Meet our team
Ehsan Mirdamadi,
Partner
Ehsan draws on 18 years of enterprise computer networks, storage and cloud infrastructure experience. He was the founder and CEO of one of the largest and the first cloud computing companies in Canada, Cirrus Tech. Ltd. He is also, a serial entrepreneur, an active angel investor and mentors many technology companies. Ehsan holds a BSc in Computer Science from York University.
Sean Cobham,
Partner
Sean is a serial entrepreneur and professional engineer. He had a successful 15-year career in building services engineering, working for several well-established engineering firms in Toronto, Ontario. Sean then co-founded a new firm, Spectra Engineering, with a focus on mission critical buildings and infrastructures. After a few years of successful growth, Sean ventured into the technology startup ecosystem as CTO for a company developing novel micro-modular data center products. This exposure to the integration of IoT devices and software unlocked a keen interest in technology development and the understanding of scalability opportunities for product development versus traditional consulting.
Aïko Thurlow,
Advisor
Aïko is the CEO and Founder of InFounders, an organization that runs masterminds of entrepreneurs. She also hosts monthly Mastermind Express events for a community of 20,000 entrepreneurs in Toronto, enabling entrepreneurs to discover the power of peer collaboration.
Aïko has been active in the New York and Toronto startup space. She has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and is closely knit to the local entrepreneurial community, lecturing at universities and participating in the organization of events such as Propelify (one of the largest NY innovation events), Startup Weekends, and the Women Techmaker Conference.
Benton is an active angel investor in the Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN), located in Waterloo Region. GTAN has provided funding to over 75 early stage companies in southern Ontario. In the past, Benton has held teaching and research positions in computer science at University of California, Berkeley, Penn State University and the University of Waterloo. Benton co-founded four local companies and started numerous community initiatives.
At Communitech, Benton has served as a mentor for social venture startups. He also helps more general companies with finding and cultivating the right partners as part of business development.
Read More...Benton was Co-founder and CEO of Prolexion, President of Radical Flow Inc., Co-founder and Director of Business Development with Maplesoft and a former Research Manager of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.
Benton holds many awards for teaching and as well as community development in the investment ecosystem. He serves as a board member for multiple ventures and is a volunteer for various non-profit organizations.
Sector Interests:
Education, Digital Publishing, NLP and Machine Learning, IoT, Social Ventures, Intelligent Cars and Transportation Networks
Frank is a well-known coach/mentor/investor who has worked with founders across Canada as well as with companies from Brazil, India, Caribbean, and Australia. He developed The Artful Science of Pitching™ to reflect a practical combination of his knowledge and experience from multiple perspectives including:
- Entrepreneur (co-founder: Powernoodle, Global Music Depot, Katapult Business Solutions ) with:
- Deep operations experience having performed in 5 different C-type positions in various companies – chair, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Strategy Officer), and
- Strong fundraising performance having directly raised over $40M while in C-roles;
- Angel investor with a robust portfolio (2011 Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN) Angel of the Year);
- Investment committee member (Laurier Start-up Fund);
- Coach/mentor/educator (frequently invited by Propel ICT, Venn, Founder Institute, MaRS, Guelph Accelerator Centre, and various universities & colleges; EIR at Communitech; member NACO Academy); and an
- Active contributor to the start-up ecosystem (2013 GTAN Community Builder of the Year; significant contributor to A Practical Guide to Angel Investing (Gedeon, Steven A., NACO Academy, 2016; coach to several program cohorts including Commuitech’s Hyperdrive, Rev, and Fierce Founders and the JEDI (Joint Economic Development Initiative) program’s support for Aboriginal entrepreneurs in New Brunswick; chaired pitch competitions in Montreal, Quebec City, various cities in Ontario, Banff, and Vancouver).
Prior to his past dozen years in the start-up ecosystem, Frank’s foundations come from 15 years at IBM and 10 years at BMO Bank of Montreal in a variety of roles in Canada and the US including technical, technical sales, consulting, and executive roles. He is a past director of: Powernoodle, Top Hat, Mii Corp, GTAN, and Angel Investors Ontario, and a past governor of Wilfrid Laurier University.
In the delivery of The Artful Science of Pitching™, Frank focuses on developing and continuously improving pitch content, flow, and delivery to attract investment or partners or for selling. Frank’s unique approach uses the pitch to gain insight into a company’s strategy, technology, and operations which enables him to uncover and help solve deeper misalignments in the company. Much more than a pitch coach, Frank’s personalized methodical approach and attention to detail have earned him a reputation for delivering high value advice and guidance to founders (all stages) and accelerators (all industries).
Jesse Moeinifar,
Advisor
Jesse is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Viafoura, servicing over 600 media, broadcast and entertainment brands worldwide, and powering more than 1.5 billion interactions across 250 million active users. Viafoura enables content providers to better build, manage and monetize their content, audience and data in real-time.
A serial entrepreneur with previous successes spanning a range of industries including finance, real estate, digital media and technology. Assembling teams of smart individuals passionate about solving challenging problems is what Jesse attributes his successes to.