THE PANEL_
Meet the founders, investors, operators and experts helping us find the ventures that deserve to be seen.
Andrew D'Souza
Founder / Mad Scientist at Boardy
Andrew D’Souza is the founder and creator of Boardy, the AI superconnector. Boardy talks to people over phone, WhatsApp, email and text to understand their story, goals and immediate priorities, then introduces them to the right founders, operators and investors in its network to move their goals forward.
Thousands of founders have raised millions, closed major partnerships and made key hires from Boardy’s curated, double‑opt‑in intros. Through its 500 Founders initiative and AI‑led fund, Boardy Ventures, Andrew is focused on expanding access to capital and networks for the next generation of global builders.
Before creating Boardy, Andrew was the co‑founder and CEO of Clearco, where he pioneered AI‑driven, revenue‑based financing, investing over $2.5B in more than 10,000 startups. He studied Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo and began his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
Boardy
AI Superconnector
Boardy is an AI Superconnector connecting founders, operators, and investors across the world's most ambitious networks.
Guglielmo Fonda
Solo Founders / ODF Admissions
Guglielmo leads growth and internal AI at Solo Founders, where he finds and supports the best rapidly-growing solo founded companies with lean systems.
Guglielmo also leads admissions for ODF, one of the longest-running and most selective founder communities in San Francisco. A mechanical engineer by training, he previously co-founded Arrayah, a founder community in the MENA region.
Tom & John
Founders at Drop Dead Generous
Tom Cledwyn
Tom co-founded Drop Dead Generous after roles as Global Creative Strategist at Meta and Managing Director of TED’s Infectious Generosity initiative. He was secretly known as The Free Help Guy for a while, helping people for free with everything from naming babies to find bone marrow donors. In 2012, he also became the youngest person in the UK to donate a kidney to a stranger. Tom is responsible for the vision and strategy of Drop Dead Generous.
Vision & Strategy Lead
John M Sweeney
Before co-founding Drop Dead Generous, John built Suspended Coffees into a global kindness movement of 500,000 people across 30+ countries, covered by NPR, BBC, and The Huffington Post, and recognised by Facebook who made a documentary about his work. His TEDx talk has been seen over 100,000 times. John takes the lead supporting our grantee community, acting in service of them, their ideas and their experience being a part of this crazy social experiment.
Community Support Lead
Sabine Schoorl
Venture Partner at identity.vc
Sabine is a seasoned expert in smart cities and smart buildings. As a dedicated community builder, she has spent her career bridging the gap between traditional industry practices and innovative technological solutions.
Currently, Sabine serves as a Venture Partner at identity.vc, where she leverages her operational expertise to back European pre/seed stage startups with LGBTQ+ founders, across all sectors.
"Bridging the gap between traditional industry and innovative solutions."
Market Authority
Charge Point Systems
Michael Gibson
"Over the last 25 years I've constantly innovated, reshaped businesses, built great teams, and grown companies and people."
Together with a brilliant team we’ve built Fuuse, an industry-leading charge point management system that powers electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Our ambition is to become the operating system of choice for companies looking to maximise their charger network, the electrical power, revenues and driver experience.
Philip Adler
Founder & CEO @ Freshmango
Philip is the founder of Freshmango, a remote accelerator for early-stage founders across Europe and UK, helping companies raise over €38M since 2021.
He builds the infrastructure most accelerators skip: investor-ready operations, execution audits, and direct access to angel and VC capital.
Kenneth Ekow
Founder at Scale Story
Kenneth Ekow is the founder of Scale Story, a strategic narrative consultancy helping growth-stage companies turn traction into conviction.
Working primarily with Seed to Series A founders, Kenneth advises Founders + leadership teams on the narratives that shape fundraising, hiring and market perception.
Kirin Kalia
Founder & CEO of Grow Through Story
Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and B2B marketing. She helps founders deliver the right message with clarity and confidence so they raise more money and grow their revenue faster.
Over her career, Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch angels and VCs, and leads the Pitch Deck Masterclass for Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs.
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