Victor Schiller

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) IDEAS Advisory Board deals with challenges related to navigating through growth related issues while improving programs and procedures. Although the MIT IDEAS Global Challenge has enjoyed many years of successful growth MIT wants to accelerate that growth and improve the student experience. On the board I advocate for initiatives related to expanding strategic partners and putting in place the systems and resources to better educate MIT students… Show more

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) IDEAS Advisory Board deals with challenges related to navigating through growth related issues while improving programs and procedures. Although the MIT IDEAS Global Challenge has enjoyed many years of successful growth MIT wants to accelerate that growth and improve the student experience. On the board I advocate for initiatives related to expanding strategic partners and putting in place the systems and resources to better educate MIT students on subjects like leadership, team building, and managing innovation. Show less

My talk was titled, "Your Money or Your Time?" and featured three projects from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) IDEAS program. To see the talk, go to http://bit.ly/VHSTEDx

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100… Show more

My talk was titled, "Your Money or Your Time?" and featured three projects from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) IDEAS program. To see the talk, go to http://bit.ly/VHSTEDx

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world. Show less

INNOVATE4CLIMATE (I4C), hosted by the World Bank Group, is an annual global conference on climate finance, climate investment and climate markets. It attracts leaders focused on transformative and innovative action on climate change. Launched in 2017, I4C is designed to bring together thought leaders interested in linking climate innovation with investment opportunities – transforming dialogue into action.

In its first three years, I4C has positioned itself as the preeminent global event… Show more

INNOVATE4CLIMATE (I4C), hosted by the World Bank Group, is an annual global conference on climate finance, climate investment and climate markets. It attracts leaders focused on transformative and innovative action on climate change. Launched in 2017, I4C is designed to bring together thought leaders interested in linking climate innovation with investment opportunities – transforming dialogue into action.

In its first three years, I4C has positioned itself as the preeminent global event on climate change action and has built a reputation for high quality technical knowledge sharing.
Each year, I4C has focused on various themes in climate finance, climate investment, climate markets and climate policy. Show less

Keynote Speech Title: Start, Run, Exit! What You Need To Know At Every Stage Of Your Company. To see the speech, go to: https://bit.ly/VHSDigTalk

The DigitalK conference (http://digitalk.bg/) has become one of the most influential digital technology events in Southeast Europe. Conference lineup consists of global business leaders, founders, investors and digital marketing professionals. More than 2,000 people attend the event every year, representing the most active entrepreneurs… Show more

Keynote Speech Title: Start, Run, Exit! What You Need To Know At Every Stage Of Your Company. To see the speech, go to: https://bit.ly/VHSDigTalk

The DigitalK conference (http://digitalk.bg/) has become one of the most influential digital technology events in Southeast Europe. Conference lineup consists of global business leaders, founders, investors and digital marketing professionals. More than 2,000 people attend the event every year, representing the most active entrepreneurs, startups and digital professionals from the region. DigitalK is more than just a conference. It's about bringing the sharpest minds in tech together and making ideas happen.
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The Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport (CHO) is a commercial service airport offering one-stop international and domestic destinations, as well as daily non-stop flights around the U.S. The airport is e served by Delta, United Express and American Airlines offering over 50 daily non-stop flights to and from Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York/LaGuardia, Washington/Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago.

Service was initiated at the Airport by Piedmont Airlines in 1955. Since then, the facility has… Show more

The Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport (CHO) is a commercial service airport offering one-stop international and domestic destinations, as well as daily non-stop flights around the U.S. The airport is e served by Delta, United Express and American Airlines offering over 50 daily non-stop flights to and from Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York/LaGuardia, Washington/Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago.

Service was initiated at the Airport by Piedmont Airlines in 1955. Since then, the facility has grown to include a 60,000 sq. ft. terminal facility with modern customer amenities offering on-site rental cars, ground transportation, and food service. General aviation facilities include an executive terminal offering a full-service fixed base operation, flight school, and aircraft charter firms.

The Joint Airport Commission is an advisory group which provides input from the Community to the Airport Executive Director and the Airport Authority on airport matters, and in turn provides information to the Community on airport matters.
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The Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) Accounting/Business Management Curriculum Advisory Board addresses challenges associated with the evolving educational needs of students in the region along with the stated requirements from local businesses who hire PVCC graduates. I have championed two initiatives on this board. 1) To establish a stand-alone class and a set of learning standards in all business classes to promote better business writing skills for all students. 2) To offer a… Show more

The Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) Accounting/Business Management Curriculum Advisory Board addresses challenges associated with the evolving educational needs of students in the region along with the stated requirements from local businesses who hire PVCC graduates. I have championed two initiatives on this board. 1) To establish a stand-alone class and a set of learning standards in all business classes to promote better business writing skills for all students. 2) To offer a curriculum tailored to the needs of individuals with a desire to pursue entrepreneurship as their calling. The writing initiative is in place and plans are progressing on a formal Entrepreneurship track for PVCC students. Show less

Community Investment Collaborative’s mission is to strengthen our community by fueling the success of under resourced entrepreneurs through education, mentoring, micro-lending, and networking.

Start-Up Chile was created by the Chilean Government to attract early-stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups using Chile as a platform to go global. The end goal of this program is to position Chile as the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of Latin America.

Start-Up Chile has a large portfolio, with between 200 – 250 companies from all over the world each year. This deal flow is represented by three distinct programs based on the stage of the startup. Several… Show more

Start-Up Chile was created by the Chilean Government to attract early-stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups using Chile as a platform to go global. The end goal of this program is to position Chile as the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of Latin America.

Start-Up Chile has a large portfolio, with between 200 – 250 companies from all over the world each year. This deal flow is represented by three distinct programs based on the stage of the startup. Several startups have been acquired by bigger corporations such as WeHostels, acquired by Student Universe, CruiseWise, acquired by TripAdvisor, Aventones, acquired by Bla Bla Car, among others.

Start-Up Chile participants have created over 1,500 jobs in Chile. For every dollar the Chilean Government has invested, companies have raised over six times that amount from outside sources. Participant company annual sales are over $42 Million U.S. Dollars or 3.5 times the amount Chile has invested and the total valuation of participant companies is over $425 Million U.S. Dollars. Plus...Some significant products and services have been built right in Chile! Show less

Parallel18 welcomes innovators from around the globe to help them scale from Puerto Rico to global communities beyond the Island. Supporting successful startups is our motivation. This is why we build initiatives within the program that lead to growth and help foster and promote entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. Startups from more than sixty-eight countries have applied to Parallel18. And those who have gone through our acceleration program have seen results beyond their expectations… Show more

Parallel18 welcomes innovators from around the globe to help them scale from Puerto Rico to global communities beyond the Island. Supporting successful startups is our motivation. This is why we build initiatives within the program that lead to growth and help foster and promote entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. Startups from more than sixty-eight countries have applied to Parallel18. And those who have gone through our acceleration program have seen results beyond their expectations.

Puerto Rico's highly-trained workforce, attractive tax structure, and strong infrastructure have made the country an emergent startup hub. Mix that with a burgeoning entrepreneurial community, filled with coworking spaces, a collaborative environment, and the chance to work closer to the beach than ever before and you have the ideal spot for growth.

Parallel18 had over 700 applicants for the accelerator from sixty-eight countries. The top five countries were Puerto Rico, Mexico, United States of America, Argentina, and Chile. Applicants came from as far away at Cameroon and Morocco. The top five industries were E-Commerce, Health/Biotech, Education, Media/Advertising, and IT/Software. Show less

Big ideas can come from anywhere. That belief is at the core of Verizon’s Powerful Answers Award competition, and it has never held truer as over 1,400 startups and entrepreneurs from over 70 countries entered submissions in this contest.

On September 23, 2015 Verizon announced 36 Powerful Answers Award finalists in three technology categories -- Emergency Response, Transportation and Internet of Things – which have been selected to move on to the Powerful Answers Award Final Round… Show more

Big ideas can come from anywhere. That belief is at the core of Verizon’s Powerful Answers Award competition, and it has never held truer as over 1,400 startups and entrepreneurs from over 70 countries entered submissions in this contest.

On September 23, 2015 Verizon announced 36 Powerful Answers Award finalists in three technology categories -- Emergency Response, Transportation and Internet of Things – which have been selected to move on to the Powerful Answers Award Final Round. There are 12 finalists in each of the three categories and a top prize of $1 million is up for grabs in each category. One first runner-up and two second runner-ups in each category will receive $500,000 and $250,000 prizes respectively for a total of $6 million awarded by Verizon. Final presentations and judging will take place on September 29 and 30 at Verizon’s San Francisco Innovation Center and its Santa Clara Development Center.

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Periodic guest lecturer/workshop leader for several 3-hour sessions covering early-stage company subjects including; Distribution, Business Development, and product/service/company pivots.

The Distribution module covered the effective way to design startups with a clearer understanding of how to profitably attract customers, deliver a product/service, then extract payment.

The Business Development session detailed the bottom up process of working with customers and developing… Show more

Periodic guest lecturer/workshop leader for several 3-hour sessions covering early-stage company subjects including; Distribution, Business Development, and product/service/company pivots.

The Distribution module covered the effective way to design startups with a clearer understanding of how to profitably attract customers, deliver a product/service, then extract payment.

The Business Development session detailed the bottom up process of working with customers and developing other business relationships to advance their companies. This session helped students Pitch to prospective customers, investors, employees, and others.

The Product/Service Pivot workshop covered a four phase approach to change a existing company concept to make it more viable, scalable, and better matched to the market.

This is the core course of the master program. The aim is for students to develop competences in the field of entrepreneurial thinking and design, innovation and technological entrepreneurship. The course goes from theory to practice. It supports students so they can acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes for starting their own business or innovating existing business initiatives. It gives students the knowledge and skills to create, organize and manage their own businesses. The course is based on the program of the University of Berkeley in cooperation with Intel Corp. Students form their teams and work on ideas for startup creation and acquiring resources for founding of their technology company. They also become familiar with the basics of open and disruptive innovation, company, technology and industry life-cycles, adding value to technology, marketing and management of the company, lean startup. They develop and discuss their own detailed business plan. During the course students will acquire and develop practical experience of setting up and running a startup company. They will develop, test and apply their business model.
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I have mentored and advised early-stage companies along with presentations on subjects including team recruitment/onboarding, project management/delivery, scaling, company vision, and how to pivot.

The Founder Institute is the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. The organization is based in Silicon Valley and has chapters across 180+ cities and 60+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to empower talented and motivated people to build impactful technology-enabled… Show more

I have mentored and advised early-stage companies along with presentations on subjects including team recruitment/onboarding, project management/delivery, scaling, company vision, and how to pivot.

The Founder Institute is the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. The organization is based in Silicon Valley and has chapters across 180+ cities and 60+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to empower talented and motivated people to build impactful technology-enabled companies worldwide.

The Founder Institute helps company founders get to traction and funding with a support network of startup experts that are invested in your success, and through a structured business-building process that has helped our alumni raise over $800M. Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing companies have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.
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Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) is New York City’s leading technology accelerator and early-stage venture capital fund. It has invested in 215+ start-ups since launching in 2011. ERA alumni companies, who come from all over the world, are already playing leading roles in the evolution of virtually every major global industry. To date, ERA alumni companies have raised more than $1 billion in capital and collectively exceed $4 billion in market capitalization.

ERA runs two… Show more

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) is New York City’s leading technology accelerator and early-stage venture capital fund. It has invested in 215+ start-ups since launching in 2011. ERA alumni companies, who come from all over the world, are already playing leading roles in the evolution of virtually every major global industry. To date, ERA alumni companies have raised more than $1 billion in capital and collectively exceed $4 billion in market capitalization.

ERA runs two four-month sessions per year one each in the winter and summer and invest $100K in each selected startup. Companies in the ERA program receive free office space, free legal and other services. Additionally, companies receive free hands-on help from a team of 500+ mentors, who are experts in their respective fields. Show less

Tech Tour, founded in Geneva in 1998, is an independent organization committed to the development of emerging technology companies in Europe. Composed of key contributors to the high-tech industry and recognizing the extraordinary competence, entrepreneurship and dynamism that can be found throughout the European hi-tech industry, the organization aims to create synergies between, on the one hand, a selection of European start-up companies wishing to develop on the international level and, on… Show more

Tech Tour, founded in Geneva in 1998, is an independent organization committed to the development of emerging technology companies in Europe. Composed of key contributors to the high-tech industry and recognizing the extraordinary competence, entrepreneurship and dynamism that can be found throughout the European hi-tech industry, the organization aims to create synergies between, on the one hand, a selection of European start-up companies wishing to develop on the international level and, on the other, a network of leading figures from the world of high technology – industrialists, entrepreneurs, service-providers, players on the political and economic scene.

Tech Tour realizes its goal by organizing and coordinating events (mainly in Europe) that provide a platform for interactions between leading entrepreneurs, investors and industry players. Tech Tour's events bring together the entire technology ecosystem of local and global players.

The role of Tech Tour is to serve as the overall supervisor and coordinator for all events throughout Europe, while the task of organizing events in each individual region are entrusted to a group of local volunteers designated by Tech Tour. In this way, a Europe-wide network has been created to stimulate exchanges of ideas and to promote young, dynamic companies. Show less

Sofia Tech Park JSC is a state-owned company, created with the aim to be established as a platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas between the academic field, the business, the government and the society. Its mission is to turn into a prestigious location for the world, regional and national researchers and the innovative companies in Bulgaria and through the Balkans. To enhance the system for support of innovation and new technologies by providing aid to companies, which contribute to the… Show more

Sofia Tech Park JSC is a state-owned company, created with the aim to be established as a platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas between the academic field, the business, the government and the society. Its mission is to turn into a prestigious location for the world, regional and national researchers and the innovative companies in Bulgaria and through the Balkans. To enhance the system for support of innovation and new technologies by providing aid to companies, which contribute to the development of the economy and the knowledge in the country. To unite the efforts of the business and science, by focusing mainly on development and implementation of projects in the three focal points of the park – ICT, life science and clean energy.

The Tech Park’s goal is to enhance the competitiveness of science and entrepreneurship in Bulgaria through improvement of exchange of knowledge between academic field and the business. To act as a platform for development of start-ups and innovation ideas and to catalyze the commercialization process of scientific research.

In order to complete its mission the science and technology park partners with leading universities, business clusters, big international companies, Sofia Municipality, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, non-governmental institutions and others. Show less

Schoolab empowers people within an organization to co-create business innovations with a positive impact. By spreading the entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit through action, Schoolab helps innovation projects grow with entrepreneurs and with companies. We use collaborative methods such as Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Agility, together with our team, we engage a large ecosystem of students, startups and entrepreneurs around entrepreneurial projects. Present in Paris (Station F), San… Show more

Schoolab empowers people within an organization to co-create business innovations with a positive impact. By spreading the entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit through action, Schoolab helps innovation projects grow with entrepreneurs and with companies. We use collaborative methods such as Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Agility, together with our team, we engage a large ecosystem of students, startups and entrepreneurs around entrepreneurial projects. Present in Paris (Station F), San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh City through Schoolab and RaiseLab, we're also in Normandy through MoHo. Show less

Bulgarian‐based Venture Capital firms flush with new funds to invest in early stage companies are looking for opportunities to match moderately‐priced Bulgarian technical talent with experienced US‐based marketing and operational talent. Bulgaria has low cost, highly capable R&D talent, low taxes, reliable/fast Internet, high proportion of English speakers, convenient/low‐cost air links to anywhere in the world, and an unmatched European lifestyle.

A world-wide group of seasoned professionals with expertise in areas including: marketing, sales, engineering, intellectual property law, operations, and venture capital. The network is place for startup and small business mentors to share ideas, insights, and experience with early-stage company founders. One person can give you an edge. That person is here…

Founded by Pharrell Williams, Black Ambition, a fiscally sponsored project of PolicyLink, is working to close the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship. Black Ambition provides mentorship and access to capital to high-growth startups founded by Black and Latinx entrepreneurs. As a Black Ambition start-up judge, I review, score, and provide feedback to entrepreneurs based on their solution, market, business model and team. For more on the program see: https://blackambitionprize.com/