During the Spring Semester 2015, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute sponsored a series of informal lunchtime discussions in concert with the NYC CTO Club, a not-for-profit membership organization of senior technology professionals in the NYC area. A number of companies in the NYU entrepreneurial ecosystem were invited to participate. Startups such as VidCode, Keen Home, Kinvolved, Hire Canvas, Oculogica, VengoLabs and many more had the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics with an array of senior technology executives.

The format for the lunches was an open-ended discussion intended to introduce our young entrepreneurs to people who have a wide range of experiences, so they could gain perspective and ask questions. A sample of the topics discussed included areas such as security and privacy challenges; finding, hiring, and retaining technology talent; managing people and technology projects; and startup fund raising.

The CTO Club members who attended came from diverse industries and backgrounds with a breadth and depth of experience. The Institute thanks the following people who volunteered their time and energy: Daniel Doubrovkine (CTO
Artsy), Stephen Orban (Head of Enterprise Strategy Amazon AWS), Warren Habib (CTO Everplans), Peter Bell (Founder Ronin Labs), Daniel Seltzer (CTO The Credit Junction) and Mark Kortekaas (stealth startup).

Each discussion was unique and valuable.  Feedback from all the attendees has been uniformly positive. So much so, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute is planning the lunch series for the Fall Semester 2016.  The lunch series will kickoff in late September and run every few weeks until the end of the semester in early December. Startups actively engaged with the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute are eligible for an invitation.