Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program is a NYU-wide program sponsored by the Stern School’s Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation with support from the NYU Innovation Venture Fund (IVF). The EIR Program was created in order to support the growing rate of early-stage technology commercialization and entrepreneurship across the University.

EIRs are founders of or former senior executives from successful entrepreneurial ventures that work closely with NYU students, researchers, faculty and alumni who are founders of very early-stage ventures. The EIRs provide ad-hoc consulting, coaching and mentoring designed to help these founders progress their venture concepts to the next level. Specifically, EIRs assist entrepreneurs with critical issues such as:

Exploring business models and strategy
Technology commercialization and product development plans
Go-to-market plans and strategies

Evaluating funding needs and identifying financing options
Forming strategic partnerships
Talent acquisition and compensation strategies

Entrepreneur Founder Obligations

Founders will be offered to meet with EIRs on a first come, first serve basis within the pre-determined time slots offered by each EIR. Founders will be permitted to meet with an EIR no more than once every 2 months to permit others to participate in the program. While founders may not have formally launched their venture or created a separate legal entity, we expect that they will have a concrete venture concept they are planning to launch, and have specific challenges and opportunities they seek guidance and feedback from the EIR on.

Scheduling an Appointment with an EIR

Review the profiles of our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence below to find the one with the expertise that best matches your needs.
Click on the link below each photo to schedule an appointment and find a date that works best for you.
After selecting a time, you will be redirected to complete an brief on-line profile to explain the background and status of your venture/project, and the questions and/or topics you wish to discuss with your chosen EIR. This profile will provided to the EIR in advance of your meeting.
Upon receipt of your profile, we will follow up via email to confirm your appointment. You must complete your profile within 48 hours of making your appointment or the time will be made available to others.

2012 NYU Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

Rob Fassino

Tisch BFA ‘88

Rob Fassino and his three partners founded The Knot, Inc. (now XO Group Inc; NYSE: XOXO), a global media and technology leader devoted to weddings, pregnancy and everything in between. The Knot’s fresh voice, stylish ideas and multiple-media platform took the wedding world by storm, catapulting it to become the #1 wedding brand and the #1 registry site (WeddingChannel.com) serving 2 million brides annually. Prior to his 10-year service at XO group Rob co-founded and directed the interactive division of Margetotes Fertitta + Partners advertising, providing online production, marketing and consulting services to clients including Sotheby’s, Stolichnaya and the McGraw-Hill companies. Following XO Group Rob developed the strategies, business models and digital product extensions for the comic brands of United Media, a $100MM global syndication/licensing company. Rob holds a bachelor’s degree (Film) from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Expertise:

Digital product development
Product positioning
Pitch preparation
Business development and strategic partnerships
Online media and marketing
Sales/account management
Audience analytics/ assessments

Shelley Harrison

Engineering BS '64
Poly MS '65
Poly PhD '69

Shelley is a Senior Advisor to Coller Capital, a global investor in private equity’s secondary market, where he is responsible for the origination, execution and monitoring of corporate portfolios. He was previously the co-founder, first chairman and CEO of Symbol Technologies (later acquired by Motorola) and was the chairman and CEO of Spacehab Inc. He was also the managing general partner and co-founder of PolyVentures’ venture capital funds. Shelley has invested in over forty companies including: Sohu.com; Safenet Inc.; N2K/Music Blvd (acquired by Bertelsmann); Opal (acquired by Applied Materials); Jetfax; DSP Group; DSP Communications (acquired by Intel); EIS; Globecomm; and Novell. Shelley began his career as a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Labs and as a professor of electrical sciences at SUNY Stony Brook. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from NYU, and MS and PhD degrees in electrophysics from Polytechnic University (now NYU-Poly).

Expertise:

Information technologies
Wireless and mobile
Health and wellness
Fund raising
Strategic business planning

Ryan Jacoby

Ryan Jacoby co-leads IDEO’s New York location. IDEO is a design and innovation consultancy that creates impact through design. Prior to his current role, Ryan built the Business Design discipline (a mix of entrepreneurial finance, business model prototyping, and design). Ryan is passionate about designing new experiences for users and businesses that serve people. Working to disrupt industries such as media, retail, financial services, healthcare, and consumer goods, Ryan helps clients, big and small, to uncover and architect new ventures, envision new brand platforms, and design new communications, products and services. Ryan holds a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Stanford University where he focused on design, marketing, and strategy at what is now the "d.school".

Expertise:

Designing brand experiences
Business model prototyping
Value proposition and feature refinement
Customer development
Prototyping and iteration
Consumer technology, products and services

Dr. Jay Kranzler

Dr. Kranzler is Chairman Emeritus, Founder, and former Chairman & CEO of Cypress Biosciences, Inc., which focuses on pain and central nervous system conditions. Dr. Kranzler developed a fibromyalgia syndrome drug from concept to market, including the design of clinical trials and regulatory path through Phase III trials and FDA approval. Dr. Kranzler is a recent recipient of the Award for Innovation from the International Society of CNS Drug Development. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business. Formerly, he was President & CEO of Cytel Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on immunology drug development, and a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he helped establish the Pharmaceutical Industry Practice. Dr. Kranzler has an M.D. with a focus in psychiatry and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Yale University.

Expertise:

Life sciences
Pharmaceuticals
Biotechnology
Medical devices
Diagnostics
R&D management
Strategy

Melinda Thomas

Melinda Thomas is currently the inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence for New York City. She works to build up the hard science ecosystem in New York by connecting resources and providing one on one mentoring to aspiring scientific entrepreneurs. Previous to this she was VP, Operations at CardioDx, where she took the company from day one through first product launch, with responsibility for all non-research functions. CardioDx develops and commercializes molecular based diagnostics for cardiovascular disease. It is funded by Kleiner Perkins, TPG, and MDV. Prior to CardioDx, she was the first employee and VP, Operations at ParAllele Biosciences, a high through-put genotyping and SNP discovery company. It was acquired in 2005 by Affymetrix. ParAllele was funded by Versant Ventures and MDV. Melinda holds a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Expertise:

Diagnostics
Life sciences
Sequencing
Instrumentation
Team building
Operations
Manufacturing

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