I am an investor in the Tech Wildcatters VII 2017 fund. It is supposed to be a venture capital fund managed by Gabriella Draney Zielke and Ricky Tejapaibul of Tech Wildcatters, a Dallas startup accelerator. Tech Wildcatters and Gabriella have been in the news a lot over the past couple years, and the articles are mostly about scandal, layoffs, and problems with investors and startups. There were also a series of at least 6 anonymous emails this year where Gabriella was accused of fraud, theft, and embezzlement. The emails have compelling information, images, and links that seemed to verify most of the claims. I and other investors met with Gabriella to discuss the issues and she promised to have the funds audited and provide the investors with a report of the audit and other investigations. She basically blamed disgruntled ex-employees and interns for the emails. I was surprised to see the entire office was empty except Gabriella.
When asked, she said that she had fired all of the employees. We later learned that most of the employees quit.
The audit results did not arrive as promised. We had to constantly pressure Gabriella to get the audit going, and the other investigation into the allegations never happened. 4 months later, we finally got the audit results and we were shocked. It showed that nearly 70% of the fund was missing. Gabriella admitted to taking the 70% as her fee. That’s about $800k. Who charges 70% as a management fee on a venture capital fund? No one does.
When I invested in the fund, she said the fees would be like other venture capital funds, which are typically 1-3%. NOT 70%.
The audit results also showed the company was bankrupt, operating at a loss, and even with these problems, Gabriella payed herself a $200k salary in addition to the 70% fee. That’s a $1 million dollar salary for a company that is failing and has no employees.
Besides Gabriella’s embezzlement, the audit proved that other allegations were true. The fund was supposed to be $2M. She told us it was $2M. The audit results showed that the fund was just over half raised, which means there was not enough in the fund to cover the strategy, investments, or other commitments made by Gabriella.
The audit results confirmed our worst nightmares.
Gabriella then orally and in emails confirmed our other nightmares. Even though she said the anonymous emails were all lies, the audit results proved that about half of the allegations were true. Embezzlement, lying about the fund, lying about what happened to the employees, and that the company was in financial trouble. What was left to prove? Other forms of fraud. Gabriella confirmed the fraud. She mentioned in an email that she did hire family members, and that they had stole from the company. She blamed them for the theft and said the FBI was investigating them. Gabriella then confirmed that she had declared bankruptcy in the past. She had denied this claim when the emails accusing here were initially circulated, but now she is saying that she did declare bankruptcy. No one in their right mind would have invested with her and trusted her with their money if they knew she had declared bankruptcy, was being investigated by the FBI, bankrupted other companies, and so on and so on.
So what accusations that Gabriella has previously denied were confirmed by the audit and then by Gabriella? All of them.
A. Gabriella’s embezzlement of investor funds
B. Tech Wildcatters is bankrupt
C. Tech Wildcatters lied and did not provide startup with investments it had put in the press and on social media
D. Gabriella hired family members that stole from the company
E. Gabriella declared bankruptcy and lied about it
F. Gabriella lied about the fund fee and fund size
G. Gabriella lied about firing all of the employees. They all quit in several weeks.
H. Gabriella lied about her experience, background, and success
I and others had had enough by this point. We asked for our investment back. Gabriella would not return our investment. Instead, she resigned as CEO and is hiding from us. She is non responsive to phone calls, texts, and emails. She is not in the office and it is usually locked up. She has gone silent on social media.
The new CEO, Ricky Tejapaibul, claims he has no knowledge of any of these problems and essentially plays innocent and dumb. He is a CEO of a company without employees. Then we found out that he is not the CEO of the same Tech Wildcatters. Even though he is in the same news articles and being quoted along with Gabriella as him being appointed the new CEO, he claims that is a different company. We found online where Ricky Tejapaibul has registered 2 new LLC companies in Texas that plays on the Tech Wildcatters name. They are not registered in Dallas, but instead in Frisco Texas. Tech Wildcatters Dallas is still registered to Gabriella. Yet, his office is in the Tech Wildcatters Dallas office, his name is on the Tech Wildcatters Dallas blogs and emails, he is in the newspaper saying he is taking the reins from Gabriella, but yet he claims he is the CEO of a different company and that the problems are with Tech Wildcatters Dallas and Gabriella.
I am not sure who these scam artists think they are, but it’s over.
I am getting a lawyer and have already spoken with the SEC and prosecutors. It may take a couple years, but they will not escape the long arm of the law.
If you too have been ripped off by Tech Wildcatters, please contact me.
I am the co-founder of a startup company that was lied to and cheated by tech wildcatters.
Like kbushe who posted a outscam yesterday, i had a similar experience at tech wildcatters. Tech wildcatters, if you are reading this you should know a bunch of the startups are talking. We let each other know the lies you spread and how you try to manipulate and deceive us. Those of us that can afford lawyers are getting them.
The ceo, gabriella zielke, never upheld the agreement she signed with any of us. Her customer service is a joke, and she have absolutely no right to be providing any advice or anything to any startup. She is a fake entrepreneur that has never had any success other than making it through bankruptcy court. Her bankruptcy and the lawsuits about her other companies that all failed have been all over email and text messages. This isn't her first scam or ripoff.
Most mentors have left, and the investors aren't investing. Free legal and accounting never happened, and all we get is the runaround when it comes to the free flights. I think gabriella used all of the free flights traveling all over the world getting drunk and taking bikini selfies.
My company had to threaten to go to the press before she gave us our money. Even that took 2 months. That seems to be the only thing that gets her attention. And men, be careful. She is quick to play the masogynist and sexual harassment card.
Other companies have not been so lucky. Tech wildcatters still owes at least 6 companies their level up checks. We suspect tech wildcatters is broke which is why they have not paid or why checks to tigli, alto, telecalm have bounced. Everyone knows that local adventures, tech edventures, and la gioia never got their $100,000 even though gabriella was quick to put it all over the internet they had made level 5. They got nothing, so the gauntlet and the tech wildcatters contract and website are nothing but lies.
Some of us are meeting with the new ceo, ricky tejapaibul trying to get our money or our stock back. Ricky was one of the few mentors that stuck it out this year, but he doesn't have a lot of experience so not much help there. I hope his rich investor claims are true so he can pay us what we are owed and do the right thing.
We are worried those investor claims are not true because he put the offices up for rent on craigslist and groupon. Why rent out the place to strangers if you are a rich investor and have commitments from other investors like he said in the d magazine article? By the way, those are the same offices that we were supposed to get for free that we never got. They even tried to charge us for the office. Another violation of the contract. They have the nerve to rent it on craigslist and groupon for a lower price than they offered to us. What a ripoff.
I was accepted into the "prestigious" Tech Wildcatters accelerator program. What a scam pulled off by a group of coniving chicks. I was promised and given a contract where I would get access to mentors, investors and investment. Oh yeah, and free airplane ticks, free office, and chances to work with huge companies.
Besides being in the contact, its even on their web site. Just checked today. Still on the website. After I signed, they kept changing the rules and they did not keep their end of the deal, even thought its in writing. Did I mention they are liars? Lied about everything. No mentors. No investors. No investment. No free plane tickets. No free office. No huge companies. The crooks even offered me a discount on my "free" office. To them, free is like 800 bucks a month. Just a group of mouth pieces that wasted tons of my time and used my company brand to help sell their scam to new suckers.
When I finally got tired of the lies, I went to the looney ceo gabriella zielke and she acted like everything was fine and made even more promises to me like introductions to ceos, congressmen and bankers. After a few weeks still nothing. When I confronted her and told her I had a lawyer look at the contract and that I was owed items in the contract, she freaked out and cursed more than normal which is alot for this crazy chick. Then she threatened to sue me if I said anything and she said its guys like me that make it hard for women to be successful and treated fairly. Excuse me, did she just accuse me of sexual harassment or something? She said she could do this because anythign I would say would hurt her business and she has had to fight twice as hard as men to get to where she is. I must remind her of some past boss or something even thought I'm like half her age.
I got my lawyer involved and now expect this to take months and probably have to go to court. I'm putting this complaint on here, yelp and BBB.
Been talking with Tech Wildcatters other customers and we all have same complaint. Some of them are owed serious money like $100,000. Some have gotten lawyers already.
The awesome news is that the truth is getting around about her and this bogus accelerator. She is a well known scam artist in Texas and she has been in court so many times for fraud, breaking contracts, and bankruptcy. I love Google search!
She just announced that she is kind of retiring and she put a panzy kid in charge now as CEO. I guess he is goign to get the blame. A weird guy named Ricky Tejapaibul that looks and acts broke. Never met a ceo that drives an old broke down honda and has a linkedin like he is a professional college student. Don't you have to have been like a manager, director or vice president before you make CEO? I guess if your name is Tejapaibul, you don't.
This accelerator program is a waste of time. They have like 1 employee and 1 volunteer. Mentors are few and don't show up much. Don't believe their list of sponsors.
My company sponsored Tech Wildcatters (TW), a well recognized accelerator in Dallas Texas. We did a poor job of confirming the information provided by TW, and in hindsight, we should have had more meetings and verified TW's claims regarding their network, reputation, and ability to deliver on the sponsor agreement. At our first event, we had a disappointing turnout with less than 15% of the promised attendance. TW was unorganized and unprofessional. Fast forward a several months, TW forgot to use our logo as agreed to and no one contacted us after our information was provided in an email blitz to their network. Disappointed with the event turnout and now the failure of the email blitz, we attempted to contact TW on multiple occasions by phone and email. It was clear TW was avoiding us. We essentially wrote off the "partnership" until we received a series of emails accusing the CEO and her family of wrongdoing, theft, fraud and a laundry list of other crimes. The agreement was still active so we attempted to terminate the agreement, but TW never returned our calls or emails. We came across a complaint on BBB and on this web site. Clearly, we are not alone. We would love to get our sponsorship refunded, but that appears to be highly unlikely. We are willing to discuss any options with any lawyers or consumer advocates.
Tech Wildcatters does not have enough money to make the $30k investments in startups. There were 6 companies in their gauntlet accelerator in 2017. None of us received the agreed to $30k. We found out that most of the companies from 2016 did not get their investment either. The $100k and $250k convertible notes are a complete lie. Vorachai Tejapaibul signed the contracts using an alias (Ricky Tejapaibul), which he says is not legally binding.
He used us to get access to our developers and investors.
His VC investment fund is a scam. He collects money from investors and claims it will be invested in the startups he shows them, such as the 6 of us from 2017. He keeps the investors money as his fee and then there is nothing left to make the investment in the startups.
He's done this before. Use the internet and search his names (Ricky Tejapaibul, Vorachai Tejapaibul). There are Better Business Complaints, scam reports, and cheater reports.
When our lawyer sent Tech Wildcatters a letter, it was returned. They closed their office and moved a block away to start a new scam. Their new address is 1601 Elm Street, Dallas, Tx 75201. Its hard to find them. They are subleasing in a coworking space called WeWork Thanksgiving Tower.
Review of Tech Wildcatters, Startup Grind, and Ricky Tejapaibul (THE SCAM)
The accelerator, fund raising, and mentoring aren't worth much if anything at all. I found most of it misleading and just plain wrong. Ricky should not be mentoring or representing startups. He does not have any startup experience, and he is not a good speaker. Don't learn this the hard way. Their reputation and credibility are a joke. As fake as their resumes and their list of mentors and sponsors.
They royally jacked up my startup. Ran off investors and partners. They ruined me.
Don't believe anything they say. The CEO is a psycho liar. The lies started out small but by the end, he was saying stuff that was just way over the top.
Program changed for 2019. No more Gauntlet. Ricky can't find enough mentors, sponsors, investors or startups to make that work. Now he is doing a training camp where he is the primary trainer. Given that he has never had his own startup or been successful as an investor, I wonder what he will contribute. Wondering done...he will contribute nothing.
Tech Wildcatters Reviews
I am an investor in the Tech Wildcatters VII 2017 fund. It is supposed to be a venture capital fund managed by Gabriella Draney Zielke and Ricky Tejapaibul of Tech Wildcatters, a Dallas startup accelerator. Tech Wildcatters and Gabriella have been in the news a lot over the past couple years, and the articles are mostly about scandal, layoffs, and problems with investors and startups. There were also a series of at least 6 anonymous emails this year where Gabriella was accused of fraud, theft, and embezzlement. The emails have compelling information, images, and links that seemed to verify most of the claims. I and other investors met with Gabriella to discuss the issues and she promised to have the funds audited and provide the investors with a report of the audit and other investigations. She basically blamed disgruntled ex-employees and interns for the emails. I was surprised to see the entire office was empty except Gabriella.
When asked, she said that she had fired all of the employees. We later learned that most of the employees quit.
The audit results did not arrive as promised. We had to constantly pressure Gabriella to get the audit going, and the other investigation into the allegations never happened. 4 months later, we finally got the audit results and we were shocked. It showed that nearly 70% of the fund was missing. Gabriella admitted to taking the 70% as her fee. That’s about $800k. Who charges 70% as a management fee on a venture capital fund? No one does.
When I invested in the fund, she said the fees would be like other venture capital funds, which are typically 1-3%. NOT 70%.
The audit results also showed the company was bankrupt, operating at a loss, and even with these problems, Gabriella payed herself a $200k salary in addition to the 70% fee. That’s a $1 million dollar salary for a company that is failing and has no employees.
Besides Gabriella’s embezzlement, the audit proved that other allegations were true. The fund was supposed to be $2M. She told us it was $2M. The audit results showed that the fund was just over half raised, which means there was not enough in the fund to cover the strategy, investments, or other commitments made by Gabriella.
The audit results confirmed our worst nightmares.
Gabriella then orally and in emails confirmed our other nightmares. Even though she said the anonymous emails were all lies, the audit results proved that about half of the allegations were true. Embezzlement, lying about the fund, lying about what happened to the employees, and that the company was in financial trouble. What was left to prove? Other forms of fraud. Gabriella confirmed the fraud. She mentioned in an email that she did hire family members, and that they had stole from the company. She blamed them for the theft and said the FBI was investigating them. Gabriella then confirmed that she had declared bankruptcy in the past. She had denied this claim when the emails accusing here were initially circulated, but now she is saying that she did declare bankruptcy. No one in their right mind would have invested with her and trusted her with their money if they knew she had declared bankruptcy, was being investigated by the FBI, bankrupted other companies, and so on and so on.
So what accusations that Gabriella has previously denied were confirmed by the audit and then by Gabriella? All of them.
A. Gabriella’s embezzlement of investor funds
B. Tech Wildcatters is bankrupt
C. Tech Wildcatters lied and did not provide startup with investments it had put in the press and on social media
D. Gabriella hired family members that stole from the company
E. Gabriella declared bankruptcy and lied about it
F. Gabriella lied about the fund fee and fund size
G. Gabriella lied about firing all of the employees. They all quit in several weeks.
H. Gabriella lied about her experience, background, and success
I and others had had enough by this point. We asked for our investment back. Gabriella would not return our investment. Instead, she resigned as CEO and is hiding from us. She is non responsive to phone calls, texts, and emails. She is not in the office and it is usually locked up. She has gone silent on social media.
The new CEO, Ricky Tejapaibul, claims he has no knowledge of any of these problems and essentially plays innocent and dumb. He is a CEO of a company without employees. Then we found out that he is not the CEO of the same Tech Wildcatters. Even though he is in the same news articles and being quoted along with Gabriella as him being appointed the new CEO, he claims that is a different company. We found online where Ricky Tejapaibul has registered 2 new LLC companies in Texas that plays on the Tech Wildcatters name. They are not registered in Dallas, but instead in Frisco Texas. Tech Wildcatters Dallas is still registered to Gabriella. Yet, his office is in the Tech Wildcatters Dallas office, his name is on the Tech Wildcatters Dallas blogs and emails, he is in the newspaper saying he is taking the reins from Gabriella, but yet he claims he is the CEO of a different company and that the problems are with Tech Wildcatters Dallas and Gabriella.
I am not sure who these scam artists think they are, but it’s over.
I am getting a lawyer and have already spoken with the SEC and prosecutors. It may take a couple years, but they will not escape the long arm of the law.
If you too have been ripped off by Tech Wildcatters, please contact me.
I am the co-founder of a startup company that was lied to and cheated by tech wildcatters.
Like kbushe who posted a outscam yesterday, i had a similar experience at tech wildcatters. Tech wildcatters, if you are reading this you should know a bunch of the startups are talking. We let each other know the lies you spread and how you try to manipulate and deceive us. Those of us that can afford lawyers are getting them.
The ceo, gabriella zielke, never upheld the agreement she signed with any of us. Her customer service is a joke, and she have absolutely no right to be providing any advice or anything to any startup. She is a fake entrepreneur that has never had any success other than making it through bankruptcy court. Her bankruptcy and the lawsuits about her other companies that all failed have been all over email and text messages. This isn't her first scam or ripoff.
Most mentors have left, and the investors aren't investing. Free legal and accounting never happened, and all we get is the runaround when it comes to the free flights. I think gabriella used all of the free flights traveling all over the world getting drunk and taking bikini selfies.
My company had to threaten to go to the press before she gave us our money. Even that took 2 months. That seems to be the only thing that gets her attention. And men, be careful. She is quick to play the masogynist and sexual harassment card.
Other companies have not been so lucky. Tech wildcatters still owes at least 6 companies their level up checks. We suspect tech wildcatters is broke which is why they have not paid or why checks to tigli, alto, telecalm have bounced. Everyone knows that local adventures, tech edventures, and la gioia never got their $100,000 even though gabriella was quick to put it all over the internet they had made level 5. They got nothing, so the gauntlet and the tech wildcatters contract and website are nothing but lies.
Some of us are meeting with the new ceo, ricky tejapaibul trying to get our money or our stock back. Ricky was one of the few mentors that stuck it out this year, but he doesn't have a lot of experience so not much help there. I hope his rich investor claims are true so he can pay us what we are owed and do the right thing.
We are worried those investor claims are not true because he put the offices up for rent on craigslist and groupon. Why rent out the place to strangers if you are a rich investor and have commitments from other investors like he said in the d magazine article? By the way, those are the same offices that we were supposed to get for free that we never got. They even tried to charge us for the office. Another violation of the contract. They have the nerve to rent it on craigslist and groupon for a lower price than they offered to us. What a ripoff.
I was accepted into the "prestigious" Tech Wildcatters accelerator program. What a scam pulled off by a group of coniving chicks. I was promised and given a contract where I would get access to mentors, investors and investment. Oh yeah, and free airplane ticks, free office, and chances to work with huge companies.
Besides being in the contact, its even on their web site. Just checked today. Still on the website. After I signed, they kept changing the rules and they did not keep their end of the deal, even thought its in writing. Did I mention they are liars? Lied about everything. No mentors. No investors. No investment. No free plane tickets. No free office. No huge companies. The crooks even offered me a discount on my "free" office. To them, free is like 800 bucks a month. Just a group of mouth pieces that wasted tons of my time and used my company brand to help sell their scam to new suckers.
When I finally got tired of the lies, I went to the looney ceo gabriella zielke and she acted like everything was fine and made even more promises to me like introductions to ceos, congressmen and bankers. After a few weeks still nothing. When I confronted her and told her I had a lawyer look at the contract and that I was owed items in the contract, she freaked out and cursed more than normal which is alot for this crazy chick. Then she threatened to sue me if I said anything and she said its guys like me that make it hard for women to be successful and treated fairly. Excuse me, did she just accuse me of sexual harassment or something? She said she could do this because anythign I would say would hurt her business and she has had to fight twice as hard as men to get to where she is. I must remind her of some past boss or something even thought I'm like half her age.
I got my lawyer involved and now expect this to take months and probably have to go to court. I'm putting this complaint on here, yelp and BBB.
Been talking with Tech Wildcatters other customers and we all have same complaint. Some of them are owed serious money like $100,000. Some have gotten lawyers already.
The awesome news is that the truth is getting around about her and this bogus accelerator. She is a well known scam artist in Texas and she has been in court so many times for fraud, breaking contracts, and bankruptcy. I love Google search!
She just announced that she is kind of retiring and she put a panzy kid in charge now as CEO. I guess he is goign to get the blame. A weird guy named Ricky Tejapaibul that looks and acts broke. Never met a ceo that drives an old broke down honda and has a linkedin like he is a professional college student. Don't you have to have been like a manager, director or vice president before you make CEO? I guess if your name is Tejapaibul, you don't.
The scam continues.
Waste of time
This accelerator program is a waste of time. They have like 1 employee and 1 volunteer. Mentors are few and don't show up much. Don't believe their list of sponsors.
My company sponsored Tech Wildcatters (TW), a well recognized accelerator in Dallas Texas. We did a poor job of confirming the information provided by TW, and in hindsight, we should have had more meetings and verified TW's claims regarding their network, reputation, and ability to deliver on the sponsor agreement. At our first event, we had a disappointing turnout with less than 15% of the promised attendance. TW was unorganized and unprofessional. Fast forward a several months, TW forgot to use our logo as agreed to and no one contacted us after our information was provided in an email blitz to their network. Disappointed with the event turnout and now the failure of the email blitz, we attempted to contact TW on multiple occasions by phone and email. It was clear TW was avoiding us. We essentially wrote off the "partnership" until we received a series of emails accusing the CEO and her family of wrongdoing, theft, fraud and a laundry list of other crimes. The agreement was still active so we attempted to terminate the agreement, but TW never returned our calls or emails. We came across a complaint on BBB and on this web site. Clearly, we are not alone. We would love to get our sponsorship refunded, but that appears to be highly unlikely. We are willing to discuss any options with any lawyers or consumer advocates.
Don't believe
Don't believe Slicky Ricky. He's a bs'er. Over the past 3 months I have caught him in more lies than I can count.
Bounced checks
Tech Wildcatters does not have enough money to make the $30k investments in startups. There were 6 companies in their gauntlet accelerator in 2017. None of us received the agreed to $30k. We found out that most of the companies from 2016 did not get their investment either. The $100k and $250k convertible notes are a complete lie. Vorachai Tejapaibul signed the contracts using an alias (Ricky Tejapaibul), which he says is not legally binding.
He used us to get access to our developers and investors.
His VC investment fund is a scam. He collects money from investors and claims it will be invested in the startups he shows them, such as the 6 of us from 2017. He keeps the investors money as his fee and then there is nothing left to make the investment in the startups.
He's done this before. Use the internet and search his names (Ricky Tejapaibul, Vorachai Tejapaibul). There are Better Business Complaints, scam reports, and cheater reports.
When our lawyer sent Tech Wildcatters a letter, it was returned. They closed their office and moved a block away to start a new scam. Their new address is 1601 Elm Street, Dallas, Tx 75201. Its hard to find them. They are subleasing in a coworking space called WeWork Thanksgiving Tower.
Tech Wildcatters CEO Ricky Tejapaibul named in Pennsylvania Law Suit
Scammer Ricky Tejapaibul is being sued! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. You lying fool. Better keep changing names and addresses!
Review of Tech Wildcatters, Startup Grind, and Ricky Tejapaibul (THE SCAM)
The accelerator, fund raising, and mentoring aren't worth much if anything at all. I found most of it misleading and just plain wrong. Ricky should not be mentoring or representing startups. He does not have any startup experience, and he is not a good speaker. Don't learn this the hard way. Their reputation and credibility are a joke. As fake as their resumes and their list of mentors and sponsors.
Tech Wildcatters Mission: Lying cheating scamming
They royally jacked up my startup. Ran off investors and partners. They ruined me.
Don't believe anything they say. The CEO is a psycho liar. The lies started out small but by the end, he was saying stuff that was just way over the top.
No more Gauntlet, but more of Ricky
Program changed for 2019. No more Gauntlet. Ricky can't find enough mentors, sponsors, investors or startups to make that work. Now he is doing a training camp where he is the primary trainer. Given that he has never had his own startup or been successful as an investor, I wonder what he will contribute. Wondering done...he will contribute nothing.