Erik Michielsen

Hello! My name is Erik Michielsen. I am founder and CEO of Capture Your Flag, an educational media company bringing Near Peer Learning to the world. My thesis is that culture all too often overlooks up and coming Near Peers who are a stage or two ahead in life and instead focuses on either Peers at your level or Experts who are hard to reach or understand. By creating a career documentary interview series that repeats annually, we are building learning products and programming to fill this Near Peer gap one question and answer at a time and help generations of learners better plan, pursue and achieve life and career aspirations.

Before starting my business, I spent 12+ years working in digital media and Internet technology, most recently as an executive at boutique research firm ABI Research. Over many years interviewing and advising leading innovators and executives about developing technology markets, I've been able to help 100s of teams make a greater impact in their work. I've also been able to share what I have learned with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, FOX News, and at major conferences worldwide.

I spent two memorable years in Durham, NC getting an MBA at Duke University and four amazing years in Ann Arbor, MI at the University of Michigan. I love to guest lecture and get inspired by the energy students of all ages bring into a classroom and have done talks at Columbia University, Duke University, General Assembly, and Vanderbilt University to name a few. I'm an active board member and advisor to non-profit Kilifi Kids on its Kenya mobile health initiatives. I love running marathons and hosting dinner parties with friends.