Spotlight: HUVTSP Speakers
In addition to internships at innovative startups and daily classes, workshops, and case studies from Harvard faculty and entrepreneurs, TECH is proud to host world-class guest speakers to share their unique experiences and stories with the HUVTSP community. Below is a list of past, returning, and upcoming speakers for HUVTSP 2025. Please note that this list is ever-growing and subject to change based on speaker availability.
Paul is an award-winning teacher and creator of innovation and entrepreneurship programs, courses, resources, and tools. As an advisor, mentor, and coach, he engages founders in a unique creative development process that helps shape new ideas into emerging companies. At Harvard, he is also the executive director of innovation education at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering, the faculty director of the Harvard College Innovation Challenge and the Innovation Fellows Program, and he serves on the boards of the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Lemann Center for Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Harvard College, and on the Innovation Council of the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering.
Arhan is an entrepreneur with a background in Computer Science and Economics from Harvard University. A member of the Y Combinator W24 batch, Arhan is currently building Rove, the first-ever universal airline mile. His ventures have been backed by leading investors including YC, General Catalyst, Soma Capital, Pear, and more. At the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, Arhan is a Program Director, helping lead courses across the startup and technology landscape.
Caleb is a Program Director at TECH and an advising board member at Harvard Undergraduate Ventures, where he ran the Bottom Line podcast with notable guest speakers, including Fortune 500 CEOs. Caleb also serves as a board member at Harvard Undergraduate Venture Capital Group and The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student-run newspaper.
Anaiy is an entrepreneur and investor with a background in EECS, Applied Math, and Business from UC Berkeley’s M.E.T. Program. He’s worked at leading research labs and startups—including Berkeley AI Research, SiMa.ai, and Chess.com—and published in multiple IEEE conferences. Most recently, he sourced over $50M in deals as a VC at Pear and Foundation Capital, backing startups like Brutus AI and investing personally in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity.
Mark is a billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Best known for his role on Shark Tank, Mark made his fortune by selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo! and has since invested in hundreds of startups across technology, media, and healthcare. He is also a vocal advocate for business innovation, healthcare transparency, and cryptocurrency.
Joshua Silverman is the CEO of Etsy and a seasoned technology executive known for scaling consumer internet companies. He previously served as CEO of Skype and shopping.com, and co-founded Evite. With a track record of steering high-growth companies through major transitions, he brings deep expertise in product, operations, and marketplace strategy.
Cory is the founder of First Text and Z Fellows, an accelerator that’s backed dozens of startups as their first investor. Previously, he co-founded After School, a teen social app with ~20M users that was acquihired by Ancestry. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, he sits on the board of DoSomething.org and has interned at Founders Fund, USV, and TechStars.
Akash is a founder, operator, and investor with over a decade in startups. He co-founded Eventable at UC Berkeley, scaled it to 30M+ users, and led its acquisition by Rockerbox. Most recently, he was a Partner at The House Fund, backing early-stage founders. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Akash has advised a wide range of entrepreneurs on product, go-to-market, and fundraising.
Thomas has over 29 years of experience across equity research, investment banking, asset management, and wealth management. A leading China strategist, he is currently Chairman at Prudence Fund (HK) Investment Management. He previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Invesco, including serving as Chief China Strategist and CIO. Thomas holds dual Master’s degrees in Economics and Statistics from the University of Utah, a bachelor's in International Finance from Wuhan University, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s AMP. He has also served on the board of the HBS Association of Hong Kong for over 12 years and earned his CFA in 2000.
Guy is a global business leader with over 50 roles across private equity, startups, and high-growth companies, known for driving innovation, turnarounds, and transformative growth. A Kellogg MBA and expert in M&A, strategy, and operations, he has led P&Ls over $200M and deals exceeding $1B. His upcoming book, The Negotiation Code, explores how EQ and AI can redefine negotiation for lasting success.
Lila is the CEO of Bose Corporation, where she leads the company’s consumer electronics, automotive, and related businesses, and serves on its Board of Directors. Prior to Bose, she was EVP at Pitney Bowes and spent 15 years as a partner at McKinsey & Company. Lila also serves on the boards of PulteGroup and the University of Miami, and advises MIT’s School of Engineering.
Amit is the Managing Partner and Global Head of SE Ventures, overseeing its $1B venture investment platform. With nearly 20 years of experience across VC, private equity, and corporate development, he previously led global venture investing at Cisco and was a Director at Summit Partners. Amit holds degrees from Harvard Business School, Purdue, and IIT Bombay.
Saeed is the founder and CEO of Plug and Play, a global innovation platform that has backed over 2,000 startups and more than 30 unicorns, including PayPal, Dropbox, and Honey. With over 30 years of experience across real estate, packaging, bottled water, and tech, he built Plug and Play from a single Palo Alto building into a world-renowned hub supporting 90,000+ startups and transformative corporate partnerships.
Shogo is the founder and CEO of CoeFont, an AI voice platform with over 3 million users and $6M raised. He also created AI Stylist, a top hairstyle app with 2M+ downloads. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Shogo serves on the board of Kasumigaseki Capital and is a member of the Masason Foundation, backed by SoftBank’s CEO.
Aaron is the 20-year-old co-founder of Affiniti, a fintech startup building an “AI CFO” for small and midsize businesses. After leaving UC Berkeley at 16, he helped pioneer stablecoin consumer payment rails. In just a year, Affiniti scaled to $5.5M in ARR, raised $79M, and partnered with Mastercard—backed by investors like Indicator Ventures and Emigrant Bank.
Dhruv is a serial entrepreneur and AI researcher with a computer science background from UC Berkeley. He founded Brutus AI (acquired), served as Director at Forta Health, and now leads Docubridge, an AI-driven platform for enterprise document workflows. Dhruv has conducted research at Berkeley and Stanford and is a Venture Partner at Tower Research Capital, advising early-stage startups in Silicon Valley.
Aryan is a founder, engineer, and education innovator with a computer science background from UC Berkeley. He founded TeacherToolAI by TeachShare, a Pear VC and Reach Capital-backed platform featured in TechCrunch and used by thousands of educators worldwide. A former Blockchain at Berkeley consultant and engineering facilitator, Aryan is also a Z Fellow recognized for his impact in edtech.
Avi is the co-founder and CEO of Extrian, an AI-powered cybersecurity platform for enterprises backed by Soma Capital, CRV, OVO Fund, and Polaris Partners. He was previously a Research Fellow at the Harvard Innovation Labs and served as Project Lead for Expo 2020 Dubai. Avi is also a Z Fellow, recognized for his innovation in cybersecurity.
Mike is a seasoned tech founder and angel investor, having backed over 40 companies to date. He is currently the founder of Fastgen.com and previously financed the education of thousands of students through joinblair.com. A graduate of Y Combinator for both ventures, Mike is a dedicated advocate of YC’s startup philosophy. Beyond his professional pursuits, he is an avid reader, video game enthusiast, and passionate sports fan.
As a serial entrepreneur, David has 15 years of experience building winning teams and successful companies. He exited twice, selling his US startups to conglomerates in Asia. David developed $800M+ business opportunities between Asia and America as an executive at some of the most influential EdTech companies in the world, including as CEO for Riiid Labs, Head of Asia for ACT.org, and Managing Director (of Asia) for K12.com. Now, he invests in companies as Managing Partner at Ethos Fund.
Mark is a former documentary filmmaker turned applied AI researcher, lab-to-market productization leader, and early stage investor who finds his purpose in creatively connecting dots across disciplines. As a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Mark supports member companies and the research community in bridging fundamental science to real world impact. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Harambe Alliance of African Entrepreneurs. Formerly at IBM Research, the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, Mark has led productization teams and has published research in graph deep learning, algorithmic fairness, and operations finance. He is the co-producer of the critically acclaimed film Poverty, Inc., which premiered on Netflix in 2016, won the $100K Templeton Freedom Award, and toured the international film festival circuit.
Tim is a seasoned business leader with an impressive track record of success across several leading global companies, including Amazon AWS, Microsoft, IBM, and Siemens. He has held executive roles in corporate investment, business innovation and development, as well as the startup ecosystem. As an investor and business leader at Plug and Play HQ and an advisor at the UC Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator, Tim brings a wealth of expertise, combining his executive experience in corporate investment and innovation with a deep understanding of the startup ecosystem. Recognized as an expert in cloud computing, Tim has contributed several patents in the field and serves as a consultant expert for the China Cloud Computing Industry Alliance.
Alvin is a General Partner at NYX Ventures, where he oversees a $50 million fund investing in transformative early and mid-stage startups, and as a previous General Partner at the $2Bn FutureX Capital US Fund—a crucial investor and supporter of ByteDance, supporting founders with funding opportunities and strategic guidance. Alvin’s experience as a founder of a two startups, where he scaled revenue to over $1 million in under 18 months and conducted IP sales with a US Government lab, underscores his ability to drive growth and innovation through emerging technologies and forward-thinking strategies.
David’s 15-year tech career included executive roles at startups across the SF Bay Area and Europe, during which time he hired, trained and developed dozens of young professionals. He has been coaching MBA applicants since 2012 with a special focus on developing the right career goals. In his corporate career, David has supervised more than 100 elite young professionals, preparing them to take on leadership roles early in their careers. David was also the first employee at Efficient Frontier, which was sold to Adobe for $400M.
Please contact tech@seas.harvard.edu with any questions.