About Us

At Velocity Ave, we have a proven track record. We've worked with a variety of companies and over 65 startups, both inside and outside of Google's incubator (Area 120), inspiring pivots, unlocking new opportunities, and achieving Product-Market Fit in 6-12 month time frames. In Area 120, our support increased the rate of acquisition by 2.4X (40%).

Our expertise spans B2B and B2C across a multitude of industries that includes but isn’t limited to: 

  • Advertising

  • AI/Smart Assistant technology

  • Healthcare

  • Legal industry

  • Enterprise collaboration

  • Privacy and trust

  • Augmented and financial data analytics

  • Commerce

  • Creators (content creation, editing and monetization)

  • Digital transformation

Core Team

  • Maya Joseph-Goteiner, MBA

    CO-FOUNDER & PARTNER | LinkedIn

    Maya is the former Head of UX at Area 120, Google’s Start-up Incubator, where she scaled the research team from 1 to 10 and managed a Design budget of $6M that supported the development of 58 products. Prior to joining Area 120, Maya created the Future of Ads and Analytics programs at Google, led research at Docusign, Indiegogo, and Gannett. She has an MBA and was the founder of an e-commerce startup.

  • Katrina Egert-Pecot, MSc

    CO-FOUNDER & PARTNER | LinkedIn

    Katrina has +10 years of research experience across a variety of industries, including Financial Data Analytics, Consumer Ads, and Digital Assistants/AI Agents. For 6+ years at Google, she led strategic research on Assistant, Consumer Ads, and 0->1 innovation with incubator teams in Area 120. Fascinated by how our brains learn and interact with their environments, she is a cognitive scientist by training with a grad degree in Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. Previously, she was a co-founder of a start-up in the wellness industry.

  • Shima Houshyar, MPhil

    SENIOR RESEARCHER | LinkedIn

    Shima Houshyar is a PhD trained Senior UX Researcher at Velocity Ave. They specialize in strategic product discovery and foundational qualitative research for B2B, B2C, and social impact organizations. Shima has a graduate degree in Anthropology and is currently based in NYC.