Stuart Levinson

Background

About Stuart Levinson

A serial entrepreneur, I enjoy working with first-time founders and early stage startups to help them focus and find their footing.I've started a pilot project, Sideline, to help small-scale entrepreneurs to build local businesses. Sideline provides a bit of funding, mentorship, and access to specialist resources to help these founders get started.Before Sideline, I founded and successfully exited two startups. Venetica developed software for commercial and government organizations and was acquired by IBM. After a brief stay at IBM and a sabbatical abroad, I spent a year with a venture capital firm, General Catalyst, as an entrepreneur-in-residence to explore new startup ideas. Then, together with a co-founder from the MIT Media Lab, I launched TalkTo at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2010. TalkTo was acquired by Path in 2014 (soon after acquired by Daum Kakao).In 2015 I joined a longtime friend and collaborator to launch a studio for open-source projects called OpenCompany. Our first project, Carrot, improved communication for remote workforces. Unable to generate enough traction competing with Slack and MS Teams, we ended that project.I've also enjoyed mentoring student-led startups through established entrepreneur programs at Harvard and MIT.