On Friday, March 6th, the Female Founders Community in NY gathered digitally and in person for this year's Female Founders Forum, powered by NYU. The Female Founders Forum brought together women entrepreneurs, investors and members of the NYU community, for a half day of inspiration, conversation and networking. The goal was to expand opportunity and community building for current and future female founders.
Live stream videos from the forum can be viewed here.
The agenda of the day was as follows:
12:00-12:40 - Registration & Networking lunch: Catering provided by Taim Falafel
12:40-1:00pm - Opening Remarks:
- Emily Baum, Inclusive Entrepreneurship Lead, NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
- Dr. Stacie Bloom, Vice Provost for Research & Innovation, NYU
1:00-1:50pm - Keynote speaker, Susan Lyne:
- Susan Lyne, President and Managing Partner at BBG Ventures
- Moderator: Stephanie Mehta, Editor-in-chief, Fast Company
2:00-3:00pm - Panel - Who Run the World?
- Chloe Alpert, Founder & CEO of Medinas Health
- Namrata Mujumdar, Co-Founder and CEO of FUND:THIS
- Milena Berry (NYU Tisch '03), Co-Founder and CEO of PowerToFly
- Olivia Landau (NYU Steinhardt '13), Founder & CEO of The Clear Cut
- Moderator: Cynthia Franklin of W.R. Berkley Innovation Labs
3:30-4:30pm - Investor Panel: Funding Female Founders - Moving the Needle
- Caitlin Strandberg, Principal at Lerer Hippeau
- Jessica Lin, Co-Founder & General Partner at Work-Bench
- Nimi Katragadda, Partner at BoxGroup
- Rebecca Kaden, Partner at Union Square Ventures
- Moderator: Emily Baum, Inclusive Entrepreneurship Lead at NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
4:40-5:30pm - Startup Pitchoff!
Emcee: Desiree Frieson of NYDesigns
Pitchoff Judges:
- Dr. Dee Dao, Venture Associate at NYU Innovation Venture Fund
- Geri Kirilova (NYU Stern '16), Partner at Laconia Capital Group
- Jenny Fielding, Managing Director of Techstars and General Partner of The Fund
Startups Pitching:
- Sabai Design Co-Founder Phantila Phataraprasit (NYU Law '20)
- My Wellbeing CEO and Founder Alyssa Petersel (NYU Silver '17)
- Sunthetics Co-Founders Myriam Sbeiti (NYU Tandon '18) and Daniela Blanco (NYU Tandon '20)
- Motivote COO & Co-Founder Rachel Konowitz (NYU Wagner '18)
5:30-6:30 - Pitch Winners Announcement & Happy Hour:
Motivote and My Wellbeing won prizes from Dagne Dover and Pepper. Then we all mingled with the female-led startups over wine!
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Thank you to our generous sponsors for helping us bring this year's Female Founders Forum to life:
- American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact: A venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a long-term effort to close equity gaps in America.
- Lowenstein Sandler LLP: A national law firm with more than 300 lawyers working from five offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Washington, D.C., and Utah.
- Pepper: An unapologetic brand specifically for women with small boobs, starting with bras.
- Sustain Natural: All natural and organic condoms, lubricants and wipes so you can get on top of your sexual health.
- Dagne Dover: Bags for humans getting the most out of life.
Thank you also to our purveyors of deliciousness: Taim Falafel, Ovenly, Talea Beer and Mary Taylor Wine!
Powered By NYU: The Female Founders Forum is powered by the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute in partnership with the NYU School of Law, the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, the NYU Stern's W. R. Berkley Innovation Labs, and the NYU Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation.
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If you're interested in volunteering and/or providing sponsorship for future inclusive entrepreneurship events, please email entrepreneur@nyu.edu.
