Founder Day

Alan Chavez and Colin Thornton are the co-founders of Torta Studios, a product and growth studio helping startups uncover the behavioral signals that drive retention, engagement, and long-term growth. Their work sits at the intersection of product, data, and user behavior, helping teams identify what actually moves users from trial to habit.

Joshua Dzyak advises venture-backed founders on financial strategy, capital planning, and the numbers investors actually care about. At CliftonLarsonAllen, he works with high-growth companies on forecasting, fundraising strategy, and financial infrastructure that holds up under investor scrutiny.

Lauren Goodell is a founder, GTM sales leader, and one of LinkedIn’s top sales voices. A former sales executive at Microsoft and Salesforce, she has become one of the most recognizable voices in modern sales, with 40,000+ followers and a fast-growing audience around founder-led growth, AI, and human-first selling. Today, she helps founders turn trust, audience, and credibility into pipeline through the modern sales strategies reshaping how startups win.

Oliver Peters is the founder and CEO of Loud Solutions, where he advises founders and executive teams on leadership, communication, and organizational performance. He works with high-growth companies to improve how teams operate, align, and scale under pressure.

Charles D’Andrea is the founder of Pattern50, where he helps startups build and ship faster using AI-native workflows, rapid prototyping, and modern product systems. He works hands-on with founders to turn ideas into working products faster, with less overhead and tighter feedback loops.

Paul Rothstein and Mario Bolaños are partners at Nelson Mullins, where they advise emerging companies, venture funds, and growth-stage startups on financings, M&A, AI governance, and corporate strategy. Their work spans company formation through exit, with deep expertise in the legal and structural decisions that shape long-term enterprise value.

Liz Brigham is the W. Spencer Mitchem ’59 Executive Director of the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Davidson College and co-founder of Durability Labs, a modern venture studio building AI-assisted tools for customer-facing teams. A product, growth, and marketing leader, she has held leadership roles across startups and global brands including Morningstar, Jive Software, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, and political tech startup Timshel. Her work sits at the intersection of product, positioning, and AI, with a focus on helping modern teams sharpen messaging, accelerate learning loops, and bring products to market faster. Liz has been recognized by Charlotte Business Journal’s Power 100, GrepBeat, and the Global Product Marketing Alliance, and serves as an advisor and mentor to startups across the country.

Jonathan Donahue is Principal Consultant at Leadership Effectiveness, where he helps founders and executives build healthier, higher-performing teams. He specializes in leadership team design, delegation, and helping growth-stage operators make the shift from founder-led execution to scalable company leadership.