Kernel

Chief Executive Officer

Startup Connect

Bridging founders, investors, and expertise through events such as Startup Grind, Startup World Cup, Venture Elevator and the Global Innovation Dojo.

Founder

Georgian Ventures

Strategic advising for development of startup companies and ecosystems.

Starpoint Advisory

Alignment for impact and scale, for founders & funders.

Startup Grind

Tbilisi was the top chapter in the world 2019 for total participants checked in at all events.  

Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. Startup Grind is powered by Google for Entrepreneurs. We host monthly events in more than 600 chapters in more than 120 countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies. Our 1000-person volunteer team supports monthly fireside chat interviews, startup mixers and annual conferences connecting entrepreneurs with amazing startups and the people behind them, tap into a strong support network, form meaningful connections and gain inspiration for the startup journey ahead.

Notable guests include Clay Christensen (Innovator's Dilemma), Marc Andreessen, Biz Stone (Twitter), Steve Blank, Ben Silbermann (Pinterest), Jessica Livingston (Y Combinator), Bill Maris (Google Ventures), Vinod Khosla (Kholsa Ventures), Dave McClure (500 Startups), Ali Pincus (One Kings Lane), Naval Ravikant (AngelList), Tony Conrad (About.me), Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC), and Steward Butterfield (Slack).

Startup Grind events attract founders, CEOs, developers, designers and technology professionals devoted to having an impact by creating companies with the potential to change the world.

Startup Grind is hosted in cities around the world including Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Singapore, Dubai, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, London and more.

Chapter Director

Georgian Wine Finder

Wine recommendation engine and marketing platform for lesser-known wine regions, initially in Georgia then globally. https://georgian.wine/

Root Deeper Marketing: Adwords & Bing Certified PPC Management

Profit-Driven Marketing rooted in Digital Analytics. 

We are a custom marketing consultancy focused on marketing strategy and management for companies that are serious about growing.

As Principal Strategist I conduct analysis and develop marketing strategies which I either implement or delegate and supervise. 

In addition I do extensive training in partnership with Startup Accelerators, Chambers of Commerce, Small Business Development Centers, and others.   

Recognition for my leadership in the field includes:
* Google Partner Community Ambassador (the only one in Ohio)
* Google Small Business Community Advisor (the only one in the Midwest)
* Google Rising Star (2015-17)

*Anchor tenant, Ohio University Innovation Center

Results have included 200% increase in conversions at lower CPA for clients YoY, and as high as 700% ROI on management fees.

Founder & CEO

National Network of Forest Practitioners

Led an organization focused on rural economic development in forested communities. 

Grew the organizational budget by 300% in 4 years of the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. 

During this time, offset the departure of a long-time funder who supplied 80-90% of the overall budget with entirely new funding sources. 

Managed all aspects of organizational development and implementation for a small national nonprofit, from fundraising and program strategy to implementation and evaluation. 

Diversified the organization's funding to include new federal sources (Rural Development, OAO, and NRCS) as well as meaningful earned income streams from development consulting, web consulting, and business development consulting.  Also led the organization in securing its first corporate donations and sponsorship revenue. 

Facilitated the development of a new strategic plan, which clarified numerous issues that had remained unresolved throughout the organization's 15+ year history. 

Attracted really smart, high-talent staff with diverse capabilities for senior management (including seasoned leaders 20+ years my senior)

Developed program strategy and funding, then supported staff and community partners in undertaking high-impact landowner outreach and enterprise support work.

Specific projects included:
* An online marketing platform for value-added wood producers
* Live workshops and webinars on online marketing 
* Enterprise development support for forest-related cooperative businesses
* Financial analysis of different forest-related enterprises
* Development of in-house consulting services lines for web marketing, communications, and video

Executive Director

Sustainable Forests Roundtable

In my role at NNFP I assist the Roundtable in leveraging social media and online communications tools to get messages about sustainable forests beyond the usual circles, and help communicate the relevance to more new audiences.

Communications Consultant

Bali Karma

A fair trade business bringing Arts, Attire, Gifts, and Jewelry from artists and craftspeople in Bali and nearby islands. Winner "Best New Business"​, Athens News (placed in other categories as well).

Developed the "Hidden Treasures"​ neighborhood branding, and cooperative marketing initiative, including "Treasure Hunts" where customers received maps and got credit for each store they visited, resulting in prize giveaways. 

Managed online marketing, including an SEO effort which increased online traffic by 2000% and online sales by the same amount.

Startup Ecosystem & Company Builder

* Entrepreneurial and impact-driven manager for diverse organizations. 
* Repeated success in "rainmaker"​ and "turnaround" roles involving rapid creation of programs and organizations from scratch, and turnaround of organizations and programs in distress. 
* Enterprise strategist experienced operating at multiple scales, in different organizational forms,from local to international.  
* Experienced with social dynamics management from facilitation to educational methods and communications. 

More random stuff in case you're curious
https://forbes.ge/author/colin-donohue/
http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/18007/American-within-Georgian-Startup-Ecosystem-Evangelists
https://www.investor.ge/2022/10/11/georgias-advances-toward-an-innovation-economy

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