Nossos mentores

Vahid Sherafat

Vahid Sherafat is a Computer Engineer graduated from Unicamp with specialization in Artificial Intelligence and an MBA from USP. He began his career in innovation consulting, gaining experience in over a hundred projects with companies such as Unilever, Shell, Vivo, Bradesco, and Vale. He then co-founded ClassApp, an education startup created in 2014, which now serves over 1000 educational institutions and aims to facilitate communication between schools and families. He is also a co-founder of Escolas Exponenciais.

Subsequently, he successfully exited his businesses to a large group and currently founded a startup accelerator: Nitro Academy. He also works as a co-investor and leader of the edtechs and peopletechs fund at Bossanova investments, in addition to mentoring and advising educational institutions and startups.

Gustavo Fuga

Founder and CEO of vc_tb idiomas (4YOU2) – an innovative network of language schools that works with foreign teachers. Entrepreneurship professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and at FEI. International panelist on social entrepreneurship and startups, elected one of the 30 under 30 by the International Literacy Foundation.

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João Paulo Alqueres

João Paulo is the founder of Iara Digital, an agency that develops conversational artificial intelligence solutions using voice and text. João has developed over 200 conversational experiences for clients worldwide.

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Natalia Castan

At just 18 years old, she founded her first venture, the Unite Group, a humanized call center aimed at promoting the best experience between brand and customer. Natalia is a tech woman and leads Talkeen, a technology company that, through its omnichannel service platform and virtual agents with voice recognition and artificial intelligence, transforms the conventional brand-to-customer service into a fantastic experience.

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Samantha Macedo

Nutritionist, marketing specialist, managing partner of Equilibrium Latam, an agency with 22 years of experience working on communication and innovation projects for the food, beverage, supplements, ingredients, and pharmaceutical industries. An active entrepreneur in various health and nutrition projects, she focuses on people and project management.

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May Taherzadeh

May Taherzadeh is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed films in over 15 countries on 6 continents. Her latest short film, ‘Mercy’s Blessing,’ has won 12 international cinema awards and has been screened at more than 20 festivals around the world. The film is being used as a tool for social action; challenging assumptions and raising awareness about gender equality and education.

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João Bizzarri

João Bizzarri is a Mechanical Engineer graduated from Unicamp. He has worked for over 10 years in strategy consulting with companies like Oliver Wyman, Advisia, and Bain, primarily on growth strategy and cost reduction projects. In 2019, he founded SkillHub, an education startup aimed at optimizing corporate training through a platform involving more than 250 educational institutions. He had a successful exit to a major Brazilian big tech company and currently serves as the Head of Sales Operations at LinkedIn for Latin America. Additionally, he supports various startups as an investor and advisor.

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Lucas Castro

Lucas is a lawyer and partner at CGV Advogados, a law firm specialized in legal consulting. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Johnson University Florida, as well as a postgraduate degree in Business Law from IBMEC-SP and is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Educational Law from PUC Minas. In recent years, Lucas has worked as a legal consultant for several companies in the digital sector and education industry, helping to establish a legally secure environment for innovation.

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Tiago Vailati

An entrepreneur since the age of 25, he has a passion for software, running, and writing. In 2012, he founded the startup Hiper, which serves more than 22.000 stores in 2.000 cities across Brazil. The company was sold for R$ 50 million to Linx (part of the Stone group) in 2019, where he remained at the helm during the post-sale phase until mid-2022. Today, in addition to being a partner at Questum, a mergers and acquisitions advisory for startups, he is an investor, mentor, and advisor in various business ventures. He is also the creator of The GrandFounder newsletter, which combines original content with curation about the startup and M&A universe.

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Jefferson de Oliveira Penteado

Jefferson de Oliveira Penteado is a Brazilian entrepreneur with a background in Information Technology and Marketing. He is the CEO and founder of BluePex Cybersecurity S/A and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Fábrica de Inovação, a non-profit organization. He is also a shareholder and one of the founders of IVP – Inova Ventures Participações S.A. and the Portuguese company Nonius Software. In the 1990s, he founded an administrative systems company, which was sold in 2003 to the English group Sage.

Dorian Lacerda Guimaraes

As an entrepreneur and Chairman of the Board at INSPAND, I contribute to a positive, humanized, and connected future. I am the founder of DGLNET, ISAT, INSPAND, and ABRANET, following the evolution of the Internet and digital transformation. I lead INSPAND, focusing on innovation, Corporate Education, Platforms, and ESG. I believe in the unlimited potential of entrepreneurship and AI. A mentor and angel investor since 2022, driving ideas and sustainable businesses.

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Clayton Dick

Co-founder of Redação Nota 1000, a Brazilian startup focused on AI for writing development that serves over 1 million students annually. Clayton is an engineer from POLI-USP and holds an MBA in Marketing from FIA Business School. He started his career as a pre-college entrance exam teacher and later gained extensive corporate experience in areas such as logistics, finance, business planning, and customer experience before becoming an entrepreneur in 2014. In 2021, he negotiated the merger of Redação Nota 1000 with one of the largest education groups in the country.

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Maurício Berbel

Master’s in Business Administration, specialized consultant with over thirty years of experience in the educational market, and board advisor. Author of the book “Marketing Educacional: Como Manter e Conquistar Mais Alunos” (Educational Marketing: How to Retain and Attract More Students) and other works within his field of expertise.

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Vanderlei Abrantes

Vanderlei Abrantes has over 20 years of experience in the education sector, working in startups and medium to large companies both in Brazil and abroad. With a degree in Business Administration, he holds an MBA in Business Management from Fundação Getulio Vargas and a specialization in Sales and Marketing from Ireland. Vanderlei was also the co-founder of StarHire 365, an edtech recognized as one of the top startups in Ireland in 2021. Currently, he holds the position of Country Manager in Brazil for British Council EnglishScore, an edtech owned by the British Council and Blenheim Chalcot, the leading Venture Builder in the UK.

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Rogerio Perez

With over 20 years of experience in customer experience, Rogerio has worked in several global-scale SaaS companies. He’s an expert in building customer experience and success departments from scratch and in scaling the operations of companies with exponential growth. His balance between strategy and operations has transformed companies into customer-centric organizations. Innovative problem-solving thinking, combined with an analytical and process-oriented mindset, makes him a creative leader who inspires and develops teams to deliver first-class customer service, improving the human-technology relationship.

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Matheus Leitão

Matheus Leitão is an Administrator, graduated from the Federal University of Ceará, and a Business Management Specialist from Fundação Dom Cabral. He worked as an Auditor at EY in major national and multinational institutions. From 2013 to 2017, he served as Executive Director of Colégio Master with branches in Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte. In 2018, he founded and assumed the Executive Directorate of Master Soluções Educacionais. He is a shareholder and a member of the Advisory Board of Grupo Master de Educação.

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Roberto Miamoto

Graduated in Computer Science from Unicamp with an extension in an executive program in Digital Disruption from the University of Cambridge.

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