Liz Hamburg is a “serial entrepreneur” who has launched successful businesses around the world.  She is the founder and President of Upstart Ventures, helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into realities.  Through Upstart, she has been involved in the startup and growth of over 15 new businesses. She was Chairman and Founder of Hypnotic, a leading branded entertainment company which was sold to a publicly traded company. 

Liz can be heard every Monday and Friday on WOR radio as the co-host of “New York Uncovered” and Launchpad, a weekly segment focusing on entrepreneurs and small business.

Liz was part of the founding management team and Director of the Board of Vimpel Communications (NYSE: VIP), the leading cellular company in Russia and the first Russian company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

She has launched new products for Reuters Tokyo and Fujisankei Communications, one of Japan’s largest media conglomerates, where she worked on the first international television home shopping show and played a leading role in the introduction of Fuji’s Nintendo game software into the U.S.

Liz received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.  She is a Director of the Board of Safe Space, a New York based non-profit; a founding Board member of the Brown University Entrepreneurs Program and a member of the Advisory Panel of the Columbia Business School's Eugene Lang Entrepreneur Initiative Fund. She is a frequent lecturer on entrepreneurship and small business.

Liz has lived and worked abroad and speaks Japanese, Russian and Spanish.