Advice from people who have already done it.
One to one, at no cost, for emerging technology companies and innovation-driven small businesses.
What advisory covers
Contracting & Procurement
Positioning to win government and corporate contracts, including LA28 opportunities.
Operations & Growth
Pricing, hiring, systems, and the groundwork that makes scaling survivable.
AI Adoption
Finding the use cases worth pursuing in your business, and ignoring the ones that aren’t.
Access to Capital
Advising on what makes a business fundable — what lenders and investors look for, which route fits you, and how to get ready before you approach them.
The Long Beach Accelerator connects business owners with advisors who have built, financed, and scaled companies of their own. Sessions are one to one, there is no cost, and you do not need to be part of a cohort. LBA advising is for emerging technology companies and innovation-driven small businesses.
You bring the problem in front of you. They bring the experience of having solved it before.
Who it’s for
Emerging technology companies and innovation-driven small businesses, at any stage. You do not need to be an LBA cohort member, or based in Long Beach, to work with an advisor.
How it works
- Tell us where you are. A short intake covering your business, its stage, and what you’re trying to get past.
- We match you. You’re paired with an advisor whose background fits the problem, not just the industry.
- You meet. One to one, scheduled around you.
Meet the advisors
Advisors are owners and operators who have built, financed, and scaled companies of their own. Each is listed with their area of focus, so you can see who fits the problem you’re bringing.
Amy Truong
Life Science, Health Tech & AI
A 3x founder and venture builder who helps life science, health tech and AI companies get from validation to commercialization — and build the partnerships that get new technology adopted.
Full bio
Amy Truong is a social entrepreneur, venture builder, angel investor, and startup advisor working at the intersection of life science, health tech, AI, and systems innovation. A 3x founder with experience in small business brick and mortar to tech enabled services in health and food delivery, she now supports early and growth-stage companies in translating breakthrough technologies into scalable businesses, helping teams move from concept and validation to commercialization and market adoption.
Her work focuses on guiding startups through key inflection points including pilot design, clinical and operational data generation, regulatory navigation, product-market fit, and go-to-market strategy. Amy also helps founders build strategic partnerships with health systems, payers, and enterprise partners to accelerate adoption of emerging technologies such as AI-enabled clinical tools, digital health platforms, and data-driven care models.
In addition to advising startups, Amy works with healthcare systems and institutions to build new ventures and implement emerging technologies that improve care delivery, operational efficiency, and patient outcomes. She mentors founders through accelerator programs supporting companies developing frontier technologies in highly regulated industries. Earlier in her entrepreneurial journey, Amy participated in the LA BioStart incubator, which shaped her commitment to strengthen founder ecosystems and venture development.
She holds a Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine, an MPH from UCLA, and is currently completing her MBA at UCLA Anderson, where she focuses on venture creation, global investment, and cross-border partnerships.
Max A. Ordonez
Access to Capital & Procurement
Sixteen years advising entrepreneurs through Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and the SBDC, focused on securing financing and winning government and corporate contracts.
Full bio
Max A. Ordonez is an entrepreneurial executive with extensive hands-on experience in strategic and financial management, accounting, operations, and project management. For more than 16 years, Mr. Ordonez has advised entrepreneurs through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
He specializes in helping startups and small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) secure financing and pursue procurement opportunities with government agencies and major corporations.
His professional experience includes strategic planning, business development, client management, financial forecasting, and operational reporting for organizations across industries such as insurance, construction, construction management, development and redevelopment, technology, software, and medical device companies throughout Southern California.
Claudia M. Herrera
Growth Strategy & Capital
A serial entrepreneur with 30+ years in investment banking and private equity advisory who has helped raise more than $2 billion and turns founder-dependent businesses into scalable ones.
Full bio
Claudia M. Herrera is a serial entrepreneur and strategic growth advisor who has co-founded and scaled multiple multi-million-dollar companies. She achieved her first multi-million-dollar exit in her twenties after acquiring an investment banking firm with a team of 30 professionals and expanding it to more than 450 financial advisors. Under her leadership, the firm successfully helped take four companies public within five years, establishing her early reputation for building high-performance organizations and executing complex growth strategies.
With more than 30 years of experience spanning investment banking, private equity advisory, healthcare practices, commercial real estate, and operational turnarounds, Claudia is known for compressing decades of growth into months by aligning financial strategy, operational systems, and market positioning. With a background in Electrical Engineering, she brings a rare analytical and systems-thinking approach to business growth, applying engineering principles to organizational design and helping companies integrate artificial intelligence and advanced technologies into their operations to accelerate scalability, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.
Throughout her career, Claudia has guided leadership teams through high-stakes growth phases, restructurings, and acquisitions, while advising institutional investors, including private equity firms, family offices, and insurance companies, on capital deployment strategies.
She has helped raise more than $2 billion across complex transactions in commercial real estate, hospitality, and healthcare. Her work focuses on identifying hidden value within businesses, strengthening operational performance, and positioning companies to attract capital, strategic partnerships, and premium valuations. Combining institutional-level financial insight with technological fluency and hands-on operational leadership, Claudia helps founders transform founder-dependent businesses into disciplined, scalable organizations capable of rapid expansion, institutional investment, and transformative exits.
Bring us the problem in front of you.
Tell us where your business is and what’s in the way. We’ll match you with an advisor who has been there — at no cost.