Welcome to the inaugural Fortune Founders Forum, a community of entrepreneurs chosen by our editorial team. This cohort of early-stage founders was invited to participate in Fortune’s annual Brainstorm Tech conference—this year in Deer Valley, Utah, from July 10–12—and in a series of conversations created exclusively for startup leaders.
So why did we create the forum? Entrepreneurship has never been easy, but it’s become particularly challenging of late. Raising capital is much harder, and the nearly nonexistent market for IPOs has had a ripple effect on startups of all stages. What’s more, in an increasingly distributed world where many founders lead remote or hybrid teams, entrepreneurs are navigating a new, and much lonelier, workplace reality.
The Fortune Founders Forum aims to connect these individuals to a network of equally talented and diverse peers who can share how they’re meeting the demands and opportunities of today—whether they’re developing an online coaching marketplace, a new A.I. model for health care applications, or communication tools for the incarcerated—and of tomorrow.
Click the photos below to read the profiles of the founders.
Omid Bakhshandeh and Nasrin Mostafazadeh, Verneek A.I.
Amanda Calabrese, Sequel
Lisa Dyson, Air Protein
Rebecca Gorman, Aligned AI
Leo Grady, Jona
Liana Douillet Guzmán, Folx Health
Alexander Hagerup, Vic.ai
Edith Harbaugh, LaunchDarkly
Kai Kloepfer, Biofire
Helen Kontozopoulos, Odaia
Jill Koziol, Motherly
Christie Marchese, Kinema
Lindsey Michaelides, Strongsuit
Maya Mikhailov, Savvi AI
Adam Miller, Instil
Kathryn Minshew, The Muse
Christine Moseley, Full Harvest
Ashley Moser, MelodyArc
Margaret Norris, Aidaly
Nadya Okamoto, August
Uzoma “Zo” Orchingwa, Ameelio
Troy Pospisil, Ontra
Yash Sheth, Galileo Technologies
Christine Tao, Sounding Board
Brian Vallelunga, Doppler
Ben Wright, Velocity Global
David Wright, Pattern
Kazuma Yamauchi, KZM and Company
The Fortune Founders Forum is a community of entrepreneurs chosen by Fortune’s editorial team to participate at the annual Brainstorm Tech conference, which took place in Deer Valley, Utah, in July. Our inaugural cohort was selected based on a variety of factors, including the potential impact of their companies, and reflected a diversity of geographies, sectors, and demographics.
