#01_introductions
Welcome to the Gildre Introductions Channel! Please feel free to introduce yourself once you join this community. We recommend sharing your name, city you're based out of, LinkedIn profile, and a fun fact about what you're currently doing/building.
All Messages
Hi Folks! I'm Alex Alexandrov, recently joined Gilder and excited to contribute.
About Me:
• Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, moved to NY at 11 years old. Stereotypically played chess and piano as a kid.
• Background in Finance, early career spent in affordable housing development in NYC, then went off on my own in mid-20's, started a real estate consulting firm then co-founded a general construction firm, with a focus on commercial work. Built, converted and renovated all sorts of buildings over 13 years after growing the team. New company is called Burnout Motorsport for a reason.
• Exited my construction firm strategically in Dec. '24. Thought for 2 months while on paternity leave on what to do next.
• I love speed, cars, bikes and anything with an engine. So do my two sons, aged 6.5 and 1. Huge fan of hiking, snowboarding, kayaking and being outdoors.
What I'm working on:
• Hitting the shift key in Slack to create a new paragraph instead of posting half-written sentences
• is my new startup. Built a foundational team and launched B2B sales for corporate high performance driving events 2 months ago. Hosted 11 events at race tracks in the Northeast. This is the anti-golf-outing. We're a little punk rock, but delivered safely and professionally with attention to every detail. I realized I'm in the hospitality business a few months ago and that changed my perspective.
• I love making connections for colleagues and celebrating their wins. I'm an active participant in several executive coaching and networking groups: Vistage, BNI, PEF and a few others.
• I love building community and bringing people together. This is at the core of my new co.
How I can help:
• Mentorship. I have 25 years of experience and relationships in NYC real estate. From finance, through development and construction. Helped multiple brands strategically scale their build-outs within NYC and nationally.
• Connections: "I've got a guy/gal for that" for pretty much any professional service or specialty.
• Experienced in high-value B2B sales, good ol' fashioned networking and relationship building.
• If your world is on fire, I can help triage and offer guidance. Been there, it can be tough and isolating.
• Partnership / team conflict resolution: been there too, happy to offer guidance and support if things don't feel quite right
• Skillset strengths: B2B Sales strategy, community building, partnerships, seeing the big picture.
Why I joined Gildre:
• Provide mentorship to founders
• Intrigued by the community and excited to make new friends and colleagues, in-person in NYC and virtually
• Amplify my ability to give and serve others
• Helping people solve problems and give them a boost
Where I could use support:
• Learning from founders that have raised angel capital through SAFE agreements and converted post-safe.
• Looking to connect with fellow car enthusiasts, collectors, motorsport professionals
Cheers!
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Hi all 👋- I joined last month and thoroughly enjoyed meeting some of you here, so here's a long overdue intro:
A little about me:
• I get along best with people who are sophisticated, kind, and masters of their craft. I'm a CPA, entrepreneur, boxer, and a world traveler.
My company:
• Kafoo CPA. We help investors and founders grow their businesses, gain confidence and clarity in their finances, and save money on taxes.
Who I would like to connect with:
• Investment companies (PEs, VCs, Angels) and portfolio companies
• Tech founders (SaaS, Gaming, Biotech)
• Creative agencies founders (digital marketing, film and media)
Where I can add value:
• Financial questions, accounting, tax
Why I joined Gildre:
• Grow my network to know who to send clients to and to meet referral partners.
Hello wonderful people 🙂
About me:
• I live in Australia - the other side of the world
• I have spent more than 30 years in sales, the last 15 helping people to get clear on their sales system and get the clients they most love to work with.
• I am an author - More Sales, Less Marketing - how to take the yuck out of selling
• I love speaking and helping people navigate the labyrinth of sales and client engagement
What I’m working on:
• Growing my Membership - Accelerate Sales into the US
• Relaunching my Accelerate Sales Signature course
• Writing my second book - focusing on the Evolving Value Proposition
Where I can add value:
• Sales strategy and advice - especially when you feel lost or that no-one is listening
• Words and stories that help people understand what you do and how you help them
• Integration of Sales Messaging with Delivery - so that your clients have an awesome end to end experience
Why I joined Gildre:
• I love meeting new people and learning about what others do.
• To share my knowledge and insights
• To learn from others.
David Snyder, Esq.
Attorney & Real Estate Broker | Founder of The Lawful Broker
Happy Wednesday everyone! Excited to join this incredible community and connect with other builders, advisors, and entrepreneurs who are making things happen.
About me:
• Grew up between Baltimore, MD and Miami, FL — now proudly based in NYC.
• Licensed attorney and real estate broker focused on luxury and high-net-worth residential real estate.
• Passionate about helping people navigate major life decisions with clarity, confidence, and integrity.
• Nationally ranked squash player who loves meditation, hiking, swimming, and exploring new places.
• Deeply values honesty, trust, loyalty, and self-belief — those are my compass points.
• I’m at my happiest when I’m helping others. When I’m of service, my energy feels aligned.
What I’m working on:
• Building a national pipeline of clients and partners across NYC, the Hamptons, Miami, LA, and Texas.
• Expanding The Lawful Broker, a brand dedicated to bridging law and real estate for smarter, safer deals.
• Focused on advocacy — protecting my clients’ interests is my top priority.
• Long-term vision: not just selling, but guiding and standing beside people as their trusted advisor.
Where I can add value:
• Real estate strategy and deal structuring for HNW clients and investors.
• Legal insight on contracts, negotiations, and risk mitigation in real estate.
• Brand-building and personal positioning for service-based professionals.
• Networking, introductions, and idea exchange at the intersection of real estate, law, and media.
• Access to off market properties that are otherwise unavailable to the general public.
Why I joined Gildre:
• To surround myself with driven, high-integrity people who lead with purpose.
• To share what I’ve learned about building trust, navigating transitions, and scaling service-based businesses.
• To collaborate with entrepreneurs and investors who believe in doing great work — and doing it the right way.
Happy Monday, and great to be part of this community. I look forward to meeting and supporting you as we grow together.
About me:
• Born and raised in Northern California.
• I have been living and working on the coast of Maine since 2009.
• Business owner with multiple exits
• I spend my free time developing vegetable and flower gardens and fostering senior dogs.
• I love winter sports, and I am a lifelong skier.
• I volunteer and serve on the board of non-profits working to eliminate food insecurity.
What I’m working on:
• Serve as Chief of Staff for a CPG company, overseeing licensing for our first product.
• Ongoing business development efforts focused on FlexExecs™ offerings.
Where I can add value:
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Why I was interested in joining Gildre:
• To meet and collaborate with amazing people
• Continued personal and professional development
Where I could use support:
• Feedback around CPG licensing
• Connect with founders, CEOs, and Boards
• Connect with VC and PE professionals
LinkedIn:
<@U09NUP8GB3Q> has joined the channel
Hi Everyone and Happy Tuesday!!
I’m Gary & I’m excited to have joined the Gildre team as an advisor - where my core role is to guide the team on how we can sustainably grow our community and continue to provide value to our members.
So, first thing’s first… IF you have any feedback, thoughts &/or ideas about what we can do at Gildre to best grow our community - please drop me a DM, I’d love to hear from you!
(and thanks to those members that I’ve already had the pleasure of connecting with!)
About me:
🇬🇧 Born & raised in the UK
🇺🇸 Spent a little bit of time living in New York (Wall Street)
Live in Dubai (since 2015)
💙 Husband & Father to 2 boys (with a little girl on the way in 2026!)
⚽️ Football (Soccer) is my favorite sport & I’m a Liverpool fan
Founder journey:
Started my first business (design & marketing agency) whilst still studying at University (College) & then went on to run that for a further 7 years.
📲 In 2017 I started a HealthTech venture called ; a B2B SaaS platform that provides a corporate wellness app to organizations & its employees - currently working with over 450 organizations representing over 750,000 employees/members.
🏠 More recently, I co-founded a new venture in the PropTech space called ; a real estate tokenization platform that enables fractional ownership of investment-grade real estate, starting in Dubai.
How I can help:
🎯 Brand & Go-To-Market Strategy
💰 Fundraising
Advice on entering the Middle East market(s)
📱 Product Strategy / Feedback
What excites me about Gildre:
🤝 Connecting with a diverse set of Founders/Builders across a range of industries/geographies
🧠 Sharing knowledge & connections
🚀 Seeing the community grow in both depth & breadth
Where you can find me:
Hey hey hey, happy Friday everyone - excited to be here and im looking forward to meeting you all.
About Muah:
-Grew up on HHI, college in Cali, currently live in Charleston, SC
-Old Stanford gymnastics, trampoline, and ninja warrior coach
-Founding team @
What I’m jamming on:
-Averi: a fully customizable AI marketing workspace + a built in human marketplace. (free to use)
-I lead all sales and GTM strategies, plus dabble in marketing, CS, operations, and product.
-Partnering with VCs and founders to make intros and support their portcos.
Where I can add value:
- GTM and sales strategies, tech stack, execution.
-Traditional search is out, LLM search is in - He is a definitive to get you started
-If you plan to launch a product soon - ping me, we have a playbook specifically for Product Hunt
-If you wanna try Averi for free - skip the line .
Why I was interested in joining Gildre:
-To build relationships with other like-minded professionals
-To share go-to-market insights and help peers accelerate customer acquisition
-Learn from the community.
Where I could use support:
-nothing comes to mind
-come say hello
-
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About Me: Hello everyone! I'm Helen. Excited to join you all.
From: Cameroon (West/Central Africa). Currently based in the Dallas area.
Professional Background: Public Health Project/Data Manager. I also curate Mythological Africans, an online community for people interested in learning about mythology and folklore from the African continent.
Fun Fact: I got my official "Published Author" badge earlier this year.
What I’m working on: A research/knowledge management tool for people interested in doing deep research on topics related to the African continent.
How I can help:
- Research support, especially if your area of interest is the African continent.
- Creative writing.
- Project management.
- Data management (Excel, REDCap).
Why I was interested in joining Gildre: To connect with people who are working on interesting projects and building tools/solutions.
Where I could use support: My goal for this year is to develop a prototype for my project which demonstrates the basic functionalities. This involves creating a webcrawler that returns very specific results.
LinkedIn:
Personal Website:
Mythological Africans:
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Hi everyone, I’m James, an attorney-entrepreneur and Practice Chair of the Emerging Technologies Law Group at Warshaw Burstein LLP here in New York City. Excited to be part of this community. 👋
About Me:
• From: New York City
• Professional Background: Corporate & venture capital attorney, investor, and founder. I work at the intersection of law, technology, and capital formation.
• Fun Fact: Alongside law and venture, I’m also a composer and business author (Legal Blueprint for Innovators).
What I’m working on:
• Leading a curated $1B+ portfolio of emerging technology companies spanning AI, aerospace, energy, robotics, and advanced manufacturing
• Building out the U.S. AI Council, a nonprofit focused on AI accountability and AGI readiness
• Developing a low-cost humanoid robotics prototype inspired by Unitree’s sub-$6k systems
• Advising startups such as (optical AI chipsets), Ovanova Energy (microgrids), BlackStar Orbital (space drones), and Tern Computers (Ternary computing architecture)
How I can help:
• Legal and strategic structuring for venture deals, cross-border transactions, and frontier technologies
• Connections to capital allocators and strategic partners in emerging technologies
• Policy and governance insight around AI regulation, blockchain, energy, and space law
Why I was interested in joining Gildre:
• To learn from and collaborate with fellow founders and innovators
• To share legal and venture insights that can help startups avoid pitfalls and scale effectively
• To expand my network of peers tackling frontier challenges
Where I could use support:
• Expanding connections with founders and investors in AI, space, and climate tech
• Collaborating with builders who are advancing robotics and advanced manufacturing
• Learning from others’ experiences scaling early-stage products to market
LinkedIn:
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Hi everyone, I'm Ryan, founder of Interlink. We are an early-stage startup building spatial media for the wedding industry.
About Me:
• Just graduated from UC San Diego: BS, Cognitive Science
• Just moved to West LA
• Combat sports enthusiast (BJJ / Muay Thai)
More on Interlink:
• Media production company focused on cutting-edge spatial media technology: Gaussian Splats, Immersive Video
• Beachhead: Wedding venues/planners: we help couples visualize their wedding day (customization, venue selection, destination weddings)
• Stage: Customer Discovery and MVP Buildout
How I can help:
• VR/XR software and Hardware
Why I was interested in joining Gildre:
• Learn from other founders and experts as Interlink builds towards launch
• Contribute VR/XR knowledge when applicable
Where I could use support:
• Connecting with members in media, event, wedding industry
• Connecting with Founders in LA
Linkedin:
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I'm excited to join Gildre.
I officially decided to start my founder journey, for real.
Joining Gildre was one signal to myself that I'm ready now.
Thank you to <@U07SSKEHVFH> for the introduction and @Brian Lee for his advising and mentorship.
As for what I'm building and how it's looking, I think for now it's best to keep it in what I've seen some founders call it "stealth mode" not because I want to seem cool and mysterious, believe me, I'm far from that, but moreso because I want to allow myself a bit more time to percolate, develop and test my hunches, get to know this community space, and share with greater clarity than I currently have in this moment.
As for how I can be supportive to you, I'm an ask away.
Never hesitate.
My DMs are open, as the kids say.
For this introduction post, I'd like to share what the word Gildre means to me.
Which I've never heard of before, but it does feel like there is an association to the term: guild or guilded.
I'll share my internal musings in the thread of this post, if you're interested to read more and share your insights, you are invited to engage.
<@U09E6E43NTD> has joined the channel
Hey everyone, excited to join Gildre!
About Me:
• I’m from Orange County, California
• Background in insurance & politics, I originally wanted to be a lawyer or politician before founding my company
• Fun fact: I started building my company at 18
What I’m Working On:
• Building PropTrak, an AI-native property management platform with 60+ AI features to automate daily tasks for property managers
• Long term, growing Aletheia Technologies into an AI & robotics research hub with a mission to reshape how AI interacts with the real world
How I Can Help:
• Insights on AI SaaS development, fundraising strategy, and go-to-market planning
• Knowledge in insurance, compliance, and financial modeling (from my time at Farmers Insurance)
• Always happy to connect on early-stage growth, pitching, and ecosystem building
Why I Joined Gildre:
• To connect with other founders scaling ambitious companies
• To trade real stories about fundraising, scaling, and navigating early startup stages
Where I Could Use Support:
• Feedback on fundraising approaches and investor readiness
• Connections in proptech, AI, and SaaS ecosystems
• Advice on scaling from zero to first paying users
LinkedIn:
Excited to connect with everyone!
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