Founders Force

Tomas Likar is a seasoned fintech executive with extensive experience at industry-leading companies including Visa, HyperWallet, and PayPal. With a strong background in financial technology and payments, he has developed expertise in go-to-market strategies, fundraising, and investment assessment. His career has been marked by significant contributions to the evolution of digital payment solutions and financial services innovation in the United States.
As a highly selective advisor and mentor, Tomas leverages his deep industry knowledge to guide emerging companies and entrepreneurs in the fintech, finance, AI sectors and supporting expansion into USA. His consulting approach combines practical experience with strategic insight, helping organizations navigate complex market dynamics, secure funding, and optimize their growth trajectories.
Tomas is based in San Francisco, CA.

Alex Braun, based in Washington D.C., is a seasoned technology executive and entrepreneur with extensive experience in data analytics and market research. As Chief Strategy Officer at HarrisX and Managing Director at SKDK, he has helped shape strategic decisions for Fortune 500 companies and emerging startups alike. His entrepreneurial venture, Amicara, has focused on developing innovative solutions in the data analytics space. Alex has demonstrated expertise in scaling organizations, having successfully led multiple funding rounds and strategic partnerships throughout his career. His work has been instrumental in bridging the gap between traditional market research methodologies and modern technology solutions.

Honza is a growth-oriented founder, technologist, and ecosystem advisor with a strong track record in scaling early-stage ventures into global success stories. As CTO and one of the first key team members at Mews, he helped transform the company from a startup into one of the few Czech unicorns, leading the development of its innovative hospitality management platform used by thousands of hotels worldwide.
After Mews, Honza transitioned from product leadership to ecosystem building — helping founders access capital, talent, and know-how to scale internationally.

At United Founders, he focuses on sourcing high-potential startups, facilitating investor connections, and driving collaboration across the Central & Eastern European innovation landscape. His unique blend of hands-on technical experience and strategic network building makes him a trusted partner for founders and investors alike.

Honza holds a degree from Charles University in Prague and remains an active voice in the Czech startup scene — mentoring founders, advising accelerators, and championing the growth of the local tech ecosystem.

David Booth is a seasoned software entrepreneur who has successfully founded and exited two VC-backed companies: BouncePilot, a B2B email retargeting solution acquired by TowerData, and ZeroTurnaround, creator of JRebel, which was sold to RogueWave with approximately 200 employees after receiving funding from Bain Capital Ventures. With over 20 years in the software industry, David now leverages his expertise in enterprise sales, inbound marketing, fundraising, and go-to-market strategy to advise and mentor startups from Series A to C stages. His experience spans building revenue-generating marketing strategies, leading integrated sales teams, and teaching marketing at the college level. David is from Toronto, Canada, and currently resides in Andorra.

Jindrich Fialka is a prominent Czech innovator and entrepreneur who has built multiple successful ventures with a focus on positive social impact. He leads Q Designers, an innovation studio, and has founded impactful organizations including Sto skupin, a non-profit focused on pre-school education, and Kind Place, a center for child psychology. His entrepreneurial journey is marked by a commitment to solving pressing social challenges in the Czech Republic, particularly in education, housing accessibility, mental health, and fighting disinformation. Jindrich actively shares his experiences and insights through his newsletter and blog, where he documents his journey in building innovations with positive social impact, demonstrating a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit and social responsibility.

Jan Sýkora is a capital-markets and real estate investment expert with three decades of experience across Central and Eastern Europe. He has built this expertise as a partner and co-owner of WOOD & Company, the region's leading investment bank, since the 1990s, where he now chairs the board alongside fellow partners Vladimír Jaroš and Ľubomír Šoltýs, sits on the board of the Prague Stock Exchange, co-sponsored the launch of WOOD SPAC One -- the first SPAC listed there -- and oversees real estate funds worth roughly €1.1 billion across Central Europe. He also applies this experience to venture capital, investing roughly a fifth of his time in startups across Central Europe, the US, and Israel, and is a limited partner of Czech Founders VC.

Simona Kijonková is an expert in e-commerce logistics and scaling operational businesses across borders. She founded Zásilkovna, the parcel-locker logistics network, in 2010 and built it into Packeta Group, one of Central and Eastern Europe's largest e-commerce logistics operators, active in 33 countries with over 2,000 employees, before stepping down as CEO in early 2024 following the company's sale. She and her husband Jaromír Kijonka now apply that operating experience as investors through JSK Investments, which in 2025 received Czech National Bank authorization to launch its own investment fund for qualified investors with roughly 2 billion CZK in initial capital, and separately acquired a majority stake in iPrice Recare, one of the country's largest electronics resale businesses. She was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 and now also chairs the Simona Kijonková Foundation, supporting children's education and mental health.

Michal Pastier is a renowned Slovak entrepreneur, investor, and marketer with over 15 years of experience in brand development and marketing innovation. Named among Google and Financial Times' Top 100 European Innovators and featured on Forbes' cover and 30 Under 30 list, he has worked on more than 250 brand projects. As the founder of branding studio GoBigname and hybrid agency Darwin & the Machines, he has been instrumental in scaling several successful startups, including Exponea (valued in hundreds of millions of euros), Slido's rebranding, and Berlin Brands Group's (formerly Chal-Tec) transformation into a unicorn across 28 markets. His creative work has earned over 200 awards, including Slovakia's first Euro Effie gold for the most effective advertising campaign in Europe and the historic Cyber-Young Lions award at Cannes Lions.

In his role as an investor, Pastier has been particularly focused on supporting and scaling companies in the CEE region. His involvement with Exponea from its early days through to its substantial valuation demonstrates his ability to identify and nurture high-potential ventures. He has contributed his expertise in brand building and marketing to help portfolio companies achieve significant market presence across multiple European markets.

Sean is Founder & Managing Partner of Oscar Mike Venture Partners, a venture fund focused on early-stage defense technology companies in the U.S. and Europe. He is an Executive Partner at Wincove Private Holdings, Executive Chairman of USBid, Inc., and Chairman of Adaptec Solutions, Inc. He was formerly CEO of Greengrid, Inc., Executive Chairman of Rhino Tool House, and CEO of Endeavor Robotics, the leading provider of ground robots for military applications across the U.S. Armed Forces and in more than 55 countries.

Prior to this, Sean was CEO of One Click Politics, a start-up providing political advocacy tools. Sean was a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and 2012. He previously worked at iRobot Corporation and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. He began his career as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. Sean later served in the Marine Corps Reserve, reaching the rank of Major.

He holds a BA from Georgetown University, a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Sean is a member of the 2019 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

With over a decade of experience in building and scaling international organizations and revenue engines, Nik is a growth enthusiast by nature and a customer experience advocate by practice. After starting his career at McKinsey & Company he has held exec roles and board positions at Socialbakers (MarTech), Emplifi (CX) and Tatum (Web3), where he oversaw global operations and revenue teams, go-to-market strategy, and expansion excellence. Now, as Co-Founder & CEO of KiloMayo, Nik is leading a tech startup (SaaS, HoReCa) driving global restaurant empowerment through innovative automation prioritizing employee wellbeing.

He is a self-proclaimed opportunistic angel investor supporting teams that once gained his trust.