# Ian Bergman

> Ian Bergman is CEO of Alchemist Accelerator, an investor and startup advisor, and host of Innovators Inside. He previously led the global Microsoft for Startups field organization and co-founded Raw Story. His work focuses on connecting technical founders, enterprise customers and corporate innovation programs across international startup ecosystems.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Alchemist Accelerator
- **Organizations:** Alchemist Accelerator, AlchemistX, Microsoft, Raw Story, IBM (Extreme Blue internship)
- **Education:** BA in politics and French, Oberlin College, MBA, University of Washington
- **Known for:** Led the global Microsoft for Startups field organization., Co-founded Raw Story., Became CEO of Alchemist Accelerator.

## Career timeline

- **Before Microsoft** — Co-founded the political news website Raw Story.
- **During MBA studies** — Interned at IBM Extreme Blue, working on WebFountain and market research.
- **2005** — As a University of Washington MBA student, discussed participating in its inaugural Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition.
- **2006–2021** — Worked at Microsoft across partner marketing, Windows ecosystem, hardware planning and startup engagement; later Global Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups.
- **2021** — Joined Alchemist Accelerator.
- **2022** — Became head of AlchemistX, its corporate and government services division.
- **2026** — Public Alchemist leadership page identifies him as Chief Executive Officer.

## Achievements

- Led the global Microsoft for Startups field organization.
- Co-founded Raw Story.
- Became CEO of Alchemist Accelerator.
- Hosts Innovators Inside, interviewing founders, corporate innovators and public research leaders.
- First University of Washington Business School student selected for an IBM Extreme Blue internship, according to the university’s archived profile.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Hosted Travis Hann on executive hiring for scaling companies; episode published September 29.
- **2026-09** — Hosted Andrew Brooks on the AI hype tax and production-ready business systems; episode published September 15.
- **2026-08** — Hosted Arati Prabhakar on public R&D and breakthrough innovation; episode published August 18.
- **2026-04** — Announced participation in panels and startup activities at SusHi Tech Tokyo, April 27–29.

## Links

- Website: https://www.alchemistaccelerator.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbergman/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ianbergnet

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ian-bergman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-09