Rich is a Partner at Knoll Ventures, an Atlanta-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in pre-Series A technology businesses focused on B2B markets. He has been active in the southeastern technology ecosystem for more than 10 years and is currently involved with investments in Belongly, Brightwell, ConverseNow, Daupler, Fetch Trucks, Freede, Lendflow, Repvue, and VoApps, amongst others. In addition, Rich serves in leadership and mentorship positions with multiple local technology organizations.

Joe Mancini is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Front Porch Venture Partners, where he and his partners are on a mission to catalyze the next generation of breakout startup ecosystems in the Southeast. Front Porch deploys an innovative hybrid model that invests in venture fund specialists in technology and healthcare as well as directly into early-stage startups. The firm has backed over 30 funds and 40 companies in the region since 2020.

Prior to Front Porch, Joe was an operator and consultant in the tech, media, and telecom industries where he specialized in scaling commercial teams globally. After a few years in sports talk radio (fun fact!), he joined the management consulting firm PRTM (acquired by PwC), Google’s Access and Energy team (now part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets”) and Digital Turbine, a publicly-traded mobile software company where he worked to scale revenue from $70M to $700M and integrate four global acquisitions.

Joe earned his BA from the University of Virginia and his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, where he received the Spaulding Award for Leadership. He grew up in Virginia and now lives in North Carolina with his wife, Jackie and their two kids.

Tim McLoughlin is the Managing Partner of Cofounders Capital, a NC based venture capital fund focused on investing in seed-stage, B2B software companies in North Carolina and across the Southeast. Since 2015, Cofounders has raised almost $100M across their 3 venture funds and has deployed almost $75M into early stage companies, almost exclusively in the Southeast. Tim is a former entrepreneur, has served on the Board of Directors for over a dozen technology companies, has been a core reviewer for the NC IDEA seed grant for over 20 consecutive cycles, is on the Executive Committee for the CED Board, and lives in Raleigh with his wife and two boys.

Sid Mookerji is the Founder and Managing Partner of Silicon Road Ventures, a family of US funds with over $100M under management, investing in early-stage tech startups disrupting the retail, e-commerce, and CPG industries. Sid is also a General Partner in Bengaluru-based fund StartupXseed and has made many angel investments through his family office. In addition, Sid is co-founder and CEO of Silver Spirit Global LLC which operates tech parks in the US and India. Sid Mookerji is also a Founding Partner of the Atlanta chapter of the Creative Destruction Labs and President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Atlanta). Sid’s contributions to industry and the city of Atlanta were celebrated as he was inducted into the Kennesaw State’s Coles College Hall of Fame for 2019. Sid was also recognized as an Entrepreneurial Leader for South East USA by TechBridge in 2019.

Prior, in 1994, Sid founded Software Paradigms International (SPI) and served as its CEO and Chairman. SPI provided technology solutions to 350+ retail businesses on five continents. Under Sid’s leadership, SPI completed 14 acquisitions and employed over 3000 employees across the globe. SPI delivered tech services and products to marquee retail, e-commerce, and CPG firms such as Macy’s, Saks, Walmart, P&G, and GroupOn. In September 2016, Sid stepped down from his position of SPI’s CEO after 22 years at the helm, and the company was eventually acquired by IT giant Cognizant.

Apart from business pursuits, Sid supports philanthropies in the United States and India through the Mookerji Foundation. In the U.S., he led the foundation’s relief effort for communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters. The Mookerji Foundation made a substantial gift to the Georgia Tech Foundation in 2016 to establish a retail tech innovation program. The Mookerji Foundation also helped set up the “Mookerji Innovation Fund” for entrepreneurs at the Kennesaw State University.

Mark is a Founding and Co-Managing Partner at Las Olas Venture Capital. He serves as a Board Member at Mosaic, Bainbridge, Leverage, and OpenReel, and as a Board Observer at Leasecake, Rotabull, and UserInterviews. Prior to founding LOVC, Mark spent 15 years as CFO, Chairman, and then CEO of Higher One, a company he co-founded in 2000 while a senior at college. He successfully steered the company through multiple rounds of venture funding and a successful IPO in 2010. While at Higher One, Mark won EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 and was a finalist for the award in 2011. When Mark left Higher One in 2014, their products and services supported more than 1,900 schools and approximately 13 million enrolled students. Mark currently serves on the executive committee of Florida Venture Forum as their Program Chair and is also Vice Chair of the Fort Lauderdale Aviation Advisory Board. He previously served as Director of the Founder Institute in South Florida, helping budding entrepreneurs start their companies. He has also personally angel-invested in over thirty companies since 2008. Mark enjoys flying airplanes, scuba diving, and traveling the world in his free time. Mark received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from Yale University, where he founded the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.