Startup Mentor, Silicon Valley

I help founders raise capital and break into the US market.

Mentorship from a founder with 3 exits, who built the e-bike that holds a Guinness World Record, and who raised $3.4M in a single crowdfunding campaign. Not theory. Everything on this page is clickable and verifiable.

Book a free strategy session

30 minutes. No pitch, no obligations.

Proof, not promises

228 mi Guinness World Record for distance on a single charge, set on the Delfast e-bike my company built Record holders: Delfast and rider Vitalii Arhipkin, not Daniel personally guinnessworldrecords.com ↗ 2021 + 2022 Forbes Fastest Electric Bike, two years running forbes.com ↗

$3.4M Raised in one crowdfunding campaign Fundable ↗ + $165,800 on Kickstarter ↗ Coverage: AIN ↗

2013 Mentoring founders since. Founding Mentor at Signal. joinsignal.ai/mentors ↗

As seen in

Where founders get stuck

What we can fix together

Fundraising and pitch

Your pitch is not landing. Investors go quiet after the first meeting.

We rebuild the narrative, the deck, and the room, then drill the Q&A until it is boring.

Raised $5M+ across angels, VCs, accelerators, and crowdfunding. 500 Global batch 33. Pitched at YC. Judge at Unicorn Battle Silicon Valley.

US market entry

You built something real outside the US and now need to make it work here.

We map the path from outside-US traction to a story Silicon Valley investors recognize.

Made the move myself: Kazakhstan, then Ukraine, then Silicon Valley. Built and sold VisaNow.AI, an immigration platform, for $11.4M.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding looks like free money until you try to actually run a campaign.

We plan the pre-launch list, the page, the press push, and the fulfillment math before you take a single dollar.

Raised $3.4M in a single campaign on Fundable plus $165,800 on Kickstarter. Coverage: AIN.

Hardware scaling

You have a working prototype. Manufacturing, logistics, and distribution are a different problem entirely.

We work through sourcing, unit economics, and the first market launches with someone who has shipped it.

Took Delfast from $0 to $8M in sales across 40+ countries in 5 years. Built the e-bike that holds a Guinness World Record for distance on a single charge: 228 miles. Forbes Fastest Electric Bike, 2021 and 2022.

Sell or pivot

You do not know if you should keep pushing, pivot, or sell.

We pressure-test the option you are avoiding and decide with numbers, not fear.

Sold 3 companies: best.ua, Delfast Delivery, VisaNow.AI. Three different exits, three different reasons.

Book a free strategy session

60 seconds on how I got here

From gas stations in Kazakhstan to Silicon Valley

I started as a geophysicist in Kazakhstan, then moved into building out a fuel station network for KazMunayGas that grew from 9 to 500 stations before it was sold.

Kyiv came next. I built and sold best.ua, hosted a radio show called "Startup for a Million" on Europa Plus for 19 episodes, and spent a season doing theater on the side, because building companies alone gets lonely.

Then Delfast: an electric bike company that went from $0 to $8M in sales across 40+ countries in 5 years. I built the e-bike that holds a Guinness World Record for distance on a single charge: 228 miles (367 km). I sold the company in 2020.

I moved to the US during the war in Ukraine. Built VisaNow.AI, an AI platform for immigration cases, and sold it to JustiGuide in 2026 for $11.4M.

Now building CoreElement.AI. Mentoring founders is the constant across all of it: I started in 2013 and never stopped.

$5M+ total raised (angels, VC, accelerators, crowd)
20,000+ founders and students mentored
3 US patents
2.5B media impressions
500 Global batch 33
NVIDIA Inception member

iForum stage

Record-setting bike

Silicon Valley

What mentees say

Testimonials

How it works

Three steps, no fluff

1

Free strategy session, 30 minutes

We go through your business and find the one thing actually blocking you.
2

Ongoing mentorship

If it is a fit, we set up monthly sessions, network access, and async support between calls.
3

Focused sprints

Pitch deck, investor Q&A training, crowdfunding campaign prep. Scoped and time-boxed.

Who this is for

Early-stage founders who want to do the work, not just hear about it
Hardware and deep-tech founders
Founders planning a crowdfunding campaign
International founders entering the US market

Who this is not for

Founders looking for a magic fix
Founders looking for an investor "through a connection"
Anyone who wants a deck without doing the thinking behind it

Track record

Mentoring since 2013. 20,000+ founders and students taught.

Alchemist Accelerator
Signal, Founding Mentor ↗
Startupbootcamp
Intelligent People
MinT

Jury: Unicorn Battle Silicon Valley, Startup Weekend, BarCamp.

Questions

FAQ

What happens on the free session?: We spend 30 minutes on your business. By the end you will have a clear read on the one thing most worth fixing next.
Is it really free?: Yes. The first session costs nothing and comes with no obligation to continue.
What stage do you work with?: Pre-seed and seed. If you are earlier or later than that, tell me on the call and I will point you somewhere better.
Do you invest?: Not through this page. Sometimes I make an introduction to investors I know, but this site is about mentorship, not checks.
Do you work in Russian or Ukrainian?: Yes, both, alongside English.
How does ongoing mentorship work?: Monthly sessions, access to my network, and async support between calls. We set the cadence together after the first session.
Can you build my pitch deck?: Yes, as a scoped sprint alongside the mentorship, not as a one-off freelance job.
Do you speak at events?: Yes. See "Invite me to speak" in the footer.

Get started

Let's find your bottleneck.

Pick a time. 30 minutes, no pitch required.