TechCrunch Include is partnering with Intel Capital for Include Office Hours on March 28th from 11:30am-12:30pm. Intel Capital managing directors Trina Van Pelt and Ken Elefant and director Christine Herron will be giving guidance and advice for underserved and underrepresented founders. Apply here.
In 2014, TechCrunch launched Include to facilitate opportunities for underserved and underrepresented communities in tech. As a part of this initiative, TechCrunch partners with a different VC firm each month in either the San Francisco Bay Area or New York. This month, TechCrunch is partnering with Intel Capital for Bay Area founders. You can fill in the application here.
Underserved and underrepresented founders include (but are not limited to) veterans, LGBTQ, female founders and Native American founders. For questions email [email protected]
Here’s more information on our participating investors:
Trina Van Pelt
Trina Van Pelt is vice president of Intel Capital and managing director of the Internet of Things and Automated Driving Groups at Intel Corporation. She directs the team of equity investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and strategic business development professionals who identify, evaluate, lead and negotiate strategic transactions in businesses focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) and autonomous driving segments. She is responsible for fostering strategic thinking and growth initiatives that link Intel’s business strategy with strategic transactions.
Van Pelt also co-leads Intel Capital’s Diversity Fund, which invests in businesses founded and/or managed by women, underrepresented minorities, U.S. military veterans, physically disabled and the LGBTQ community.
She joined Intel Capital in 2004. Before joining Intel, Van Pelt was a director of corporate development at CNET Networks and an investment associate at TA Associates. She began her career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and Ernst & Young’s financial advisory services group.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and earned a master’s degree in management from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Ken Elefant
Ken Elefant joined Intel Capital in 2011, and is vice president and managing director, where he drives investments and M&A for software and security. Ken is a voting member of Intel Capital’s investment committee.
He joined Intel Capital from Opus Capital, where he was a founding general partner. While at Opus Capital, he served on the boards of Spock Networks (Intelius), Transpond (Webtrends), Supersecret (Knowledge Adventure), Alert Enterprise, Jivox and TrustedID (Equifax). Previously, Ken was a senior associate at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he was involved with several investments. Prior to this, he was a senior associate and Kauffman Fellow at Battery Ventures. Before business school, Ken worked at Radius Inc., where he ran International Sales and Marketing, and held various marketing, finance and business development positions at Claris Corporation (the software subsidiary of Apple) and RealNetworks.
Ken holds a BS in economics from the Wharton undergraduate division at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Christine Herron
Christine Herron co-leads Intel Capital’s Diversity Fund, and leads investments in early-stage companies for Intel Capital. She is responsible for diversity investing across Intel Capital sectors, to support technology companies founded or run by women and underrepresented minorities.
Previously, Christine was an investor with seed-stage venture fund First Round Capital. At Omidyar Network, she developed the Media practice strategy and led deals such as Common Sense Media and Socialtext.
Christine earned an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Columbia University, and serves on Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet Board of Directors. She is a founding advisor to both 500 Startups and StartX, and is an active mentor and social media thought leader.
