Startup Bazaar DC is the first of a series of startup events held in partnership with universities nationwide. Its target audiences include early-stage entrepreneurs, potential entrepreneurs, and MBA students.
The Startup Bazaar series promises to offer a unique opportunity for founders to connect, learn, and glean insights from accomplished industry leaders who have achieved remarkable success through entrepreneurship. Our speakers include seasoned venture capitalists, esteemed fund managers, prominent industry influencers, visionary CEOs, and accomplished executives representing diverse companies.
Co-CEO, University Startups
Marc Steren is an experienced Founder, CEO, mentor, and coach with a demonstrated history of working with organizations. He is skilled in Leadership, Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking, Customer Development, Lean Methodology, Life Coach and Author. A strong entrepreneurship professional, Marc graduated from The University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Johns Hopkins University. Currently, he is enrolled at Harvard University Extension School working toward a master's In Industrial-Organizational Psychology
President, Ampcus
Salil has a successful track record of driving revenue growth for organizations including experience in mergers and acquisitions and business development. In this role, he is charged with leading Ampcus as it grows to meet expanding market needs and maintaining its leadership position in the Federal, State, Local, and commercial markets. He is responsible for establishing the strategic direction and future vision of Ampcus, and ensuring the portfolio of IT services offered is kept in sync with customer demands.
He brings along with him a vast experience of over 20 years in sales, financial and operational management.
Before joining Ampcus, Salil held executive and senior management positions at other small to large organizations. He holds an MBA in Finance and a Master’s in Management. He is an alumnus of the Delhi University in India. He also holds an Advanced Post Graduate in systems and management.
Founder, ni2o, Inc
Dr. Newton Howard is the founder of ni2o, Inc., a startup developing novel, AI-driven, brain-computer interfaces to treat a wide range of debilitating neurological disorders. ni2o’s eventual aim is to improve cognitive and athletic performance for all people affected by neurological diseases. Newton’s career spans academia, the U.S. military, and the private sector. As a prolific scientific author and inventor, he is highly skilled in moving research out of the lab and in u to military and commercial applications, including technology you use every day like wireless hotspots, Google Earth, and Google Translate.
Dr. Howard holds advanced degrees in Mathematics (Oxford), Cognitive Informatics (Sorbonne), Neurosurgery (Oxford), and a Doctorate of Medical Sciences (Sorbonne). He makes significant contributions to the fields of neuroscience, linguistics and national defense, including the Physics of Cognition (a mathematical framework for modeling complex medical, economic and security equilibriums), Intention Awareness (a theory for predictive modeling of naturalistic systems), Mood State Indicators (an algorithm to model mental processes involved in human speech to predict emotional states), ADAMA (a method of autonomously identifying and contextually understanding metaphors in language), the Functional Code Unit (a method for translating neurological signaling to logical data structures) and most recently, the Brain Code (a multivariate analytical model designed to extract emergent properties of the brain’s neuronal system).
Dr. Howard currently works as a professor at Oxford and Georgetown while also directing the Computational Neurosciences Lab at Oxford and the Synthetic Intelligence Lab at MIT. He founded and sits on the Board of two nonprofits: the Howard Brain Sciences Foundation (which funds innovative research initiatives to improve our understanding of the human brain and advance the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions); and C4ADS (which is dedicated to providing data-driven analysis and evidence-based reporting on global conflict and transnational security issues).
Dr. Howard’s life mission is to investigate and combat brain disorders. Together, we will restore the human dignity lost by diseases and negative evolutionary processes.
Principal, bGlobal Consulting
As Principal of bGlobal Consulting, Juhi delivers strategic solutions for businesses, organizations, and institutions that want to expand their international presence and impact. With decades of experience in international business development, investment, and education, she has a proven track record of building and managing relationships across diverse cultures, markets, and sectors.
Previously, she served as the Assistant Director for International Business Investment at the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority for six years. Juhi is part of the Visting Faculty at the George Mason University’s School of Business.
Global Alliant Inc
Adaleta (Ada) Sulejmanovic is the Director of Strategic Growth and Partnerships at Global Alliant. She is a Risk Management and Business Development professional with over fifteen years of experience in the Insurance, Healthcare, and Nonprofit industries. She has worked for Fortune 500 companies as well as start-ups including one that she was the founder of. She brings vast experience of Project, Change, Risk and Asset Management to the table in both the public and private sectors. Ada is passionate about developing ideas and bringing them to life from inception to completion and thrives when using her problem-solving abilities to optimize current processes for the best possible outcomes for all stakeholders. Ada has a Business-Economics and Finance Degree from Syracuse University and an Executive Leadership Certification from Georgetown University.
Founder and CEO, Sarfez
Salim Shah is a serial entrepreneur with experience in the development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of drugs. He founded Sarfez as a mission-based company and is the sole inventor of the underlying technologies. He has taken SOAANZ™ from laboratory discovery to FDA submission. He has experience in managing BIG data analytics, artificial intelligence and social media analytics for the marketing of drugs. He is responsible for the overall direction of the company, partnerships, collaborations and corporate interactions.
Cofounder, ACEL 360
Bill Yarnoff is a veteran of the technology marketplace, having held executive business development positions with numerous solution providers to the federal government. As such, he has been deeply involved in direct sales, sales support, strategic partnership and alliance development, go to market strategy formulation, project management and portfolio management, corporate branding, training and related disciplines.
Founder, AutoNebula
Sanjay is a seasoned entrepreneur with a track record of founding multiple companies and achieving successful exits. He is the Founder & Chairman of AutoNebula, an investment firm specializing in connected transport startups that foster collaboration between the United States and India, the Co-Founder of ACEL360, a prominent accelerator dedicated to enhancing the growth and enterprise value of small and mid-sized Federal contractors.
Beyond his business ventures, Sanjay is a popular host, leading conversations on two popular podcasts. In the "Indianness Podcast," he delves into insightful discussions with high-performing Indians and Indian Americans. In "Regulating AI," Sanjay tackles complex questions surrounding the regulation of artificial intelligence, engaging with world leaders to explore strategies that balance innovation and regulatory oversight effectively.
Sanjay is also the founder of USINPAC, an influential organization dedicated to advancing the interests of the Indian American community.
President, AM Technologies
Asif Mooppan serves as the President of AM Technologies Inc., a U.S.-based technology firm with a 30-year history in the telecom and broadband monitoring equipment sector. He is also the founder and CEO of Vuelogix, a company specializing in AI and IoT solutions. Asif bootstrapped Vuelogix and expanded it into a 75-employee enterprise before it was acquired by AM Technologies. He currently oversees the product and technology strategies for the company. Before founding Vuelogix, Asif was the co-founder and CTO of Carinov, a company focused on digital media narrowcasting and audience measurement through computer vision, which was eventually acquired by AGS Technologies Ltd.
Founder InfoCepts
Rohit Bhayana is the Co-founder of InfoCepts, a leading provider of Data and Analytics services & solutions, recognized by Gartner as among the top 50 worldwide. The company helps its global customers derive business value from their data. Its associates, known as InfoCeptians, enjoy a culture that enables each to reach their fullest potential.
Founder, Visitor Guard
Chiranth Nataraj is the Founder of Visitor Guard® and HeeraChain.com, and CEO of International Services, Inc. Base in Glen Alen, VA, he has demonstrated success in the technology and insurance industries. The areas he is focused on include emerging Blockchain Smart Contracts and Cloud Solutions for healthcare, finance, and supply chain.
Founder, Value Mortgage
Emrah has spent the last 19 years practicing law, mostly international business transactions and comparative law. Through his practice, he helped companies achieve their compliance and controlled growth goals. In addition, he helped technology companies manage their investments in international markets. Furthermore, he advised tech startups and mid-size companies on their product-market fit and GTM strategies. He facilitated operational efficiencies by creating comprehensive sales frameworks, streamlined hiring and onboarding processes and deal closing tactics. He had influenced $17B in total investment volume with unique negotiation strategies during his interaction with Turkish and Chinese governments. He has investments in technology, real estate, finance, automotive and wellness industries. Nowadays, he uses his knowledge about compliance and business in his own mortgage company, Value Mortgage, founded in 2023 in Vienna, Virginia. A cutting edge customer centric approach to mortgage, using technology and loan qualification metrics. Emrah believes in relationship building and hands on deal making to be the foundation of any success story. His mortgage company is up for a fast start, engaging 25 total underwriters for qualified and non-qualified mortgages and commercial loans in less than 6 months. His unique foreign nationals mortgage program is already creating buzz in the DMV real estate arena. He is a Crossfitter and the Fittest Turkish Man in the World, a Medal of Honor recipient, married, has 4 children, currently holds United States Department of State Security Clearance.
Director, VIPC
Hina Mehta is the director of University Programs for the Commercialization Division at Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. She participates in the development and execution of the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) grant programs and serves as the lead for promoting and managing the CCF’s university-focused programs.
Previously, she was director of George Mason University’s Office of Technology Transfer, where she engaged with and supported commercialization-minded research faculty.
She’s mentor to teams participating in customer discovery programs at Mid Atlantic NSF I-Corps hub. She also serves as technology transition expert and reviewer at several state and federal agencies.
Social Entrepreneur & Philanthropic Advisor
Venkatesh "Venky" Raghavendra is a social entrepreneur with close to four decades of leadership and advisory experience in the areas of philanthropy, fundraising, and social innovation, successfully building global partnerships and mobilizing significant resources for national and international organizations.
Venky is currently associated with Safe Water Network, working to enable safe water to underserved communities and a strategic advisor to the RoundGlass Foundation. Venky was formerly with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and promoted social entrepreneurship around the world by collaborating with business entrepreneurs and foundations.
He is involved in training and capacity building for the Government of India and is currently an advisor to the Government of Karnataka. He is a regular speaker and contributor to the media. Venky is the co-author of the book CareerSense: Build Your Career in Uncommon Times.
Founder and CEO, MedARC
Dr. Tanishq Mathew Abraham, 20, is the founder and CEO of MedARC, a medical AI research organization focused on training foundation models for medicine.. He recently graduated with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. For the past 4 years, he has been researching the application of deep learning (especially generative AI) to novel microscopy techniques for digital pathology. He has presented his work at several conferences (including SPIE Photonics West, ICML workshop and BMES), published a book chapter, established various collaborations with labs around the world, and more. He has contributed to many open-source projects, including being on the founding team for DALL-E mini, being a frequent contributor to the fastai library, and lead developer of the UPIT library.
A child prodigy, Abraham graduated from college with three degrees at the age of 11. In 2015, he was a contestant on the popular Lifetime show Child Genius. He was Abraham was also one of the youngest members of the high IQ Society of Mensa, scoring in the 99.9th percentile.
Founder and CEO, Mindcubed
Habib Nasibdar is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mindcubed.
Over the course of Mr. Nasibdar’s professional career, spanning a distinctive array of cross-organizational and cross-cultural perspectives, he has developed the conviction that three states of mind (curious, creative, and inspired) are essential to consistently delivering service excellence and transformational innovation. He founded Mindcubed to harness the combined power of these attributes to understand, reimagine, and master customers’ complex business challenges.
An avid technology enthusiast, Mr. Nasibdar began his career as a software engineer, writing C++ code for stock trading platforms. Subsequently, he held increasingly responsible roles in service delivery, business development, and business strategy, working primarily with small companies to improve their corporate posture and contribute significantly to their growth. Mr. Nasibdar also collaborated internationally at the United States Chamber of Commerce to team small businesses in America and Singapore to promote increased trade between those two countries.
Throughout his career, Mr. Nasibdar has been privileged to deploy and lead the deployment of numerous complex, enterprise-wide systems. Previously, Mr. Nasibdar led the post-9/11 implementation of the District of Columbia’s award-winning public safety JUSTIS (Justice Information Sharing) program. In that capacity, Mr. Nasibdar coordinated teams and stakeholders from more than 20 federal and city agencies and executed integrations between JUSTIS and over 70 other information systems—ensuring real-time communications between systems critical to constituent safety and rapid government response in the nation’s capital.
Mr. Nasibdar is an active member of technology-focused nonprofit organizations, including the American Council of Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC). At ACT-IAC, Mr. Nasibdar was Chair of the Cloud Computing Cross-Shared Interest Task Group. In this capacity, he collaborated and coordinated with large and small businesses to deliver tangible solutions on cloud adoption to the federal government. Mr. Nasibdar was awarded the ACT-IAC “Rookie of the Year” in 2010 for his efforts to drive collaboration between industry and the federal government. Mr. Nasibdar is also a co-author and contributor to technical papers and a frequent speaker at several industry and government events on information sharing and cloud computing. He has been quoted as an industry thought leader in the press and has participated in media as a technology subject-matter expert.
Mr. Nasibdar is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a Master’s degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He also earned a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Mumbai in India.
Mr. Nasibdar currently lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and daughters.
Startup Bazaar offers a vibrant platform where startup founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and early-stage innovators can engage with industry leaders who have forged remarkable success in the entrepreneurial landscape. Join us to gain invaluable insights, network with seasoned professionals, and ignite your entrepreneurial journey.
Robert S. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
7621 Mowatt Ln, College Park, MD 20742
United States
Name: Anil Prayag
Phone: 240-614-1627
Email: anil@americanbazaaronline.com
7621 Mowatt Ln, College Park, MD 20742
United States
Name: Anil Prayag
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: anil@americanbazaaronline.com
Name: Anil Prayag
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: anil@americanbazaaronline.com2
1Hd- 50, 010 Avenue, NY 90001
Australia
Name: Ronaldo König
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: info@example.com
Name: Ronaldo König
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: info@example.com
1Hd- 50, 010 Avenue, NY 90001
United States
Name: Ronaldo König
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: info@example.com
Name: Ronaldo König
Phone: 009-215-5595
Email: info@example.com