Mentors

UP26 brings together exceptional mentors who have built category defining companies and are here to help you level up!

SVP, Business Development

Penny Harwood

SVP, Business Development at London & Partners, connecting companies to global opportunities. With 14+ years of experience, she drives international expansion and strategic partnerships.

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Co-Founder, Head of Expansion

Andrée Carpentier

Co-Founder of 7shifts, scaling a category-leading SaaS platform used by 50,000+ restaurants globally. From 0→1 to Series C, she’s led growth across product, operations, and expansion.

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4X Founder & Serial Entrepreneur

Jayesh Parmar

Founder, investor, and operator with 20+ years building high-growth companies. As co-founder and CEO of Picatic, he scaled to 46 countries before its acquisition by Eventbrite.

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CEO & Co-Founder

Azrah Manji-Savin

Co-Founder & CEO of Syzl and a proven marketplace operator. Recognized as a Top 25 Changemaker and Collision PITCH winner, she’s built and scaled high-growth platform companies.

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Partner, Talent

Alison Kaizer

Partner (Talent) at Golden Ventures, bringing a strategic, people-first approach to scaling teams. She led rapid growth at Lunchbox and built Ritual’s talent function from 40 to 400+ globally.

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COO

Nick Gray

Nick is a growth-focused operator who builds and scales from 0–1. He’s led product-driven growth, partnerships, capital raises, and strategic transformations and now helps founders cut through the noise and scale with clarity.

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CRO

Michael Gaudet

CRO at Link driving revenue across the business. Known for building and scaling teams, he’s led growth at Neo, Swoop, and Benevity, and supported SaaS companies through funding and exits.

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VP Marketing

Chris de Jong

SaaS marketing leader driving brand and revenue growth. From Gorgias to 7shifts, he scaled GTM, led early lead gen through product-market fit, and built marketing teams from scratch.

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Co-Founder, Managing Partner

Neil Grunberg

Founder, operator, and investor with 20+ years building and scaling companies. He co-founded AlayaCare into a global 600+ person company and now invests in early-stage startups with an operator’s edge.

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