GEEK VENTURES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal / Tel Aviv, Israel
Alexander is a Principal at Geek Ventures, focusing on deal sourcing and portfolio companies support.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Managing Partner
- Engineering Leader
- Managing Partner / New York, NY
Ihar Mahaniok, Founder and Managing Partner, is an immigrant engineering leader turned investor.
Ihar grew up in Belarus, where he studied Computer Science. He has over 20 years of experience building code, ML models and engineering teams for startups and conglomerates, including Google & Meta.
As an angel investor, Ihar invested in 150+ startups. Companies he has backed at seed include unicorns such as Instacart, PandaDoc, People.ai, Airbyte, and Jeeves. Ihar moved to the US in 2013.
Ihar founded Geek Ventures in 2021, to advance his mission to support visionary immigrant entrepreneurs.
Ihar enjoys geeking out about Game of Thrones, Manchester United, science fiction, photography, and hiking.
Ihar Mahaniok, an immigrant engineering leader with over 20 years of experience building code and machine learning models for startups and conglomerates, founded Geek Ventures in 2021 after seeing the difficulties immigrant entrepreneurs faced when trying to raise capital and make connections within the U.S. venture-capital ecosystem. Prior to Geek Ventures, Mahaniok invested in notable unicorns as an angel investor including Instacart, PandaDoc, People.ai, Airbyte, and Jeeves at the pre-seed and seed stages, and in hundreds of other successful companies.
Maks is an associate at Geek Ventures, focusing on deal sourcing, screening, and conducting in-depth analyses of prospective startups.
Maks Strukov joined in 2022 as an Analyst and soon grew into an Associate, adding analytical and financial expertise, empowering Geek Ventures to go broader and deeper.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Kyiv, Ukraine
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Executive Assistant / Paris, France
Masha is an Executive Assistant at Geek Ventures. She focuses on operations, making sure everything at Geek Ventures runs smoothly. She is a multitasking maestro, handling a mix of administrative, organizational, and communication tasks.
Before Geek Ventures, Masha gained experience in a large Ukrainian construction company, where she supported executives in various business and social projects. She also voluntarily took charge of managing operations of the Italian NGO in Ukraine to help those affected by the full-scale invasion.
Masha's journey also includes a position as an auditor in the Big 4 where she not only gained valuable experience but also developed a genuine passion for finance.
It's this unique blend of financial acumen, assistance experience, and love for technology and startups that positions her as a valuable asset within the Geek Ventures team.
Outside of work, Masha is passionate about sports, travel, and personal growth.
Masha Vasylyeva joined in 2023 as an Executive Assistant. She contributes operational expertise to Geek Ventures to ensure the smooth and effective functioning of all internal processes.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Austin, Texas
Sarah is an associate at Geek Ventures, focusing on deal sourcing, screening, and conducting in-depth analyses of prospective startups.
Before joining Geek Ventures, Sarah gained experience at several different early-stage VC firms, where she focused on 1) building relationships with VCs, founders, and community builders, 2) sourcing and evaluating startups, and 3) performing due diligence. She's also worked for several startups, including Bulletpitch and WingDriver (Techstars '23).
She's very active in the startup and VC community, and served as the Chief of Staff, member of the Investor Committee, and a Founding Speaker for the Inaugural Texas Venture Gala and Forum, as well as a SXSW 2024 and 2025 Conference PanelPicker Evaluator. On top of this, she's had 30+ speaking engagements on pitching, funding and investing, selecting a viable startup to invest in, and obtaining experience in VC.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Sarah loves going to the arcade. An arcade master, she taught herself how to win countless stuffed animals from crane games by watching YouTube videos.
Sarah Romanko joined in 2024 as an Associate. She brings her experience building relationships with VCs, founders, and community builders, sourcing and evaluating startups, and performing due diligence, as well as significant connections in the Austin ecosystem.