Shannon Edwards

MARKETING & NARRATIVE STRATEGY

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You have a product. Shannon helps the world understand why it matters.For more than 25 years she's helped companies enter new markets, shape category-defining narratives, build partnerships, and earn media attention.

Shannon Edwards is an AI adoption and public trust advisor, narrative strategist, and global market entry leader who has spent more than two decades helping companies successfully enter new markets through strategic storytelling, brand positioning, and communications.Throughout her career, Shannon has led international expansion, built category-defining brands, and advised founders and executive teams on how to earn the trust required for growth. She has held leadership positions with companies including ShopStyle (POPSUGAR), Shopping.com (eBay), Vestiaire Collective, Styloko, and numerous high-growth startups, helping transform emerging technologies and disruptive products into compelling stories that resonated with customers, media, investors, and strategic partners.Her experience spans AI, ecommerce, retail technology, digital media, and consumer platforms, with a particular strength in translating complex innovations into narratives that accelerate adoption.As a frequent contributor to international media—including BBC, CNBC, CNN, Sky News, and other leading outlets—she understands how powerful storytelling shapes perception long before a product scales.Today, Shannon advises organizations at the intersection of artificial intelligence, public trust, and innovation. She is the author of AI for Families: Ultimate Guide to Mastering AI.Within the accelerator, Shannon helps international founders craft market-ready narratives, sharpen brand positioning, develop effective go-to-market communications, and build the credibility needed to successfully enter and grow in the U.S. market. Shannon has a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She is a certified emerging ethical technologist (CEET).

Kirsten Co

COMMERCIAL STRATEGY & GTM

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You have momentum. Kirsten helps turn it into revenue.For more than 15 years she's helped founders build enterprise sales, commercial strategy, and GTM execution across four continents.

Kirsten Co is a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer and founder of K&Co., where she helps international, technical founders break into the US enterprise market. Over 15+ years, she's closed more than $100M in enterprise deals across four continents — building go-to-market motions from Atlanta to Singapore to Shenzhen to Wall Street.Her career began at Coca-Cola, where she became one of the youngest expats at 27, delivering transformation programs out of the Atlanta headquarters and ran HR, Finance, and Procurement operations across 13 countries in Asia Pacific, including India and the UK. She then moved into the Singapore startup ecosystem, helping scale three tech startups — including one that reached IPO — before leading enterprise clients for an AI-SaaS company based in Shenzhen, China. That arc gave her operating fluency across US corporate, Southeast Asian startup, and Chinese tech environments.Along the way, she's worked as with clients and partnered with Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Accenture, Slalom, Dyson, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, MCM, GE, and NYSE, among others. Today, she serves as US Market Leader for a France-based AI infrastructure company and leads strategic partnerships for a New York City based financial media intelligence firm specializing in hedge fund news. She also has additional experience in AI-SaaS software for a US government contracting and business development company.She's the New York Lead for AI Collective, leads NYU's Ethical Tech Co-Lab partnerships with Microsoft Garage, and is a featured writer on private markets and startups to watch for Insider Monkey and Yahoo Finance. Kirsten holds an MBA from Sydney Business School and an MS in Global Security, Conflict & Cybercrime from New York University.

THE CHALLENGE

You've built a great product. Breaking into the U.S. market is a different challenge altogether. Success isn't just about better technology. It's about having the right positioning, the right story, the right go-to-market strategy, and the right relationships to earn trust with U.S. customers.
Without those pieces, founders often spend months (or years) chasing the wrong buyers, refining the wrong message, and missing opportunities.

OUR APPROACH

We combine commercial strategy, narrative positioning, and decades of operating experience to help founders enter the U.S. market with confidence—not guesswork.
Everything we teach comes from building, launching, and scaling companies across global markets.

WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE

Your Path to US Market Entry
A focused curriculum built to take you from validated positioning to a buyer-ready GTM motion.

We offer multiple session times each week to meet the schedule of the cohort—so you won't need to adjust your time zone or calendar to meet ours.

YOUR JOURNEY

An Outcome Focused Program

Throughout the Program
We'll actively look for opportunities to connect you with investors, advisors, customers, strategic partners, and members of our network whenever there's a strong mutual fit.
Introductions are never promised—but they're always pursued thoughtfully.

By the end of the program you will have: