Meet the 2026 Catalyst Coaches

Every finalist who takes the stage on November 12 will have spent the weeks before it working with two coaches. They’re exited founders, investors, operators, attorneys and advisors from across Charleston and beyond, and they’re giving their time to help this year’s founders sharpen their story, test their numbers and get ready for the room.

Their backgrounds are as varied as the companies they’re coaching. Food and consumer products. Healthcare and life sciences. Finance, law, software and real estate. That range is intentional. Catalyst is open to founders in every industry, and the coaching bench reflects it.

Here’s who’s in the finalists’ corner this year.

Professional finalists

CompanAIn

Jorie Walsdorf co-founded and leads marketing at a fintech lender, building on brand and go-to-market work at Google and Red Antler.
Christy Petrosso has been part of Charleston’s startup community since joining PeopleMatter in 2010 and now runs Prodonomic, where she advises companies on data and AI product strategy.

DealerCopilot

Meghan Corsello coached last year’s top-award finalist and is back to do it again. As Senior Investment Associate at SCRA, she draws on a decade of helping early-stage B2B companies go to market.
Michael Houck coaches founders on fundraising and growth through Founding Journey, drawing on his time at Uber Eats and Airbnb and his experience co-founding Launch House.

Dino Bars

Tom Browning helped bring bagged salad to American grocery stores when he launched Fresh Express, after starting his career in marketing at Coca-Cola. He now invests in early-stage consumer brands and coaches founders through the Harbor Entrepreneur Center.
Lenna Macdonald has invested in early-stage companies since the mid-2000s and brings deep manufacturing and operations experience to Longleaf Angels, a new Charleston angel group built around working closely with founders.

GoodUnited

John May, Jim Phillips and Jason Averbook of VU Partners return for a second year, coaching as a team. Along with running their M&A advisory firm, all three teach in the College of Charleston’s entrepreneurship program.

HealthyCell

Troy Knauss, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Charleston, returns to Catalyst as a coach after more than 25 years building companies in food, consumer products, manufacturing and software. As an exited founder and active angel investor, he knows both sides of the table.
Matt Gough co-founded Spindle, Charleston’s first venture studio, after two exits of his own as a serial founder. He works alongside founders to get them from idea to traction faster.

Juiced Fuel

Alex Cordero works as a fractional CFO through his firm, Lasso Data Partners, and chairs finance at the Harbor Entrepreneur Center. His background as a CPA in restaurant and franchise operations makes him a natural fit for founders building multi-location businesses.
Sean McColl founded Trusted Business Advisors to help owner-operators close more sales and find the margin they’re leaving on the table.

OncoBLAZE

Amrish Macedo built the Harbor Entrepreneur Center’s coach network and brings more than 20 years in product and technology, about half of it in pharma R&D, along with his experience as an angel investor.
Rich Estes co-founded Spindle after 14 years in real estate and founding HomeTrackR, and now builds alongside founders from early idea through growth.

Q-Density

Jonathan Shanin returns as a coach this year, bringing an engineer’s eye and a video company that helps founders explain what they do, on camera and on stage. He also advises the MBA program at the College of Charleston.
Nick Strehle is a third-generation entrepreneur on his third company, and through Falcon Insight Partners he helps owners strengthen their business models.

RIGWA LIFE

Barry Stamos joins Catalyst for the first time as CEO of Supernova, a seed fund backed by a network of exited founders. He knows the path well, having scaled his first company to a $1.6 billion acquisition by Oracle.
Diane Szoke is a two-time founder who helps companies sharpen their brand, and a member of Longleaf Angels.

Student finalists

Advocate

Doug Lehrman has spent 20 years building and advising behavioral health and care companies, and today leads Junction Health Partners as founder and CEO.
Steve Britt serves as General Counsel to Charleston Angel Partners and runs Britt Law, where he focuses on corporate and technology law, including AI and data privacy.

CuffWay

Russell Cochrane helps science-driven founders turn their research into a business story investors can follow, a skill he brings to his work at SCRA after earning a PhD in immunology at MUSC.
Nicole Wieberneit led incubation work at Microsoft and now advises founders on go-to-market, coaching through Microsoft for Startups and the Harbor Entrepreneur Center.

P.S.

Stacey Pierce and Jules Weldon have delivered more than 400 pitches between them, many of them telling the story of OME Gear, the outdoor products company they co-founded. Now they coach other founders through the same journey.

See the work on stage

Watch this year’s finalists pitch live on Thursday, November 12, 2026: Get your tickets.