Analysts evaluate business plans, perform competitive analysis, test financial assumptions, and engage in deal due diligence. Analysts witness the venture funding process from beginning-to-end, coached by investors. They get broad exposure to the active tech startup scene in Los Angeles and deal directly with the founders, CEOs, and investors as TCA Los Angeles evaluates hundreds of new startups each year.
Meet our Analysts
Max Northrop
Max Northrop is a junior at the University of Michigan where he is studying neuroscience and pursuing a minor in business from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. In addition to his role at TCA, Max is engaged in clinical research at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. In his research, he has studied how to implement cutting-edge sequencing technology into targeted cancer treatment, genetic links to childhood cancers, and oncoviruses. He has also served his community as an Emergency Medical Technician, by tutoring high school students, and fundraising for medical research. As an analyst, Max strives to combine his love for science, technology, and entrepreneurship to sponsor innovation.
Max@techcoastangels.la
Janet Lee
Janet Lee is an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Before business school, she started two businesses, a tech-forward real estate brokerage and international trade & logistics company. Her MBA focus is venture capital, for which she was recently awarded the Deutschman Venture Fellowship. Prior to her entrepreneurial ventures, her first love was the health sciences and she performed wet lab lung cancer research for four years at USC, resulting in a paper published in the American Association for Cancer Research journal. She currently holds a Master's degree in Global Medicine and Bachelor's Degree in Health Promotion from USC's Keck School of Medicine. Her creative hobbies include hip hop dance and performing as a SAG actor with speaking roles on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy”, “This is Us”, “Shameless”, and on commercials with brands like McDonalds, Infiniti and Sony. Learn more about her here.
Janet@techcoastangels.la
Oluwaseun Adesanya
Oluwaseun Adesanya is currently a student of the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at USC. She is a small business and startup enabler interested in economic advancement through the development and structuring of small & medium scale enterprises. She is an experienced transactional attorney with a master’s degree from PENN State Law specializing in international business and Intellectual property law. She founded startup scaleit, a blog where she provides knowledge on entrepreneurial concepts to entrepreneurs. She is skilled in business advisory, deal structuring, contract drafting, research and is interested in working with accelerators and incubators providing services to pre-seed or seed-stage startups. Learn more about Olu at oluseunadesanya.com.
Olu@techcoastangels.la
Alysha Salbato
Alysha Salbato is an MBA candidate at UCLA Anderson School of Management, specializing in finance and technology management. In addition to her role at TCA, Alysha is a clinical study manager at a healthcare technology company, supporting algorithmic development for medical devices to minimize the burden for patients living with diabetes on Multiple Daily Injection (MDI) therapy. Previously, she worked at a preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) laboratory focused on business development and service expansion, resulting in the development of a novel NGS-PGT option for patients with balanced translocations. She currently holds a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA. Utilizing her industry experience and background in healthcare technology, she seeks to support bold, innovative startups to challenge the status quo in the life sciences vertical.
Alysha@techcoastangels.la
Derrick Moon
Derrick Moon is a recent graduate at Syracuse University where he studied Psychology/Neuroscience. One of his main interests is to help underserved communities. He has worked at a mental facility, assisting patients suffering from serious mental illnesses, and a tech startup called Nuleep, where they have assisted students in neglected communities with career development and mentorship. Currently, he is an MS candidate at the USC Marshall School of Business where his focus is on entrepreneurship. His current career interests include both entrepreneurship and venture capital. He aspires to become a general partner so that he can fund companies that will help the betterment of disadvantaged people.
Derrick@techcoastangels.la
Jongmin Kim
Jongmin Kim is currently an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is pursuing his MBA with a specialization in technology and finance. He has worked in the finance industry for the last six years in equity trading and M&A advisory, most recently as a business development manager at a tech company. He has worked in Seoul, New York, and San Francisco. His career interests include business development, entrepreneurship, and to learn more about VC investing.
Jongmin@techcoastangels.la
Ali Mirza
Ali Mirza is currently an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is pursuing his MBA with a specialization in technology management, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. In addition to his role at TCA, Ali is a technical program and product manager at Amazon leading development and launch efforts for products used by millions of customers around the world. Previously, he has worked in the hospitality and higher education industries focused on product management and digital transformation. His career interests include technology innovation, social impact, and early-stage investing.
Ali@techcoastangels.la
Michael Andrawis
Michael Andrawis is a currently an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He also is currently a Project Manager in the Energy & Utilities sector with professional experience in capital project management, and assessment of business operations & maintenance. Most recently he has been working on new electrical generation and distribution equipment, and gas turbines for compression purposes. Michael is a registered Profession Engineer in the state of California as a Chemical Engineer. He also hopes to be part of the Energy & Utilities sector in the future as there becomes a push for energy sustainability and modernization. When not focusing on his career, Michael enjoys attending live sports, concert events, and discovering local breweries.
Michael@techcoastangels.la
Joe Sassi
Joe Sassi is currently an MBA student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is pursuing his MBA with a specialisation in venture capital and entrepreneurship. Joe is a UK native and previously spent five years as a government bond and derivatives trader in London. His career interests include early-stage VC investing and FinTech entrepreneurship.
Joe@techcoastangels.la