched 150+ startups, 30 of which surpassed $100M valuations.
  • Raised or deployed over $8B in venture capital across seven continents.
  • Guided NYU founders toward Y Combinator, Techstars, NSF SBIR, and more.

We’re endlessly grateful for their generosity — and can’t wait to see the breakthroughs their candor & guidance sparks this summer!

Related