Oliver Percovich first skated in an empty pool at the age of six, while growing up in Papua New Guinea. In 1995 he competed in the Mystic Cup, an international skateboarding contest in Prague. Prior to a life-changing move to Kabul, Oliver worked at the Centre for Risk and Community Safety on emergency management projects for various Australian government departments. In 2007 Oliver moved to Afghanistan from Australia when his girlfriend took a job in Kabul. Bored, he would skate the beleaguered city, and became a sort of pied half-piper, attracting street kids who would follow him around and ask for rides. Shortly after, Oliver founded Skateistan, a grassroots 'Sport for Development' project on the streets of Kabul. Today, Skateistan has more than 50 employees worldwide and is an award-winning international organization with projects in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. The organization is the first international development initiative to combine skateboarding with educational outcomes. Skateistan is non-political, independent, and inclusive of all ethnicities, religions and social backgrounds, offering both skating and general education classes for over 1000 boys and girls each week. Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

Ben Branson is the Founder of Seedlip and Æcorn Aperitifs, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs. He gained inspiration from his family’s 300 years of North Lincolnshire farming heritage, and grew up alongside his two younger brothers, eights dogs, horses, rabbits and guinea pigs. Stoically a country boy, Ben now lives with his girlfriend and two dogs in a 15th Century cottage in the Chilterns, bringing his heritage with nature to the forefront of his new business venture.With offices in the Chilterns, Los Angeles, and Sydney, Seedlip is now available in over 35x countries and served in many of the world’s most awarded bars, restaurants and hotels including 350x Michelin * Restaurants & 9/10 of the world’s best cocktail bars. In just 5 years they have become a leader in the drinks industry, keeping the environment and nature at the heart of what they do. In January 2018, Seedlip announced plans for the launch of a new Non Alcoholic brand to complement the existing portfolio, and to help further grow the category of Non Alcoholic drinks. In December 2019, Æcorn Aperitifs was announced as the sister brand to Seedlip. Æcorn Aperitifs will be a stand-alone brand that occupies its own distinctive place within the landscape.  Ben was named as one of the Top 50 most influential people in food and drink by The Telegraph and awarded Young Achiever of The Year by The Drinks Business. He continues to pioneer the non-alcoholic category forward with the launch of Æcorn Aperitifs in Selfridges and The Savoy in May 2019. Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

Brad Feld lives in Boulder, Colorado and Homer, Alaska with his wife and is on a quest to run a marathon in every state in the US.Brad has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStars. In addition to his investing efforts, Brad has been active with several non-profit organizations and currently is chair of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, co-chair of Startup Colorado, and on the board of UP Global. Brad is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship and writes the widely read blogs Feld Thoughts, Startup Revolution, and Ask the VC. Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brad is also an avid art collector and long-distance runner. He has completed 23 marathons as part of his mission to finish a marathon in each of the 50 states. Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

From supercomputers to innovating at incredible speed, Alex Dreiling’s work at  Clipchamp may sound like something from a Douglas Adams novel, but his successful startup began with an everyday idea and a down-to-earth attitude.He shares that they created something no one else was doing, and managed to take it from an idea they had over lunch – to running software that’s been solving problems for millions around the world since they launched in 2014. It’s been an exciting – sometimes nail-biting – journey so far and the team has plenty of ideas of where they’ll go next.Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

Eric originally hails from Lawrenceville, Georgia. While he’s moved around the country a bit, Atlanta has always pulled him back. He currently lives with his wife, Shirley, and their dog, Maize, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Co-founder and COO at Flatfile, whose mission is to remove barriers between humans and their data. Hundreds of enterprises use Flatfile products to aggregate, import, and normalize data from disparate and variant sources. Previously, Eric was the first product lead at Envoy, whose workplace products help thousands of companies create delightful and welcoming office experiences. Other prior work experiences include RentPath, FullStory, RelateIQ, ProsumerGrid, Crimson Hexagon, and Epic. Eric attended college at Emory University and received his MBA from Georgia Tech in 2015.Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Alex Gorden).

Maximilian Tayenthal is co-founder and CFO of N26. Together with his business partner and friend Valentin Stalf, he has built one of the fastest-growing mobile banks in the world. Their vision is to create a bank that 100 million people around the world love to use, giving people the power to live and bank their way. Previously, Max worked in a variety of consulting and financial roles at leading professional services firms, including CMS and Booz & Company. Max holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and business administration from the University of Vienna. He also has a master’s degree in economics from the Community of European Management Schools, as well as a law degree from the University of Vienna. Max is a CFA charter holder. While Max is based in Berlin he enjoys skiing in the mountains of Austria and Switzerland. (Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

After growing up in Cairo, Egypt, she earned a PhD in Cambridge University, and then joined the MIT Media Lab as a research scientist, where she spearheaded the application of emotion recognition technology in a variety of fields, including mental health and autism. She left MIT to co-found Affectiva and is a passionate advocate for humanizing technology, ethics in AI, women in technology and diversity. Rana has been recognized on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list, Forbes' Top 50 Women in Tech, Inc.’s Female Founders 100 list, and named one of the three Global Business pioneers by Bloomberg in 2017. Rana is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Young Presidents' Organization member, and co-hosted a PBS NOVA series on AI.Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by StartupGrind's Chris Joannou).

Amy is Co-founder, former President, and a current board member of Medallia, a public enterprise SaaS company that pioneered Experience Management and is the leader in helping organizations capture and act on customer feedback.  At Medallia, Amy built and ran many key functions from Marketing and Sales to HR and Talent Acquisition. Since its founding, Medallia has grown to 1,500 employees and over $400M in annual revenue, and trades on the Nasdaq exchange (MDLA).Prior to founding Medallia, Amy served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras, an Aide on Capitol Hill, a consultant for BCG, and an Associate at Goldman Sachs. She holds an undergraduate degree in History from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford. Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by John Rampton, CEO of Calendar.com  ).

Howie Liu is co-founder and CEO of Airtable, the platform democratizing software creation. Over 60,000 organizations, including half of the Fortune 1000, currently use Airtable to power their most ambitious operations. Launched in 2015, Airtable has raised over $70M in venture funding, and was recently added to Forbes’ “Cloud 100” list of the private companies leading cloud computing in 2018.  Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by Alexa von Tobel, CFP® is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital ).

Morgan DeBaun, Founder & CEO of Blavity. Fresh out of college, she headed to Silicon Valley to learn from the best and brightest about Product Management and Design. The St. Louis native became a growth hacker and small business advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs. In 2014, she launched Blavity - the largest media startup and lifestyle brand for black millennials. Under her leadership, Blavity has successfully acquired 2 companies, raised over 9 million in venture funding, and reaches millions of people a day online. Today, Morgan manages a team of over 65 employees and 100 contractors with offices in LA, ATL, SF and NYC.Morgan is one of the first 15 American women to raise one million in venture funding. Her list of accolades includes: The Root Top 100 Most Influential Black Americans, Ebony 100, Black Enterprise Founder of the Year, Forbes 30 under 30, Silicon Valley Top Women in Tech, and has been profiled in Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, WSJ, Forbes, and many more. Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by Marlon Nichols, Managing Partner at Cross Culture VC.).