About Kevin Siskar

Kevin Siskar is the CEO of Finta and a pre-seed investor with Firehouse Ventures. With over 160 early-stage technology companies in his portfolio, Kevin has a wealth of experience in the venture capital industry and has held leadership roles at various startup accelerators, including the Founder Institute and 43North. Kevin Siskar is also the host of the Ambition Today podcast and co-founded the NYC Innovation Collective. He's been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Next Web, and Entrepreneur.

Kevin Siskar is the CEO of Finta, a company’s fundraising copilot. Finta automates fundraising workflows from end to end, so companies can get back to growing their business. Providing a toolset for founders to execute a blazing-fast process for raising capital, allowing companies to raise more, save time, and increase efficiency.

As the General Partner at Firehouse Ventures, a syndicate with over 500 members, Firehouse Ventures invests in innovative pre-seed and seed-stage startups that have the potential to improve and save lives. The syndicate has an investment range of $50K to $250k in companies and targets pre-money valuations below $20M in the United States.

As Vice President of Portfolio & Selection at 43North, Kevin Siskar supported an early-stage portfolio of 60+ seed-stage investments while also overseeing the selection process for each year’s new cohort of startups. Investing $5m per year with a $500k to $1m check size in 5-8 pre-seed and seed-stage companies annually. In addition, Kevin pioneered a new venture capital “platform” strategy to better support the fund’s portfolio companies. In addition to improving the fund's investment structure in order to maintain competitiveness in the evolving seed-stage market.

As the Managing Director of the Founder Institute, Kevin managed New York's early-stage technology startup accelerator, oversaw the local portfolio of talented founders, and worked with the best startup mentors in New York City. Through a challenging curriculum and strong post-program support, the Founder Institute provides entrepreneurs with structure, mentorship, and the network to start an enduring globally scalable company. Kevin was awarded Best Startup Ecosystem Developer across the Founder Institute network, which serves 200 cities worldwide.

As host of the Ambition Today podcast, Kevin explores the heroism and hardships of the entrepreneurs, builders, investors, and creators who have ambitiously strived to make the world a better place.

Kevin also co-founded the 501(c)(6) nonprofit alliance of New York City’s top tech organizations called the NYC Innovation Collective, where he previously sat on the Board of Directors. This growing group of over 140+ accelerators, incubators, and other platforms of innovation provides easy access to exchange learning programs, resources and relationships to empower the participating leaders in adding more value to their portfolio.

Kevin is an advisor with Loyal VC, which invests in a diversified global pool of pre-selected high-potential tech startups sourced from the world's largest pre-seed accelerator, the Founder Institute, and the world's top business school, INSEAD. While a Venture Partner with Outbound Ventures, Kevin’s expertise in early-stage startups was instrumental in finding consumer brands that embody the millennial mindset. Outbound Ventures invests in brands that “grew up digital” and focus on sustainability, well-being, quality, and convenience. Companies with novel applications of technology that enhance the interaction between brands and consumers.

During his education, Kevin majored in Cognitive Neuroscience at the State University of New York at Buffalo, with a minor in Philosophy. He has an immense fascination for understanding human nature and the ability to transform a simple idea into a larger than life reality. Through this period, Kevin spent time abroad in London, England working for Everyman, an entertainment startup bringing an innovative lifestyle approach to the film and cinema industry. Living in Europe gave Kevin the opportunity to study how sociological research approaches can affect the development, revision, and application of social policies in different contexts. While in the United Kingdom Kevin was awarded the CAPA Record of Achievement.

After London, Kevin moved to New York City and began working for Jason Calacanis’ Launch Ticker, providing news bytes on the latest tech stories for quick and convenient delivery to readers on the go. Kevin then built software and worked on new business development for Collective, one of the largest advertising technology companies in the world at the time. 

In addition to exploring the world of entrepreneurs, enhancing his understanding of venture capital investing and knowledge of startups, Kevin volunteered for almost a decade as a Fireman and EMT near Buffalo, NY, where he served as the Firematic Lieutenant and found great reward in giving back to his community. He sat on the Tech Innovation Board for FWD.us to promote policies that keep the U.S. competitive in a global economy, starting with fixing the United States broken immigration system and criminal justice reform. He is married to his wonderful wife, Colleen, who is a licensed Art Therapist, Teacher, and Fashion blogger at Colors Of Colleen.

In partnership with Skillshare, Kevin teaches the online course, Productivity Today - Managing Attention In The Digital Age, which over 50,000 students around the world have now taken. In this class, Kevin shares how you can increase your attention span, quiet your mind, and get more done.

Kevin has worked with and been featured by The New York Times, Forbes, The Next Web, the NY Jets, Buffalo News, NASDAQ, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Product Hunt, and more.