Randy S. Fisher
Randy Shawn Fisher, CEO
Randy is a business strategist and advisor, marketing coach, UX researcher and facilitator with 20+ years of experience working with innovative leaders, startups and entrepreneurs. He is the Founder of Customer Discovery Pros, a venture of DigiWise Digital Solutions LLC of Somerset, New Jersey, USA.
As the founder and CEO of Customer Discovery Pros, he helps businesses gain valuable insights into customer needs, expand into profitable segments, and pivot their models. Randy's background as a journalist and storyteller allows him to craft impactful customer stories and use cases.
At Customer Discovery Pros, he provides business, marketing, leadership, and organization development services to entrepreneurs and innovators. He also has expertise in working with scientists and engineers from academia learn entrepreneurship skills and successfully transition to the business world.
Randy has also advised startups and early-stage companies on product/market fit, investment/fundraising, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, UX/customer experience, communications and media relations, and HR/recruitment. He has experience in B2B, education, health/medical/wellness, and social ventures/impact industries.
Randy has founded his own company, DigiWise Digital Solutions, specializing in digital marketing, high-performing websites, and e-learning projects. With his extensive experience and skill set, Mr. Fisher has been a valuable asset to numerous organizations in various industries and markets.
At Customer Discovery Pros, he provides business, marketing, leadership, and organization development services to entrepreneurs and innovators. He also has expertise in working with scientists and engineers from academia learn entrepreneurship skills and successfully transition to the business world.
Randy has also advised startups and early-stage companies on product/market fit, investment/fundraising, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, UX/customer experience, communications and media relations, and HR/recruitment. He has experience in B2B, education, health/medical/wellness, and social ventures/impact industries.
Randy has founded his own company, DigiWise Digital Solutions, specializing in digital marketing, high-performing websites, and e-learning projects. With his extensive experience and skill set, Mr. Fisher has been a valuable asset to numerous organizations in various industries and markets.
He is a strategic advisor with incubators and accelerators around the world, including:
Selected clients:
- EIT Health - startup mentor for innovators and entrepreneurs in Europe
- HubTec Chile - market development advisor for national consortium of research institutes in Chile
- Mass Challenge Accelerator - advising early-stage companies on product/market fit and go-to-market strategies.
- User Experience Professionals Association of New Jersey - providing UX strategy, research and design of a mentorship / coaching program.
- Innovators of Progress (Baltimore, MD)- coaching bright, highly-motivated students with entrepreneurial startup and licensing ventures.
- South Africa Technology Innovation Agency - customer discovery education and go-to-market advice for startups and early-stage companies.
- Santa Fe Business Incubator
- University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka - World Bank / IFC project
- Vancouver Angel Technology Network (VANTEC) - marketing and PR
- VOLTA, Canada - strategic advisor to early-stage startups in Atlantic Canada's Startup Hub
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - IP / Tech Transfer and communications in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Selected clients:
- GyvLink, US - go-to-market adviser and customer success.
- Rotor-X, US- go-to-market advisor for heavy lift drones / UAVs
- CardMedic, UK - go-to-market adviser. (CardMedic won 2nd place and $50K in funding via US MassChallenge '21)
- Munevo, Germany - go-to-market advisor for the US Market, for medical device company.
- Vitalize Care, Baltimore, MD - startup coaching for business development and product/market fit. I recommended a pivot, and the company went on to raise $1M in funding and join Y Combinator.
- Mailelani, Samoa / Fiji - early-stage advisor for export markets and succession planning for a bodycare / skin care family-owned business.
- Nanotul, Slovenia - nanotechology for medical / health and mining, military and aerospace applications
- Ushani Fashions and Textile Designs, Sri Lanka - startup advisor / IP Commercialization for women-owned fashion and textile business.
Randy has mentored startups in the National Science Foundation's highly-regarded Innovation Program (NSF I-Corps) to commercialize technology and secure investment / funding in New Jersey. He is frequently asked to mentor teams in regional and national programs. He is an adjunct professor at Rutgers University (since 2017), teaching courses in business and proposal writing, interview skills and social media.
Randy was involved in TechStars 1st-Global Online Startup Weekend: Unite to Fight COVID-19. He has designed and delivered workshops and webinars about customer discovery and market validation.
He has a degrees in political science (McGill); journalism (King's); a Masters degree in Organization Management and Development (Fielding) and Executive High Tech MBA training from Newbridge Networks and University of Ottawa.
He has a degrees in political science (McGill); journalism (King's); a Masters degree in Organization Management and Development (Fielding) and Executive High Tech MBA training from Newbridge Networks and University of Ottawa.
Connect with Randy on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/randyshawnfisher/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/randyshawnfisher/
John A. Fraser
John A. Fraser
John is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Washington DC. retired from Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida as Assistant VP for Research & Economic Development and Executive Director, Office of Commercialization; and Director, University / Industry Liaison Office, Simon Fraser University.
He was President and Chair of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM Board), the global association of academic technology transfer professionals (2006) and a leading advocate for AUTM's Better World Project. In 2020, he and was the recipient of AUTM's Bayh-Dole Award.
He was Executive VP and co-founder of UTC, Inc., a venture capital backed, North Carolina-based university licensing/technology transfer firm; and VP, Technology Development Corporation,, a Toronto and Vancouver-based venture capital investment firm.
He has co-founded 3 companies, assisted entrepreneurs with resources to launch another 40+ university technology-based firms and created or headed 4 university technology commercialization organizations – 2 in the US, 2 in Canada, 2 for–profit and 2 not-for-profit.
John holds a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of California - Berkeley.
Connect with John on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-a-fraser-6b78884/
He was President and Chair of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM Board), the global association of academic technology transfer professionals (2006) and a leading advocate for AUTM's Better World Project. In 2020, he and was the recipient of AUTM's Bayh-Dole Award.
He was Executive VP and co-founder of UTC, Inc., a venture capital backed, North Carolina-based university licensing/technology transfer firm; and VP, Technology Development Corporation,, a Toronto and Vancouver-based venture capital investment firm.
He has co-founded 3 companies, assisted entrepreneurs with resources to launch another 40+ university technology-based firms and created or headed 4 university technology commercialization organizations – 2 in the US, 2 in Canada, 2 for–profit and 2 not-for-profit.
John holds a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of California - Berkeley.
Connect with John on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-a-fraser-6b78884/
Landon Steele
Landon Steele
Landon is an experienced COO, strategic management and startup consultant. She's had success building businesses for multinational companies and with her own entrepreneurial venture.
Landon is a Chemical Engineer by training and spent 20 years working in industrial biotech before founding a healthcare services company in California. Landon has been the program manager coordinating cross-functional teams to launch award-winning biotech products.
Landon was co-founder, President and COO of Axiom Mobile Imaging, a leading all-digital mobile imaging company that brought hospital-caliber imaging to the bedside. Over 10 years, the company grew to be California-wide before a successful exit by acquisition. Over the course of running this business, Landon developed expertise in the US insurance system, regulatory requirements and negotiating contracts with them and and marketing and selling to large healthcare chains. She succeeded in helping customers expand their boundary conditions to see the value that Axiom provided beyond just image quality.
She brings a US entrepreneur's sense of urgency to her projects and is a trained project manager that can help teams understand and manage their launch processes. She's been the program manager for award-winning biotech products and specialized in coordinating multi-functional teams for a successful launch.
Landon on the board of the Canadian Women's Network which works with pre-Series A companies to help them become "Silicon Valley Ready", and make connections for investment and partnership in the Bay Area. Through this, she is connected to CELS (Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Science) which specifically supports Canadian Life Science and Healthcare companies. She has given feedback to dozens of companies on pitches and helped them make connections with her network of investors and contacts in the US. She encourages Canadian companies to consider expanding to the US as soon as possible to maximize success.
She is a member of the Spring Healthcare Innovation Challenge, a group of healthcare angel investors that are evaluating and supporting BC-based healthcare companies.
Landon holds a B.A.Sc. and an M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a Certificate in Project Management from UC Berkeley. She is a co-inventor on 6 US patents.
Landon is a Chemical Engineer by training and spent 20 years working in industrial biotech before founding a healthcare services company in California. Landon has been the program manager coordinating cross-functional teams to launch award-winning biotech products.
Landon was co-founder, President and COO of Axiom Mobile Imaging, a leading all-digital mobile imaging company that brought hospital-caliber imaging to the bedside. Over 10 years, the company grew to be California-wide before a successful exit by acquisition. Over the course of running this business, Landon developed expertise in the US insurance system, regulatory requirements and negotiating contracts with them and and marketing and selling to large healthcare chains. She succeeded in helping customers expand their boundary conditions to see the value that Axiom provided beyond just image quality.
She brings a US entrepreneur's sense of urgency to her projects and is a trained project manager that can help teams understand and manage their launch processes. She's been the program manager for award-winning biotech products and specialized in coordinating multi-functional teams for a successful launch.
Landon on the board of the Canadian Women's Network which works with pre-Series A companies to help them become "Silicon Valley Ready", and make connections for investment and partnership in the Bay Area. Through this, she is connected to CELS (Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Science) which specifically supports Canadian Life Science and Healthcare companies. She has given feedback to dozens of companies on pitches and helped them make connections with her network of investors and contacts in the US. She encourages Canadian companies to consider expanding to the US as soon as possible to maximize success.
She is a member of the Spring Healthcare Innovation Challenge, a group of healthcare angel investors that are evaluating and supporting BC-based healthcare companies.
Landon holds a B.A.Sc. and an M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a Certificate in Project Management from UC Berkeley. She is a co-inventor on 6 US patents.
Connect with Landon on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/landonsteele/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/landonsteele/
Richard (Dick) Cahoon
Richard (Dick) Cahoon
Dick has 35+ years experience in invention management, technology-based business development and innovation; strategic planning; entrepreneurship. He was Director of Cornell University's Tech Transfer Office for 20 years, and continues to teach about IP / Innovation and creativity at Cornell. He is Lead Mentor with the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Enabling Innovation Environment Mentoring Program, developing IP / Patent capacity in university tech transfer offices throughout Asia.
He has worked on a variety of new technology projects with universities, government agencies, and companies in various countries. His work has included project design and management and high-level advisory and mentoring roles for institutions, ministries, and companies in over twenty-five countries, and the United Nations. He has been an advisor to World Bank, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) the governments of Qatar, Canada, Thailand, Philippines, Serbia, the State of Michigan, USAID, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as universities, companies, and NGOs in Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Japan, Jamaica, Philippines, South Africa, India, Korea, Bahrain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Iran, Colombia, Brazil, the US, and the European Union.
Richard Cahoon is an Adjunct Professor in Global Development at Cornell. His specialties include: intellectual property (IP), new technology development and implementation, entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship, and innovation. He has significant experience in management of R&D, invention and IP, partnerships, technology commercialization, venture creation, licensing, business development, negotiation, and mediation.
Richard has served as an expert in numerous IP litigations and has conducted many IP/technology valuations. His emphasis includes the implications of invention and IP assets for individuals, public sector institutions, and private sector actors that comprise the innovation ecosystem. He is an inventor and a U.S. patentee. He has founded or participated in the creation and launch of numerous start-up companies.
He has worked on a variety of new technology projects with universities, government agencies, and companies in various countries. His work has included project design and management and high-level advisory and mentoring roles for institutions, ministries, and companies in over twenty-five countries, and the United Nations. He has been an advisor to World Bank, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) the governments of Qatar, Canada, Thailand, Philippines, Serbia, the State of Michigan, USAID, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as universities, companies, and NGOs in Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Japan, Jamaica, Philippines, South Africa, India, Korea, Bahrain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Iran, Colombia, Brazil, the US, and the European Union.
Richard Cahoon is an Adjunct Professor in Global Development at Cornell. His specialties include: intellectual property (IP), new technology development and implementation, entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship, and innovation. He has significant experience in management of R&D, invention and IP, partnerships, technology commercialization, venture creation, licensing, business development, negotiation, and mediation.
Richard has served as an expert in numerous IP litigations and has conducted many IP/technology valuations. His emphasis includes the implications of invention and IP assets for individuals, public sector institutions, and private sector actors that comprise the innovation ecosystem. He is an inventor and a U.S. patentee. He has founded or participated in the creation and launch of numerous start-up companies.
Connect with Richard on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-cahoon-05031b1/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-cahoon-05031b1/