AI for Growth: Lessons from Leaders

Daren is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CourtsApp, the first AI-powered booking platform built for racquet sports like tennis, pickleball, padel, and squash. Launching fall of 2025 in the Northeast, CourtsApp is poised to become the go-to platform for court reservations, making it easy for players to book courts and for facilities to fill unused court time without changing a thing.
Daren is also Managing Partner of Hornig Capital Partners, bringing over 35 years of real estate experience with a diverse background as a real estate broker, telecommunications entrepreneur, and real estate investor and developer.
Since founding HCP in 2013, he has acquired and developed over $1 billion in properties across office, residential, retail, and industrial sectors. In 2023, he successfully acquired the famed Port Washington Tennis Academy and partnered with Sportime to establish Sportime Port Washington, home to the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. Following an $8 million renovation, the facility now features 13 tennis courts and 12 pickleball courts and 2 golf simulators.
In 2024, Daren partnered with Sportime again to launch Sportime Pickleball, focused on expanding pickleball facilities throughout the Northeast. The company currently operates five clubs, spanning 160,000 square feet with 66 indoor dedicated courts, and is actively acquiring new properties through leases and acquisitions to expand further.
A 1989 graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, with a bachelor's degree in Business Marketing, Daren resides in both New York and Florida. When he's not building companies and buildings or opening new pickleball facilities, you can find him on the courts or the slopes.

Justin is a Partner at Limitless Capital, an investment firm focused on premium capture, risk management, and options-based strategies in the equity derivatives space. I’m interested in how finance, technology & innovation come together in practice, and I’m open to connecting with others to explore ideas, strategic relationships, and opportunities for collaboration.

Jonathan Kvarfordt 

AI and GTM expert with 15+ years in revenue excellence and GTM Strategy. Revenue leader at 1mind, previously led marketing at Momentum, recently acquired by Salesforce. Has consulted hundreds of companies and CRO/CMO leaders on GTM AI strategy over the last 4 years and spoken at HumanX, Forrester, Domo, and AI4. Founder of GTM AI Academy, with 10,000+ leaders and operators as students. Writes Elite Growth on what's actually working at the intersection of AI and go-to-market for modern C Suite leaders.

Dr. Karen Jacobs is an occupational therapist with a career spanning over four decades. She is the Program Director of the post-professional doctorate in occupational therapy program and a Clinical Professor of occupational therapy at Boston University’s  (BU) Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

She holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) degree from the University of Massachusetts, a Master’s degree in occupational therapy from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree from Washington University. She has expertise in various areas, including ergonomics, artificial intelligence, online education, and advocacy. Her passion for enhancing occupational performance has led to extensive research, publications, and presentations worldwide.

As a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association (FAOTA), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), Dr. Jacobs has been recognized for her outstanding contributions as a scholar, professor, advocate, and mentor, who has inspired countless students and practitioners.

Throughout her career, Dr. Jacobs has held leadership positions such as the president and vice president of the AOTA contributing to the growth and development of occupational therapy at both national and international levels and received awards including being a 2005 recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Iceland, the 2011 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award, the AOTA 2020 Outstanding Mentor Award and 2024 AOTA/AOTF Presidents' Commendation in Honor of Wilma L. West.

Dr. Jacobs has authored numerous publications, including books, chapters and articles and is the founding editor-in-chief in 1990 of the journal WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation. She has co-authored 21 children’s books. She is an advisor to KorroAI.

Jason Kraus is the Founder and CEO of Prepare 4 VC, where he works with early-stage founders—from pre-seed through Series A—to become investor-ready, sharpen their narrative, and scale with clarity and confidence. Under his leadership, founders in the program have raised over $480 million in capital while developing stronger decision-making, leadership discipline, and a deeper understanding of how to operate on both sides of the fundraising table.

Jason is also an active venture investor through EQx Fund and Equity Venture Partners, with more than 20 investments spanning technology, life sciences, and proptech. His experience as both an investor and advisor informs his core belief that the most important asset in any venture is its people—and that high-EQ leadership is what ultimately turns ordinary ideas into meaningful, scalable solutions.

Beyond his work with founders, Jason serves as Director of Startup Grind Boston, where he brings together entrepreneurs, investors, and operators for candid conversations about building and scaling companies. He is also the author of Venture Forward: Lessons from Leaders, a collection of real founder stories focused on resilience, perspective, and conviction in the face of uncertainty.

 John is a Board-Certified Family & Lifestyle Medicine Physician who spent years prior as a chiropractor & nutritionist working primarily with physicians and surgeons. He helped thousands during illness, surgeries, and debilitating spine and joint pain regain their health through comprehensive care often including manual therapy, nutrition, and laser. Years of research led to the development of his company NeuropathyDR® and the NDGen® treatment systems now used worldwide to better help those suffering from neuropathy, chronic pain & related illness. His work with the sickest led to the completion of Medical School (USAT, Montserrat), where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. John completed Family & Lifestyle Medicine Residency at St. Lukes's Anderson, in Easton PA. He is the first ever MD to complete their Osteopathic Training program as well.

John's major purpose now is to help those who desire his unique skill set and years of experience with full spectrum Direct Primary Care & Integrative Medicine unavailable anywhere else.

John also trains Physicians & PT's how To Incorporate his Research Based Care for Neuropathy, Chronic Illness & Pain Patients from around the world have visited his practice.

Sarah Mason is the founder and owner of Cape Cod Nail Co., an award-winning nail salon and 21-free nail polish brand inspired by life on Cape Cod. What began as the Cape’s first mobile nail salon in 2016 has grown into a thriving multi-location business known for healthy nail care, exceptional sanitation standards, and a strong sense of community.

Sarah is passionate about redefining the nail industry through education, ethical business practices, and products designed to perform without compromising nail health. In addition to leading her growing brand, she is the founder of Colors for Causes, a purpose-driven initiative using nail polish collections to support nonprofits, scholarships, and community impact projects.

Known for her honest storytelling, creative marketing, and approachable leadership style, Sarah shares the realities of entrepreneurship, balancing business growth with motherhood, and building a values-driven brand from the ground up on Cape Cod.

Howard's entrepreneurial journey spans a career in tech, media, and real estate. After serving as Chief Marketing Officer of a publicly-traded media company, he turned to real estate investing and closed hundreds of transactions. To scale his investing activities, he founded LandSpeed — developing CRMs and pricing tools that became widely popular with land investors across the country. That experience as both a practitioner and a builder gave him a unique lens on what real estate professionals actually need — and earsnax is the answer.  

Julie Foster, is the founder of A New Path Life & Grief Coaching. She helps adults navigate grief, loss, and life’s toughest transitions with a mix of compassion, real-life experience, and practical tools that actually help.

Julie has a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Bridgewater State University and has spent over 10 years working as a mental health counselor in the substance use disorder treatment field. She’s also a certified Grief Recovery Specialist, an ICF-trained Life Coach, and a certified Grief Educator through David Kessler’s program.

Julie’s work is deeply personal. After losing her mother to glioblastoma in 2018, she went on her own healing journey and discovered the grief recovery methods she now teaches to others. Along with her professional background, she also brings more than 23 years of sobriety to the work she does today.

She’s passionate about helping people move through grief in a way that feels supportive and empowering. Julie serves on the Women’s Wellness Committee at The JPH Organization in Marshfield and volunteers at Hope Floats Healing & Wellness Center in Kingston, where she co-facilitates a parent loss support group.

Sergei is the founder and CEO of 100XBIO, a Boston-based startup automating cell biology. An immunologist with 20 years of R&D experience, he previously led preclinical research for oncology and mRNA vaccine projects. He believes we cannot accelerate biotech while most lab experiments are still run manually. Sergei is now building a "one-click" benchtop instrument to make life-saving research 10x more efficient and research infrastructure AI-ready. Automating complex workflows is the only path to truly AI-driven biology labs.