About

Michael Bervell is a Ghanaian-American angel-investor, entrepreneur, and best-selling author. He is the founder and CEO of TestParty.

Bervell is the author of “Unlocking Unicorns,” a bestselling book about the stories, habits, and lessons of billion-dollar startup founders in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East available on Amazon and in bookstores globally. His book was a 2022 Independent Author Network (IAN) Book of the Year Awards Finalist. For over 4 years, he has blogged daily on his website “Billion Dollar Startup Ideas” and received more than 800,000 impressions from over 150 different countries.

In 2007, Bervell co-founded “Hugs for” an international, student-run non-profit organization focused on using grassroots strategies to develop countries around the world. To date, "Hugs for" has fundraised over $500,000 of material and monetary donations; impacted over 300,000 youth around the world; and expanded operations to 6 countries (Tanzania, Ghana, United States, Uganda, Kenya, and Sierra Leone). Because of his work, Bervell was awarded the National Caring Award in 2015 (alongside Pope Francis, Dikembe Mutombo, and 7 others).

Bervell is the youngest Elected Director of the Harvard Alumni Association and was the youngest President of the Harvard Club of Seattle. He has helped to found and lead a variety of organizations including the WednesdAI Collective (a Harvard & MIT AI incubation lab), Enchiridion Corporation (a marketing consulting company), Sigma Squared (formerly the Kairos Society), and Billion Dollar Startup Ideas (a media and innovation company). He has experience working as a Chief of Staff at Databook, Venture Fellow at Harlem Capital, Portfolio Development Manager at Microsoft’s Venture Fund, Program Manager at Microsoft, and Software Engineer at Twitter.

His various efforts have earned him recognition as a Samvid Scholar (2022), Warnick Fellow (2021), Jonathan Hart Prize Winner (2019), GE-Lloyd Trotter Scholar (2018), World Internet Conference Wuzhen Scholar (2017), Walter C. Klein Scholar (2017), United Health Foundation Scholar (2016), Deutsche Bank Rise Into Success Scholar (2016), Blacks at Microsoft Scholar (2016), Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leader (2015), Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholar (2015), National Achievement Scholar (2015), Coca-cola Scholar (2015), Elks Scholar (2015), AXA Achievement Community Scholar (2015), Build-a-bear Workshop Huggable Hero (2014), and more.

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Updated 8.16.2024

Angel Investments

I’ve been angel investing since 2019. The companies in my portfolio are collectively valued at over $1 billion. In that time, I’ve co-invested alongside investors such as Tim Draper, Reid Hoffman, John Legend, and Olugbenga Agboola, and funds such as Y Combinator, Sequoia, Lightspeed, Craft Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Sozo Ventures, and Bessemer. My investment philosophy is focused on finding the brightest, under-represented founders and giving them the capital for their businesses to thrive.

• Anthropic, reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems

• Harmonic Labs, data-engine for startup insights (Advisor)

• Warmly,, AI warm-intros platform to close more deals

• Arist, science-backed text-message learning platform

• Databook, all-in-one enterprise sales platform for execution (Employee #91)

• The Marriage Pact, research questions for love or Gartner for Gen Z

• Payhippo, financing for SMBs in Africa through AI credit worthiness

• Morty, physical experience scheduling starting with escape rooms

• WHYM, text message purchasing platform to replace email marketing

• Shades, news for Gen Z: the Internet's new reference of record.

• Webacy, a suite of tools making crypto self-custody secure and easy

• Mogul, liquid fractional ownership platform in high-yielding rental properties

• ROOK, biomarker and health data API for wearables

• JusticeText, video evidence management for fairer trials

• Crafted, user-generated-content platform for food and beverage

• Reliabl, community-driven data classification and moderation.

• Lips, a LGBTQIA+ friendly social network

• Zette, a subscription paywall-busting extension for news

• ChipBrain, emotionally intelligent AI for sales conversations

Info

 Current Projects
--- Founder and CEO at TestParty
--- Elected Director at Harvard Alumni Association

Featured Press (with links)
TechCrunch, TestParty $4m Fundraise (June 2024)
Harvard New Venture Competition Finalists (March 2024)
Harvard Alumni Association Election (May 2022)
Unlocking Unicorns Press Release (October 2021)
Harvard Club of Seattle (July 2020)
Microsoft Diversity & Inclusion Report (2019, Page 37)
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation (June 2019)
Harvard Gazette (April 2019)
US News & World Report (April 2016)
National Merit Scholarship (January 2016)
The Harvard Crimson (November 2017)
Bank of America (November 2017)
Huffington Post (July 2016)
National Caring Award (December 2015)
Everett Herald (June 2015)
Seattle Refined (August 2014)
Build-a-bear Workshop (August 2014)

Awards
Samvid Scholar (2022)
UW Faculty Awards for Outstanding Research (2021)
Harvard University’s Jonathan Hart Prize (2019)
GE-Lloyd Trotter Scholar (2018)
World Internet Conference Scholar (2017)
United Health Foundation Scholar (2016)
National Caring Award (2015)
Coca-Cola Scholar (2015)
Jackie Robinson Scholar (2015)
Evergreen Boys State Governor (2014)

Podcast Hosting
- Harlem Capital’s More Equity Podcast Inaugural Host: Interviewed Nick Caldwell, Dawn Dickson, Albrey Brown, Elias Torres, Ralph Clark, and Tom Chavez (October 2020)

Speaking and Interviews
- Bhutan Institute of Happiness, First Impressions (December 2023)
- A Harvard Evening in the Shark Tank with Kevin O'Leary (October 2023)
- Raising Funds as a Gen Z - Linqto Global Investor Conference (December 2022)
- Unlocking Unicorns, North America vs Emerging Markets - Linqto Learn (October 2022)
- Becoming Highly Successful Before 30 - with Michael Bervell (August 2022)
- Michael Bervell: One Book Away From Unlocking Unicorns (August 2022)
- Web3 Inclusivity Summit: D&I in NFTs by Michael Bervell (May 2022)
- The Perfect Conversation with Michael Bervell (March 2022)
- Microsoft’s Upward Podcast: Learn, Build, Give with Michael Bervell (February 2022)
- Feed Your Brain - Michael Bervell: Writing a Book, Interviewing Jack Ma, Africa’s Startup Ecosystem, and Angel Investing (November 2021)
- Behind the Vision with Michael Bervell: Unlocking Unicorns (October 2021)
- Michael Bervell: Unlocking Unicorns, Rejection Therapy, and Redefining Time (August 2021)
- Unlocking Unicorns Book Theme Reveal (November 2021)
- Harlem Capital + Forbes MORE EQUITY Pitch Competition (October 2020)
- Deep Dive: Building secure cloud-connected IoT solutions with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (July 2020)
- Microsoft Build: “What it’s like to be a Microsoft Intern” (May 2020)
- Black Young Professionals Network (March 2020)
- Peace Fund Radio Show (April 2015)

Publications (with links)
- Bervell, Michael. “Seven Lessons from the Section Experience.” Harvard Business School, MBA Blog. July 19. 2024.
- (Head Research Assistant) Dell’Acqua et. al. “Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality.” Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper No. 24-013, 2023.
- Bervell, Michael. “Latvia.” What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare, edited by Carlisle Barracks, US Army War College Press, 2022, pp. 199-214.
- Bervell, Michael. “Unlocking Unicorns: Ten Startup Stories from Diverse Billion-dollar Founders in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.” New Degree Press, 2021.
- Bervell, Michael and Greenwald, Rachel. “A Cartesian Theory of Conversation.” Harvard Business School NERD Lab, 2020.
- Bervell, Michael. “Data Ombudsman for the New International Data Bank: Surveillance Capitalism, Privacy, and Big Data.” Almagest Journal for History and Philosophy of Science (2019): 1-11. Vol 5. Toronto: Canada, 2019.
- Bervell, Michael. “Click Here to Accept: Electronic Informational Privacy on Social Media.” Harvard Philosophy Department (2019): Senior Honors Thesis. Cambridge, MA, 2019.
- Bervell, Michael. “Mapping Cultural Philanthropy: Levine Music.” Dumbarton Oaks Museum (2018). Washington, D.C., 2018.
- Bervell, Michael. “50 Successful Harvard Application Essays: 5th Edition.” St. Martin’s Press (2017): 3-6. New York, NY, 2017.

Education
Harvard Business School, 2022 - 2024 || (MBA)
University of Washington, 2019 - 2021 || (MA Communications)
Harvard University, 2015 - 2019 || (AB Philosophy & Computer Science)
Life, 1997 - Present || (Breathing, Thinking, Eating)