Investor Readiness Lab: Impact of Long-Term Mentor Relationships

Speaker: Heather Fay (SBDC) and Dan Myers (ICAP)

Heather Fay is the Director + Regional Administrator of the Virginia SBDC – Greater Roanoke & NRV, the 2025 Virginia SBDC State Star, and a proud Virginia 4-H All Star. With over five years of service at the SBDC, she leads and serves at state and national levels, launching initiatives that strengthen small businesses and advancing professional development across the network. Known for her strategic mindset, collaborative leadership, and commitment to innovation, Heather continues to drive meaningful impact for the business community at every level.

Dan Myers has served Virginia for the last several years as a Mentor and currently Interim Director of Virginia SBDC’s Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program, commonly known as ICAP.  Dan is also the Co-Founder and Managing Director of 42Phi Ventures, a Silicon Valley based VC firm investing in Seed to Series A companies. Previously, Dan was the Founding Director of Runway, which was acquired in 2017 and served as an innovation hub in San Francisco where Dan led startup incubation yielding more than 50 exits in 5 years. Prior, Dan was Co-Founder and CEO of Vallit, a back-end platform that informed and enabled dynamic pricing in e-commerce environments, which was acquired in 2015. Additionally, Dan has designed and managed nationally recognized startup accelerator programs, supported Fortune 100 companies to identify, engage, and acquire startups, and helped build one of the largest startup competitions in the world with finalists pitching to Sir Richard Branson.