ForgeUp experts

Div is a leading computer scientist and AI researcher who has raised in excess of 30 million in venture and is currently on leave from a PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University. He was responsible for founding MultiOn, a personal AI agent startup and spiun out AGI, Inc,, the first autonomous agentic AI for on-device use (like "Siri" that does tasks for you). ‍His work centers on deep learning, reinforcement learning, and building generally intelligent systems. Div created and taught Stanford’s first course on Transformers (CS25), featuring leading AI researchers including Geoffrey Hinton, with lectures reaching over 1M viewers.‍He has presented research at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Apple, and developed state-of-the-art algorithms in reinforcement learning and imitation learning. Prior to Stanford, he conducted pioneering work in computer vision at Cornell and built one of the first camera-based self-driving systems.

Jonah Lewis specializes in designing clean, automated revenue systems for early-stage companies. As the founder of Creo, he transforms fragmented databases and tech stacks into predictable, scalable GTM infrastructure. His background spans sales leadership, outbound execution, CRM rebuilds, lifecycle analytics, and AI-enabled workflow design across SaaS, e-commerce, industrial, and construction tech. He helps founders create revenue operations that scale smoothly and consistently drive traction.

JC is a serial entrepreneur in the technology services space. For the last 15 years, he and his company, Made In Tandem (MiT), have helped dozens of clients design, build, and launch complex software, data, and AI/ML products. MiT’s clients have included energy and utility companies, financial services and fintech firms, medical device manufacturers, and public organizations like the US Department of Defense and NASA among many others.

JC has been named to Crain’s Notable LGBT Executives list twice, and MiT has won numerous design awards for their work as well as being named on Inc Magazine’s list of the top 500 fastest growing companies two years running. Today, in addition to leading MiT, JC works as a consulting CTO and technical advisor to companies from startup to enterprise. His passion for building inclusive, highly-effective teams and delivering cutting-edge technology remains his driving force.

Despite a busy schedule, JC still finds time to nourish his creative side—whether behind the piano, camera lens, 3D-printer, or simply enjoying Chicago’s vibrancy with his husband and their energetic Labrador, Lucy.

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Nicolas Figari is a marketing and growth operator with a decade of experience across both consumer and B2B. He founded Lemonade, one of the first agencies to unify marketing and business development under a single practice, working with nearly 150 brands from startups to Fortune 500 before exiting via acquisition in 2023. In 2025, he launched Parrot to continue that work with a sharper focus on building holistic, effective growth systems that help companies in any industry cut through the noise in increasingly crowded markets. His philosophy is simple: stop overthinking it. A rock-solid foundation drives long-term growth, and everything else builds upon it.

Experienced marketing automation and CRM database management professional with deep understanding of digital revenue operations. Able to turn massive amounts of data into digestible and insightful narratives in order to enable executive team to make strategic decisions. Inspired by aligning marketing and sales teams through funnel measurement, strategic insights, and data analysis.

Jason Roche’s practice focuses on working with emerging technology and life science companies throughout the corporate life cycle, including on early-stage formation and structuring matters, angel and venture financings, commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate governance matters. I work with innovative companies during their most critical stages – formation, scaling and exit.

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Prithvi serves as general corporate counsel to early and growth stage technology companies that are building innovative products and services that are changing business processes and the way individuals use and interact with technology on a daily basis. My team and I provide practical, relevant and actionable legal advice based on our hands on understanding of our clients’ products and business goals.  We’ve helped founding teams incorporate companies, protect their intellectual property, raise capital financing, establish clear and defined internal guidelines and procedures, negotiate and enter into commercial agreements, address legal issues that arise in day-to-day operations, and successfully exit.Increasingly, my practice involves representing companies that have built mature teams and stable products overseas and are seeking to have a legal presence in the US to raise venture capital from US sources or access to the US market while still retaining their foreign operations.

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Stephen Kenny’s practice includes patent portfolio development and management, competitive intelligence and analysis, and due diligence investigations. He analyzes competitor patent portfolios to counsel clients on pipeline products and potential design modifications.Stephen prepares validity, infringement, patentability, and clearance opinions in the electro-mechanical and mechanical fields, with a concentration on medical devices. In addition, he studies competitor products to advise clients on enforcement of their patent portfolios against third parties.

Stephen also has extensive experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications, conducting examiner interviews, filing appeals to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, accelerated examinations and reexamination proceedings. Thus, he provides technical and legal analyses to strategically partner and advise clients with all stages of their products life-cycle development. Some exemplary patents Stephen prosecuted include: 10,034,784 (medical devices); 10,431,789 and 10,066,600 (renewable energy); 10,107,877 (precision instrumentation). Stephen’s practice also includes advising fashion industry clients, exemplary Design patents include D834,421, D834,310 and D835,538.Prior to joining Foley Hoag, Stephen was a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As an examiner, his docket focused on U.S. and international patent applications in various technologies including dynamo-electric devices, manufacturing processes, medical devices, printed circuit boards, mechanical systems, and business methods.Upon completing his graduate studies, Stephen worked as a flight test engineer with Sikorsky Aircraft, where he developed flight test plans, aircraft maneuvers, and performed data analysis while conducting test flights on both production and experimental helicopters. As a flight test engineer, he gained extensive knowledge in vibration harmonics, electrical noise reduction and electromagnetic interference generated from various navigation equipment employed.Additionally, Stephen's graduate studies focused on analysis of control systems having both linear and nonlinear characteristics, including system modeling and stability criteria determination.

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Allen Dayag has spent close to 15 years building software at every size of company,from startups still working out their first product to large enterprises and government programs.His instinct is to take something big and vague and break it into small pieces that actually ship,without over-engineering it.He's currently a Senior Software Engineer at Made In Tandem (MiT), where he leadsengineering on government projects, builds AI tools for the consulting and engineering teams,and works as a product expert for new and existing clients.Beyond the software, Allen cares just as much about the people side of the work.He's drawn to building effective teams, leading growth, and buttoning up the processes thatmake them successful.

Taryn Elliott’s grasp of technology and creativity assists clients with the protection and enforcement of their intellectual property. Taryn is a physicist and a pilot, and her comprehensive background in a variety of fields including physics, mathematics, aviation, aerospace and computer science provides her with the knowledge and skills to prepare, prosecute and enforce patents in a wide range of technical fields.

She manages domestic and international intellectual property portfolios for clients engaged in numerous industries, ranging from solo inventors and small startups to leading multinational companies. Further, she advises clients regarding disputes, negotiates on their behalf and represents them aggressively in litigation when necessary. Her experience covers a range of enforcement and defensive strategies, both nationally and internationally, including litigation, post grant proceedings, take-down notices, customs enforcement and other specialized proceedings.

Taryn has significant experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. This experience includes drafting provisional, non-provisional, United States national stage, international and reissue patent applications across a variety of technologies; responses to office actions, appeals, and post grant proceedings; and non-infringement and/or invalidity opinions. Taryn leads Polsinelli’s Product Design and User Interface Group, which specializes in securing global design patent rights and enforcing those rights through litigation and alternative enforcement mechanisms. Taryn has executed design patents covering subject matter ranging from vehicles and aircraft to user interfaces to consumer products and packaging, among other industries. She works with clients to develop comprehensive protection strategies for inventive concepts using complementary utility and design patent applications, as further supplemented by the full spectrum of intellectual property rights including trade dress, trademark, copyright and trade secret. Her creativity and understanding of the nuances in these areas and how they work together results in a portfolio tailored to the unique business goals of each client.

Taryn seeks to understand the business context and objective of each innovation to inform not only a protection strategy, where appropriate, but also design-around strategies, freedom-to-operate assessments and defensive strategies and filings. She is frequently engaged in due diligence associated with asset purchases, investments, acquisitions and licensing. At their core, intellectual property matters are business assets so Taryn generates strategies and budgets for the matters that are aligned with the overall business.

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Anthony is a tech-focused marketer who loves turning data, creativity, and smart systems into real growth. Over the past 12 years, he has helped scale fast-moving SaaS companies and breakout DTC brands, including pushing one company to
#101 on the Inc. 5000 and helping another become the top DTC indie brand in its category. With an Economics degree from Binghamton University, a Social Sciences degree from SUNY Alfred, and Marketing Analytics training from Wharton Executive Education, he brings a unique mix of analytical strength and people's understanding to everything he builds. Anthony is also a HubSpot expert who lives in marketing automation, reporting, strategy, workflow design, and integrations,
creating systems that make teams faster and more aligned. He loves mentoring curious minds, building teams that are confident and collaborative, and creating marketing that actually resonates. At the end of the day, he is driven by a simple
belief: understand the customer deeply, and you can unlock growth that lasts.

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