About Us

Eric is a MGP at Crosslink Capital and co-founder of Alpha —the entrepreneurial networking club for more than 1,500 Founders and CEOs. Prior to Crosslink, Eric was a partner at Bay Partners. His startup experience includes co-founding WebSpective (INKT) and TelASIC Communications (MTI). Eric holds a BA from Dartmouth and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mike is a co-founder of Alpha and founder and Managing Director of Founders Circle Capital, a growth stage technology investor that provides secondary liquidity for founders, early employees and investors. Mike has been a venture investor for over 10 years at Panorama Capital and JPMorgan Partners. Mike holds a BA from Berkeley and a JD and MBA from University of Michigan.

Lauren brings 10 years of experience operating in marketing, business development, operations and communications roles for over five Silicon Valley startups and has held strategic roles contributing to early stage hyper growth. Working closely with founders throughout her tenure, Lauren has witnessed the full lifecycle entrepreneurial experience— from early “stealth” stage through strategic acquisition, to a hyper growth Series A-D, to a full wind down.

Outside of work, Lauren is an avid traveler, skier, hiker, and lover of the outdoors.

McLain joined Crosslink in 2017 and focuses on Financial Technology, Digital Health, and Frontier Technology. At Alpha, McLain serves as the Head of Strategic Relationships.

McLain has 12 years of experience working with early stage technology companies as an entrepreneur, leader and investor. Prior to Crosslink, McLain was an early employee at Currenex which was acquired by State Street Bank (STT) in 2007. After the acquisition, McLain worked in State Street’s e-Exchange group, which oversaw all financial technology-related innovations and initiatives within the bank.

While at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, McLain worked as a Summer Associate for SV Angel. McLain went on to run business development for Apparent, which developed innovative networking and control technologies photovoltaic systems. McLain was also at CircleUp where he worked in their fund strategy group—an internal growth equity fund that invested in early stage consumer and retail companies.

Outside of work, McLain co-founded and serves on the board of directors of MAC USA, the 501(c)3 arm of a family organization that helps children and adults with disabilities in developing countries.

Emily joined Alpha in 2012 and focuses on sponsor relations, curating membership and coordinating 60+ events per year for the Alpha Network. Emily was previously a preschool teacher in New York City. When not working, you can find her spending time with her family, running, practicing yoga, and enjoying the outdoors.