Mentors
The Village community includes a number of Mentors who have committed to “pay it forward” and help startup Founders achieve their goals. We strongly believe every Founder should have at least one Mentor.
This highly coveted group of experienced professionals and successful entrepreneurs provide startup Founders with a deep, one-on-one relationship that delves into the personal and professional aspects over a long period of time. Mentors are committing to help you, and you are committing to not waste their time, deliver updates, and be open to receiving feedback.
If you’re interested in a Mentor, we strongly encourage you to first read this article about choosing the right Mentor. It’s a little like dating; it takes a commitment!
Making an Appointment
Click on the Mentor’s picture to view their bio and more information. See someone who might be a good fit? Swipe right and… just kidding! Click “Make an Appointment” to email the Mentor, and schedule a time to meet. You won’t regret it.
Questions? Let our Mentor Coordinator Kelly Anne know! julie@atlantatechvillage.com
Mentors
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Christine Jones
Make an AppointmentChristine has been a part of the Atlanta technology scene for three decades where she has helped create, grow and scale many B2B software companies. She lives in NW Atlanta with her family and rescue critters and has a love of volunteering with animal rescue organizations. Christine’s home away from home is Truist Park where you can often find her (emphatically) cheering on the Braves.
With an education and early career rooted in technology and software development, Christine has a passion for creating, growing and scaling B2B technology and SaaS companies with a unique focus on client and delivery operations. Throughout her career, she has worked in many different industries including Healthcare, Security, Financial, Intelligent Power and Non-Profit and has held positions as a SaaS executive in development, product and client service areas of the business. Christine has been a key part of 5 various stage startups across Atlanta and has helped several founder based SaaS companies grow, scale and sell. She has a background working with PE and has been part of 10 different M&A events over the past few years. Additionally, Christine has worked as a professional and executive mentor, board advisor and female entrepreneur coach. Currently, she is the Founder and Managing Partner of Service@Scale where she helps fast growing SaaS companies create, grow and scale their product and client operations.
1. Assistance with full product and service lifecycle development (ideation through support/success)
2. Guidance on how to create a scalable organization & operational processes from onset
3. Help with developing a talent strategy aimed at hiring the right people at the right time while creating a memorable culture

Shade Reid
Make an AppointmentDr. Shade' Reid (she/her) is UK-born, Atlanta raised with strong British Jamaican roots. She loves basketball and played collegiate basketball on scholarship at UNC-Wilmington. She is a wife, mom, lover of all food and cultures, world traveler, hanging with friends and family, and helping with her husband's basketball coaching business.
Shade' is a seasoned Healthcare provider/Nurse Practitioner, healthcare consultant, nurse entrepreneur, innovator, program manager, and emerging capital entrepreneur. She is the founder of HealthCares Group, a mobile simulation center implementing e-gaming, VR, AR, and hologram technology clinical education for healthcare providers, but had to pivot and is now offering her expertise as a consultant, advisor, and Fractional Chief Clinical Officer for health tech startups seeking clinical expertise. She is also now the co-founder of Frontline HLTH Innovation, a startup school and venture studio focused on building groundbreaking health tech startups led by nursing and allied health professionals. Her previous work in healthcare spanned behavioral health, childhood development, neurological disorders, maternal health, and emergency services. She has over a decade in healthcare and 5+ years of experience in the tech industry and startup ecosystem. She is passionate about supporting underrepresented startup founders, building equitable, sustainable communities, and democratizing fundraising.
1. Choosing and leading your founding team
2. Sounding board for Go to market strategy, product, and team development
3. Experience as an underrepresented female founder

Adam Lewites
Make an AppointmentAdam is a father, husband, avid golfer and huge Georgia Bulldog fan.
Adam is the Managing Director of Phoenix Capital Ventures (PCV), an early-stage VC firm partnering with companies in the sports, gaming, human performance, and immersive media industries. He has deep experience founding, scaling and now investing in early-stage ventures. Prior to joining PCV, he helped launch Endeavor Atlanta, a global non-profit that selects and supports founders of the fastest growing companies in the Southeast. Fun fact: Adam was actually one of the very first tenants at ATV as part of the founding team of Insightpool!
1) Preparing to raise capital
2) Go-to-market growth and scaling your team
3) General feedback and strategy

James Summer
Make an AppointmentJames is an Atlanta native who enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and 3 rescue dogs. He also enjoys running, an occasional backpacking trip and rooting for all of our Atlanta sports teams. He is passionate about serving others.
James is a Managing Director at EY and has over 30 years of experience working with a variety of business. He assists organization in thinking through their most strategic issues, developing solutions and connecting with other people with the right experiences. He loves growing revenues, solving problems, and building strong client relationships.
1. Make introductions that are aligned with your areas of focus
2. Go to market and building customer relationships
3. Constructive feedback on areas of focus and strategy

Bahadir Ustaoglu
Make an AppointmentCurrently, Bahadir is the Founder and COO of Cognira, located in Atlanta Tech Village. Baha brings together expertise in building scalable, data-driven technology solutions to retail problems.
Bahadir has a proven track record of designing, configuring, customizing, implementing and delivering complex enterprise class planning, forecasting and replenishment software for Fortune 100 Retailers. Prior to Cognira he has served leadership roles in multiple organizations in retail technology; Director of Product Strategy at Manhattan Associates, Senior Managing Consultant at IBM, Director of Program Management at Predictix (now Infor)
1. Anything from hiring your first employee to getting your first customer to scaling out. (Operations & Leadership)
2. Be a founder-to-founder sounding board for the issues you are facing, and champion (and challenge) your ideas. (Strategy)
3. B2B product, go-to-market, and sales

Jake Hadden
Make an AppointmentJake is a father of two and married to his college sweetheart, Erin. Outside of work, Jake is passionate about spending time with his family and all things fly fishing, whether that’s stalking trout through the North GA mountains or poling through flats for bonefish.
Jake Hadden co-founded and managed DigitalCrafts, a top-rated software development bootcamp, for 6 years before exiting to Perdoceo (NASDAQ: PRDO) in 2021. Jake continues to manage and oversee all DigitalCrafts operations. Prior to DigitalCrafts, Jake worked for the world’s largest manufacturing of modular carpet, Interface, as head of their internal innovation pipeline (think “Shark Tank”). In this role, Jake reported directly to the Chief Innovations Officer and gained working experience in Europe, Asia and Australia. Prior to Interface, Jake worked as a Management Consultant at Accenture and a Sales Rep in various roles after graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in Banking and Finance.
- General start-up knowledge from hiring an employee to building a company culture
- Business model strategy
- Proposal development and/or pricing strategy for services businesses

Cameron Abt
Make an AppointmentCameron is originally from Massachusetts and moved to Atlanta to be with a girl (now they’re married). When he was a kid he didn’t accessorize with the normal safety blanket or teddy bear; he was a super-nerd carrying around a 14-gauge electrical wire with alligator clips on either end. Learning to code as a kid and getting “Hello World!” to pop up on the screen has given him an insatiable curiosity about how (and why) the world works and how to make it better. On the weekends you can find him doing home improvement projects or trying to convince his wife he needs to buy more expensive tools to complete them.
Cameron Abt is the CEO of Atlas Bay VR, a B2B proptech startup providing visualization tools to real estate clients. He is passionate about operational efficiency, continuous improvement, and building stuff. As a broadly trained engineer turned CEO he has a unique startup perspective, focusing on streamlining production and removing operational friction instead of growth at all costs. Under his leadership, Atlas Bay VR has grown from a 2-person operation in a 1-bedroom apartment to a corner suite at the Atlanta Tech Village. With his first 7 years of full-time entrepreneurship under his belt, Cameron is excited to pay it forward to newcomers looking for where and how to start.
- Thinking like an engineer. Looking for a technical co-founder? Missing a tech background? Let me show you what the dark side is thinking.
- Defining unknown unknowns. There was a ton of early learning that I wish we could have heard before we started down the wrong path. Some of those landmines are easy to avoid with the right guidance.
- Creating repeatability. Building processes and procedures that scale without sacrificing agility.

Diane Bloodworth
Make an AppointmentI am a serial entrepreneur with a passion for sports and data. I love city life, dogs, Dawgs, and entrepreneurship.
Diane is a serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, including a successful startup launch and subsequent acquisition. She has in-depth experience in analytics, software development, and process improvement through her past roles at IBM and as a consultant. Diane is the founder of scoutSMART, a leading provider of predictive sports analytics. scoutSMART helps college football coaches find recruits that fit their program. Diane is considered a thought leader in sports analytics and has spoken at several sports analytics’ conferences including the Titans of Sports Tech Roundtable and the Georgia Tech Big Analytics Forum.
- Leading technical teams
- Creative boot strapping
- Experience as a female founder

Jeff Goldblatt
Make an AppointmentJeff Goldblatt has been involved with startups of many shapes/sizes (including: VC-funded, Angel-funded, Bootstrapped… successes, failures, and that subjective gray area between) for ~20 years and has served as Advisor/Mentor/Coach to 100+ young founders. Originally from Framingham, MA, he has an MBA from Emory University and a PhD from The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.
As creator of the original “Rejection Hotline” – a satirical phone service that grew into a 7-figure VIRAL *P.A.C.A.S.M. company (*Products As Content As Social Marketing) with 300+ “Humor Hotlines” engaging millions of fans – Jeff became a nationally-recognized expert on VIRALITY (in Products/Content/Marketing). He feels awkward writing in the 3rd-person, so he will now switch to 1st-person (and so will I). #BeReal – Like MOST entrepreneurs, I put “CEO” on my first business card. Also like most entrepreneurs, I once believed in The Tooth Fairy. In BOTH cases, it took YEARS to realize I WAS WRONG. My #IamNOTaCEO epiphany was undoubtedly the catalyst for my first startup success. – [3 months after replacing myself as CEO of my own company, we raised $1 MILLION in funding; 9 months later we were a PROFITABLE 7-figure company – after YEARS struggling as a solo founder wearing all the hats)] – And it began my fascination (obsession?!) with #SelfAwareness and the MANY related problems that young founders are OFTEN blind to (until YEARS LATER – often lamenting: “I Wish I Knew THEN, What I Know NOW!”) Full-Disclosure: Yes, I’ve occasionally been called a “Negative Nancy” – but I believe “Realistic Rick” is much more accurate AND much more helpful to young/future founders because… “Negative / Pessimistic (BAD?)” vs. “Positive / Optimistic (GOOD?)” creates a Dangerous False Dichotomy! [Spoiler Alert] “Objective / Realistic (GAME-CHANGER!)”
- Multiple Perspective Thinking: Helping you see how your and your business are seen by potential customers, employees, investors, and… by FUTURE YOU?!?
- Helping YOU to challenge your own ASSumptions– Do you KNOW it or THINK it or HOPE it? – Do you Differentiate POSSIBLE vs. PROBABLE?
- – Confidence is great – sometimes; is yours based on data/stats/testing or hunches/hopes & conversion rates YOU plugged in to hit YOUR revenue/growth goals?
- I Have Many *FUQs to Give! *[Frequently UNasked Questions] NOW is the time to discuss/debate uncomfortable topics (including potentially-bad FUTURE STUFF!) – so you can consider it objectively/calmly (with minimal emotional bias!) while it’s still just hypothetical!!

Phil Hill
Make an AppointmentI arrived in the US with a backpack and $267 in cash after traveling around the world. I love mountain biking and follow an unglamorous Premier League soccer team.
My experience spans 25 years of leadership in technology and nonprofits. I have co-founded, run, and exited multiple technology start-ups in telco, music, and education. I’ve overseen award-winning social innovation projects that have brought new opportunities to thousands of kids. My belief: give people access to opportunities, and they will thrive.
- Find early-stage market fit
- Develop sales & marketing channels
- Make sure you stick to your passion

Chelsea Seid
Make an AppointmentChelsea is a founder, coach, and community builder. She lives in East Atlanta Village where she loves to garden and explore the Atlanta neighborhoods with her husband, two year old son, and two dogs.
Chelsea is the founder, chief consultant and coach at Talent Praxis where she helps people turn ideas into action with 1:1 coaching, consulting and training. In addition to coaching Chelsea has 15 years of experience managing and leading teams; leading business operations and strategy; and leading HR, talent development, and talent acquisition across a variety of industries. Chelsea was the 16th hire at Patreon, a creator payment platform, managing business operations as the company scaled to 100FTEs and raised their series B and the People Operations Lead at Clara, a mortgage bank startup, acquired by SoFi. Chelsea has five years of experience as the COO and co-founder of a venture-backed startup, Marlow, building scalable coaching processes, platforms, and curriculum for managers. While at Marlow with her co-founder the two participated in Jason Calacanis’ launch incubator and Village Capital founder program, raised a pre-seed, successfully built their coaching platform and scalable coaching services, and increased revenue to $60k in MRR.
- Early stage operations aimed at scale
- Building a cohesive company culture
- Choosing and leading your founding team

Ellen Twomey
Make an AppointmentEllen moved to Atlanta this summer and works at the ATV. She’s a mom of five (yes 5!) beautiful children ages 15 – 2 and she moved to Atlanta this summer after a long stint in Raleigh-Durham. She’s from Detroit and has also lived in Connecticut, Washington DC and Chicago. She is not running from the law, her husband Kevin and her just believe in growth and stretching yourself and sometimes that means changing your environment. She has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Learning, Design and Technology from Purdue (Boiler Up!). She’s worked as a coach, a teacher, a technologist and a founder. Ellen is passionate about helping your startup succeed.
Ellen Twomey serves as the Managing Director of Fugitive Labs where they launch ventures, ship products, and invest in startups. Fugitive has a decade of experience helping founders with product strategy through full stack development through a business needs first lens. Ellen has a heart for serving underrepresented founders and has lived that mission through her You are techY podcast helping moms gain the skills and confidence to get hired in their tech dream job.
- Marketing from an actionable boots-on-the ground approach
- Product Strategy that ties directly to UX Design which informs full stack development
- Building a shippable product that people will buy

Brennen Lawrence
Make an AppointmentBrennen enjoys being back in Atlanta, spending time with family, following his beloved fighting Irish of Notre Dame, and enjoying a good Kentucky bourbon.
Brennen is the Chief Revenue Officer at Axes.ai a Fintech providing solutions to the global gaming industry and has 25 years of experience scaling tech centric businesses. Having scaled his start-up from 1 employee to a global leader with thousands of employees and a $2B acquisition.
- Developing internal operating structure and processes
- Identifying and evaluating strategic partnerships
- Sounding board for Go to market strategy, product and team development

Bill Jones
Make an AppointmentI’m an Atlanta native (not many of us around!). Enjoy spending time with his adult daughters, occasional workouts (let’s not go overboard here), and college football season.
Bill is a VP at TechOperators Venture Capital. Spent 10 years doing product management and UX in the early days of Windows and spent another 10 innovating in mobile technologies. Through 4 successful exits, both products he led had more than 20M users worldwide. Ran a mobile marketing software company, founded his own startup, and has run a food cost management software company too.
- Helping you become compelling through honest feedback
- Challenging you around product innovation
- Fundraising strategies and pitch

Jermaine Brown
Make an AppointmentJermaine is an avid reader, loves working out and roots for LSU and the Saints during football season.
Jermaine is the Founder and CEO of CCAW Automotive Group, a bootstrapped B2C ecommerce company in the automotive space. Jermaine is a leader with experience in building scalable teams, systems and processes. He has experience leading growth initiatives across functions that include Customer Service, Operations, Accounting/Finance and Engineering.
1. Thinking through what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how to make it happen.
2. Building scalable processes and systems.
3. Identifying goals that move the needle and developing specific action plans to achieve those goals.

Kim Wilson
Make an AppointmentKim is a journalist turned entrepreneur who successfully founded, grew and sold her startup – AND had three babies – all within the past few (chaotic) years. Her husband Geoff is an ATV Mentor too!
Kim is an experienced Founder and CEO, having successfully exited her most recent start-up: Social News Desk (SND). As a former-journalist, Kim saw a problem in her own industry and solved it by creating a SaaS company which would go on to become the worldwide leader in social media solutions for local news. In 2014, Kim led Social News Desk through an acquisition by Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC); a public company which was founded by Katharine Graham, the first female Fortune 500 CEO. Today, Kim remains at the helm of Social News Desk, overseeing an entirely remote team and supporting more than 30,000 journalists worldwide.
1. Sales Strategy for early-stage SaaS
2. Optimizing Development Roadmaps
3. Pitch Deck Feedback

Mike Burke
Make an AppointmentMike is a musician, Braves fan and father of 3 daughters. His wife and he are avid cyclists and like to tour the U.S. in their RV.
Mike is a serial entrepreneur in B2B SaaS healthcare technology/patient experience. He founded Dialog Medical - the leading provider of Informed Consent systems - and sold it to Standard Register (NYSE: SR) in July 2011. He founded Clockwise.MD -the leading virtual queue for healthcare - and sold it to Warburg Pincus/DocuTAP in April 2017. He is currently founder and CEO of Copient Health.
1. Customer Discovery.
2. Customer Development.
3. Building a repeatable, scalable sales model.
*Mike is not currently accepting new mentees

Aaron Hurst
Make an AppointmentAaron is a proud father of three who loves spending time with family, cooking and watching Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech sports.
Aaron enjoys helping founders unlock the most effective levers for growth as the Managing Director of Endeavor Atlanta, a global non-profit that selects and supports founders of the fastest growing companies in the Southeast. He has deep technology experience with strengths in strategy, product development, finance and operations.
1. Go to market strategy planning: you've found product-market fit, now what?
2. Preparing to raise capital.
3. Leading and managing a growing team.