Agenda
April 14th
Registration Hours
How to Get Your First Yes
Once the first domino falls, the rest inevitably follow. But when it comes to early fundraising, it’s not as simple as a tap of the finger. Sequoia’s Jess Lee will talk you through how to get that first investor on board, which will more often than not get other investors excited about the prospect of working with you.
Evolving from Scientist to Founder
How do you go from PhD to startup founder and beyond? In this session, Mammoth Biosciences Co-founder & CTO Janice Chen and Endpoint Health Co-founder & CSO Diego Rey join Mayfield’s Ursheet Parikh to share learnings from their own scientist-to-founder growth journeys. Learn how to go from bench to bedside and leverage scientific breakthroughs to save lives, how startups can ink productive partnerships with industry behemoths, and more.
How to Get Earned Media
When wielded properly, press can be an invaluable weapon. ASTRSK founder Elliot Tomaeno has spent his life telling startup’s stories to the press. He’ll break down how journos think about news, how to get their attention, and how to own the relationship in the long-term.
How to be a Player – Building a Winning MVP Roundtable
The goal of this roundtable is to discuss and learn how to utilize the Design Thinking methodology to create an experience that combines content, creativity and collaboration in building the first iteration of your product. In the end founders will be able to work through the common hurdles faced while transitioning from the idea to product phase
How To Get Earned Media Roundtable
When wielded properly, press can be an invaluable weapon. ASTRSK founder Elliot Tomaeno has spent his life telling startup’s stories to the press. He’ll break down how journos think about news, how to get their attention, and how to own the relationship in the long-term.
Future-proof your FP&A
Believe it or not, the early choices you make building out your financial reporting process can have an outsized impact on your ability to scale your vision. Our panelists will share personal and practical advice every founder should know now for better decision-making later on
Nailing Your Series A
The fundraising landscape is frothy. Startups, for the first time in a long time, have plenty of leverage going into their Series A raise. Hear from Peter Boyce II, founder of Stellation Capital (former Partner at General Catalyst) on how to get the best terms, with the best investors for your startup, and ultimately the best long-term success, during your Series A fundraise.
Finding Product Market Fit
Validating your idea, through customer love for your product, may be one of the most emotionally and intellectually taxing parts of being an early stage founder. GV’s Frederique Dame, former operator (Uber) turned VC, will lay out the fundamentals of finding product market fit, including processes, feedback loops, and adaptability.
Technical Recruiting; What Early Founders and Entrepreneurs Should Be on the Lookout For Roundtable
Scott will lead a discussion around technical recruiting, the challenges of hiring in today’s hyper competitive market and what early stage founders can do to compete for great talent. As an engineer and former founder himself, Scott knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the negotiation table and will share practical advice founders can implement immediately: Becoming mission-driven vs profit-driven to inspire and attract the right people and compete with larger companies who can offer more perks, prioritizing the engineering traits important to you and investing in people’s potential rather than current skill level, and changing up your interview style. Employees have the leg up right now and it’s not a bad thing – but defining your company’s values is now a must do, not a nice-to-do anymore.
How to Pitch Your Deeptech Business
Deeptech is often seen as risky because it requires considerably longer development times and higher R&D investments before solutions can be brought to market. Finding the right business framework often remains a major challenge. We will break down how to best pitch your deeptech business to investors, including how to tell a compelling story around your value proposition and build a better proof of concept.
Nailing Your Series A Roundtable
The fundraising landscape is frothy. Startups, for the first time in a long time, have plenty of leverage going into their Series A raise. Chat with Peter Boyce II, founder of Stellation Capital (former Partner at General Catalyst) on how to get the best terms, with the best investors for your startup, and ultimately the best long-term success, during your Series A fundraise.
Critical Security Considerations To Scale & Sell Roundtable
Many startups tend to put security on the back burner in their early days, not realizing the critical role it plays in building a stable foundation for growth and in actually helping close customers. Kelley Mak, Partner at Work-Bench, an early stage enterprise VC, will help facilitate a conversation on what steps to take for good security hygiene, how to evaluate security at different stages of the startup journey, and how to leverage your security program to win customers.
Pitch Deck Teardown
An enticing pitch is foundational to a startup’s chance of successful fundraising. Pair that with a well-constructed pitch deck and you’re off to the races. In this interactive session, Emergence Capital’s Lotti Siniscalco will look through real startup pitch decks submitted by the audience to share what sings, what doesn’t, and why.
Playbook for Startup Brand Building
Building your brand at the early stages of company building is critical but often overlooked and misunderstood. A brand is more than a logo and a website; it’s the story that reflects your values and vision, guides every touchpoint and communication, and sparks connection and emotion. Brands are participatory, so you create your own brand story at launch, but others define it as you grow. Learn the building blocks of developing a compelling brand story that wins hearts and minds while supporting your company’s growth.
How to Talk Business When You’re a Technical Founder
When it comes to pitching early-stage enterprise startups, technical founders can sometimes neglect the business side of the conversation. To help build your confidence in “talking business,” DTC’s Ryan Wexler will cover the fundamentals of what investors want to hear about how you’ll transform your technology into a fundamentally important business.
Networking Break
Playbook for Startup Brand Building Roundtable
Building your brand at the early stages of company building is critical but often overlooked and misunderstood. A brand is more than a logo and a website; it’s the story that reflects your values and vision, guides every touchpoint and communication, and sparks connection and emotion. Brands are participatory, so you create your own brand story at launch, but others define it as you grow. Chat with Hadley Wilkins to learn the building blocks of developing a compelling brand story that wins hearts and minds while supporting your company’s growth.
Getting from Early to Growth Stage
For most investors, early-stage investments are largely about the founder and vision – but once you get to a growth stage investment, there are more factors at play. This session will cover the key differences between an early raise and a growth raise, what milestones investors look for – and how founders can prepare.
How to Craft Your Pitchdeck Roundtable
An enticing pitch is foundational to a startup’s chance of successful fundraising. Pair that with a well-constructed pitch deck and you’re off to the races. At this roundtable, Emergence Capital’s Lotti Siniscalco will review your pitchdeck to share what sings, what doesn’t, and why.
Top 10 mistakes early founders make
What are the top mistakes early founders make while they are trying to reach Product/market fit and how do you avoid them? In this presentation, Omar will distill the lessons he has learned while working with over a thousand early stage startups from top accelerators like Y Combinator, Techstars, and StartX.
Going from Wedge to TAM
Investors love unrealistic goals based on pragmatic strategies. Felicis Ventures’ Viviana Faga and Niki Pezeshki will explain how to think about your early customers, the path to expanding that pool, and how to balance the possible plan with the impossible dream.
Scaling from $1 to $10MM of ARR
When it comes to building and scaling a cloud business, leaders at all stages wonder what “typical” and “best-in-class” look like – and, while they’re some of the most helpful financial data points in the world, private market financial benchmarks remain some of the most elusive. To bridge this gap, join Bessemer Partner Mary D’Onofrio as she shares definitive benchmarking statistics and qualitative insights for companies looking to scale to new heights, focusing on growth from $1 to $10MM of ARR
Scaling from $1 to $10MM of ARR Roundtable
When it comes to building and scaling a cloud business, leaders at all stages wonder what “typical” and “best-in-class” look like – and, while they’re some of the most helpful financial data points in the world, private market financial benchmarks remain some of the most elusive. To bridge this gap, join Bessemer Partner Mary D’Onofrio as she chats with founders about benchmarking statistics and qualitative insights for companies looking to scale to new heights, focusing on growth from $1 to $10MM of ARR.
How to Hire Top Talent in Today's Hyper Competitive Market
Coming off of a record year for startups combined with the Great Resignation, nearly every startup is facing a shortage of talent. Hear from Greylock’s Glen Evans (former Slack, Facebook and Google) on how to optimize the recruiting and hiring process, how to find and develop talent, and the best practices for closing candidates.
How to Get into Y Combinator
Y Combinator is the most prestigious accelerator out there, with more successful alumni who started out at YC than we care to count. As far as startup launchpads go, it’s relatively unmatched. Hear from YC Managing Director and Group Partner Dalton Caldwell on how to increase your chances of getting accepted to YC and how to optimize your time there to set your company up for success.
Growth Marketing for Startups
It takes money to make money, but smart spending on growth marketing can make a world of difference not only to your bottom line, but to your long-term viability. Hear from defy.vc’s Brian Rothenberg, who led marketing and growth for TaskRabbit and EventBrite, on how to make the most of your marketing dollars.
Networking Break
Why Raising Venture Capital Benefits Startups
Fundraising is a critical phase of any startup’s life, but it’s also a challenging task and hard to do successfully. The truth is, the amount of money that a startup raises – and how the startup does it – plays a major role in the company’s future trajectory. Given the many sources of capital available, it is smart to understand how corporate venture capital can be a successful model for startups and corporate investors.
How to Get Into Y Combinator Roundtable
Y Combinator is the most prestigious accelerator out there, with more successful alumni who started out at YC than we care to count. As far as startup launchpads go, it’s relatively unmatched. Hear from YC Partner and Head of Admissions Dalton Caldwell on how to increase your chances of getting accepted to YC and how to optimize your time there to set your company up for success.
How Early Stage Founders Can Future Proof Against Market Volatility Roundtable
Quickly and unexpectedly, we’re seeing the market turn extremely volatile. Almost overnight, the economy has experienced increased inflation, hikes in interest rates and instability resulting from global political tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Now, investors are looking to public market volatility to anticipate how unstable global markets will affect their investments. As market conditions change, early-stage founders need to be ready for unexpected market swings.While founders do not have a crystal ball to see what market conditions will look like 12 or 24 months from now, early-stage startup founders can work to future-proof themselves now. Cathy, an investor who backs companies from Series A to pre-IPO, can provide a few key strategies
How to Grow and Scale your Startup: Top Tips on Seeking Venture Financing and Immigration
Early stage founders face a number of legal questions at the beginning of the startup journey. For example, how do foreign founders immigrate to the US to expand their businesses, how should founders approach incorporation and issuance of equity to the founding team and early stage hires or advisors, and how do founders approach angel or venture financing in the US? Startup law corporate attorney Lindsey S. Mignano of Smith Shapourian Mignano PC will discuss how early stage founders can incorporate their US entities, fundraise from angels and venture capital firms, and expand their footprint in the US.
Going from 0 to Leading Web3 Platform Company
How do you go from consumer social to one of the first $10B companies in blockchain? In this session, Alchemy cofounder and CTO Joe Lau joins Mayfield Managing Director Navin Chaddha to share learnings on the founder journey to building the leading blockchain developer platform. Learn about how to find product-market fit in an emerging market, how to build a Web3 platform company, principles for navigating the early stage founder journey, and much more.
When it Makes Sense to Crowdfund Capital
A new SEC regulation allows startups to raise capital using crowdsourced fundraising. Gumroad founder and CEO, Sahil Lavingia will speak alongside Slava Rubin, the founder of Indiegogo and Vincent, and now the Managing Partner of humbition, an early-stage venture fund, about when it makes sense to crowdsource capital. During this session, they’ll explain the regulations and discuss the different offerings available for founders.
How to Scale with Usage-based Pricing
As more SaaS startups move toward usage-based pricing, the old playbook becomes less and less useful. OpenView’s Kyle Poyar can talk through how to grow your business without all the same benchmarks, milestones and strategies as the SaaS companies who’ve come before.
Setting the Foundation for Built-to-Last Companies
When it comes to company building, some things can’t be retrofitted – they have to be set in place from day one. Join this session with Outreach Co-founder & CEO Manny Medina and Mayfield’s Rajeev Batra as they share insights from Outreach’s inception to iconic journey, including lessons learned on building an empathetic performance culture, embedding DEI into your DNA, the playbook for great category design and more.
Why You Don't Need to Be a Unicorn Roundtable
Unicorns, not the mythical horse-like creatures from fantasy but private companies valued at $1 billion or more, seem to be popping up everywhere. Despite this, the reality is that although VC-funded companies need to grow big and fast, not every entrepreneur aims to be a unicorn – so how does one navigate the funding landscape without that goal in mind? The answer lies in a thorough exit strategy. With over 10 years of investment experience, Jennifer Vancini knows how to plan for an exit. At this roundtable, she will chat with you about best practices for preparing your company for exit and positioning yourself and your team for financial success. You will walk away understanding how the decisions you make today affect your exit options: which investors you choose, how you build your team, and more.
How to Tell Your Story
Shely Aronov is the CEO and co-founder of InnerPlant, an early-stage company pioneering the development of living plant sensors. She was born in Israel and graduated from Tel Aviv University before receiving an MBA from Standford. Shely is a repeat entrepreneur having founded a clean-label hummus brand and led a $320M World Bank-funded project to build a wastewater system in Cartegena, Colombia. Hear from Aronov on how to create a process around fundraising, how to make your pitch unique, and how to capture the attention of investors and others as you share your story.
How to Scale with Usage-based Pricing Roundtable
As more SaaS startups move toward usage-based pricing, the old playbook becomes less and less useful. OpenView’s Kyle Poyar will chat with you about how to grow your business without all the same benchmarks, milestones and strategies as the SaaS companies who’ve come before.
When It Makes Sense to Crowdfund Capital Roundtable
A new SEC regulation allows startups to raise capital using crowdsourced fundraising. Indiegogo and Vincent founder and now GP of humbition, an early stage venture fund, Slava Rubin will chat with founders about when it makes sense to crowdsource capital.
How Early Stage Founders Can Future-Proof Against Market Volatility
Quickly and unexpectedly, we’re seeing the market turn extremely volatile. Almost overnight, the economy has experienced increased inflation, hikes in interest rates and instability resulting from global political tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Now, investors are looking to public market volatility to anticipate how unstable global markets will affect their investments. As market conditions change, early-stage founders need to be ready for unexpected market swings. While founders do not have a crystal ball to see what market conditions will look like 12 or 24 months from now, early-stage startup founders can work to future-proof themselves now. Cathy Gao, a partner at Sapphire Ventures, backs companies from Series A to pre-IPO, and will provide a number of key strategies.
Beyond the Round: Making the most of your investor relationships
Today, many VCs offer founders more than just capital: They can provide useful counsel, open doors to the right partners, and help provide operational services that get your company off the ground and scale. Hear from Samsung Next alongside YC alumnus Kraftful and leading NFT marketplace SuperRare, as they share how the right investors on their cap table helped them supercharge their launch and growth efforts.
Closing Reception
THIS WEEK ONLY: Founder & Investor Bundle Deals
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