Tech Startup Network Podcast with Ashley DiBiase

Sarah Mattina is a strategic communications consultant with nearly a decade of experience across startups, venture capital, and financial communications. She has held in-house roles leading communications at JetBlue Ventures, the National Venture Capital Association, and Southwest Airlines, and has advised founders and funds alike at Edelman Smithfield. As founder of Mattina Media, Sarah partners...

Phylicia Koh is a General Partner at Play Ventures a leading early-stage VC fund that invests globally in gaming, consumer apps and gaming-adjacent tech. Phylicia has led investments into Alter (avatar tech company acquired by Google, Arya (AI-driven couple intimacy platform), BibleChat (fastest growing AI-powered faith app, #4 US App Store). She most recently led Alinea's $10.4m Series A (per...

Philip Toussaint is the founder of Ecopreneur, an EdTech company that helps schools and students manage, track, and fulfill community service hours. A Stonehill College graduate from the Class of 2019, Philip’s professional journey began at the age of 19 in sales and marketing, where he developed a deep passion for these fields. Outside of work, he enjoys being outdoors, volunteering, hitting the...

Megan Kane is the founder of Rellia, a platform that connects early-stage digital health, medical device, wellness, and diagnostic companies with industry experts, healthcare practitioners, and engaged investors. During this episode, we discuss: What she does at Rellia, an incubator How she got the idea for Rellia and the gaps she noticed for healthtech startups Why having a positive community is...

Elliott Parker is CEO of Alloy Partners, a venture builder that co-creates advantaged startups with corporations and entrepreneurs. He previously launched dozens of startups at High Alpha, the pioneering venture studio, and helped Fortune 100 firms design and execute growth strategies at Clayton Christensen’s firm Innosight. Elliott is passionate about helping big organizations move fast and think...

Cory Borman is the co-founder and tech-savvy mind behind Swoon Learning. With a diverse background in software, design, and marketing, Cory has a proven track record of success in various industries. His experience spans from shipping over 200 educational products at Pearson Education to starting Communication Lab during the pandemic — a business working with children who are on the Autism spectru...

Corporate attorney Lindsey S. Mignano, based in San Francisco, is a go-to expert for startup founders, small business owners, and international companies looking to break into the U.S. market. A former attorney at an international law firm, Lindsey now leads her own boutique practice, SSM Law, where she helps emerging tech companies navigate everything from formation and fundraising to mergers and...

Elizabeth McCluskey is a Managing Director at TruStage Ventures, the venture capital arm of TruStage. She leads the TruStage Ventures Discovery Fund, which invests in early stage fintech companies led by underrepresented founders. Over the last four years, she has deployed ~$15M to companies building solutions in lending, financial wellness and banking technology. Elizabeth is responsible for sour...

Vijay Ravindran, the CEO and founder of Floreo, combines his extensive expertise from pivotal roles at Amazon and The Washington Post to spearhead innovation in immersive technology for autism therapy. His tenure as the Chief Digital Officer at The Washington Post saw groundbreaking advancements in digital media and content delivery, revolutionizing how news is consumed in the digital age. Ravindr...

Natalie Hoop is a Fractional Strategic Operations Partner who helps startups scale without stalling or burning out their teams. She specializes in revenue and operational turnarounds — from rebuilding sales operations that drove +238% sales growth in 30 days to improving gross margin by 68 points in four months. She partners with founders at Seed to Series B companies to fix the work behind the wo...

Nik Talreja is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sydecar, an SPV and fund automation platform for venture. Nik previously practiced securities & transactional law at Cooley LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, and held leadership roles in operations, finance, and as general counsel at venture-backed companies. In addition to his role at Sydecar, Nik actively invests in early-stage companies at 18.v...

Natalie Barbu is the founder and CEO of Rella, a VC-backed startup helping social media teams streamline content planning, collaboration, and analytics. With over a decade of experience as a content creator and entrepreneur, she’s built a personal brand with a community of 380K+ and now focuses on building tools that support creators, marketers, and agencies behind the scenes. Natalie is passionat...

Emmaline Swanson is a 2x founder and startup operations specialist who has spent over 10 years building operational infrastructure as a founding team member and Chief of Staff at early-stage tech companies across healthcare, crypto, fintech, big data, GRC, logistics, and AI. She takes a data-driven approach to operations, but what sets her work apart is applying behavioral science to design system...

Kt McBratney is a community innovator and investor obsessed with disrupting the status bro. As General Partner and Head of Community at Renew Venture Capital, they’re redefining how founders, capital, and networks work together — building community as an operating system, not a marketing channel or afterthought Before joining Renew VC, Kt co-founded and helped scale OwnTrail, the community-powered...

Dr. Ashley Blackington, OTD, OTR/L, is a board-certified Occupational Therapist, founder, and storyteller at the intersection of caregiving, technology, and culture. She is the creator of Dovetail®, a CareTech platform that launched in July 2025 to help family caregivers organize care, streamline communication, and build sustainable support networks. She also hosts AND/BOTH, a podcast that brings...

Manasi Shukla is the founder of Safrela Consulting and brings over twenty years of experience designing and implementing customer education and training programs for healthcare organizations. She has trained clinical teams and driven product adoption at industry leaders such as Medtronic and Intuitive Surgical, as well as several innovative startups. Manasi specializes in scaling onboarding, drivi...

Alfredo Mercedes is the co-founder at VU Talent Partners, a modular, talent enablement platform deeply embedded within a VC firm, combining signal, workflows, and search as a service. He started his career in the Marine Corps as a CoS, before moving into executive search, where he helped high growth tech companies and venture funds build teams to scale. Today he works at the intersection of hiring...

Anna Belova is an influential AR and generative AI entrepreneur, currently leading DEVAR and OpenWay AI as their founder and CEO. She holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Human Science and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2019. With more than a decade of experience in immersive tech, Anna has overseen the launch of over 300 AR products, including interactive children’s books that have sold 15 mil...

Argentina Beltran is the Founder & CEO of InclusifAI, a platform supporting underrepresented founders using AI for social good. With over 20 years of experience across corporate, nonprofit, and startup sectors, she’s helped build ecosystems where innovation and equity go hand in hand. Her work lives at the intersection of emotional intelligence, systems design, and cultural change — shaped by...

Anita Ly began her career as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry before pivoting into entrepreneurship and venture capital. With hands-on experience in SBIR funding, hedge fund diligence, and traditional VC, she brings a cross-sector approach to innovation and early-stage growth. She’s built accelerator programs from the ground up, worked side-by-side with founders to secure funding, and he...

Jesse Williams is the Co-Founder and COO of Jozu, a DevOps platform for AI agents, applications, and models. Jozu enables organizations to securely manage, optimize, and deploy machine learning models from development to production. With over a decade of experience in marketing and operations for SaaS, cloud, and open-source products, Jesse’s work reflects a commitment to fostering innovation and...

Gab Saper is a personal stylist and founder of Wardrobe Editor™️, who helps you uncover the coolest, hottest, best version of yourself through what you’re putting on your body. She’s part stylist, part emotional translator—known for helping clients untangle the mess of “shoulds” in their closet and figure out what actually feels good again. Drawing on her experiences from fashion school and workin...

Andrew Ackerman is a VC, angel investor, SPV syndicate sponsor, and former entrepreneur with over a decade of startup investing experience and 70+ early-stage deals. A former generalist who later specialized in EdTech and now focuses on PropTech and Construction Tech, Andrew has built a reputation for turning networks into true platforms. At Dreamit, he launched industry verticals and co-created t...

James He is the co-founder and CEO of Artificial Societies, a company at the forefront of simulating human social dynamics using AI. With a background spanning data science, behavioral sciences, and entrepreneurship, James has dedicated his career to bridging technology and human understanding. After earning First Class Honours in Psychological & Behavioural Sciences from the University of Cam...

Bethany Fiocchi Root is a results-obsessed marketer with 17+ years of experience helping high-growth companies scale smarter and faster. As Founder & CEO of Oceanview Marketing, she works with startups to design and execute strategic marketing programs that match the stage they’re in (and the growth they’re after). Over the course of my career, Bethany has grown multi-million dollar marketing...