Anna Barber

Managing Director, Techstars LA

Anna Barber is a senior strategic and entrepreneurial executive in the educational technology, mobile learning and kids media sectors. She is currently a Managing Director for Techstars LA and Consultant at Barber Shop Consulting. She was the SVP Product at Age of Learning, Inc. / ABCmouse.com, where she structured product group, hired key VP level employees, and managed design and development of new technology platform. Prior to Age of Learning, Inc., she co-funded Scribble Press and served as its CEO for almost seven years. During her tenure she raised three rounds of capital, expanded the company from Los Angeles to New York., and designed its new retail format. She was also the VP Product Development at Rentanything.com from 2000 to 2001 and the VP Product Mangement at Petstore.com from 1999 to 2000. Anna graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in American Studies and later earned her degree from Yale Law School.

Articles by Anna Barber

The Founder’s Mental Health Playbook: What I Learned After Nearly Burning Out

A hard-won guide to staying mentally healthy while building a startup I founded Stitcher, the podcast platform, in 2007 and ran it for seven years until we sold in 2014....

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Early Stage Companies

In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...

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

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,...

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...

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...