Breaking Barriers of VC, EDITION 7

www.sascoinc.com

Welcome to Breaking Barriers of VC, Edition 7.

September was one of the busiest months for SPANVentures. and Breaking Barriers of VC. I attended the AllinAI Conference in Montreal, participated in the Equity Alliances 3rd Annual Summit upstate in New York, and hosted several events in NYC—including the standout "Networking Before 9" breakfast panel for women founders and funders.

The VC ecosystem has been buzzing over the past few weeks, with everyone focused on sourcing deals, closing funding, and organizing key events. Let’s dive in.

The BBVC Podcast is now live! Please reach out if you're a VC and want to chat about your “first check in”. If you're a founder currently fundraising, I'd love to hear your “pitch and pivot” stories. Excited to finally get this off the ground and on air!

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With that being said, our community is surely growing. Check out our next few events:

Upcoming Events for Breaking Barriers of VC:

1. November 12th, BBVC Presents, “End of the Year Check-In” A Panel - Register Here

2. December 6th, “The Gala” - A Black Tie Affair in partnership with Arête for Fund Managers, Business Executives, & LPs.

   1. Promo code: breakingbarriersofvc - limited to first 20 Register Here

Unique Startups via SPANVentures.

like to see early-stage deal flow? Join the Syndicate

1. Orgo: Active families involved in youth sports face constant coordination challenges—from scheduling practices and games to managing transportation and last-minute changes. Orgo streamlines these logistics with a sports-focused, hybrid solution that simplifies planning and reduces administrative hassle. Whether it's coordinating carpooling, managing team conflicts, or staying on top of events, Orgo ensures that your family gets to the right place, at the right time, with ease. Designed for the fast-paced world of youth sports, Orgo empowers families to focus more on the game and less on the chaos.

   1. SPANVentures. has an allocation to invest. Please reach out if interested.

2. Clik: Clik is building the world’s first Content Co-Pilot, helping creators and media professionals create more content in less time. Using natural language models, Clik’s co-pilot allows you to search your content archive to find the right asset you are looking for in seconds, instead of digging through folders manually.

   Clik’s Content Pilot will launch publicly Jan 1, but is on pace to have $100K+ ARR signed in LOIs by then.

   Raising a $4M seed round in Q1.

   • I personally try and use CLIK whenever I can. It is the greatest way to share photos / upload photos at large events. If you want to invest, let me know.

3. Lets Play Money: Play Money is the ultimate deal flow discovery and engagement platform for early-stage investing.

   We offer a "Syndicate in a Box" solution, tailored for emerging fund managers, community leaders, angel groups, and micro VCs—anyone at the heart of high-quality deal flow and angel-aspiring networks. Deal leads can supercharge their portfolio companies, reward operator networks, and build their brand with future LPs, all without the hassle of running their own syndicate. Founders benefit from the ecosystem's most flexible SPV, cutting down 1:1 angel meeting time by 70% and increasing angel conversion rates by 50%.

   We charge angels a simple, one-time platform fee per investment and have exciting premium subscription options launching in Q4

4. Spry: Spry is an all-in-one intercollegiate athletics management tool designed to drive efficiency, consistency, and transparency across the athletics department. It offers features for NIL management, paperwork, messaging, calendar management, workflow building, compliance, education, recruiting, facility management, and SprySign, tailored for various users including administrators, coaches, compliance staff, and student-athletes.

Open-Ended Thought Dive:

Building a Company is the most rewarding thing you can do for Yourself.

Crazy statement, I know. 401(k)s, a structured workday, retirement funding, a salary, upward mobility (in most places), and comfort—these are some of the things I gave up when I decided to embark on this journey of entrepreneurship, again, for the third time. In your mid-20s, I think it’s one of the least risky times to build a business, depending on your familial goals and lifestyle. Yet, I find more and more 20-somethings from this generation wanting to build something of their own, regardless of what they may be giving up in terms of comfort. I chose to walk away from all of that—not once, but three times—to chase the path of entrepreneurship.

The question is, why? What makes building a company so appealing when it seems to come at the cost of so much security? For most, the answer lies in the challenge, the freedom to create, and the rapid personal growth that comes from carving your own path. And if you’re in your mid-20s, like I am, I believe it’s one of the least risky times to take the plunge. You have time on your side, fewer family or financial obligations, and the flexibility to bounce back if things don’t go as planned. It's a time when you can afford to experiment, fail, and try again—less tethered to the constraints that might come later in life.

But let’s be real, entrepreneurship isn’t glamorous. It’s not about working from beachside cafés or calling the shots whenever you want. It’s a grind. You trade predictability for uncertainty, and you become a hunter rather than a gatherer. You face challenges daily that can be overwhelming—funding, hiring, product development, scaling, and pivoting when things don’t work out. Yet, that’s exactly why building a company is so incredibly rewarding. It forces you to grow in ways you never imagined.

When you’re building something from the ground up, it teaches you more about personal growth than any other job could (outside of medicine, IMO). You learn how you respond to pressure, failure, self-imposed deadlines, and managing the unknown path ahead. You develop resilience, creativity, and grit—qualities that extend far beyond the business world. You become someone who doesn’t just talk about ideas but takes action to bring them to life. And that’s transformative.

Ultimately, building a company is about investing in yourself. It’s about believing in your own potential and betting on yourself in a way that few other paths allow. Sure, it’s scary. Sure, it’s risky. But would you rather live with the regret of never starting the unknown? Thoughts?

COMMUNITY ASK:

• If you know of any partners available to sponsor events, let me know. I am paying a generous referral fee!

• I want to bring BBVC to other cities across the country, if you have a suggestion, let me know.

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