Aaron Tainter
Senior Program Manager, AlphaLab and Portfolio
Hometown: Waldoboro, Maine
What makes you the best person for your role?
Aaron brings over 15 years of experience in innovation, finance, and operations and currently runs the AlphaLab accelerator program. He has operations experience working at Fortune 500 companies as well as early-stage venture capital experience at Meakem Becker Venture Capital. Aaron was a leader on the deal sourcing team at MBVC and built a national deal flow pipeline which led to a number of successful exits including Schoology (acquired by PowerSchool), Kiva Systems (Amazon), and Shipwire (Ingram Micro). Aaron has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business.
What is your favorite thing about working with startups?
Working with startups at AlphaLab allows me to stay on top of trends across the software startup investment landscape. On any given day I work with companies solving problems in diverse industries including Web3, EdTech, Digital Health, FinTech, Vertical SaaS, etc.
What do you love about living and working in Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh is a big enough city to have all the amenities but small enough to still make me feel like I’m in my Maine hometown of 500 people. The same goes with the Pittsburgh startup scene – big enough to be recognized on a national level but small enough so you have access to all of the players.
Where can we find you outside of work?
I’m often the early bird / first person out at the North Park Golf Course. You might also find me at the top of the Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood – my 2 young boys have a fascination with roller coasters. I’m also active with youth sports and coach my kid’s baseball and soccer teams.