Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top New York based Founder operating in the Food and Beverage space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Shawn Carter
Founder of Marcy Venture Partners
Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He has sold approximately 50 million albums worldwide, earned 14 Grammy Awards, leading him to become one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America with a net worth of approximately $450 million as of 2011. Since 1996, 10-time Grammy award winner, Carter has dominated the rap industry and set trends for a generation. Founder and chairman of Rocawear, he is also co-owner of the NJ Nets, 40/40 sportsclubs, Translation Advertising and Carol’s Daughter skin line, as well involved in a partnership with Iconix Brand Group. After three successful years as President and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, where he fostered the careers of international stars Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Kanye West, he entered into a partnership with Live Nation to form Roc Nation. Through Roc Nation, he released the Blueprint 3, his 11th #1 album, putting him ahead of Elvis for most #1 albums by any solo artist. In 2010, he added author to his resume and claimed a spot on the New York Times bestseller’s list with his critically acclaimed debut book, “DECODED.” He continues his philanthropic work through his Water For Life initiative and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation.
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About Marcy Venture Partners, Project Panther, Roc Nation, Shawn Carter: Marcy Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing on consumer, culture, and mass-market brands.
Jay Brown
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Marcy Venture Partners
Jay Brown has served as a member of our Board since January 2014. Jay Brown, a 20-year music industry executive veteran, fostered the careers and discovered countless superstars including Rihanna and Ne-Yo and worked with artists such as NAS. Jay Brown is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Roc Nation, a full-service entertainment company started in 2008. Mr. Brown currently overseas the careers of a diverse Roc Nation roster comprised of Grammy award winning and critically acclaimed recording artists, writers and producers including Rihanna, Shakira, Timbaland, Kylie Minogue and Santigold. Prior to Roc Nation, Mr. Brown served as Executive Vice President for Def Jam Recordings from 2005 to 2008 and as Senior Vice President of Elektra Records from 1999 to 2004. Our Board has concluded that Mr. Brown should serve on the Board based upon his experience as an entrepreneur and senior executive and his broad knowledge of the music and entertainment industries.
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About Marcy Venture Partners, Roc Nation: Marcy Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing on consumer, culture, and mass-market brands.
Ben Pasternak
Founder, CEO of SIMULATE
Ben Pasternak is an Australian technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of SIMULATE, an American nutrition technology company, that has raised US$57M in investment to date. SIMULATE’s signature product, NUGGS, is a plant-based chicken nugget simulation, that launched in July 2019. Previously Pasternak founded Monkey, a popular social networking app that enabled teenagers to video chat with like-minded people.
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About SIMULATE: SIMULATE’s mission is to upgrade the world to a positive food system.
Kyle Cooke
Founder of Loverboy
Kyle Cooke is the founder of Loverboy, a gluten-free canned alcoholic beverage made from organic brewed tea. He is also the founder of FENIX and a partner at Birddogs. Prior to that, Kyle co-founded Blownaway and served as a strategic sales director at ZocDoc. He holds an MBA from Babson College – Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in political science and architecture from Trinity College, Hartford.
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About Loverboy: Loverboy is a gluten-free canned alcoholic beverage made from organic brewed tea.
Rachel Drori
Founder and CEO of Daily Harvest
Rachel Drori is the founder and CEO of Daily Harvest, a platform is serving the needs of modern consumers by turning freezers into personalized pantries stocked with clean food, quickly prepared and replenished as it is consumed. Daily Harvest was launched as a solution to Rachel’s own daily challenge: squeezing in nourishing fruits and vegetables into her busy life. She has built Daily Harvest into one of the fastest-growing consumer brands in the U.S. Prior to starting Daily Harvest, Rachel harnessed her skills as a customer-centric marketing executive, leading teams at Gilt Groupe, American Express, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She currently resides in New York City with her family
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About Daily Harvest: Daily Harvest is a customer-first platform that provides subscription-based food delivery services to offer healthy frozen foods.
Katie Ghelli
Co-Founder of MealPal
Katie has over 10 years of Marketing and Sales experience. Serving in various positions at Conde Nast and CafeMom, Katie developed robust marketing expertise. Leading Communications at Zocdoc, Katie worked closely with all functional teams. She has also operated two-sided marketplaces as the co-founder of MealPal.
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About MealPal: MealPal is a subscription service that provides members with affordable daily lunch options from restaurants near where they live or work.
Rick Blatstein
Founder & CEO of OTG
Rick Blatstein, founder and CEO of OTG Management, found his calling putting gourmet cuisine, swanky design and high-tech integrations into the drab world of airport terminals. OTG’s innovative approach to creating an “experience” is delighting travelers and catching the attention of airlines and airport operators.
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About OTG: OTG Management is a operator of airport food and beverage concessions
Joshua Stylman
Co-Founder, Managing Partner & CEO of Threes Brewing
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About TeamSnap, Threes Brewing: Threes Brewing is a brewery, bar & event space.
Fabian Estrada
Founder and CEO of Marley Spoon
Fabian Siegel is the Founder & CEO of Dinnerly & he attended The University of Bonn in 1995.
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About Dinnerly, Marley Spoon: Marley Spoon is a cooking platform that offers recipes, helps its customers order seasonal ingredients.
Jonathan Regev
Co-Founder, CEO of The Farmer’s Dog
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About The Farmer’s Dog: A smarter, healthier pet food — delivered. #longlivedogs
Brett Podolsky
Co-Founder of The Farmer’s Dog
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About The Farmer’s Dog: A smarter, healthier pet food — delivered. #longlivedogs
Maisha Leek
Operating Partner and Head of Founder & Studio Ops of Human Ventures
Maisha Leek is chief of staff at United Masters and Translation. Prior to Translation, she served as the National Vice President, Government Relations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America where she led a team advocating for 4 million youth across the country, including on military installations and Native lands. Before BGCA, she served as senior advisor to the President of Howard University, and chief of staff to a senior member of Congress. She also led a team in establishing the Equity and Excellence Commission at the U.S. Department of Education . During the Bush Administration, she was appointed to serve as special assistant to the Vice Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Maisha is a trustee of Trinity College – Washington DC and a member of the Corporate Advisory Council of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
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About Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
Joe Marchese
Co-Founder of Human Ventures
Joe Marchese is the Executive Chairman and lead investor in Human Ventures. Joe serves as president of Advanced Advertising Products at Fox Networks Group, where he leads operations in non-linear advertising products and services for 21st Century Fox’s global portfolio of channels. Joe was appointed to his current position after the company he founded, true[X], was acquired by 21st Century Fox in 2015. true[X], the leader in engagement advertising technologies, is now a part of the Advanced Advertising Products division. Joe is also the co-founder and Chairman of the Human company, Reserve. Prior to true[X], Joe spent several years as a television executive at the cable network Fuse TV, where, as SVP of Digital and Advertising. Joe currently serves on the board of trustees of the Paley Center for Media and the Board of Directors of the Tribeca Film Institute. Mr. Marchese holds a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Bentley University. He lives in New York with his wife Christie and their dog
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About Attention Capital, Casa Komos Beverage Group, Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
Gabi Lewis
Co-Founder of Magic Spoon
Gabi is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Magic Spoon, a high protein, low carb ‘childlike cereal for adults’. Gabi Lewis Born in Israel and raised in Scotland, Gabi moved to the USA to attend Brown University, where he earned a dual degree in Philosophy and Economics. He has taught English in the Amazon (where he ate his first insect), worked at the world’s largest hedge fund and received numerous grants for social entrepreneurship. He is a competitive powerlifter and once cycled down the world’s most dangerous road in Bolivia. He was one of only a handful of travelers in his group who remained unscathed.
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About Exo, Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a food company that provides childlike, low-carbohydrate cereal foods for adult customers.
Greg Sewitz
Co-Founder of Magic Spoon
Greg Sewitz is the co-founder of Magic Spoon. Greg Sewitz is a native of Los Angeles, Greg studied Cognitive Neuroscience and English at Brown University, writing his thesis on the neuroscience of morality. He always assumed he would be a writer, or a scientist—or a science writer.
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About Exo, Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a food company that provides childlike, low-carbohydrate cereal foods for adult customers.
Andrew Boryk
Co-Founder and CTO of Lunchbox Technologies
Co-founder at Lunchbox Technologies.
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About Lunchbox Technologies, Tapt: Lunchbox Technologies offers digital marketing and ordering solutions for brick and mortar restaurants.
Serge Shilnov
CEO & Founder of reOrder Technologies
Sergey has been involved in digital development projects for more than 15 years. With a background in Fintech and Marketing, Sergey was an early adopter of technologies related to the Digital Securities space. Sergey has launched 2 software and infrastructure companies in the digital space in the past 5 years and has help roles in a New York based startup involved in the development of two distinct projects: a strategy & marketing platform for STO offerings that could be used as a mobile App by any individual; and the development of self-service POS terminal for restaurants and retail sector, for easy use by both vendors and consumers. For the past three years, Sergey has been particularly interested in developing a better on-line platform to bring better quality STO’s to market, and his passion has been in developing a crypto currency that could truly be used in place of fiat currency for day-to-day human transactions such as buying groceries and eating in restaurants. To this end, Sergey has developed a substantial amount of IP in the form of both detailed knowledge and planning, together with bringing a large number of low cost, high value programmers, to create both a complete STO underwriting platform, AND all of the required elements to launch a global “consumer coin” that could be used from a mobile-app between customers and vendors for multiple transaction in the same way we use cash, debit cards, or credit cards today.
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About DigiMax, NeuraLoom, reOrder Technologies: reOrder Technologies Inc is a US Company, aimed to automate the restaurant industry in order to increase the economic efficiency
David S. Shapira
Founder , Chairman & CEO of Giant Eagle
David Shapira is executive chairman of the board of directors of Giant Eagle, Inc. and is president of the David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation. In his role at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, he is responsible for enhancing ethics and leadership at the school. He is also responsible for engaging with Katz and CBA students across a spectrum of business areas including entrepreneurship, supply chain management, and organizational behavior. During his thirty-plus years as chairman, chief executive officer and president, David Shapira positioned Giant Eagle, Inc. as an industry leader, and grew the company from a local chain of 50 grocery stores to an organization now employing more than 34,000 with more than 420 locations and $9.5 billion in revenue. A Pittsburgh native with an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University, Mr. Shapira joined Giant Eagle in 1970, a company founded by his grandfather with four others. Today, the same five families own Giant Eagle, and remain actively involved. Named president and CEO in 1980 and Chairman of the Giant Eagle Board of Directors in 1992, David led the company during its peak years of growth and transformation, which included his application of a world-class customer loyalty program with the development of the Giant Eagle Advantage Card and fuelperks!. Mr. Shapira has implemented numerous industry-leading technologies and marketing concepts, including: gift card development and sales, in-store pharmacy and banking, multi-format retailing, and a truck fleet that is being converted to run on compressed natural gas. Since stepping away from day-to-day operations of Giant Eagle in 2013, David has applied the entrepreneurial approach developed at Giant Eagle to the world of philanthropy. Through the Foundation he leads with his wife Cindy, David has led the development of a number of projects that demonstrate real and meaningful positive impact on civic challenges of our day. These entrepreneurial philanthropic ventures include Onward Israel, which transforms young adults through professional summer internships with Israeli businesses and organizations, and the Comprehensive Excellence initiative at Hillel International. David’s civic involvement reflects his and Giant Eagle’s commitment to advancing and investing in the many communities the company and Foundation serve. David has served on numerous corporate and civic boards, including EQT, Mellon Bank, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (Past Chairman). David is the Immediate Past Chairman of Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees, and the current Chairman of Carnegie Mellon’s Investment Committee, as well as a Trustee at Oberlin College, and a Founding Co-Chairman, along with Cindy, of The Pittsburgh Promise Campaign. David’s philanthropic board service has also included the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (Past Chairman); Jewish Healthcare Foundation (Past Chairman); United Way of Allegheny County (Past Chairman of the Annual Campaign); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Past Chairman); Extra Mile Foundation; and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. David is currently a member of the Hillel Foundation International Board of Governors.
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About Giant Eagle: Giant Eagle is a national supermarket chain with some of their own brands of products.
Chetan Narain
Co-Founder and Software Engineer of Pepper
Chetan Narain is a Co-Founder and Software Engineer at Pepper. He is also the Group Product Manager at Uber. Mr. Narain previously the Software Engineer / Analyst and Associate Product Manager at Google. Chetan graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in Operations Research and Financial Engineering and Computer Science.
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About Pepper: Building the digital operating system for the food supply chain
Ivana Tesanovic
Co-Founder of Pepper
Ivana Tesanovic is the Co-Founder of Pepper. Previously, She was a Manager of Baker McKenzie and Massive Insights. Ms. Tesanovic received a bachelor of arts at York University.
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About Pepper: Building the digital operating system for the food supply chain
Roly Nesi
Founder & CEO of Roar Organic
Roly Nesi is the Founder and CEO of Roar Organic.
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About Roar Organic: Roar Organic is a natural line of vegan, low-calorie, low-sugar, electrolyte-infused beverages
Scott Semel
Founder & CEO of Ripple Brand Collective
Scott Semel is Founder & CEO at Ripple Brand Collective.
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About Ripple Brand Collective: Ripple Brand Collective is a producer of snacks and chocolates under the brand name of barkTHINS.
Hamdi Ulukaya
Founder & CEO of Chobani
Hamdi Ulukaya is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Chobani. After moving to New York from his native Turkey, Hamdi found that in America, yogurt just wasn’t as delicious and widely available as it was back home. Hamdi believed everyone deserved better options, so he set about making delicious, nutritious, natural and accessible Greek yogurt right here in the U.S. The rest, as they say, is history. America’s number one Greek yogurt is made with only natural ingredients. Always has been, always will be. In 2005, Hamdi happened upon an ad for a recently closed yogurt plant. For him, the find was fate, and he knew in his heart he wanted to buy it. The Chobani® dream finally had a home. For the next two years, Hamdi focused on every step of the process. He carefully built his team, which included hiring a master yogurt maker to ensure quality from the ground up. Just nine years after Chobani started, it has become the #1 Greek yogurt brand in the U.S.
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About Chobani, Chobani Food Incubator: Chobani produces and markets Greek yogurt.
Guillaume Cuvelier
Founder of SVEDKA
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About SVEDKA: SVEDKA Vodka has been making its mark since it was first imported in 1998.
Jonathan Keidan
Founder & Managing Partner of Torch Capital
Jonathan is the Founder of Torch Capital. A long time entrepreneur and investor, he has spent his career at the intersection of the media, technology and entertainment industries. He is the Co-Founder of digital media company InsideHook and has spent a decade as an active early stage investor and advisor to a number of New York and LA’s top start-ups.
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About The Council on Foreign Relations, Torch Capital: Torch Capital is an early-stage consumer-focused venture capital firm.
Yonatan Pinhasov
Co-Founder & President of Variety Fun
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About Biohazard Coffee, Variety Fun: Variety Fun is an online a monthly subscription-based snack foods delivery service for business and home.
Ilya Avshalumov
Co-Founder & CEO of Variety Fun
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About Variety Fun: Variety Fun is an online a monthly subscription-based snack foods delivery service for business and home.
Mason Sexton
CEO & Founder of Soozy’s
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About Nomad Interactive, Soozy’s: Soozy’s is a food and beverage company that offers healthy and tasty grain-free baked goods.
Andrea Xu
Founder & CEO of Umamicart
Andrea Xu is the Founder and CEO of Umamicart.
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About Umamicart: Umamicart is an online grocery store that focuses on delivering Asian products and groceries.
Esther Park
Founder and CEO of Nara Organics
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About Nara Organics: Nara Organics manufactures organic infant formula delivered directly to the consumers.
Lauren Picasso
CEO & Founder of Cure Hydration
Lauren Picasso is the Founder & CEO of Cure Hydration, an all-natural hydration drink mix launching in 2019. Prior to Cure, she was an early employee at Jet.com, an e-commerce company that raised $570M in funding and was acquired by Walmart for $3.3B in 2016. As Director of Marketing at Jet, Lauren worked across a variety of online and offline marketing channels helping to scale the company to over 10 million customers. She was also an early employee of Rent the Runway and has worked for Google, Bloomingdale’s and Ralph Lauren. Lauren has spoken at dozens of major industry conferences including MAU, TAP, eTail West, IRCE, Acceleration & more. Lauren received her MBA from Harvard Business School and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Cure Hydration: Cure Hydration offers all-natural, science-backed functional beverages.
Daniel Berg
Founder of Berg Bites
At age 10, Berg Bites CEO and founder Dan Berg accompanied his father to the gym every week. This exposure to health and fitness was a formative influence over Dan. It didn’t just inspire him to work out. It inspired him to incubate a business idea from the family living room. Preteen Dan began the research and development of Berg Bites in middle school. He taught himself about food and nutrition and purged the family home of junk food. By high school, he was producing the Berg Bites prototype: nutritious and delicious balls of peanut butter, chocolate, oats, and seeds, served to friends and family as the one and only Berg-approved dessert. These crowd-pleasers became the original Chocolate Chip Madness flavor of Berg Bites. Rolled within each bite is the family legacy that nurtured Dan and his vision. Dan’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to health food fused in college, where he and his dormmates couldn’t easily find healthy snacks. Dan’s mother shipped the bites to the hungry students, who gratefully devoured them. It was a moment of truth for Dan, who had been thinking about the business angle since high school. It was time to fulfill the call of destiny and transform Berg Bites into the corporation of Dan’s lifelong dream
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About Berg Bites, DRNX, Future Forward Food: Berg Bites provides nutritious, clean label products that consumers can understand and feel good about eating.
Marco De Leon
Co-Founder & CFO of Rip van Wafels
Co-Founder of Rip Van.
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About Rip van Wafels: Rip van Wafels aims to revolutionize the way Americans enjoy their daily coffee.
Osman Khan
Co-Founder of Squared Circles
Osman Khan is the Co-Founder of Squared Circles.
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About Squared Circles: Squared Circles is a venture studio that focuses on operations, branding, capital, and talent.
Sabah Ashraf
Founder & CEO of Kajaana
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About Kajaana: Kajaana is a modern food brand inspired by beloved Indian classics. Women-led, premium, plant-based, convenient and delicious.
Zach Pelka
Co-Founder of Une Femme Wines
Zach previously served as Founder & CEO of Paytronage, a marketplace for income share agreements (ISAs), an equity-based alternative to traditional student loans, which was eventually acquired by a South American fintech conglomerate, Lumni, Inc. After Paytronage, Zach served as the Head of Capital Markets & Investor Relations across 5 countries at Lumni, leading fundraising, capital structuring, and internal financial management. Previously, Zach had worked in the intersection of finance and technology for PJT Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Charles Schwab, and LPS Integration.
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About Lumni, Inc., Mineful, Une Femme Wines: Une Femme makes women-made wines for celebrating life’s big wins: the dream job, the IPO, the smashing of yet another glass ceiling.
Vinay Menda
Co-Founder of Blank Street
Vinay Menda is the Co-Founder at Blank Street.
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About Blank Street, Reshape, VGO Ventures: Coffee, closer to you.
Issam Freiha
Co-Founder of Blank Street
Issam Freiha is the Co-Founder at Blank Street.
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About Blank Street, Reshape: Coffee, closer to you.
Michelle Muller
Co-Founder of Little Spoon
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About Kairos, Little Spoon: Little Spoon designs products for a child’s most formative years, starting with a baby’s first bites.
Jai Jung Kim
Co-Founder of Hydrant
Co-founder of Hydrant and CPG expert. Ex-McKinsey, private equity, venture capital.
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About Hydrant: Hydrant is a wellness brand company providing a balanced mix of electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins.
Noam Gottesman
Co-Founder of Nomad Foods
Noam Gottesman has been Chairman of the Board and Co-Chief Executive Officer of GLG Partners, Inc. and a member of the board of directors since November 2007. He has been a Managing Director of GLG Partners LP since he co-founded GLG Partners LP as a division of Lehman International in 1995. He has also served as GLG Partners LP’s Co-Chief Executive Officer since September 2005 and served as its Chief Executive Officer from September 2000 until September 2005. Prior to 1995, Mr. Gottesman was an Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International, where he managed global equity portfolios in the private client group. Mr. Gottesman obtained a B.A. from Columbia University.
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About Nomad Foods: Nomad Foods is a manufacturer, seller, and distributor of branded frozen food products.
Max Crowley
Co-Founder and CEO of Bandit
Max currently resides in New York and is a startup advisor, investor, and builder. Previously, Max had joined Uber in August 2011 as employee #25. During that time he launched and built two large businesses for Uber (Chicago and Uber for Business), spending a total of seven years at the company.
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About Bandit: Bandit is a new retail coffee brand for the next generation of consumers.
Devaraj Southworth
Co-Founder and CEO of Thirstie
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About The Second Chance Foundation, Thirstie, Yureekah: E-commerce solutions for beverage alcohol brands.
David Barber
Founder & Managing Partner of Almanac Insights
David is the Founder and Managing Partner of Almanac Insights. He is also a co-owner of Blue Hill–a working farm, restaurant, and consulting company supporting agriculture that positively contributes to the world’s food system. The 138-acre farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts has been in the Barber family for four generations. Blue Hill restaurant has locations in Greenwich Village and Pocantico Hills, New York. David is a founding partner of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Westchester County. This unique nonprofit advances community and ecologically based food production-demonstrating alternative ways to farm and eat. Stone Barns Center works in association with Blue Hill’s second restaurant located on the campus. Blue Hill (NYC) received the James Beard Outstanding Restaurant Award in 2013. Blue Hill at Stone Barns received the same honor in 2015 and was added to the San Pellegrino World 50 list. David is an early stage investor in the food and hospitality space through Almanac Investments and advisor to S2G Ventures and Acre Investments. He serves on the Board of BlueCart Corp, and is a Trustee for Stone Barns Center, Caramoor Center for the Arts and the Collegiate School in New York City.
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About Almanac Insights, Blue Hill: Almanac Insights is a food and tech venture fund seeking companies making a positive, transformative impact on food systems.
Daniel Lubetzky
Founder & Executive Chairman of KIND Snacks
Daniel Lubetzky is the founder and Executive Chairman of KIND Snacks. He is a business leader, investor, and social innovator. Lubetzky also founded the not-only-for-profit company Peaceworks and nonprofits OneVoice, Empatico, and the Lubetzky Family Foundation. He invests primarily through is family office, Equilibra. Lubetzky is the author of The New York Times bestseller Do the KIND Thing and was a Guest Shark on Shark Tank Season 11.
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About Empatico, Equilibra Partners Management, KIND Snacks, Maiyet, One Voice Movement, PeaceWorks: KIND focus is on making the world a little kinder, one snack and one kind act at a time.
Benjamin McKean
Founder & CEO of Hungryroot
Ben McKean is a Founder and CEO of Hungryroot. Prior to Hungryroot, Ben was a Vice President and General Manager at Groupon, overseeing their food and beverage business. Ben came to Groupon through the acquisition of Savored, which he founded in 2009. Savored was the nation’s leading provider of yield management technology to the restaurant industry servicing over 2,000 leading restaurants nationwide. Prior to Savored, Ben worked in Merrill Lynch’s technology investment banking group. Ben is graduate of Georgetown University and currently lives in New York City.
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About Groupon, Hungryroot: Hungryroot is a provider of an artificial intelligence-powered personalized grocery service.
David Kanbar
Founder & CEO of Brand House Wines & Spirits
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About Brand House Wines & Spirits: Brand House Wines & Spirits is a business incubator that focuses on alcoholic beverage brands.
Dag Liodden
Co-Founder of Crisp
Dag Liodden is Tapad’s Co-Founder and CTO. Dag oversees all technological advancements for the company, including Tapad’s notable breakthroughs in delivering targeted advertising across platforms. Prior to Tapad, he was the co-founder and CTO of Giant Leap Technologies AS, the premier Business Mobility solutions provider in the Nordic region. While there, Dag managed some of the largest wireless enterprise solution rollouts in Europe. He began programming at 6-years-old and has a Master’s Degree in Science, Industrial Economics and Technology Management from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
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About Crisp: Crisp leverages the cloud to connect and analyze retail data sources in real-time, providing actionable insights to businesses.
Are Traasdahl
Founder & CEO of Crisp
Are Traasdahl is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He is currently founder and CEO at Crisp, a programmatic commerce company aimed at optimizing the food and beverage supply chain through AI, automation and analytics. Crisp believes we can greatly reduce food waste, improve access to food and cut costs from the supply chain with the smart use of technology. Traasdahl is a contributor on technology topics for outlets such as CNBC and Bloomberg News, and has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Ad Age and other major news outlets. Traasdahl holds several board positions at technology start-ups and heads Spring Capital, an investment holding company. Prior to Crisp and Tapad, he founded Thumbplay, a mobile technology service that he grew to more than $100 MM in less than 3 years before he exited the company (the company, later acquired by Clear Channel, is now called iHeartRadio).
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About Crisp: Crisp leverages the cloud to connect and analyze retail data sources in real-time, providing actionable insights to businesses.
Perumal Gandhi
Co-Founder of Perfect Day
Perumal Gandhi is a co-founder and CTO of Muufri, a company focused on producing milk using cell culture instead of cows. Perumal has an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology from India, gained extensive experience with research from two industry internships in Reliance Life Sciences & Lupin Pharmaceuticals, a six month final project in the nanotechnology lab of Professor Rohit Srivastava from IIT-Bombay where he helped in the development of a theranostic device. During this period he also started two companies based on article writing and t-shirt printing. He is currently pursuing a masters degree in Biomedical Engineering from SUNY Stony Brook University. During his time in Stony Brook, his research was focused on developing 3-D tissue engineering scaffolds with better functionality and design for tissue culture applications.
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About Perfect Day: Perfect Day produces dairy proteins that are nutritionally identical to proteins from cow’s milk.
Meryl Natow
Co-Founder, Creative Director of Chirps Chips (Six Foods)
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About Chirps Chips (Six Foods): Chirps Chips is a creating edible insect foods for healthyeating and sustainability.
Michelle Mallette
Founder of Fjord Naturals
Michelle Mallette currently works as the business consultant for The Startup Club. She previously worked at Maybank Kim Eng Securities as the managing director of sales and business development.
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About Alouette & Co, Fjord Naturals, Hemp & Honey RX: Fjord Naturals offers gummy vitamin supplements for both adults and children.
Pavel Danilov
CEO and Co-Founder of Fridge No More
Pavel Danilov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Fridge No More.
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About Fridge No More: Fridge No More is an instant food deliverer that offers a 15-minute grocery delivery service.
Anton Gladkoborodov
Co-Founder of Fridge No More
Anton Gladkoborodov is a Co-Founder of Fridge No More.
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About Fridge No More: Fridge No More is an instant food deliverer that offers a 15-minute grocery delivery service.
Ari Tolwin
Co-Founder of NuMilk
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About NuMilk: NuMilk provides non-dairy, fresh milled almondmilk with the push of a button.
Vishal Agarwal
Founder & CEO of ItsaCheckmate
Vishal Agarwal serves as a Founder & CEO at ItsaCheckmate.
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About Forbes Technology Council, ItsaCheckmate: ItsaCheckmate is a leading service in integrating 3rd party delivery platforms directly into POS systems.
Frank Pica
CEO & Co-Founder of Native
Frank is the president and co-founder of Native AgTech. Previously, Frank was the vice president at ADYOULIKE for over one year.
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About Native: A platform using A.I. to understand consumer preferences and helping companies create products that people love!
Sarah Sanders
Co-Founder, COO & Board Member of Native
Sarah Sanders is a co-founder at Native AgTech, a B2B platform designed to democratize agricultural data. Previously, Sarah was a territory account executive at Toast. Sarah Sanders holds a bachelor of business administration degree in management from the University of Kentucky.
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About Native: A platform using A.I. to understand consumer preferences and helping companies create products that people love!
Garrett Lang
Founder and President of PlateRate
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About PlateRate: We help people find better food than anyone else!
Anurag Ahuja
Co-Founder & CEO of Takeout7
Anurag leads TakeOut7’s strategy and direction. He is a seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience in creating and scaling cloud-based solutions for B2B and B2C clients. He has held various C-level and advisory roles at tech start-ups and has consulted on a broad range of business needs for Global 1000 companies in Retail, Technology, Financial Services and Manufacturing. Anurag holds a BS in Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
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About MarketGoal Digital Solution Pvt Ltd, Notify Nearby, Takeout7: Takeout7 is a cloud based technology platform with turnkey solutions for independent restaurants.
Tomás Froes
Founder and CEO of kencko
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About kencko: kencko is a food-tech company reinventing organic fruit and vegetable products.
Veronica Fil
Co-Founder and CEO of Grounded Foods Co.
Veronica Fil is the Co-Founder and CEO at Grounded Foods Co.
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About Grounded Foods Co.: Grounded Foods makes plant-based cheeses from a proprietary fermentation process, using imperfect vegetables and hemp seed.
Marci Zaroff
Co-Founder of Good Catch
Marci Zaroff is a co-founder at Good Catch.
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About Good Catch: Good Catch specializes in developing plant-based seafood alternatives.
Tracy Luckow
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Whipnotic
Tracy Luckow is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Whip & Whimsy.
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About Whipnotic: Revolutionizing Whipped Cream. Whipnotic is a whipped cream company that aims to disrupt and modernize through flavor, color, and health.
Lori Gitomer
Co-Founder & CEO of Whipnotic
Lori Gitomer is the Co-Founder & CEO at Whip & Whimsy.
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About Whipnotic: Revolutionizing Whipped Cream. Whipnotic is a whipped cream company that aims to disrupt and modernize through flavor, color, and health.
Graham Fortgang
Co-Founder and CEO of MatchaBar
CEO, Co-founder, and younger brother, Graham comes from a long history of entrepreneurial endeavors – from throwing concerts at a young age, a stint in real estate, to being one of Central Park’s legendary caretakers, Graham has always had a desire TO DO. Graham studied briefly at NYU, concentrating in Marketing & Branding and ultimately bringing his experience to the table to create the MatchaBar brand!
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About MatchaBar: MatchaBar is a family-owned business run by two brothers committed to going above and beyond to bring the world a quality matcha product.
Max Fortgang
Co-Founder/Owner of MatchaBar
President, Co-founder, and older brother of the two, Max exists as the head chef in the kitchen! With an extensive background in the world of Art History, he earned his stripes working in the world of Food & Beverage during his college years working at local cafes to pay the bills. Max is the so called mad hatter behind MatchaBar signature drinks, being amongst the first to truly innovate in the matcha tea space by experimenting not only with non-dairy milks, but fresh juices and spices of all kinds! Without Max, there is no MatchaBar!
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About MatchaBar: MatchaBar is a family-owned business run by two brothers committed to going above and beyond to bring the world a quality matcha product.
Gregory Constantine
CEO and Co-Founder of Air Company
Having started his career as an intern at a boutique music festival business to running some of Australia’s largest electronic music festivals working alongside artists like Snoop Dogg, Calvin Harris, Disclosure & Skrillex, Greg was able to transition his music knowledge and network into the branding and entertainment marketing world. Helping lead Smirnoff’s global music and cultural marketing based out of New York City landed him a spot on 2017’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list due to his distinguished music background alongside his ability to drive brands deeper into culture. Now, Co-Founder & CEO of the world’s most sustainable alcohol company as well as one of the youngest owners in the NBA, Greg is at the helm of several transformational and innovative businesses continually pushing boundaries and striving to achieve more than what many think is possible.
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About Air Company, Constantine Creative: Air Company is a technology and lifestyle company that ideates, creates, and manufactures liquor products.
Nadia Arumugam
Co-Founder of ckbk
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About ckbk: ckbk is the ultimate digital subscription service for cooks.
Ben Huffman
CEO and Co-Founder of Ripe
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About Ripe: Ripe is the everyday meal service providing companies and their people with delicious, freshly-prepared food.
CJ Richards
Co-Founder of Ripe
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About Ripe: Ripe is the everyday meal service providing companies and their people with delicious, freshly-prepared food.
Neel Premkumar
Founder/ CEO of Dyla Brands
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About Dyla Brands, FORTO Coffee Shots, Georgetown Angel Investor Network: Dyla Brands is an innovative, better-for-you, functional beverage company.
CEO & Founder of Say2eat
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About Say2eat: Say2eat makes ordering food as easy as texting a friend or asking Alexa to play a song.
Michael Knuepfel
Head of Product and Co-Founder of Truebird
Michael Knuepfel is the Head of Product and a Co-Founder at Truebird.
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About Truebird: Great coffee. Everywhere, anytime.
Andy Lynch
Head of Engineering and Co-Founder of Truebird
Andy Lynch is the Head of Engineering and a Co-Founder at Truebird.
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About Truebird: Great coffee. Everywhere, anytime.
Deena Bronz
Co-Founder and CEO of KitNipBox
Deena Bronz has extensive experience in entrepreneurship, consumer goods, e-commerce, and Product Management (PM) within the technology industry. Prior to co-founding KitNipBox, she was the Director of Product Management at MarkLogic, one of first and largest Big Data startups. Prior to MarkLogic, she was the Founder and CEO of a successfully acquired social commerce website that achieved industry leading conversion rates. Before founding her startup, Ms. Bronz ran a senior PM team at Symantec, where she and her team brought a number of new data center management products to market, exceeding customer adoption goals by 2x. Prior to that, Ms. Bronz developed and launched six new products to market as a Sr. PM at Symantec, achieving vast customer adoption and growing the P&L for these products from scratch to outperform revenue targets. Ms. Bronz has also held PM, Operations Planning, and Corporate Strategy roles at Level 3 Communications, where she managed a $75M P&L and received repeated recognition awards for her leadership and outstanding performance. Ms. Bronz holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and has also attained a Master of Science degree in Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems with high distinction from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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About KitNipBox: A monthly box of goodies for your cat!
Jennifer Stone
Founder of International Coffee Group
Jennifer Stone is among the foremost coffee experts in the world. She is a Top 100 Q Grader and International Judge for “Cup of Excellence” that is sought after to judge international coffee competitions and provide her stamp of approval on the rarest and most exquisite micro lot coffees globally. Ms. Stone is the founder of International Coffee Group and launched Demours as a start up in 2014 with the goal of bringing the world’s finest and most rare coffees to consumers throughout the world. She is considered an expert and thought leader in the coffee industry. In 2016, she has spearheaded the reintroduction of Fleetwood Coffee, a pre-eminent specialty brand throughout the southeast. She exemplifies the breed of confident and capable CEO that is seeking to make a difference throughout industry utilizing her talents and startup ventures.
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About International Coffee Group: International Coffee Group operates as a specialty coffee roasting company.
Geraldine Laybourne
Co-Founder of Katapult
Geraldine Laybourne joined Symantec’s board of directors in January 2008. She became Chairman of the Board of Katapult (formerly known as Kandu), a kids’ technology company, in May 2013. Laybourne founded Oxygen Media and served as its chairman and chief executive officer until November 2007 when the network was acquired by NBC Universal. Oxygen was launched in 2000 to fill a void in the television landscape – creating a network targeted to younger women. Laybourne led the company to be a strong advocate for women, through programs like The Mentor’s Walk. Prior to starting Oxygen, Laybourne spent 16 years at Nickelodeon. Under her leadership, Nickelodeon became the top-rated 24-hour cable service and won several notable honors, including Emmy®, Peabody®, CableACE® and Parent’s Choice® awards. From 1996-1998, Laybourne was president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks where she was responsible for overseeing cable programming for the Walt Disney Company and ABC. Laybourne is also on the board of directors of Betaworks and Alloy, Inc., serves on the Board of Trustees of Vassar College and serves as Global Ambassador for Vital Voices. Laybourne also sat on a number of industry boards and advisory committees, including The National Cable Television Association, The National Council for Families and Television, New York Women in Film & Television (Advisory Board), Cable Positive (Honorary Chair) and the Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Vassar College and a Master of Science degree in elementary education from the University of Pennsylvania. A native of Martinsville, New Jersey, she and her husband Kit have two children and four grandchildren.
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About Katapult, Vital Voices Global Partnership: Katapult is a digital entertainment company located at Betaworks in New York City.
Sara Levinson
Co-Founder of Katapult
Sara was most recently the President of the Women’s Group at Rodale. Previously, she was Chairman and CEO of ClubMom, President of NFL Properties at the National Football League and President of MTV Networks. She currently serves on the boards of directors at Harley Davidson, Macy’s Inc., CafeMom and KickApps Corporation. Sara earned her bachelor’s degree at Cornell and her MBA in Finance and Marketing and Columbia Business School.
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About Katapult: Katapult is a digital entertainment company located at Betaworks in New York City.
Betsy Fore
Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Tiny Organics
Betsy Fore is Co-CEO & Co-founder of Tiny Organics.
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About Tiny Organics: Tiny Organics is a childhood nutrition company building a healthier generation of eaters with vegetable-first foods for babies and toddlers.
Ben Van Leeuwen
Founder/CEO of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
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About Van Leeuwen Ice Cream: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is a maker of ice cream made from natural ingredients.
Melissa Facchina
Co-Founder and General Partner of Siddhi Capital
Melissa Facchina is Siddhi Capital’s co-founder and General Partner.
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About Siddhi Capital: Siddhi Capital is the venture partner for convention crushing food and beverage companies.
Arik Gaisler
CTO, Co-Founder of 2ndKitchen
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About 2ndKitchen, Qrate: 2ndKitchen enables businesses without a kitchen to serve food seamlessly using a custom menu from nearby restaurants.
Benzi Ronen
CEO & Founder of Farmigo
Advisor at Daisy.
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About Farmigo, Indose: Farmigo makes it possible to order fresh, local, farm-to-table food by creating a scalable alternative to the traditional supermarket
Mike Repole
Founder of BodyArmor
Mike Repole is an American entrepreneur, businessman, and owner of Repole Stables, best known for co-founding Glaceau, which sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion, and BODYARMOR SuperDrink, a sports drink manufacturer.
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About BodyArmor: BA Sports Nutrition produces and sells sports drinks that provide hydration for consumers.
Lara Crystal
Co-Founder & Board Member of Minibar Delivery
Lara Crystal is the Co-founder at Minibar Delivery
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About Minibar Delivery: Minibar Delivery provides on-demand delivery of wine, spirits, beer & mixers.
Lindsey Andrews
CEO & Co-Founder of Minibar Delivery
Lindsey Andrews is the Co-founder and Co-CEO at Minibar Delivery
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About Minibar Delivery: Minibar Delivery provides on-demand delivery of wine, spirits, beer & mixers.
Aaron Gatti
Founder of Brami
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About Brami: Brami is a producer and retailer of plant-based, Mediterranean diet-inspired, snacks.
Vanessa Pham
Co-Founder of Omsom
Vanessa Pham is a Co-Founder of Omsom.
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About Omsom: Omsom is a venture-backed CPG brand bringing proud, loud Asian flavors into American homes.
John Cline
Co-Founder, CTO of ShelfLife
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About ShelfLife: ShelfLife is a procurement solution for food and beverage brands.
Jeremy Epstein
Founder of Appetizr
Jeremy Epstein is the Vice President, Digital & Outdoor at BARU.
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About Appetizr, Baru: Appetizr is the first app that recommends what to eat by learning what you like to eat.
Adnan Durrani
CEO & Founder of American Halal Company
Adnan Durrani is the CEO & Founder at American Halal Company.
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About American Halal Company: American Halal Company produces and sells organic halal foods. Its products include chickpeas, wraps, frozen entrees, and chicken.
Philip Harris
President & Co-Founder of Ripe.io
Philip Harris is the President and Co-Founder at Ripe.io.
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About Ripe.io: Ripe.io is creating the Blockchain of Food.
Lily Zhao
Founder of Unreal Food
Lily Zhao is the Founder of Unreal Food.
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About Unreal Food: Unreal Food is a food and beverage company that offers plant-based egg substitute food products.
Matt Bruck
Co-Founder & President of Eaters Drinkers (formerly Joios)
Lots of success launching, building and running businesses in challenging environments (startups, turnarounds, new product/market launches). Core skills: bringing structure & analytics to chaotic environments; connecting strategic imperatives & implementation realities; energizing companies via branding & partnerships. Co-founder & President of Joios, a community for flavor discovery. We taste blind, gather data, filter collaboratively, make recommendations and enable acquisition of food and drink. Previously: led business development across the Americas for RICS; managed all key functions as COO of Meredith & Co.; defined strategies for Marakon. Startups: early leadership of Firefly (acquired by Microsoft), KaanBaan and Nexaweb. Advisory Boards of Argus Software (acquired by Altus), Flavorpill, GameRank, QLogiq, etc. Stanford, MIT alum. Always open to new learning, challenges and opportunities.
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About Eaters Drinkers (formerly Joios): Better strategies. Rigorous implementation. Flavor.
Derek Kleinow
Co-Founder of BarZar
Derek Kleinow founded his first company, TigerGPS, when he was in college and built it to over $20 million in sales and sold it when he was 26. Derek makes select seed investments in early stage start-up companies, and offers advice and consulting to entrepreneurs. Derek is assisting PASSO with identifying new investors and product development.
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About BarZar: BarZar is a fast, easy, and free way to get customized drink for social groups.
Steven Ioannou
National Sales Director, Co-Founder of Nounos Creamery
Steven Ioannou is the national sales director and the co-founder of Nounos Creamery.
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About Nounos Creamery: Nounos Creamery produces Greek yogurt using the locally sourced ingredients in New York.
Antonio Di Meglio
Founder and CEO of SeaStraws
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About SeaStraws: Transforming hospitality through sustainable alternatives.
Jordan Decicco
Founder of KituSuperCoffee
Falling asleep in class, Jordan turned his dorm room into a culinary kitchen blending the first batch of Super Coffee for his teammates and classmates. An all-conference basketball player, Jordan’s dedication and vision drove KITU Super Coffee from dorm-room dream to Shark Tank reality! A 2017-2018 Peter Thiel Fellow, you can still find Jordan in the kitchen with his original blender whipping up the future of healthy energy.
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About KituSuperCoffee, Sunniva Super Coffee: KituSuperCoffee manufactures a daily source of energy that inspires you to be your best you.
Zak Normandin
Founder & CEO of Iris Nova
Zak Normandin is the Founder & CEO at Iris Nova.
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About Iris Nova: Powering conversational commerce (SMS payments), customer service, email marketing, fulfillment, & delivery infrastructure for CPG brands.
Morgan Abraham
Co Founder of smoodi
Morgan is an electrical engineer who graduated from McGill University. He built his first startup, designing computers for businesses and home users when he was sixteen. Since then he has been involved in developing technologies for electronic systems, medical devices and sustainable buildings.
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About smoodi, UGo Smoothies: FoodTech
