Our Team

Hessan Sedaghat is a multidisciplinary engineer and creative technologist working at the intersection of robotics, immersive systems, and product innovation. Currently pursuing a Master in Design Engineering at Harvard University, he combines a strong foundation in mechatronics and human-centered design with business strategy and systems thinking to develop intelligent products that translate technical complexity into meaningful user experiences.

Prior to Harvard, he led cross-functional teams in bringing early-stage concepts to market across healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, industrial automation, and retail. He has supported ventures through full product lifecycles, from ideation and prototyping to regulatory approval, IP development, and commercialization. His portfolio includes medical devices, autonomous robotic platforms, and intelligent consumer wearables.

At Harvard, Hessan focuses on how embedded systems and AI can reshape human interaction with both physical and digital environments. He is driven by a commitment to develop solutions that are not only technically robust, but also strategically positioned for real-world adoption and long-term meaningful impact.

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Will Epperson is a PhD candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on developing interactive systems that help AI developers and data scientists better understand their data, with the goal of enabling more usable AI systems and trustworthy decision-making. Drawing on techniques from data visualization and human-computer interaction, he builds tools that allow users to more quickly explore their datasets, identify data quality issues, and streamline work with tabular data, text, and multi-agent AI workflows. His work has led to open-source tools adopted by the Python community and scientists, with publications and awards at venues such as IEEE VIS, EuroVis, and CHI. During his PhD, he has interned at Microsoft Research and Databricks.

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Dr. Steven Song is an adjunct professor for the online engineering programs at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. He has over 20 years of experience in data analytics, intelligence, and cybersecurity. Dr. Song currently serves as a senior program manager leading analyses on strengthening the National Security Industrial Base. Prior to his current position, he was a cybersecurity fellow at Verizon, a professor of systems engineering at West Point, and a research scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Throughout his military career, he has held a variety of intelligence leadership positions in the U.S. Army and Special Operations, including two deployments to Iraq.

He has a D.Eng. in Cybersecurity Analytics from George Washington University, a M.S. in Engineering and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Systems Engineering from West Point.

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Kimi Wenzel is an AI design researcher and PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has been recognized by top venues like TEDx and the ACM. She recently contributed to the Apple Intelligence launch, and now leads research and international workshops on AI design and ethics.

"The biggest ideas are always a little strange at the start. It takes unconventional and lateral observation to recognize outliers at the earliest stages."

Tara Tan is an early-stage investor and Managing Partner at Strange Ventures, a first-check investment firm focused on hard software. An industry veteran who has built and backed startups in emerging technologies for 15 years, she has partnered with companies at every scale —from "post-it stage" startups to Fortune 100 enterprises — to bring paradigm-shifting technologies to market.

Previously, she drove investments at global design and strategy firm, IDEO, where she was founding partner at IDEO CoLab Ventures, a top-decile early-stage fund and venture studio building in blockchain and AI since 2015. Prior to that, she led design at deep tech startups, and founded an interactive media company, building one of the world's first location-based iOS game in 2012.

Tara is a frequent contributor and speaker on the intersection of creativity, technology, and capital, and has appeared at SXSW, SF Design Week, DevCon, and more. She was co-chair of Women in Design at Harvard, where she earned a Masters in Computational Design.

“Intetionally moody.”

Burton Rast is a design leader and speaker living in San Francisco, California. He's passionate about solving for unmet human needs in new ways, and with new technologies.

Burton frequently lectures at conferences, companies, and universities, both stateside and abroad, to connect with, and be inspired by, artists and designers, the world over.Burton spent seven years at IDEO as a Principal Designer, and another five in design leadership at Google. He presently serves as a Design Partner at Strange Ventures, and lecturer at Chartwell Speakers.Perhaps worth noting, Burton cooks a mean omelet; so mean, in fact, that he once made them for the entire IDEO studio.

“Ship or perish”

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Teck Chia is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He founded Gabbly, a chat app that reached over 70 million users, as well asDimension.ai, Papers.ai, HashTrust, OpenAppMkt, and others. He was previously a Product Manager at Facebook, where he led the team that created the Mobile App Install Ads product. He joined Facebook via the acquisition of his startup, OpenAppMkt, at the time the largest independent app store for mobile HTML5 apps. He is an angelinvestor in startups including Uber, Snapchat, Postmates, Kraken, and Kite.

He holds a BSc. and MEng. degrees in Computer Science with a minor in Cognitive Science from Cornell University

“The right story doesn’t just get you noticed—it makes you unforgettable."

Kathy Osborne is the Founder of Kamel PR, a boutique consultancy transforming public relations for early-stage tech startups and venture capital firms. Guided by a mission to drive meaningful impact, Kathy has helped clients launch over $1 billion in funding announcements, supported hundreds of startups, and produced 100+ events with top partners.

Recognizing the inefficiencies in traditional agency models, Kathy founded Kamel PR to deliver authentic, agile, and results-driven communications strategies tailored to today’s innovators. As an Operating Partner at Strange Ventures, Kathy guides early-stage AI companies on go-to-market and communications strategies. She also serves on the Young Professional Board at Embarc Collective, supporting Florida's tech ecosystem, coaches Southwest Florida entrepreneurs, and teaches high school innovators as an adjunct professor for DoingWIT.

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