Early Stage Startup Advice From an Expert Who Ran a Startup Accelerator

Mitchell was an invaluable resource as we built out our business, UrbanCargo.com. During the summer we spent at DreamIt, Mitchell was always very generous in offering encouragement and advice while opening up his connections to help us grow our business. He was a constant source of momentum for us whenever we felt blocked by a particular challenge, and he never hesitated to help however he could to help us succeed. He's a great advisor/mentor to any growing business or team!

Mitchell was an invaluable mentor for Stylr throughout Dreamit’s program and beyond it. All along he has been very attentive to our progress and was proactive in reaching out to offer help. He very systematically analyzed the obstacles we faced as a startup, offered achievable steps to tackle these and followed through his advice with further suggestions. We really enjoyed and benefited from having a mentor as encouraging and caring as him around us during our early stages.

I've had the privilege of working with Mitchell during my time at Cubiez. Mitchell accompanied us in every step along the way; he showed tremendous dedication and was constantly giving us an attentive ear, followed by great advice. Mitchell worked pro-actively to help us set our strategy and motivated us to push ourselves to the limit. We felt like Mitchell was a part of our team as he was present and attentive in so many of our all-nighter marathons.

Mitchell was a very smart and dedicated mentor for us while we at DreamIt. He tells it like it is, and will let you know if your idea is weak. When he does like your idea, however, you feel like a million bucks because you know he made you work at it. He cares about your progress - a lot. Some of our first interactions with him were these long brainstorming emails that he sent to us before the program even started. It was obvious that he really took the time to think them through. During the bi-weekly partner meetings, I remember that he always took detailed notes and emailed them to us afterwards. I also remember how he stayed in the office late with many of the teams and took the time to check in on each team. These are little gestures that go a long way towards building trust.

From the first day we met Mitchell Golner through our accelerator program at DreamIt Ventures, he asked how he could help. Throughout the program, he listened carefully to our current strategy and was able to help us think about everything else ranging from our business model to user acquisition. Mitchell offered thoughtful advice that helped us to think about the larger market size of our product, and was also able to advise on ways in which we could integrate our marketing efforts by partnering with technology companies. He stayed late to take meetings with us and was actively helpful in guiding new partnerships towards us, helping us to think outside the box of our business. In part because of his advice, we were able to successfully create meaningful partnerships with bigger technology companies like Sony.

I had the pleasure of working alongside Mitch when he and the DreamIt team incubated our company- wireLawyer. Mitch's insights on our technology, business processes and corporate messaging were invaluable to the early growth of our company. He gives detailed, rather accurate feedback, but also is a really big thinker and was great at analyzing our messaging and positioning in the market. He has a tremendous skill at balancing incredibly smart and constructively critical with a warm, great personality. Look forward to working alongside Mitch for many more years to come.

I was fortunate to work with Mitchell while he was Managing Director at DreamIt Ventures NYC '13. He provided HeyKiki with sound advice and always made himself available throughout the program. Mitchell was proactive in his approach and provided useful suggestions to help grow our business. He was a great resource to have.

Mitchell allowed me to make the most of DreamIt's NYC program. He was always available to provide advice, and helped me make very valuable connections during my time in the program. You could tell from his actions that he genuinely cared about each company's success, and he consistently and proactively checked in on our progress, instead of limiting his feedback to the scheduled weekly partner meetings. I feel fortunate to have received Mitchell's guidance.

My company Miner was fortunate to participate in DreamIt Ventures NYC summer accelerator in 2013 where Mitchell was a Managing Partner. Mitchell was extremely hands-on throughout the program, consistently providing valuable advice and introductions. Behind a calm and levelheaded demeanor, Mitchell possesses a sharp business acumen across many verticals. Even though DreamIt ended many months ago, Mitchell continues to make himself available at anytime for anything. I'm grateful to have a guy like Mitchell on my side.

Every now and then in your career, you meet someone whose work ethic, dedication and insight will remind you how far persistence can take you; Mitchell is such a person. I had the chance to work with him during Dreamit Ventures summer program '12 in New York. During that time Mitchell was extremely involved, always working to understand the complex issues our start-ups went through and applying his experience and creativity to guide us through all kinds of product, marketing or business development issues.