Eli Portnoy

CEO, Sense360

Eli Portnoy is the co-founder and CEO of Sense360. Eli and his colleagues are making mobile apps smarter by helping them leverage the sensors on smartphones to detect location, activity, and context in the background. They make it as easy as a few lines of code, and ensure high accuracy, low battery drain, and privacy safeguards. Previously, Eli was the co-founder and CEO of Thinknear, a location-based mobile ad network, and sold it within 19 months of inception to Telenav (NASDAQ: TNAV) in what remains the largest ever acquisition of a TechStars company. After the acquisition he became President of the Thinknear business unit within Telenav, and have helped grow the business many times over, built the team to 70+ people, and helped Thinknear take a leadership position in the industry. Eli loves to write and has been a recurring contributor for both Forbes.com and AdExchanger.com. I have also been a guest contributor on TechCrunch, StreetFight, Digiday, MediaPost, and many other publications. Previously he was a Sr. Product Manager at Amazon working on the Digital Video team. His focus was on defining the experience across our connected devices (TVs and set-top boxes) and working with the Prime team on what became Prime Instant Video. Eli graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a BA in International Relations, Political Science.

Articles by Eli Portnoy

Startup Guide to AI Visibility Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Startup Guide to AI Visibility: Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Introduction Today, users aren’t just searching on Google. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI systems for advice. AI visibility is the new frontier of brand awareness....

Practical Uses of AI Automation for Startup Operations

Practical Uses of AI & Automation for Startup Operations

In a recent Mucker Growth Series session, we invited Rock Vitale, Founder & CEO of Easie, to share how he’s helped early-stage teams move from manual, fragmented workflows to streamlined,...

New York Tech Week Mucker Sessions Recap

2025 New York Tech Week Recap Of Mucker Sessions

Last week during New York Tech Week 2025, we joined more than 1,000 events hosted by founders, investors, and VCs. This post is a full Mucker recap of the three...

Build a Customer Support Function for Startups Using AI Alex Velinov

How to Build a Customer Support Function for Startups Using AI Tools with Alex Velinov

Delivering high-quality customer support can be one of the most resource-draining parts of a startup. The good news: we’re at a turning point where founders can use AI tools to...

Zero → 100: The Exact Steps We Took to Close Our First 100 Paying Customers

Zero → 100: The Exact Steps We Took to Close Our First 100 Paying Customers

Going from zero customers to 100 in just four months sounds impossible—unless you’re a founder willing to roll up your sleeves and hustle relentlessly. I’m Gaurav Bhattacharya, co-founder of Jeeva.ai,...

Sales Discovery & Qualification for Startups Richard Harris

Unblocking Startup Growth: Best Practices for Sales Discovery & Qualification with Richard Harris

Startups are in a constant race against time and resources, navigating complex sales environments with lean teams and limited margins for error. In a recent session from the Mucker Growth...

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