Michael E. Goldberg

Michael Goldberg is an experienced venture capitalist and international business leader whose teaching is focused on the fields of entrepreneurship and early stage finance. Goldberg is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Design and Innovation at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Goldberg’s massive open online course (MOOC) called Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies, has attracted over 36,000 students from 190 countries and been translated into 10 languages. Goldberg also co-founded the Bridge Investment Fund, a venture capital fund focused on investing in Israeli medical device companies that have synergies with the leading health care industries and institutions in Cleveland.

Goldberg was the Director of International Business Development for America Online, responsible for structuring and negotiating international partnerships in Asia, including AOL’s joint venture with Lenovo to develop interactive services for the China market. Goldberg spent several years in South Africa working for the National Democratic Institute, designing and implementing voter education programs for South Africa’s historic first democratic election in 1994. Goldberg also worked for Microsoft and the International Management Group (IMG).

Goldberg has deep experience teaching entrepreneurship in international markets. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 2012 to teach entrepreneurship at the National Economics University in Hanoi, Vietnam. During the summer of 2013, Goldberg taught entrepreneurial management at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He has also conducted seminars on behalf of the US Department of State on entrepreneurship in Cambodia, Czech Republic, Greece, Laos, Macedonia, Myanmar and Spain.

Goldberg is active in the entrepreneurship community in Cleveland, serving as a mentor to entrepreneurs through Jumpstart, FlashStarts and LaunchHouse. He has appeared as a frequent guest panelist on MSNBC’s “Your Business” and written on international entrepreneurship for CNBC, Entrepreneur.com and The Huffington Post.

Goldberg earned a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, MA in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.