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Be a Value Added Member of the Community Somewhere there exists a fantastic and thriving community of the kids of people you would like to use your service or app. If their first interaction with you is you trying to leverage that community for sales, youre going to get blocked. Launching a pet care product?
I recently spoke at Caltech at the Caltech / MIT Enterprise Forum on “the future of social networking,&# the 30-minute video is here and the PowerPoint presentation is here on DocStoc ). What are the big trends that will drive the next phase of social networks? And so it goes with social networking. The Past (1985-2002).
To that end, my goal was to make the firm the most accessible VC fund in New York—showing up across diverse communities, getting rid of barriers to access like requirements for warm intros, and being conscious of which patterns of success I believe in and which only serve to reinforce certain power dynamics.
What Alan recognized was that most IRL forums and networking events are absolutely awful places to pitch and here’s why: 1) When a VC shows up in person, they’re looking to replicate the kind of top of the funnel they would get in an hour or two’s worth of e-mail, and that’s not going to happen if you corral them into a corner for 30 minutes.
She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. For all we know, white men make 99% of the pitches. I’m a female founder. I don’t have enough traction.
The DX event is so powerful because of the networking quality among the MyEO DX community. Our goal is to protect and retain the EO community of trust and respect so we can enjoy our “EO instimacy” at the event. What is the Needs and Leads Speed Networking event? Who can attend DX22?
Sometimes these people immediately try to friend me on Facebook, send me a deck or tell me they want to pitch me a company. But I see some people in our community who really only use Twitter to publish their media or have a one-way conversation or at best reply only to people they know. I don’t recommend coming on that strong.
Residia is a community management platform for residential complexes and condominiums. It’s a multiplatform application with over 15 functionalities to facilitate internal processes and ensure effective communication in residential communities. Here’s what he shared: Describe your company. My dad was the main inspiration.
If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible. In fact, that''s what I tend to do--at least, what I say that I do.
When you back women and you’re trying to encourage the expansion of their network and the building of their personal brand, you cannot help but review all of your own actions after listening to the compounding emotional effects of their professional experiences.
Secondly, it was easier for the entrepreneurs to pitch in front of a roomful of a lot of money than one at a time. Meeting in person is no longer the only way an angel investor can get looped in a network of other investors. 3) A Network of Company Assistance. An angel belonging to a group could find more dealflow.
There’s been an emergence of “pre-accelorator” or “people accelorator” programs—experiences that you can buy your way into with cash, as opposed to potentially valuable future equity, that replicate the education and network provided by the likes of YCombinator. But what about the network? Social development or “Campus life” - Parties!
No more founder pitch meetings. I’ll also continue to work within the NYC tech community—now thriving at a level I could hardly have imagined when I first got the pitch deck for USV’s first fund as a Limited Partner at the GM pension fund. No new investments. No more responding to fundraising decks. Consider this.
Three finalists received training via workshops and coaching from business advisors, fine-tuning their business plans and pitches for the showcase and pitch competition. In addition to its classroom curriculum, NFTE hosts the Founders Forum Pitch Competition.
Held at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, the 2025 Good Soil Forum continues to serve as a transformative platform that offers not just ideas, but real tools, capital, and community for entrepreneursespecially those from historically underserved backgrounds. Jakes Group and Founder of the Good Soil Movement.
I don’t want any formal pitches. Their dealflow is angels or seed investors pitching “their best deals” to you in emails. They usually have strong networks to begin with so suddenly you’re hit up by everybody you know who has a friend. Be the center of your knowledge space or geographic community.
Firms have networks of advisors, too--with particular expertise in your area. Drop by AngelList, where startups have been vetted by a community of advisors and other investors. This somewhat mimics real life, where many investors won't take a meeting with you unless they come through their "trusted network".
The YLAI Network hosted Michael Goldberg , a professor of entrepreneurship and an expert in international business development, for a Facebook chat in November for Global Entrepreneurship Week. Michael answered questions from network members requesting advice for their entrepreneurial endeavors.
Back when I was pitching my previous startup to investors, it had never really dawned on me that they had experienced what I was going through--and that a VC firm was essentially a startup. VCs pitch for money, too. No one ever thinks about VCs having to pitch, who they pitch to, or how it works.
She was the dominant figure in my family and was both an entrepreneur and a community leader. My guess is that probably only 2-3 out of every hundred pitches I receive are from women. But this coming generation is much more likely to be inspired by The Social Network and want to be entrepreneurs. But then the truth sets in.
I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. Everyone says they fund people in their network. And no, that doesn't mean pitch like a man.
He used the 500Startups platform to uber network in the Bay Area where he was living. Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. Come to entrepreneur pitches. I’m ecstatic to have in the LA community. Nice kid, but I see lots of nice kids. Sam had different plans. He sent me a few nice emails. But nothing major.
and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. Accelerators have been great for our respective communities. So we went for it. Yeah, he was LA, baby!
One of the best things any investor can do is to pull back from the day to day of getting pitches and think about high level trends. 2004 gave us widespread blogging and Meetups, and 2008 showed how the web could be a community organizing and fundraising tool. What areas are going to change? What areas need to be disrupted?
These EOers work with the students to refine their pitches and provide insights and tips to help them succeed in the high-level competition. It strengthened my belief in the power of mentorship and the cohesive, supportive nature of the EO network. The depth of learning I gained from the students! It is a competition and a show.
STATION DC was launched by Capital Factory, in partnership with the City of Washington, DC, as a community-driven coworking and event space designed to support diverse entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. A Robust Network of industry leaders, policymakers, military officials, and investors working across high-impact sectors.
It’s an approach to the community that I’ve tried to emulate—to make myself available to founders wherever I can, but it’s not easy to scale. It’s easy for a VC to just stick within your own networks and filter bubbles—and hard to scale being “open” without opening the floodgates.
What issues in your community drove you to create this company? It could take weeks longer to import goods, but they do it because they don’t even know that someone in their community provides it as well. I used to pitch ideas to my cousins and my parents of ways I was going to make money. What keeps you motivated? government.
How else can you explain this headline matching a story about a professional social network still trying to explore revenues raising $17mm on an $80mm valuation? The other entrepreneur quoted in the story is from a guy pitching a Pinterest clone. International and non-Valley startup communities are developing at a rapid pace.
My first pitch was not to investors or potential clients; it was to my fiancée, convincing her to delay our wedding plans until Equifund was up and running — a promise that took significantly longer than the anticipated six months to fulfill. I doubled down on my efforts, making more calls, writing more content, and networking tirelessly.
Portfolio community building. a really wide angle view of the tech industry since you see so many concepts / so many pitches and REAL data points on how startups perform financially. a top-down view on HR challenges at startups; and, obviously: a great network. Deal screening. Portfolio company support & analysis.
Ride sharing service SideCar was recently the target of a NYC police sting that resulted in two cars being impounded--cars belonging to drivers in their network offering rides to people. But do we need government playing the same exact role when loosely constructed networks can serve that same purpose. It''s better for drivers, too.
On an app advertised to "meet inspiring people" for meaningful networking, someone tells this black founder, whose last name is "Youngblood" that is name is inappropriate. Your network never signed up to do your outsourced job for you. What about pitch competitions that sound like Ancient Roman death matches? Look, I get it.
When someone comes in to pitch me, I always ask them to tell me the "origin story". Building up your network of trusted relationships with people willing to go to bat for you isn't a game--it's a way of living where you decide that community participation is better than trying to be some kind of solitary hero who doesn't need anyone.
2018 YLAI Fellow and co-founder of L3G’s & Associates, Fatima Chi, is empowering businesses in her community in Belize to take control of their finances. To celebrate Fatima’s work promoting financial literacy and wellness, the YLAI Network asked her a few questions about her journey to entrepreneurship.
As a firm, we pitched campaign ideas and strategies to huge, internationally recognized brands, going up against big network agencies. We had no venture capital and weren’t part of a global agency network. Samer is an entrepreneur in adventure mode, helping companies explore new technologies, communities and stories.
Stick around long enough in a big tech community and you''ll see your share of big company evangelists come and go. They want someone who can be a friend to startups--someone with a great network, knows everyone, knows product, technical evangelist. you know they have other reasons to meet with people besides pitching your product.
We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. You could also live in a local “hacker house” for community support, e.g., Edyfi , The Garden , or Womxn Ignite. Contestants pitch their legal product idea for a chance to win $5,000, tutoring, and more.
When he pitched, he was the proverbial "guy with an idea." The level of talent and supportive collaboration among the community at Studiomates checks both boxes and continues to ensure that everything he puts out is top notch. Most VC funds wouldn''t touch a pre-product app company.
First, we congratulated affiliates selected to participate in the SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program including National Urban League , Nicolet Area Technical College , New Bedford Economic Council , Rochester Economic Development Corporation and Forward Cities. What is the new normal for your team and network?
What we did: Rise of the Rest Managing Partner, David Hall , joined Cofounders Capital Managing Partner, Tim McLoughlin, onstage at the Network for Entrepreneurs, Wilmington’s community event. Catch insights from Steve and a recap of the pitch competition. Where we went: Wilmington, NC? Taste before you head out.
If you're in a more privileged position with lots of VC connections to pitch, you’ll either do one of the following things: You'll come right back at me, tell me why and how I'm wrong—because at this point you have nothing to lose. Founders from communities of color are less likely to have personal wealth to fall back on.
You need a solid business plan, traction to demonstrate market fit, and the skills to pitch effectively. Yet founders often trip up when it comes to investor relations — the ongoing communication and relationship building after that first check clears. Don’t think of investor communication as a one-and-done sales job.
These folks were literally pitching my team, and because I didn''t necessarily want to do the same thing as they did, I didn''t care much to spend time with them. And that''s not to say that the only reason anyone should network with somebody is because of money--but the reality is that access to capital is an enabler.
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