Breaking Barriers of VC, EDITION 3

Laurent Span
June 22, 2024

Welcome to Breaking Barriers of VC, Edition 3.

A little late but wow, NY TechWeek 2024, what a week. 700+ events, thousands of people from all over the world, and the BBVC community grew by a few scores of people. It was truly invigorating to be amongst the best and brightest of the nation (and some globally who flew in), last week. I’m in awe of the intricate problems founders are trying to solve; it’s truly the best part of my job as an emerging VC.

BBVC presents, a TechWeek Breakfast for Women Founders / Funders

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

Upcoming Events for Breaking Barriers of VC:

1) June 24th, BBVC & Rella present, “Let’s Get Together MIAMI” (MIAMI, FL) : https://lu.ma/aub65lz3 - if you are building/investing in Miami, see you there.

2) July 11th, BBVC presents, "An Agave Affair" For VCs and LPs (NYC) https://lu.ma/w2fwvb65

3) July 18th, BBVC presents, "What's up with AI" (NYC) - our staple panel series @ Cooley (will be livestreamed). https://lu.ma/av5r0f6u

Unique Startups via SPANVentures.

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

Clik: Clik is especially useful for larger events, but we built it to be useful anytime you are capturing moments intended to be shared. Whether you are having a night out with friends, traveling, or at a wedding, Clik makes it fun and easy to share photos with friends. Instagram has become a feed of curated posts from people you don’t even know. Clik is a feed of authentic moments you have shared in the real world with the people that matter to you most.
- 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.
Rella: Rella simplifies collaboration and content management for creators and social media teams, allowing them to share and upload content with the people who need to see it.
Instead of creators and social media teams wasting time keeping track of projects, organizing and sharing content, posting across all platforms, and tracking down approvals - you can use Rella instead.
Rella is built by a creator, Natalie Barbu. She has been a creator for 13 years, was able to quit her job at Accenture after making double her salary on social media, and started an agency where she worked with brands and creators on their social strategy. In addition to herself, she has 2 cofounders who have been software engineers for the past 6 years.
Rella users have shared over 100,000 pieces of content and they recently launched paid subscriptions in October generating $62K+ in ARR with $0 spent in marketing.
1. As an emerging content creator, this tool is sick. If you want to invest, let me know.
Parrot Finance: is a social investing platform where users can follow and mimic the verified investment strategies of vetted creators and traders, leveling the playing field and empowering everyone to make informed investment decisions. Users can also mimic trades from over 200 portfolios of top politicians like Nancy Pelosi and CEO’s like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet.
We've partnered with brokers like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, WeBull and many more to promote a secure, social and transparent investing experience for all stages of investors.
The founding team has a background in finance, engineering and operations from companies like KKR, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Coinbase and The White House, and have raised around $2M to date from investors such as Techstars, Western Union, Lightspeed, Harlem Capital, Hustle Fund, Plug and Play, Litquidity, early investors of Robinhood, and more.
1. Because who doesn’t want to beat Nancy Pelosi at her own game?!?! If you want to invest, let me know.
Artem Fragrances: is a fragrance house that tells culturally relevant stories through scent. Using exceptional raw materials with no budget limit, prioritizing meaningful works of art through scent. Artem goes up against the best of the best fragrance houses such as Byredo, Le Labo, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Creed, and more. Founded in 2023, Artem is now post-product, within the retailer Osswald (right on Mulberry St, NYC), and through the use of a strategic advisor, they are targeting retail distribution within Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, and others in 2024.
- I am a huge fragrance connoisseur and will solely wear Artem Fragrances for the foreseeable future. If you want to invest, let me know.

Open-Ended Thought Dive: Does TechWeek NYC Provide Any ROI To Founders?

This is a tough one. Yes and no. TechWeek started as a way to unite the venture/tech ecosystems across various diasporas for networking, collaboration, connection, and enjoyment. Over the years, especially in New York, it has grown significantly, now entering its third year and attracting over 700+ events in an action-packed week. TechWeek NYC has showcased to the nation and the world that New York is emerging as a top investable city, boasting exceptional talent, the best food (I am heavily biased), and partners. Despite challenges such as high living costs and taxes, the city is increasingly positioning itself as a prime hub for talent and business development (#longNYC).

However, throughout the week, I frequently questioned TechWeeks’ value for early-stage founders (pre-seed to Series A). Here’s the lowdown: I spoke with several founders who appreciated TechWeek for the networking opportunities but struggled to choose the right events and felt excluded from the networking, which seemed more geared towards VCs and LPs. As a VC and former founder myself, I’ve noticed that less curated events often yield lower ROI for founders. Except for highly curated events like those hosted by “BBVC” and others, most “main stage” events resembled glorified VC gatherings. For early-stage founders seeking connections with investors, angels, or potential co-founders, the ROI from attending many events seemed disappointingly low in terms of tangible business growth and networking.

So here’s my proposition: while the foundation of NY TechWeek is excellent, it needs more focus and structure. TechWeek NYC appears to have lost sight of its original mission amid its rapid growth, turning into a series of parties with occasional insightful panels. To be clear, my point is not to condemn TechWeek but to call for a significant overhaul of its organization and agenda. In the coming years, I’d love to see TechWeek become a more structured week, filled with organized panels, interspersed with curated breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, and anchored by two large opening and closing parties. 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.

____________________________________________________________________

Want to start a newsletter? Get set up with beehiiv.

beehiiv — The newsletter platform built for growth

Access the best tools available in email, helping your newsletter scale and monetize like never before.

Get started here.

Powered by Grasshopper Bank: With total assets of approximately $733 million, Grasshopper is a client-first digital bank serving the business and innovation economy. Grasshopper replaces the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to banking with a suite of products and services tailored to specific industries and a passionate team of experts with deep expertise in their fields. Grasshopper’s banking solutions cover small businesses, venture-backed companies, fintech-focused Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and commercial API banking platforms, SBA lending, commercial real estate lending, and yacht financing. Headquartered in New York City, the bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and is an Equal Housing/Equal Opportunity Lender.

For more information, visit Grasshopper.