InvestHer Academy

Nicole got her entrepreneurial start in the 4th grade, orchestrating cousins into theatrical plays and charging neighbors admission. From there, she founded 3 startups which is the source of her passion for helping grow startups. Since then, she's spent over 15 years working with and funding early-stage web software companies. Most recently, she's the Chief Product Officer at Techstars (www.techstars.com) and was a key catalyst in growing the organization from 2 people to a global powerhouse with 18 offices worldwide, events in over 500+ cities, and a market cap of over $5B with $265M under management. She's an expert in growing global organizations, building startup ecosystems, working with early stage startups, venture capital, and more. She sits on boards, has invested in over 90 companies, was named one of the "Coolest People in New York Tech" by Business Insider, Marie Claire named her one of the "NewGuard", and Entrepreneur Magazine called her "One of the 7 most powerful women to watch". Nicole graduated with her Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology from the University of Florida, likes to do at least one philanthropic thing annually, and shares the wonderment of parenthood with the love of her life, Mark. In her free time, you’ll find Nicole speaking in public at large events like SXSW and WebSummit, on her bike, on a trail, or on the slopes, hanging with her big fat greek family, traveling to some exotic destination, or generally making a fool of herself to entertain others (like boxing!). Specialties: technology seed-stage companies, operations, public speaking and community relations, growth strategies, fundraising, venture capital, pitch for capital Learn more Discover more about Nicole on her blog(http://nearlynicole.com) and follow her on Twitter @nglaros (https://twitter.com/nglaros).

I’m passionate about closing the $1Trillion Funding Gap for women entrepreneurs. I directly advise several startups on their funding strategy, work with accelerators, government bodies to help them support female founders and have been a judge on several pitch competitions. I also consult with corporates on gender diversity. During my 25 year career, I have successfully pitched and won global multi-million dollar contracts with Fortune 500 companies and international organisations (pitching mostly to men!). As a woman's advocate, I speak internationally at tech and startup conferences on this topic to raise awareness about unconscious bias and the challenges for female founders raising funds, including at TEDx. I write for the Huffington Post, Medium, Linked In about Trailblazing Women (entrepreneurs, investors and leaders) and the global funding ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.