Aaron comes from a Wall Street background and served as an analyst and associate at Barclays Investment Bank in Manhattan. His work centered around equity capital markets and investor engagement for businesses across multiple industries including Financials, FinTech, and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (a cross-sector product) where he supported the raise of billions of dollars of capital over his tenure.
After leaving Barclays, Aaron founded Argent Strategies in 2019 which serves as a growth consulting firm focused on supporting Startups, Web3 Businesses, & Small Businesses across their business, financial, and capital raising needs.
In 2021, Aaron cofounded Dinerazo which provides financial literacy, investment education, and relevant financial solutions for the Hispanic community globally, and BR Wins which offers battle royale tournaments for cash prizes to gamers of every skill level
Aaron graduated with a degree in Finance from the W. P. Carey School of Business & Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University in 2016. While at Arizona State, he served as a Tillman Scholar, an active member of the Investment Banking Industry Scholars, and a founding father of the Pi Kappa Alpha ASU chapter.
Alex McElfish, Partner
Alex comes from an Engineering background with a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from Oregon State University. His work in the Biotech industry was centered on early-stage companies focused on growing and scaling.
After being exposed to Operations and Finance within these companies, he decided to further his education by obtaining his Master of Science in Finance from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. While at W.P. Carey, he was chosen by the University to be a part of the Student Leadership Council and graduated as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society.
Alex has since moved to the Miami area and joined the Argent team focusing on Florida, Arizona, and Oregon-based entrepreneurs. In January 2021 Alex received his Series 65 License and cofounded Dinerazo, serving as the company’s Chief Compliance Officer. Outside of work, he enjoys golfing, gaming, and off-roading.
Neda Hassanzadeh, Operations Manager
Neda comes from a healthcare background with a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Global Health from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. Her work in healthcare centered around multidisciplinary practice management and operations.
While attending Columbia University, Neda developed a passion for entrepreneurship, marketing, and operations. She went on to successfully grow and operate multiple interdisciplinary health focused companies including a non-medical home care company and a med spa in Arizona since 2018.
Having successfully executed on these businesses from idea to scale, Neda turned her attention towards expanding her efforts into the world of startups and web3. In 2022, Neda joined the Argent Strategies team as Operations Manager where she oversees operations and marketing strategy & execution.
Roxette Miranda, Advisor
Roxette comes from a tech background where she was employee #4 at Avia Medical, a medical device company. At Avia, she was in charge of operations and sales & marketing until the company achieved certification for a novel minimally invasive spinal surgical product and the company was exited. After, she joined a fast-growing SaaS startup for coworking management called Happy Desk, as a workspace consultant, a small and lean team at WUN she maximized the growth strategies and was part of M&A. She spent the next few years at Fortune 500 companies eventually leading the Yardi team in its new coworking division called KUBE.
While at Yardi, she wanted to continue helping companies grow in the tech space and launched Founder Institute Florida in order to help entrepreneurs from ideation to fundraising. To date, Roxette has helped launch 40 companies and the number keeps growing.
As of 2021, Roxette is the Managing Director at The LAB Miami, an innovation hub in Wynwood, Miami, that hosts resources for entrepreneurs and investors. Aside from being a collaborative space, Roxette has made it the premier space for web3 events, and Pitch Nights. In addition, she also acts as a startup advisor for other accelerators in the space.
After graduating from FIU, she went to get a Certificate of Financial Accounting from HBS.
James Irvine, Advisor
James started his career in JP Morgan’s intern and analyst programs rotating across four departments over four years. He then moved on to Merrill Lynch Wealth Management where he focused on managing portfolios for high net worth clients.
After leaving Merrill Lynch, James founded Pitch Night, a pitch competition for early stage startups, in 2018. The event grew rapidly and expanded to Miami in 2019. James quickly became a go to authority for pitching, pitch decks and fundraising strategy.
James has supported several early stage startups with their fundraising efforts and currently focuses on leveraging his expertise to accelerator programs and startup organizations. He also directs the Florida chapter of Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator.