Paul Bragiel is a superstar in the tech industry. Entrepreneur, investor, speaker and aspiring athlete, Paul is also Co-Founder and Managing Partner of i/o Ventures, his fourth company. His first three creations were Lefora, a product that revolutionized online forums; Meetro, the first location-based social network; and Paragon Five, a game development studio.

i/o Ventures is a three-month accelerator program for tech startups in Silicon Valley. It invests up to $25K per startup and only focuses on five of them at a time, with a total of ten to twelve investments every year. This means that they get to work very closely with the selected startups that want to move to the next level, need to raise funds, and need guidance.

During the three months, partners (from companies like MySpace and BitTorrent) and mentors (from companies like OpenDNS, Yelp, and Digg) coach the startups. Stationed in i/o Ventures offices, the young enterprises focus on their product’s market readiness, and meet other entrepreneurs. At the end of the 3 months, angel investors and venture capitalists come in and listen to what the company offers.

Besides his entrepreneurial and investing skills, Paul has competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics on the Colombian Cross Country Ski team (a childhood dream of his), canoed the entire Mississippi River and bicycled across the United States.

From entrepreneur to accelerator, Paul has become a staple in the field and has gathered immense insight on the startup world. His dedication to making his dreams – and the ones of younger entrepreneurs – a reality is an inspiration to take risks and just go for it.