Gina Tedesco talks Accelerator Programs and 2022 ACA Summit
Marcia Dawood and “The Angel Next Door” are officially back with new episodes for the Spring Season!
In our first episode of 2022 Marcia interviews Gina Tedesco, an active investor, serial entrepreneur, professor and mentor. With a background in engineering and coming from the pharmaceutical industry, Gina has experienced a lot of male dominated roles both in business and leadership and was determined to give more opportunities to women in these roles. She is currently a Managing Member of Amala Ventures, which invests in early-stage companies with diverse teams and innovative and disruptive technology in the USA and Brazil. She is also a Managing Director and NJ Chapter Lead of Golden Seeds, a national network of angel investors dedicated to investing in early-stage companies founded and led by women and a member and board trustee of Jumpstart NJ Angel Network, a private, member-lead, angel group that invests in early-stage technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.
In this episode Marcia and Gina discuss the Angel Capital Associations upcoming Summit in May, what to expect for their first in person event since the pandemic, and why it will be an incredible place for innovation. Gina also shares her own journey of entrepreneurship and founding her first 2 companies as well as how she became an investor and started the accelerator program that helps businesses both in Brazil and the US refine their business model and pitch before taking it to investors.
Since starting the program they have accelerated over 100 companies and invested in 80% of them. She also shares a couple of her favorite success stories including Love Monday's and its acquisition by GlassDoor, and an ecommerce logistics company that was bought out by a large Brazilian company currently in the stock exchange.
Another great topic covered is Gina's role as the founder of the NJ chapter within Golden Seeds. Golden Seeds has provided capital support to over 220 women entrepreneurs and currently of the most active angel networks in the United States investing over $160 million. This episode is one you won’t want to miss and a great kickoff to our new spring season.