Entrepreneurship Feedback: Get Your Startup Idea Reviewed by Experts

Calling all entrepreneurs! ??

Do you have a great startup idea or business plan? ? Are you someone who aspires to be an entrepreneur but you don't know how to validate your solution?

This is your opportunity to get your impact-driven idea validated by three startup experts. For the FIRST time, Mercy, Maggie and Mohanned, an entrepreneur and investor, will be listening to your ideas and giving you guidance and feedback about your product, startup or service! ? This live event will offer you the chance to get direct feedback, present your ideas and speak to someone who's been through the startup experience!

The advisors:

Mohannad El-Khairy is an entrepreneur, he's a business advisor and and international investor based in the Los Angeles area. He's worked in Dubai, Silicon Valley and has experience in both startups and venture capital! His company, Tidal impact supports companies and initiatives driven by social and environmental performance.

Mike DuVall Mike is a life and leadership coach. He creates transformative experiences for learning and growth. For the last 8 years, Mike has managed leadership development programs for emerging leaders from MENA and Ireland/Northern Ireland. He has mentored more than 200 social entrepreneurs in developing their social businesses.

Christopher Schroeder Christopher M. Schroeder is a Global Investor, Internet/Media entrepreneur and CEO focused on Silicon Valley and international consumer, fin-tech, media companies and advocating/mentoring global entrepreneurship. He co-founded HealthCentral.com, one of the nation's largest social and content platforms in health and wellness, backed by Sequoia Capital, Polaris Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Company and IAC Corporation. The company was sold to the health media publisher, Remedy Health, in January 2012 where Schroeder remained a board advisor.

Maggie Goff is well-equipped to give you relevant business advice as she supports the incubator program at Halcyon, working with current fellows and alumni. Our panalist Mercy Erhiawarien is passionate about mobilizing people to transform and impact their own communities. She's a social innovator and organizer with a mission to broker partnerships and address development challenges through social impact in Africa.

The organization:

This session is organized by Halcyon a community supporting impact-driven businesses and their founders through space, community, and access. Their programs offer fellowships for social entrepreneurs and funding vehicles to help them scale their ventures.

About Mohanned El-Khairy:

Mohannad El-Khairy is an entrepreneur, business advisor and international investor based in Los Angeles. He began his career in global business development at 21 with independent macro-investment research firm BCA, managing clients in the US and 50 countries around the world. He then moved to Dubai to help build a BI/market data company Zawya.com, which became known as the “Bloomberg of the Middle East” until its acquisition by Thomson Reuters in 2012. Mohannad then moved to Silicon Valley. An avid proponent of the startup culture, Mohannad joined Plug and Play Tech Center, one of the most active seed-stage investors and startup accelerators in the Bay Area. At P&P, he led international partnerships by bridging several high tech ecosystems in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East to Silicon Valley through commercial, joint venture and investment activities, mentoring hundreds of entrepreneurs along the way. Mohannad then founded NXT Innovation, an innovation brokerage and consulting firm in San Francisco, Paris and Milan focused on de-risking the adoption of high-tech solutions for buy-side channel owners. This led him to create E11 Capital, a global venture capital firm based in San Francisco and Dubai, that partners with corporates, governments, family conglomerates, and other channel owners to help scale visionary tech companies. In 2020, Mohannad launched Tidal Impact to support companies and initiatives driven by social and environmental performance. Through Tidal's impact measurement activities, the company rallies a variety of financing solutions from a broad coalition of buy-side impact investors. He continuously advises several high-impact organizations -- from startups and corporations to venture capitalists and governments -- on business modeling, innovation strategy, collaborative capital, fund-raising and how to cultivate sustainable, entrepreneur-driven ecosystems. He completed his degree in both Economics and Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

About Mike DuVall:

Mike is a life and leadership coach. He creates transformative experiences for learning and growth. For the last 8 years, Mike has managed leadership development programs for emerging leaders from MENA and Ireland/Northern Ireland. He has mentored more than 200 social entrepreneurs in developing their social businesses. As a leader and a coach, Mike supports people to see their potential and grow into possibility. He has a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation and is trained as a coach through Gallup and Accomplishment Coaching.

About Christopher Schroeder Christopher M. Schroeder is a Global Investor, Internet/Media entrepreneur and CEO focused on Silicon Valley and international consumer, fin-tech, media companies and advocating/mentoring global entrepreneurship. He co-founded HealthCentral.com, one of the nation's largest social and content platforms in health and wellness, backed by Sequoia Capital, Polaris Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Company and IAC Corporation. The company was sold to the health media publisher, Remedy Health, in January 2012 where Schroeder remained a board advisor.

Previously he was CEO of the Washington Post, Newsweek, and LegiSlate.com, a b2b interactive platform on US and state legislation and regulation, which he sold in 2000. He currently is an active investor in and advisor to top US venture capital funds and over a dozen consumer-facing social/media startups. He has had a career in finance and served in President George HW Bush's White House and the Department of State on the staffs of James A. Baker, III and Robert B. Zoellick.

He is the author of the Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. In thirteen subsequent trips to the Middle East, Schroeder interviewed over 150 entrepreneurs, investors and global tech leaders. He has written extensively about startups and technology in emerging growth markets for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Pando Daily, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider among other publications. He speaks regularly around the globe, and sits on the board of advisors of The American University of Cairo School of Business, the Jordanian incubator Oasis500, the Middle East online entrepreneur information platform and network wamda.com. He was named one of LinkedIn top 50 Influencers.

Schroeder is also on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Germany, The Dean's Board of the American University School of International Service, and member of the French American Foundation and Council on Foreign Relations. He graduated with honors from The Harvard Business School, and magna cum laude from Harvard College.

About Maggie Goff: Maggie (she/her) believes anyone, anywhere, from any background can change the world with an innovative idea and the right support. In her role as Program Coordinator, she supports day to day operations of the incubator program with current fellows and alumni, and the application process. She also writes grants and co-authors the Social Enterprise Ecosystem Report. Prior to joining Halcyon, she was a Research Analyst at Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center; where she conducted program evaluations related to reentry, work readiness for returning citizens, and victim services for incarcerated women. She holds a Master’s degree in Justice Studies from Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Youth Advocacy, a major she self-designed at Manhattanville College. When she’s not working, she can be found doing yoga, reading, or playing with her mischievous cat.

About Mercy Erhiawarien: At Halcyon, Mercy supports the daily operations, design and implementation of Halcyon domestic and international intensives ensuring that Halcyon’s Fellows have the resources that they need to thrive. Her passion is to mobilize people to transform and impact their own communities. She is a social innovator and organizer with a mission to broker partnerships to strategically address development challenges by enhancing development focused organizational capacity in sub-Saharan Africa and mobilizing others to work towards African led social impact in Africa. Prior to Halcyon, Mercy worked as an international development and project management practitioner, with her field experience spanning Africa and the United States. In doing so, she leveraged her extensive experience to help build programs, policies, and processes that help organizations raise funds and improve program performance. Mercy has a MPhil in Public Policy from Cape Town University in South Africa and a B.A. in International Development from Queen’s University in Canada.

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