People

Michelle Ritter is the founder and CEO of Steel Perlot, which builds and invests in scalable, analytics-driven platform businesses. Alongside Steel Perlot, Michelle leads StarX, a platform that unlocks the financial potential of human capital as an asset class, beginning with sports. StarX’s sports products center on the future of fan engagement and allows teams and talented individuals like athletes to turn themselves into investable assets. By applying innovations from commodities and derivatives markets to talent, StarX brings security and stability to athletes while better-aligning incentives between talent and fans. With roots in football, the platform plans rapid expansion across sports, media, and entertainment. In addition to StarX, Steel Perlot focuses on applied AI, financial technology, and other emerging sectors. Since its 2021 founding, the company has grown to over 50 employees, with over 80 percent technical talent. Prior to founding Steel Perlot, Ritter researched cyber wargaming at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, graduated from Johns Hopkins with a triple major in economics, international studies, and political science, and earned a JD/MBA from Columbia University. She serves on the advisory board for Columbia University's Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy.