Comprehensive curriculum and exceptional network for those who want to build their brand within the investing community.
Over eighty people in six cohorts already graduated Grishin Robotics Venture Scouts program! The program brought together a diverse group of investors, entrepreneurs and operators from Bay Area, New York, Los Angeles, and other US startup hubs. These are extremely talented people who want to learn more about venture capital, advance their skills, build a strong network and a personal brand as angel investors.
Our experience and proximity with large consumer markets such as consumer social apps, online entertainment, gaming, food, education, team productivity, and collaboration provide a strong foundation for our graduates, allowing them the opportunity to fast-track their success. We aim to create the most relevant and comprehensive curriculum for those who want to build their brand and strong network within the investing community.
Scouts work with Grishin Robotics and their peers to exchange ideas, practice investing together and build their personal investment strategies. We learn a lot by bringing together this group of people who generously share their knowledge with us and each other. These folks have helped us lay the foundation to build a strong community, and we hope to keep expanding the program in 2022.
If you are interested in the program, please apply here.
Remember these names and reach out to them if you are raising or need advice:
Ali Kheraj Sr Product Manager at Rubrik, Inc. Ali is a Sr Product Manager on the Growth & Monetization team at Rubrik, where he’s focused on driving product strategy, monetization, and go-to-market acceleration for Rubrik’s data security offerings. Previously, Ali was onCisco’s Corporate Strategy team responsible for mid-to-long term business strategy, including inorganic growth initiatives through venture investments and M&A. Before that, Ali was on the technology investment banking team at Wells Fargo Securities, advising companies across software, internet and application infrastructure verticals.
Susie Pan Director of Ventures, SHEEO. Susie is the Director of Ventures at SHEEO, a radically generous organization supporting women + non-binary people working on the World’s To-Do List. In her role, she supports the community of Ventures and Activators by helping them thrive in the ecosystem on their own terms. Prior to SHEEO, Susie was an early-stage startup PM and operator, having joined as the first 10 employees 3 times to help companies get to product-market fit.
Jiarui Wang BizOps & Strategy at Cameo. Jiarui (“Jerry”) is part of the BizOps & Strategy team at Cameo. He moonlights as an On Deck fellow and startup advisor, and was previously a consultant. Jiarui is passionate about consumer internet, culture, and the creator economy. You can find his newsletter on these themes and his other links at withkoji.com/@jiarui – feel free to connect and say hi!
Zia Mohammad Sr Product Manager at Chime. Zia is currently a Sr Product Manager at Chime Financial developing products to help scale Chime engineering. His experiences in B2B & B2C product management have immersed him in the commercialization of emerging technologies in the Natural Language Processing, Quantum Computing, and FinTech domains. He resides inManhattan and holds dual degrees from The Ohio State University in Electrical Engineering and ComputationalNeuroscience.
Anastasia Rivodeaux Managing Partner at Allynity. Anastasia is Managing Partner at Allynity - an ecosystem for ventures and capital. She is an expert in investor relations and investor marketing. 3X CEO of tech startups across SaaS, HRtech, consumer, and gaming verticals.
Sai Mahesh Vuppalapati Lead Product Manager at Tubi. Sai is a Product Manager at Tubi TV where he leads the Data and Analytics, product team. Prior to that, he worked in the retail sector, building products around Ads and Monetization. He loved to talk about all things product and how to use Data for product growth. He is actively involved in startup community, helping entrepreneurs with growth hacking, and passionate about the mental health and healthcare space. When not working, he loves to spend time with friends, trying new cuisines and hike around the beautiful bay area trails. His mantra is "Stay Curious."
Brenda Su Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft. Brenda is a Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, leading go-to-market strategy, marketing programs, and business development for a portfolio of AI/ML and developer products globally. Passionate about building 0-1products that have a deep impact on people's everyday lives, Brenda focuses on helping businesses adopt cloud technology to drive innovation. Prior to Microsoft, she led GTM strategy for advertising products at Facebook, Amazon, and Adobe. Outside of work, Brenda is excited about fitness, traveling with close friends, her dog Cooper, and working with local nonprofits to give back to the community.
Patrick Burns Go-Founder of Commons, ex-product at Snap & Google. Patrick is an entrepreneur and product leader with 10 years of experience as both a venture-backed founder and an operator at Google, Snap, and Amazon. Most recently, he was co-founder and CEO of Commons, a vertical SaaS startup that was acquired in early 2022. At Snap, he led product efforts for stories, and at Google and Amazon, he led zero-to-one product and engineering teams developing new products in social video and augmented reality.
Radin Rahimzadeh Sr. PCEO at Fore Transit, Forbes 30U30. Radin is the co-founder and CEO of Fore Transit where she and her team are innovating the sustainable movement of goods and people with a suite of patent-pending hardware and software technologies. Prior to founding Fore Transit, Radin supported the deployment of driverless systems and smart city applications at Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) in the BayArea. It was at AMG that Radin was inspired to begin Fore Transit to achieve the social and environmental benefits of the vehicles of tomorrow for the communities today. An advocate for diversity, Radin believes that innovation and progress require conversations and collaborations from inclusive and intersectional perspectives.
Karthik KS Product Manager at Imply. Karthik is a product manager at Imply, a real-time data analytics company. He has prior experience in enterprise software and data infrastructure and is also passionate about FinTech and Web3 ecosystems. Outside of work, Karthik enjoys tennis, soccer and hiking in the Bay Area.
Annabel Strauss Product Manager at Instagram. Annabel is a Product Manager at Instagram working on real-time communication. Before IG, Annabel studied computer science at Brown and then was part of the Meta RPM (rotational product manager) program, where she worked on Integrity, FB creators, and IG real-time communication. Annabel formerly co-founded Envision, an accelerator for young underrepresented founders, and she currently stays involved as a mentor to founders in the program. Outside of work Annabel loves discovering new restaurants around NYC, skiing, and going to museums/galleries.
Natalie Xia Product Manager at Snap. Natalie is currently a product manager at Snap on the User Growth team, where she focuses on referral and virality. She was previously a product manager at TikTok where she worked on TikTok Creator Marketplace and BusinessAccounts. Before TikTok, she was a software engineer at Airbnb where she tackled global guests and hosts acquisition. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude from Vanderbilt University. Outside of work, Natalie loves dancing and figure skating.
Angelina Blackmon Product Manager at Spotify. Angelina is originally from Virginia but currently lives in Austin, Texas. She started her career at Google doing various jobs from a technical role, program manager and sales in a rotation program. Angelina found her love forProduct at Google's in house incubator program called Area 120, where she and a small team of engineers build products from scratch. Recently, she was a PM at Spotify in their homepage personalization team focusing on the user experiences.
Sudhi Janakiraman Sr Product Manager at Amazon. Sudhi is an experienced product management leader with over 10 years of demonstrated working knowledge in building consumer facing and B2B products. Sudhi has an established track record of growing/scaling multiple products from ideas to a large business. He is passionate about scaling 0->1 products, hiring and developing people(has over 200 interviews)
Noor Rostoum Product Manager at Google. Noor graduated from NYU Stern in 2016, where he majored in finance and economics. He started his career at Google Cloud where he worked on sales and partnerships with governments, healthcare, financial services, and tech companies. In 2020, he became a Product Manager for an Area 120 startup where he worked on launching an AI powered contract analyzer for financial institutions. He's currently a Product Manager for Google Pay, where he owns Google's Offers product.
Kody Amburgey Co-Founder and CEO at Campground. 2x venture-backed founder & CEO who has raised over $15m in VC and generated $1m+ ARR. Background in finance and economics, prior investment banker and venture capital investor. Currently building in web3 at Campground and leading a team of 12.
Carlis Robinson Co-Founder at Ping. Carlis is a Co-Founder at Ping, a stealth-mode start-up that facilitates community amongst individuals with similar interests. Prior to Ping, he worked in Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank; covering Gaming, Leisure and Lodging clients. Additionally, he worked in Corporate Finance / Consulting at KPMG, focusing on strategic advisory across a wide array of sectors. Carlis earned a bachelor's degree in Finance from Howard University and during his free time, loves to read and play basketball.
Alara Gebes Product Manager at Sonos. Alara is originally from Istanbul, Turkey and moved to the US to study at the University of Pennsylvania where she double majored in Economics and Computer Science. While there, she was involved in the start-up space and developed an interest in technology and entrepreneurship. She is currently a Product Manager at Sonos and is interested in continuing to explore and broaden her experience in the tech space. Her interests include reading, running, eating chocolate, and striking up conversations with strangers.
If you are interested in joining the program and becoming part of the next generation of entrepreneurs and angel investors, please apply here.
