Mckeever (Mac) Conwell, II is the Founder and Managing Director of RareBreed Ventures, a pre-seed stage venture fund based in Baltimore, MD. It is a Pre-seed Fund that is investing in exceptional founders outside of the large tech eco-systems earlier than everyone else. With early meaningful cash upfront, wraparound services to increase capacity, and institutional knowledge from the additions of an executive RareBreed Ventures accelerates a companies' growth at the earliest stages

Before starting Rarebreed Mac worked at the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) as the Portfolio manager. There his role was to find, help make investment decisions on, and help build Maryland-based startups. Mac works closely with many TEDCO portfolio companies to help them secure customers, partnerships, and funding. Mac also conducts extensive outreach to all of the tech communities and ecosystems in Maryland and does a lot of work supporting founders who consider themselves to be economically or socially disadvantaged. In 2017 Mac helped launch the Minority Business Pre-seed Fund and what was later transitioned to the Builder Fund which is the first state-backed pre-seed fund for women and minority-led startups.

Everette Taylor is Chief Marketing Officer for Artsy, the leading global marketplace for buying and selling art by the world's leading artists.

A respected marketer, entrepreneur, and digital art-world leader, he joined Artsy in 2019 from ET Enterprises, which he founded in 2013 and where he has served as CEO. At ET Enterprises—the parent company of six businesses—Everette drove 3X growth of the company during 2018 and was recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 All-Star Alumni.

A creative and accomplished marketing executive, Everette has also served as CMO for Skurt and Head of Marketing at Qualaroo, companies he helped lead to successful acquisitions. Everette has also overseen growth for new mobile apps at Microsoft China, as Interim Head of Marketing, and as CMO for e-commerce company StickerMule where he led unprecedented growth for the company as their youngest-ever executive. In addition, Everette is an established public speaker and digital influencer.

Paige Hendrix Buckner is the Program Director at Founder Gym, an online training center that helps underrepresented founders build successful tech startups. Since launching, Founder Gym has trained over 500 entrepreneurs across 23 countries, who've gone on to raise over $57 million for their companies. Throughout her career, Paige has operated at the intersection of education, entrepreneurship, and social justice. She is a well-respected leader in the Portland startup scene and has helped cultivate their ecosystem, including teaching entrepreneurship with the TiE Young Entrepreneurs Oregon Program, serving on the board of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, and co-founding the Xxcelerate Fund for women entrepreneurs.

Jakita O. Thomas, Ph.D., is the co-founder of Pharaoh's Conclave (PCX), a tech company that prepares youth for eSports careers. Dr. Thomas is also co-founder of PCX’s non-profit arm, PCX GO!, which builds on PCX’s mission of pioneering eSports education through capacity building around eSports career pathways. Dr. Thomas is a graduate of digitalundivided's BIG Incubator as well as the YC Startup School, and she is currently in the inaugural cohort of the Google for Startups Atlanta Founder's Academy. PCX is also a Microsoft Startup. 

Staat centralizes code and project data into one, easy-to-understand place. A tool built for engineering leaders that helps inform and direct through the product development lifecycle. Save time on meeting prep, and easy track progress from anywhere. Save $$$ with better "flow."

Previously Founder & CEO of Partnr, a tool using AI to help creatives get credit for their work, manage their business, build the teams to execute work, and curate a community of likeminded people. No, this story doesn't end with an acquisition or IPO. But instead, how product evolution into a new space (HR - a space where our team had no perspective or experience) can cause failure. So we shut down our doors, and went to tackle new problems. We learned a ton!

Phin is on a mission to help startups succeed, having experienced first hand the challenges and hardship that came with his startup, HOMESPLACE, failing. He is Startup Grind's Director of Partnership Success focused on creating successful outcomes for their Partners and their interactions with our startup program and global community. He previously served as SG's Senior Community Lead helping oversee the growth and management of Startup Grind's Chapters around the world and championing the local Chapter Directors to build incredibly helpful, dynamic and well-connected communities for their local startup ecosystems. His commitment to helping entrepreneurs was recognised in 2016 by the Centre for Entrepreneurs. He was listed on The Maserati 100, the annual list which recognises entrepreneurs who are generously giving their time and resources to support the next generation of young entrepreneurs. Phin is a alumni Fellow of the Centre for Entrepreneurs.