Bangladesh Angels

Peter Rostovsky is the Founder & CEO of Raiseway, which makes investment crowdfunding easy and affordable for small business owners with its AI-enabled SaaS platform. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Crowdfunding Professional Association.In the past, Peter worked in Business Development for Crowdfund Better, produced interviews for FintechTV, and consulted businesses on crowdfunding, private equity fundraising, marketing & sales. Peter is a former capital markets intelligence salesman for Preqin, Debtwire, Xtract Research & Continuum Economics, where his clients included the World Bank, Federal Reserve, EY, Blackrock, Blackstone, Kirkland & Ellis, CBRE, Interamerican Development Bank, Apollo, Oaktree, and others. We learned about: Finding debt and revenue-sharing deals in the U.S. investment crowdfunding market Doing due diligence on these deals Identifying sales opportunities for our BPO services in the Reg CF market Supporting Bengali small business owners in the United States with investment crowdfunding

Hailing from the picturesque landscapes of rural Alberta, Canada, Neil's journey has been varied. With a career spanning continents and industries, he initially honed his craft in various operational and leadership roles across four continents within the ever-evolving realm of oil and gas.In a twist of fate, Neil took a leap of faith into the world of angel investing with Startup TNT in 2020. What started as a stroke of luck soon transformed into a passion project as he dedicated himself to leading the charge in the Calgary region for the next three years. From these beginnings as a volunteer to his current role as the Partnerships Lead, Neil's mission is clear: to build community by increasing the number of investors in the space, investing early, and investing locally.Jesse is a multi-faceted entrepreneur, investor, and consultant with a broad skill set, wide knowledge base, and extensive network. Jesse enjoys helping others create a better future for themselves and for us all. In 2021, he formed WieGrow Capital and Consulting with his father, Doyle Wiebe, and joined Startup TNT as the Local Lead in Saskatchewan to achieve those goals. He also manages local creatives through WieManage: Creative Asset Management and works with his family to put on an annual festival called Art in the Garden. He loves creating synergistic connections and has helped prairie startups raise over 2 million dollars. We learned about: The origin story of Startup TNT Its continued evolution into geographic expansion, and new models including the venture fund Deep dive into a few portfolio companies A 30,000 ft view of the Western Canadian venture ecosystem, funding landscape, what kind of companies are coming out, quality of entrepreneurial talent, and Startup TNT's role in it Tapping into diaspora communities in W. Canada like Bangladeshis, and others

Ricky Pearl loves problem-solving. From birthday treasure hunts with his family to complex business challenges, he has never been presented with a problem that he hasn't relished the opportunity to solve -the more creative the solution the better. So when he noticed that many business owners seemed to be encountering the same issues with hiring, training, and managing their sales teams - he knew there "was something there." He drew on his extensive management, sales, and technical experience to create Pointer - an outsourced sales agency that uniquely provides "sales as a service" to businesses who don't have the time or resources to effectively manage their own internal sales department. Since founding Pointer, South African-born Ricky has established himself as one of Australia's sales leaders, partnering with organisations like Start Up Vic, Pavilion, and RevGenius to bring sales knowledge, advice, and new ideas for getting each client’s solution or product in front of the business managers who need them most. In this discussion, Ricky shared: His background and how he came to be in this space His career and his journey to Pointer Overview of Pointer, the kind of clients it takes on, and its revenue model  How sales differ when it's founder-led vs team-led How should sales interact with product development? What about product marketing?   Product-led growth/inbound vs outbound - when is one better than the other?  Building relationships within the portfolio and future growth plan for pointer 

Javette Nixon is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and investor. In addition to being the founder of Seaforth Holdings Limited, a boutique investment and holding firm specializing in impact investing and the nurturing of emerging businesses and social enterprises, Javette has three other companies under his business portfolio which include Point Global Marketing Limited, Esther Ventures Limited, and Esther Finance Limited. Moreover, he serves as a director at Vein Centers of Jamaica Ltd and the Social & Economic Alliance for Development. With a wealth of experience spanning over two decades in diverse industries across the United States and Jamaica, Javette demonstrates a fervent commitment to volunteerism and philanthropy, coupled with expertise in areas such as web development and design, economics, commerce, media, e-commerce, banking, and Internet marketing. In this session, Javette shared: His background and the path that led him to become a serial entrepreneur, investor, and speaker, alongside insights into his experiences in the United States and Jamaica His vision and strategies regarding Seaforth Holdings Limited's focus on impact investing and nurturing emerging businesses and social enterprises The companies in his diverse portfolio His multifaceted interests and expertise

Mr. Thompson has been active in the start-up venture space for over 25 years as a builder of companies, angel investor, angel group leader and fund manager. In 2017, Mr. Thompson integrated all these roles into Valhalla Private Capital. In his capacity as Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital & Managing Partner of Old Kent Road Financial, Mr. Thompson has personally invested in 110 start-up companies and funds. Mr. Thompson oversees direct investing for 125 angel members and 5 funds under management for a total of over $225 million (CDN) in deployed capital. Valhalla Angels has led its 125+ members to collectively fund over 250 companies for over $70 million dollars since 2003. While most of these investments are in Canada, several of the investments including the funds have been placed globally in 8 additional countries to date. For these efforts, Mr. Thompson was named the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) 2018 Canadian Angel of the Year and was awarded Startup Canada’s investor of the year for 2015. In addition, he has been asked to share his knowledge and first-hand experience of the startup ecosystem through formal speaking and instruction engagements in 28 countries over the last 3 years.  Mr. Thompson spends a lot of time in the European ecosystem because of his ownership in an English Football League (EFL) club. Since 2018, Mr. Thompson has been a 25% owner of Peterborough United Football Club (PUFC). We will hear from him on: His personal background and how he has come to be in this space Initial vision, strategy and evolving operating model of VA, including the overview of Base Camp His thoughts on key models/businesses within his portfolio   His thoughts on the South Asian/SE Asian ecosystem and its comparison with the ones he is working with Advice for aspiring founders, investors from Bangladesh

On this episode, Naushad UzZaman discussed cybersecurity, distortion of public opinion, and the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis to combat them. Naushad holds a PhD along has over two decades of experience in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, and has applied expertise in both academic research and social enterprise that comes from time spent at leading firms such as Nuance, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Bosch - and now at Blackbird.AI. Naushad is responsible for the development of Blackbird’s Narrative & Risk Intelligence Platform, and along with his team, has built a unique series of scalable AI and network analysis modules that detect rare risk signals of threats. The real-time AI-powered narrative detection and risk intelligence platform is used by leading enterprises, Fortune 500’s, and large government organizations, globally. In this session, we learned about: Naushad's personal background and how he came to be in this space His career, key companies he was part of, and experience building teams, products, and businesses Deep dive into how Blackbird AI was founded and built Thoughts on Bangladesh and how to connect the ecosystem with NRBs like himself

Craig D’Cruze is a multifaceted entrepreneur with a passion for investing. In his 25+ years in equities markets, Craig has developed his outlook that emerging technologies will alleviate the largest hurdles facing the human race. Prior to joining Inverted Ventures Craig lead teams of between 22 and 70 people as an award-winning Executive Chef for companies like Marriott Hotels International, Delta Hotels, and The University of Calgary. Cost control, budgeting, creativity but most importantly team building, mentoring and growth. Craig has always been fascinated with numbers, finance, P&L, and cost effectiveness. His attention to detail gives him the ability to read between the lines when analyzing innovative investment ideas. These factors have led Craig to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer for Inverted Ventures and is responsible for leading the research team on early-stage venture capital investments and cryptocurrency portfolio development. We heard from him on: His personal backgrounds Story of IV & overview of its main activities The economic make-up of Western Canada including the key components of its innovation ecosystem (a 30000 feet view) The process of setting up a family office, asset allocation, management Discussion on a few portfolio companies in which he has invested

Mainul Mondal is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Member of the Board of Directors of Ellipsis Health. As a skilled healthcare IT business leader, Mondal has deep experience in the technology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail and defense sectors. In 2020, he was selected as a Milestone Maker by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and he serves as a member of the World Economic Forum – working to improve the state of the world by engaging leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. Previously, Mondal helped launch the ClearStreme initiative with the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. Prior to founding Ellipsis Health, Mondal was a Rockefeller Fellow at the Public Health Institute. He has presented lectures, ran workshops, and has been a guest speaker at leading universities including Stanford University, the University of California, and the Indian Institutes of Technology.

Tahasin Alam is a VC-backed CTO and Co-Founder of Belong Health. He also has two major startup exits under his belt: one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States acquired his first startup, and his next startup went public in just 3.5 years - a testament to his strategic prowess and dedication to innovation. ​As an experienced entrepreneur with over 23 years in healthcare, Tahasin is skilled at building and scaling tech-enabled healthcare companies, with notable success as a founding team member or co-founder in the healthcare space. ​Startups that he has been a part of have received funding from top healthcare venture capital firms like Bain Capital Ventures, Maverick Ventures, and NEA, among others. This demonstrates the value he provides to the healthcare industry and the quality of his work. ​ ​In addition to his entrepreneurial achievements, Tahasin possesses extensive domain expertise in health insurance and healthcare delivery. He has been instrumental in helping launch the modern primary care model and has been a driving force behind advancements in population health management. His expertise and experience in healthcare have made him a leading expert and a valuable resource in the ever-changing healthcare landscape. ​We heard from him on: ​- His personal background and how he came to be in this space ​- Going through his career, key health-tech companies he was a part of, experience building teams, products, businesses ​- Current role and the venture studio model for health ​- His approach to advisory work ​- His plans for Bangladesh and emerging markets

IQ is an entrepreneur & technology leader, currently the Cofounder of Fenix, and previously CTO of Circ (acquired by Bird). He leads Engineering, Product, Data & Design teams, and has been advising startups in different stages and sectors (including mobility, e-commerce and fintech), with focus on tech architecture, processes and teams. He spent most of his early career in the Valley, working for VMware, Facebook and Illumio. He then moved to Dubai and built the in-house engineering team for Careem (the leading ride-hailing provider, and now a super-app, in the MENA region), scaling the tech team to 250+ engineers. He then went to Lyft in Munich, to lead the Autonomous Driving team working on AI/ML for AVs.IQ has several patents, and has participated in tech innovation and exponential business growth in multiple markets & verticals. He went to Stanford University for graduate school, where he got an MS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Computational Math. We will hear from him on: - His personal background and how he came to be in this space - His work with Careem, experience building the team from scratch, key inflection points in the tech/business - Taking an exit, building your own company, selling it - His approach to angel investing/advisory work - How Bangladesh & Pakistan tech entrepreneurs/ecosystems can work together