Amazon Alexa Fund

Brendan Weitz is co-founder and chief business officer at Journey. Previously, he held positions as general manager at Quora, senior director at AdRoll, and early sales role at Facebook.

Franziska Bossart leads Amazon's $1B Industrial Innovation Fund, where she identifies and deploys emerging technologies in robotics, AI, and automation across the company's global operations network. She previously held senior leadership positions at ABB, including roles in digital transformation, venture investing, and global operations, where she led the Digital Lighthouse Program to develop and scale digital solutions. With over 20 years of international experience at the intersection of operations and emerging technologies, she brings expertise in large-scale transformation and board governance.

Ads Product Lead at Google.

Brand director and strategic advisor to health, beauty, and wellness CPG brands, specializing in positioning, brand building, and go-to-market strategy.

Adam Scharf is a Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon with background in growth and operations, including leadership of a team of over 80 people at BuildZoom. He previously spent more than four years at Deloitte Consulting advising Fortune 100 companies on strategy, and holds degrees in Math and Economics from Emory University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business.

Alberto Baratas is Head of Vendor Management for Pets at Amazon. He holds a Business Administration degree from Universidad Pontificia Comillas and founded two startups in his early twenties. He is also CEO of MIC Athletics, which facilitates Spanish athletes' enrollment at American universities.

Amanda Chan is building a company focused on bridge inspection technology.

Angela Lewis is Senior Vendor Manager for Home Audio at Amazon, where she focuses on growth and innovation in the category. Previously, she worked as an independent consultant advising startups on market expansion and operational strategy, and held roles in business operations, product development, and fundraising. Her background includes experience in financial modeling, market analysis, cross-functional leadership, and business strategy across early-stage ventures and nonprofit organizations.

Christopher Le is Managing Partner and Product & Startup lead at Actuate Ventures, where he identifies promising startups and guides their growth. He has held roles as a UX Designer and Technologist, including experience at Blue Origin, and has worked on accessibility standards in the aerospace sector. Le combines technical expertise with user-centric design philosophy in his approach to venture capital and product development.

A UCLA MBA with product roles at PayPal, Facebook, and Amazon, Emad led Business Marketing Operations & Analytics at Facebook and founded and led an AI company that raised $13 million. He contributes product and founder experience to Dash VC's operations and investment decisions.

Ethan Sutin is a cofounder of Squad, which was acquired by Twitter, and previously cofounded Bee, which was acquired by Amazon.

Hans Ibarra is a co-founder at Dialogus and previously worked at Google on Gemini, Gmail, and YouTube.

Hari Ganti is a Product and Strategy Leader at Amazon Luna with over 20 years of experience in cloud infrastructure, GPU-accelerated compute, and distributed systems. At Amazon, he leads product and strategy initiatives focused on high-performance cloud infrastructure, achieving significant cost reductions and performance improvements through ML-driven scaling and edge compute optimization. His background includes roles at Dolby, Qualcomm, and work across spatial audio, 4G/5G, and satellite technologies, with a track record of scaling businesses to $100M+ in revenue.

Co-founded and exited legal tech consulting firm Halebury to Elevate. Serves on multiple boards and advisory roles and holds an honorary doctorate in law.

John Estalilla serves as Executive Chair at Sfventures and previously held senior positions at Hearst, Amazon, and Federated Media focused on digital strategy and revenue development. As a founder, he built a consultancy specializing in brand strategy and early-stage investments, and as a private investor, he has backed ventures including Elemeno Health and CoverUs. His civic engagement includes appointments to Foster City's Citizens Sustainability Advisory Committee, the San Mateo County Arts Commission, and a sworn appointment with the U.S. Department of Commerce during the decennial Census.

Paolo Pirjanian is a former iRobot CTO who helped bring over 20 million Roomba-like robots to market and founded Embodied, creator of Moxie, combining scaled robotics and child-focused social-robotics expertise.

Listed among The House Fund alumni recognized for contributions to Berkeley's entrepreneurial community.

Valentina Escudero is a Business Development Manager at Amazon with a background in strategy and technology. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, graduated Summa Cum Laude, and serves as an investor at M12, Microsoft's venture fund, where she focuses on AI and data investments. Her experience spans technology, business strategy, and strategic marketing.