I'm not sure that there's much of anything I can share about the news of the passing of Justice Ginsburg that hasn't been said.
All I can share is that if you're going to post a Tweet or an Instagram, please match it with a phonecall or a donation--or at least share specific paths to action.
Social media can often make us feel like we're actually doing something, whether it's activism or friendship--and there's really no replacement for a live human connection.
Unfortunately, in our campaign fundraising environment, dollars spent comes a close second.
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While we're in this home stretch before the election, stress levels are going to be up, sleep is going to be lost, and our diets--well, there's likely to be a lot of comfort food if you're like me.
The best way to not let it call get out of hand has been launched by Base, one of my portfolio companies.
Base is an at-home continuous lab testing service that gives you insight over time into your body's response to persistent symptoms or seasonal changes.
Start tracking and monitoring 2020 impacts to your diet, energy, sleep, stress and more with code THISWEEK20. Apply directly with my link: https://get-base.com/?rc=THISWEEK20
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Over 93 different founders are taking advantage of Open Office Hours this Wednesday, meeting with more than 55 different investors. There are still slots left as we're adding new investors, but please don't take more than 3 spots.
It's all part of Fall Fundraising Days, 13 different events from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Betaworks, Brunchwork, Stacklist, Upstream, Propeller, and other community partners.
Need to raise your A? Come hear what Jess Lee from Sequioa has to say about it.
Raising your seed? Find out how these founders did it.
Don't have a startup yet, but thinking about it? Maybe a pre-accelorator/company creation program is right for you.
And much, much more...
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I wanted to make sure you knew about the Fellowship program at Blue Ridge Labs, a place where place where communities and technologists work together to build new tools that tackle economic inequality in New York City.
Previous Fellowship teams have built FreshEBT, an app that helps more than 2 million families manage their food stamps and JustFix.nyc, a platform for helping tenants hold their landlords accountable.
This year's Fellowship will focus on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color.
Selected Fellows receive:
Funding: A full-time stipend, health insurance reimbursement, and research budget
Cofounders: A group of talented peers with complementary skills
Access: The chance to connect with hundreds of users and experts through our Design Insight Group and community partner organizations
Community: an ecosystem of high-impact startups and mentors
This is a full-time opportunity from January through May, 2021. You can find out more about the opportunity here. Applications close October 9th.
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If your company has...
- High churn
- Low engagement
- Low conversion
My friend Elizabeth, a highly experienced UX specialist LOVES talking about transforming a First Time User Experience and wants to DIVE DEEP into your product analytics, feature decisions, and uncover WHY your product is missing the mark.
So she's giving away five free evaluations.
No obligations from you - except to get very excited about solving for the problem and jam on First Time UX!
DEADLINE: Tuesday September 29, 2020
https://ftux-evaluation.carrd.co/
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The Queens EAC offers a comprehensive, 60-hour hands-on business planning and training course for new and existing business owners. This course is specifically designed to minimize the associated risks and maximize the potential success of starting or expanding a business. Think of it as a mini MBA, but at less than 1% of the cost, and practical in the current environment.
These are mostly designed around SMBs, not necessarily venture backed startups--but still a very important part of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
They are currently accepting applicants for its next course, which starts 9/29.
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Suzy.com is a real-time market research platform. In our next Marketing StackUp, Suzy's Abel Flint will share key strategies that allowed Suzy to pivot their B2B marketing in days and increase their MQLs during a global pandemic.
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I get asked a lot about getting into VC--so I invited two people who recently posed the question to me to sit down and have a discussion with me about it. Join me as I sit down and try to answer the question of how you actually get a VC job.
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Want to know the secret to marketing? Ask Katie Perry.
Ok, not *that* Katy Perry--not that she wouldn't have some ideas. This one doing our next Marketing Stackup.
Everything matters. From product and design to CX. In this talk, Katie Perry, VP of Marketing for Public.com, will discuss how the company's "everything matters" principle applies to her team's marketing efforts and the way that all business functions at the company support Public.com's mission to change the culture of investing.
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Lindsay T., Lady Engineer® starts Labs*, her 12-week product-market fit course for pre-seed startups, in October. Eliminate the guesswork by identifying the right target audience, refining your idea & designing/updating your prototype alongside an expert.
If you’re wondering why this is important, read my recent post, “Pitch like you expect to be funded. Expect to be funded after you’ve done your homework.”
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42 days...
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How to Place an Ad: https://www.nycweeklynewsletter.com/advertise
How to Submit Events: https://www.nycweeklynewsletter.com/submit-events
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Monday, September 21
1:30 PM - Startup Recruiting Bootcamp (premier training course from ex-Stripe, Lever, Buffer leaders)
You've heard it before: hiring is the most important thing you'll do in growing your startup. Make sure you're doing it right from the start by learning from the experts.
We've trained founders, hiring managers, ops employees, recruiters from Figma, Netlify, Loom, Superhuman, Webflow, and many more.
If you're going to be in a position of hiring between now and... the rest of your career - then you need this program.
RSVP
10:00 AM - How to Run a Fundraising Process
For many early-stage founders, fundraising is a hard and difficult process because they may not know or understand how to connect with investors, what makes them interested in certain companies, or what signs investors look for in companies to see growth.
You can make fundraising much faster when you learn what exactly investors are looking for, and strategically build and grow your startup to show those signs, making your conversations with VCs much better.
To dive into this, we’re excited to chat with Harlan Milkove, Founder of Foundational, where he helps startups with early-stage fundraising challenges. He also co-founded Reonomy, a commercial real estate platform that has raised $125M+ in venture capital.
Join us as we discuss
What investors look for
How to know that your startup is readdy for fundraising
Creating signals that are appealing to investors
What is traction science and how it can help you fundraise
Tactics on closing faster
RSVP
10:00AM - How to Run a Fundraising Process
For many early-stage founders, fundraising is a hard and difficult process because they may not know or understand how to connect with investors, what makes them interested in certain companies, or what signs investors look for in companies to see growth. You can make fundraising much faster when you learn what exactly investors are looking for, and strategically build and grow your startup to show those signs, making your conversations with VCs much better. To dive into this, we’re excited to chat with Harlan Milkove, Founder of Foundational, where he helps startups with early-stage fundraising challenges. He also co-founded Reonomy, a commercial real estate platform that has raised $125M+ in venture capital.
RSVP
Tuesday, September 22
4:30 PM - The Future of NY Tech
Lerer Hippeau and SVB invite you to a discussion on The Future of New York Tech on Tuesday, September 22nd, from 4:30 - 6:00pm EDT. This virtual event will discuss the future of New York as a tech city, building and growing businesses here, getting back to the office, and more. Hear from the CEOs of Maven Clinic, ROOM, Skillshare, and Wagmo, investors from Female Founders Fund, Harlem Capital, Union Square Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau, and NY Senator Brian Benjamin.
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10:00 AM - Standing Out In a Competitive Market
When building your startup, you’ll need to make sure you have a solid plan on how you’ll be acquiring customers. While there are many marketing tactics you can use, you’ll always have to consider your competition.
Customers have many options to choose from when it comes to products. Having unique points of difference will give you better chances of standing out from a competitive crowd, and make your brand more compelling to customers.
To dive into how you can stand out from your competitors, we’re excited to chat with Heidi Zak, Co-founder & CEO of ThirdLove, the 3rd largest online bra and underwear company in America.
We’ll discuss what Heidi did to grow ThirdLove, how she positioned the brand against competitors, and other tactics you can consider to get your competitive advantage.
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9:30 AM - Newlab Membership Info Session
If you and your team want to join a singular community of 160+ companies comprised of 800+ experts and innovators focused on applying transformative technology to solve the world’s biggest challenges, we encourage you to join this info session to learn more about becoming a Newlab member.
In this session, the Newlab membership team will cover how we support our member community through:
- Collaboration opportunities and community resources
- Pilot and investment opportunities
- Prototyping and product realization facilities
- Safe workspaces with tested return to work protocols
RSVP
05:00PM - DeFi Roundtable
THEDEx by Lair East
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was the premise of Bitcoin when its creator(s) unveiled the benchmark blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2009. Fast forward to today and DeFi is experiencing a revival as the fastest growing sector in the blockchain space. More than anything, DeFi protocols offer a way to build financial products with global distribution, playing an important role in the evolution of finance and capital markets. To date there are over $8.5 billion of total value locked in DeFi projects (up from less than a billion prior to 2019); promising disintermediation of legacy finance models such as: lending, borrowing, structuring derivative products, buying and selling of securities through decentralized open-source networks. There is no doubt that DeFi is replete with opportunities and potential. Hosted by Aves Lair Nestled in the SoHo district of Manhattan, the Aves Lair Accelerator program is a carefully crafted collaboration between Lair East and N&T Labs. Together, the two companies strategically fused their unique and complementary qualities to create a potent, resource-filled environment that will empower startups and tech founders to organically scale their businesses by applying cutting-edge technologies at the intersection of A.I. and blockchain technology.Apply to our Accelerator Apply to be a Mentor
RSVP
06:00PM - meet VCs | Meet the People Behind Venture Capital & Startup Investment
Linerun
Who are the people making the investments in today's promising startups? What do they look for when partnering with today's rising startup stars? When is the best time to engage with a VC? Where can you meet VCs and/or get a warm lead intro to one? Why is venture capital still relevant today? Join us on Tuesday September 22nd for our first live podcast event where we're talking VC & Meeting the People Behind Venture Capital & Startup Investment. During our one hour discussion, our panel of VCs and investors from across the country will share their own personal journeys in venture capital, knowledge on how to navigate discussions with VCs and answer your burning questions on the process they take towards investing in companies.SPEAKERS:Megan Ananian, Investor, Venture Team, SeedInvest & NYC Chapter Lead, Female Founded ClubVictoria Mehran, Associate, Expert DojoDisclaimer: by registering for this event you agree to receive email communications from Linerun, the experiential education division of CoTo Travel, LLC and all sponsor brands.About Linerun:Linerun is a community driven experiential education platform fueling career and innovation growth for tomorrow's leaders. We empower leaders to connect, innovate and grow through media, events and programs. We offering mentorship, classes & events online and in person in the US.
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Wednesday, September 23
10:00 AM - Building a Subscription Startup
The subscription business model may predominantly be known for modern software, but it is also a very powerful strategy for commerce and DTC startups. As paid acquisition becomes more competitive and more expensive, companies that have subscription revenue can find themselves in more advantageous positions than others.
To learn more about subscription DTC, join us on September 23rd as we chat with Jessica Rolph, Co-founder & CEO of Lovevery, a new toy brand created by early childhood development experts that offers curated play kits for babies and toddlers.
We’re going to discuss what Jessica has learned from building a subscription DTC business, and dive into things like
How to convert purchasers to go onto a recurring plan
Ways to build a competitive moat using your subscription products
Ways you can increase your CLTV
Challenges building a subscription DTC startup
RSVP
2:00 PM - NY Enterprise Tech Meetup: Entering Hypergrowth: Lessons from NYC’s New Guards with Braze & BigID
The New York Enterprise Tech Meetup is back in action (still virtually) after Summer break.
Join the next meetup for a fireside chat on "Entering Hypergrowth: Lessons from NYC’s New Guards" with Bill Magnuson, CEO and Co-Founder of Braze, and Dimitri Sirota, CEO and Co-Founder of BigID, who will be interviewed by Lucinda Shen, writer at Fortune. They will be discussing the past, present, and future NYC enterprise tech landscape (hint: NYC enterprise tech is thriving!), how they led their companies to rapid success in NYC, and what specific strategies and tactics provided the biggest turning points along the journey.
Both Braze and BigID represent NYC’s new guard of enterprise companies, having raised $175M and $146M, respectively.
We'll also feature a demo from a must-follow enterprise startup: Leapfin, a unified financial data platform for high growth businesses. Designed and built for scale from the ground up, Leapfin automates complex and manual revenue processes to ensure leaders always have instant access to accurate and actionable financials.
RSVP
01:00PM - How to Build a VC-Quality Financial Model for your Start-Up
Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
As part of Fall Fundraising Days, Anthony Rosen from Propeller will be leading a workshop on building a Financial Model for your start-up. As CFO, Anthony Rosen brings to Propeller a significant amount global experience (U.S., Europe, and Australia) and a unique background in finance, operations, and strategy. He has held management and advisory roles across a number of industries, including e-commerce, retail and consumer, apparel, industrials and manufacturing.
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Thursday, September 24
10:00 AM - Developing Retailer Relationships
If you’re building an e-commerce business, you may be thinking about expanding your distribution channels and considering a retail play.
Customers love to see products in-person, test them out, and the physical space also opens up ways for you to do more creative marketing and transform your virtual customer relationships.
But it could be challenging and capital intensive opening up your own retail store. Luckily, you can still get many of the benefits of retail distribution by partnering with shops and retailers to sell your products. It takes time building these relationships with retailers, but the benefits are worth the effort.
Join us for a panel with Melanie Masarin (Founder & CEO of Ghia), Nina Zilka (Co-founder & CEO of Alder New York), and Jazmin Alvarez (Founder & Chief Curator of Pretty Well Beauty) as we dive into how you can build and maintain retailer relationships for your CPG!
RSVP
12:30PM - Applying to Accelerators: Bring Your Own Lunch Panel w/ERA
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
Join Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, NYC's leading tech accelerator, and hear from our awesome panel of founders and investors to discuss all things accelerators. We'll cover how to assess if it's the right fit for you, what accelerators look for when evaluating early stage businesses, and how (not) to apply. You'll also have the chance to pitch your startup!
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01:00PM - Careers in Tech Roundtable with Lyft & Medium
Linerun
Today’s job market for careers in tech can be difficult to crack, even for the most experienced professional looking for a job in tech. With the "new normal" taking shape in industry and society, it's a challenge to keep up with these changes. On top of that, add in the fact that business and employment needs are constantly shifting and it can be next to impossible to find your place. Even worse, the job you’re applying for may not even be a good fit you due to variables you didn’t even consider.
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03:30PM - How I Raised My Seed
Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
How I Raised My Seed is a gathering centered around open discussion regarding best practices for raising a seed round. Each month, we invite two or three founders who have successfully raised a seed in the past few months and foster an open dialogue around what worked and what didn't. This event will be held virtually, and zoom details will be shared upon registration. Speakers: Akash Magoon , Co-founder & CTO, Nayya - Nayya uses data science and AI to transform the way employers and their workforce choose and use their health insurance and benefits. Nico Simko, Founder & CEO, Claire - Claire is helping American hourly workers achieve financial freedom by paying them every day. Chris Atkinson, Founder & CEO, FleetOps- FleetOps is an on-demand freight marketplace that instantly matches freight from brokers to carriers with available capacity. The system does this by leveraging driver ELD data and combining it with an Artificial Intelligence algorithm to improve on existing systems and increase efficiency in trucking. Moderator: Charlie O'Donnell, Partner, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
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04:30PM - Excel Conference : Virtual Conference For Female Founders
Excel Conference
Inspire: In a time of unprecedented disease outbreak and economic downturn. It is important for female founders to connect, support and encourage one another. Join us for the most inspiring leadership conference ever. Listen to inspiring stories, practical strategies and routines that sets people up for success even in difficult times. Expand Your Network: Learn from thought leaders & change agents in communities. Discover opportunities to showcase your brand during this event and after. Celebrate Accomplishments: Join us as we celebrate the accomplishment of female leaders creating impact in our communities especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. Awards include: Distinguished Community Leader Award and Distinguished Leader Award.
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Friday, September 25
10:00 AM - Marketing On A Budget
Marketing can seem like a pay to play game and if you’re an early-stage founder, it could be hard doing media campaigns on a tight budget.
So how can you best handle your marketing dollars to get the most bang for your buck? On September 25th we’re bringing in Cynthia Sandoval as she shares her best tactics and advice on marketing on a budget. She’ll share her experience building impactful and profitable paid media strategies for early-stage startups.
We’ll dive into:
Figuring out the best platforms to advertise based on your niche
Tracking the success of your campaigns
Developing your messaging and creative
Optimizing your campaigns
RSVP
12:00PM - How to Pitch a VC Masterclass, with David S. Rose, "The Pitch Coach"
Gust Launch
David S. Rose, author of The Startup Checklist, and described by BusinessWeek as "The Pitch Coach" and by Forbes as "New York's Archangel", knows what it takes to get venture capitalists and angel investors to open up their checkbooks to fund a new venture. As the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of New York Angels, the Managing Partner of Rose Tech Ventures, and the Founding Track Chair for Entrepreneurship at Singularity University, David hears more than 500 pitches a year. He routinely sees otherwise great companies turned away because their fundraising pitches completely missed their target.In this special coaching session for high-growth entrepreneurs, presented by Gust Launch as part of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures' Fall Fundraising Days, David will walk participants through exactly how to prepare and deliver a presentation that will give their companies the best chance of being funded. He will reveal the top ten rules for fundraising pitches; take you behind the scenes to see what your investors are really hearing (despite what you're saying); show you how to structure your presentation to walk out with a follow-up meeting; and share his 'Pitch Perfect' techniques for pitching remotely during the pandemic.David's classic TED talk on How to Pitch a VC has been viewed over a million times and is mandatory viewing in business schools around the world...as well as for many angel investor groups across the the country.All registered attendees will receive a special discount for Gust Launch, the unique Company as a Service platform for incorporating and managing a high-growth startup, based on David's New York Times best selling book, The Startup Checklist.
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Saturday, September 26
11:30 AM - Zero to Data Visualization (hosted by the Brooklyn Library)
In this online workshop, we'll use the Python programming language to gather data from the web, explore, and plot our data -- all using code. Along the way, we'll learn Python fundamentals like lists, dictionaries, and loops.
This is for beginners, no previous knowledge in coding is necessary.
This is the first of a three part series on machine learning hosted by The Brooklyn Library.
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02:00PM - Brand Strategy Workshop
GA
This workshop will teach you how building and sustaining brand value matters for your business' competitive advantage in an increasingly commoditised marketplace.
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Tuesday, September 29
5:30 PM - Clorox brunchwork
Explore CPG and marketing with Clorox VP and GM Jackson Jeyanayagam.
Jackson Jeyanayagam is the VP and General Manager of Direct-to-Consumer at Clorox, the world-renowned CPG company that had $6.2B in sales in FY 2019. So far in 2020, their stock is up more than 50%
Jackson is a marketing veteran who was previously the CMO at Boxed. In 2018, he was included on Forbes CMO Next 2018 list, which identified the 50 CMO's redefining the role and shaping the future.
He also served as Head of Digital at Chipotle, where he was responsible for all digital efforts including mobile, social media, content strategy, CRM & loyalty, analytics and loyalty & e-commerce integration.
TIME: EST
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12:00 PM - Startup Financing Strategies
Many founders are reevaluating their funding strategies and business models in today’s economy, finding themselves asking: How can I survive with less capital? How has fundraising changed in the current climate? What strategies can I implement to take advantage of market shifts?
In this session, we will discuss how the fundraising landscape has changed, and how VCs think those changes will affect capital allocation. Financing strategies and structures that take advantage of such changes will also be explored.
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12:30PM - StackUp: B2B Marketing - How To Succeed in Uncertain Times with Abel Flint (Suzy)
The on-going pandemic has forced marketers to dramatically shift the way they approach B2B marketing strategy & tactics. In this Marketing StackUp, Abel Flint (Senior Manager, B2B Marketing @ Suzy) will share key strategies that allowed Suzy to pivot their B2B marketing in days and increase their MQLs during a global pandemic. Suzy is an NYC-based SaaS platform, that is is powering research at some of the largest enterprise companies in the United States. Join this session if you're interested in learning how your growth-stage tech company can improve their B2B marketing approach during uncertain times. Suzy is a real-time market research platform. Whether you’re a novice or an expert researcher, Suzy helps you make better, faster, more data-driven decisions. Our platform combines advanced research tools with the highest quality audience to deliver trusted insights in minutes.
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06:00PM - Transitions in Tech Talks
Women Who Code NYC
Did you know that the average person will change careers 5-7 times within a lifetime? However, each transition will probably seem daunting and overwhelming at first. If 2020 has you thinking about making a move in your career, this is the event for you! Join us for an evening of talks about career transitions -- both to different areas within tech as well as transitions from other industries into tech. We will have talks from a variety of womxn about their transition.
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Sunday, October 4
9:00 AM - Babson Black Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (BWEL) Program
Join a group of up to 40 black women entrepreneurs and get access to vital business expertise, and a supportive community of mentors and fellow female founders. Apply to Babson’s Black Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (BWEL), a program created for Black female founders by the #1 school for entrepreneurship education in the world.
The BWEL program is designed specifically for black women seeking to hone their entrepreneurial leadership skills, grow their network, and gain resources to propel their businesses and professional growth.
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01:00PM - Free Intro to Coding Class Online
GA
Explore the programming languages that power the web and write your first line of code.
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