AlleyBoost: Startup Investor Night brought to you by Sheppard Mullin

Pitch 5 investors looking for early stage investments; You should only sign up for this event if you are going to raise money now or in the next 6 months.

You will get 10 Min – 1 min Set up. 6 min demo/presentation; 2 min Q&A with VCs; 1 min break down.

Limited to just 18 startups. A startup "Presenter" ticket gets you admission for one team member. Purchase "to watch" tickets for any additional team members who will be pitching with you.

The winning Startup for the evening will receive: 

1st Prize: (1st Place Overall) Consultation with Sheppard Mullin’s emerging company attorneys, covering incorporation, early stage legal documentation and financing strategies.

2nd Prize: (1st Place in Room 1) One-on-one consultation with Cohn Reznick's Technology Industry Practice, which would cover the following areas:

• Strategic tax planning – including corporate structuring, as well as local and industry specific tax incentives
• Financial reporting insights – company specific
• Accretive business/industry introductions

3rd Prize: (1st Place in Room 2) A month of FREE CoWorking at WorkVille with the ability to bring a colleague.

4th Prize: (2nd Place in Room 1) $500 credit towards data warehousing from Snowflake. 

5th Prize: (2nd Place in Room 2) Skype/Phone Consulting Session with Wazi, CEO of The Small Business Oracle - provider of Strategic Execution and Financial Guidance (SEx & $) to 5 - 50 person companies.

If you're interested in pitching at an upcoming investor night email Jason@alleyboost.com to reserve a spot in advance. Come watch this one to gain valuable insights and tips so your pitch is effective next time.

Agenda:

6 - 7 pm Pitches

7 - 7:15 pm Break

7:15 - 8 pm Pitches

8 - 8:30 pm Networking with VCs/Angels

Light refreshments will be served

Judges

Charles Smith, Venture Partner, SocialStarts

Charles Smith has been an active NY angel investor since the mid-2000s who has invested in more than a dozen companies, and has worked for and sat on the boards of ten more. He founded Extension Entertainment, a social music discovery platform. He is the owner of The Ineo Group LLC. Charles spent three years as the Vice President of Etsy Inc., was Vice President of Sales at Tacoda and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Planning at RealMedia.

Meghan Cross, Managing Director, Red Bear Angels

As Managing Director, Meghan joined Red Bear Angels with nearly a decade of operating experience launching and growing media & software companies in New York and Silicon Valley. As an early Director at StyleCaster Inc., Meghan led the digital media conglomerate’s marketing team through the business’ exit to She Knows Media. Prior, Meghan was in Public Relations, helping to build such brands as Skype and Foursquare into household names. She draws venture experience from working with Bowery Capital, Foundation Capital, Metamorphic Ventures, and StarVest Partners, where she analyzed potential investments and provided portfolio value-add. She is the founder of Cross Venture Services LLC, a launch advisor to such commerce platforms as Sailo (TechStars ’15), Shareswell, and Thursday Boot Co. Meghan has been interviewed on various programs such as CNN’s “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer, and NBC’s “The Today Show.” Meghan received her B.S. in Fiber & Textile Science from Cornell University and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Claire Fauquier, Senior Associate, Corigin Ventures

Claire is a Senior Associate with Corigin Ventures. She is responsible for sourcing and analyzing deals, along with working with, and supporting portfolio companies. She began her career working in Investment Banking with Credit Suisse, both in their Toronto and New York offices. She did a stint working for the Nairobi-based growth private equity firm, Jacana Partners. Claire spent time working in the UK for the FinTech company Ebury, leading their M&A growth strategy efforts and working to prepare the company for a capital raise.

Claire earned an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

Vinnie Cuccia, Angel Investor

Vincent Cuccia runs Planet Pepper, where we “bootify” the Glamazons of the world by providing hip pads to drag queens and transsexuals. He tripled sales in just 3 months with social media and won several business competitions. Before starting Planet Pepper, he cofounded the nonprofit Ti Piace-Italian American Presentations where he increased funding 100%. He teaches Public Speaking for Business at Kingsborough Community College/CUNY where he works on and grades 200 pitches a year. He is also the Faculty Advisor for the LGBTS Alliance and the Liberal Arts Council where he has organized drag shows and other events that promote the mission of the groups. He received his Masters from Queens College/CUNY. He is an expert in niche/community and online marketing and public speaking.

Damion Hänkejh, Fouding Partner, Ingk Labs

Andrew Kangpan, Analyst, ff Venture Capital

Andrew is an Analyst at ff Venture Capital, focusing on early stage technology analysis and investing across a wide range of sectors. Previously, Andrew was a Senior Associate at Prophet where he worked with some of the world's largest companies to drive sustinable growth through the use of digital technologies. Andrew earned a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from The Stern School of Business at NYU.

Mark Wachen, Managing Director, Upstage Ventures / DeamtIt Ventures

Mark Wachen is the Managing Director of Upstage Ventures, a firm that advises and invests in consumer internet and interactive marketing companies. Wachen is also a Managing Director of DreamIt Ventures, one of the world's leading accelerator programs. Previously, Wachen founded Optimost, the company that pioneered multivariate testing and optimization online. Wachen served as its CEO up until its acquisition by Interwoven in 2007. Prior to Optimost, Wachen was Vice President of Online Ventures for Sony Music. Wachen graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth and has an MBA from Harvard. 

Emanuel Martinez, General Managing Director, Greenhills Ventures

Mr. Martinez is the General Managing Director for GreenHills Ventures, LLC, a private investment holding company managing several investment arms headquartered in New York City and Luxembourg.

Greenhills has more than $1.8 billion of both capital commitments and paid in capital in both their wealth management and funds. His first fund was GHV I which was founded in 2001 which has invested in 36 companies in medical device, healthcare technology, mobility, wireless and digital media.

Vanessa Pestritto, General Partner, Lattice Ventures

Vanessa Pestritto is General Partner at Lattice Ventures, the first stop for seed capital in New York. Lattice Ventures invests in pre seed and seed stage startups that are defensible via network effects.

Vanessa was the Executive Director of New York Angels, where she oversaw deal flow and investor interests and experience. She previously worked in technology consulting on product development. She currently is a Mentor for the NYU Berkley Venture Competition, BrainTrust Advisor for Entrepreneurs@Athena, was named a Top Latino Tech Leader by the New America Alliance and blogs at IamVP.com.

Amy Kadomatsu, Co-Founder and President, ROKO Labs

Amy Kadomatsu is co-founder and president of ROKO Labs, a mobile platform company that helps app creators build better apps by adding deep-linking, Refer-A-Friend, promo code tracking, and push notification to their apps in less than a day. Prior to ROKO Labs, Amy was a Managing Director at McGraw-Hill Financial, a Fortune 500 company. A serial entrepreneur, Amy has created and launched multiple start-ups including TheMarkets.com, which was sold to S&P Capital IQ in 2010 for $300M. Passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship, Amy is an active seed investor with HBS NY Angels, a mentor at Entrepreneurs Roundtable and advisor to start-ups. She also serves as Board Chair for MOUSE, a national nonprofit that empowers students to become leaders, inventors, and creators in the technology ecosystem. Amy is a graduate of Harvard University and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Peter Nicholas, Director of Investment Strategy, Facilitated Growth

 

Before joining Facilitated Growth in 2013, as a series 7 and 63 registered representative, Pete was involved in investments spanning both the public and private markets. At National Securities, he maintained client relationships, managed client accounts, and oversaw a team of people. As Director of Investment Strategy at FG, he is currently using his assets to assist entrepreneurs in navigating through the early stages of the business process, with a focus on investor sentiment. His ability to read and assess situations is considered by the partners when making a proprietary investment.

 

Swatick Majumdar, Venture Partner, Digital Entertainment Ventures (DEV)

 

Swatick Majumdar is the Venture Partner of Digital Entertainment Ventures (DEV). Previously he was a Managing Director at Chatsworth Securities, LLC a Greenwich, CT based boutique investment bank. At Chatsworth he directed all his attention to the investment banking activities in the US-India corridor where he helped execute numerous successful financings in various sectors such as Technology, Media and Telecommunication (TMT), Renewable Energy (new and traditional), Biotechnology and Medical devices. He has been active as an advisor in the start-up evolution of companies and brings a wealth of global relationships, expertise and operating history to the team at DEV. He serves as a board observer at Easy Energy Systems, a renewable energy company and Global Path Capital.

 

 

D.J. Dashti, Co-Founder, WorkVille

 

D.J. Dashti is the co-founder of WorkVille, a unique coworking space featuring shared and private offices. His partners are two families that have generations-spanning experience developing NYC’s biggest real estate. D.J.’s broad career experience is the catalyst for Workville’s collaborative and entrepreneurial environment. In addition to operating Workville, he specializes in residential brokerage for the firm SPIRE. Previously, DJ began his career in finance and spent 8 years as a stockbroker. DJ received his BA in Business Administration from Towson University.

 

 

Kevin Weeks, Partner, Dozen Digital

 

Kevin is a Partner at Dozen Digital, where he works with startups on creating and testing scalable customer acquisition systems. Prior to Dozen Digital, Kevin worked with several VC funds and startups, including Bain Capital Ventures, Scout Ventures, Thanx and BloomThat. He spent six years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, most recently in the strategic investments group. Kevin is a major supporter of Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurship training program for formerly incarcerated adults. He is a graduate of Columbia Business School and the University of Pennsylvania, where he played offensive line on the football team.

Mireya Manigault, Angel Investor, 37 Angels

 

Mireya Manigault has 20 years of experience serving large diversified financial services organizations in the areas of marketing, operations and compliance, with a focus on risk management enterprise-wide and across the entire customer lifecycle. She is an innovation and brand technologist who has helped large banking organizations, nonprofits and start-ups define their strategic goals and optimize their infrastructure and operational processes for relevancy. She is also an angel investor affiliated with 37 Angels, a community of women angel investors focused on early-stage investment education.

Use the hashtag #AlleyBoost during the event! :)

Thank you to our sponsors!

 

 

CohnReznick LLP is one of the top accounting, tax, and advisory firms in the United States, combining the resources and technical expertise of a national firm with the hands-on, entrepreneurial approach that today’s dynamic business environment demands. Headquartered in New York, NY, and with offices nationwide, CohnReznick serves a large number of diverse industries and offers specialized services for middle market and Fortune 1000 companies, technology companies, private equity and financial services firms, government agencies, life sciences companies, and not-for-profit organizations. The Firm, with origins dating back to 1919, has more than 2,700 employees including nearly 300 partners and is a member of Nexia International, a global network of independent accountancy, tax, and business advisors.  

 

 

Sheppard Mullin is a full service Global 100 firm with over 750 attorneys in 15 offices located in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. We provide services at all stages of the investment cycle — from start-up and seed capital to growth capital, mature private equity and liquidity events. Our attorneys combine corporate, tax, intellectual property and employment expertise to meet the needs of rapidly growing companies. How can we help you?

 

For more information, please contact:

Adam M. Freiman

Partner

212.653.8458

afreiman@sheppardmullin.com

www.sheppardmullin.com

 

 

Ezetech helps startups develop and take ideas for software products to market and beyond. We facilitate development through consulting with the entrepreneur and deploying cost-effective resources on an as-needed basis. We're passionate about value creation and have significant experience building products in such verticals as fintech, ecommerce, social media, adtech, and the wearable space. 

TurnToTech is a 16-week Mobile Bootcamp based in New York City that aims to produce well-rounded software engineers with a deep understanding of mobile platforms and app development.

 

 

 

 

Fiverr® gives you instant access to millions of Gigs from people who love what they do. It's the easiest way for individuals and businesses to get everything done, at unbeatable value. Fiverr is the world's largest marketplace for creative and professional services, currently listing over 3 million Gigs in more than 100 different categories across 196 countries.

 

 

Balsamiq is the maker of Mockups - http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups - the rapid wireframing software that combines the simplicity of paper sketching with the power of a digital tool so that teams can focus on what's important. Balsamiq is a small and personable company that competes on usability and customer service. Balsamiq believes work should be fun, and that life is too short for bad software.

Alley is a community with workspaces. At Alley, teams and individuals can grow their businesses surrounded by like minded people, and work collaboratively in a supportive environment. Additionally, Alley members take advantage of outstanding networking opportunities and special events hosted by Alley, such as speaker series with Angel Investors and experienced entrepreneurs, as well as hackathons and sponsored happy hours. With the support of community Alley helps companies turn their ideas and stable businesses.

 

All sales are final.

 

Also, check out the AlleyBoost Meetup Group and the AlleyBoost website.