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The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute welcomes Clayton Bryan (Stern '15) to our Executive Advisory Board to provide critical insight, strategic advice and support to the Institute. Clayton joins a distinguished board of alumni and other entrepreneurs and investors.
Clayton Bryan is an early stage venture investor and operator. Clayton has spent time at some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley. He has built expansive online communities, scaled marketplace businesses, and facilitated million dollar deals. At Yahoo he worked on award winning products. Later, at Payvment, he helped a team pioneer a new set of tools that started the social commerce movement.
With Diversity as a guiding principle, Clayton has spent the entirety of his career within venture capital focused on supporting underrepresented founders. In 2016, Clayton and four others launched a non-profit organization, Transparent Collective, tasked with coaching and connecting underrepresented founders with investors. Companies that have gone through Transparent Collective's program have raised tens of millions of dollars in early stage financings.
Clayton has invested in over 30 companies, including Brooklinen founded by NYU alumni Rich Fulop (Stern '14) and Vicki Fulop (CAS '07), Public Goods, Silk+Sonder, Blue Studios, Kiira, and EMTECH founded by NYU alumni Carmelle Cadet (Stern ‘15) with Stern professor Haran Segram as an advisor. He received a Bachelors of Arts in Political Economy from The University of California, Berkeley and his Masters of Business Administration from The Stern School of Business at New York University. He is currently a Venture Partner at global seed stage fund and accelerator, 500 Startups.
Clayton has been an active member of NYU’s startup community for several years; Clayton frequently serves as a VC judge in startup competitions on campus and has supported founders through 1:1 mentorship.
When asked about his decision to join the board Clayton shared that,
NYU is a very special place. Endowed with a wealth of experience from the gifted student population to the exceptional faculty. Add a phenomenal location that inspires the imagination — there’s no setting quite like it. The NYU entrepreneurial ecosystem has a magical blend of world class thinkers, technologists, artists - builders of every type. I feel honored to be able to return to NYU as a member of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute Executive Advisory Board to support this thriving ecosystem and look forward to helping catalyze further successes.
...There’s an entrepreneurial spirit that has been embedded in NYU’s DNA since its inception - an ever present energy and enthusiasm towards building great things. I plan to work with leaders, both eminent and emerging, connected to NYU - founders, investors, and operators, to support in the continued development of the NYU entrepreneurial network as well as the NYU staff to promote resources to help the community excel.
“Clayton’s combination of startup operations and early-stage investment experience, combined with his commitment to the NYU entrepreneurial community brings significant value to the Entrepreneurial Institute. We have known Clayton for a long time and are thrilled to partner with him as we continue to grow the startup offerings at NYU,” said Frank Rimalovski, Executive Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute.
Read more about the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute's Executive Advisory Board here.
About the Entrepreneurial Institute
The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute leads University-wide initiatives to launch successful startups and commercialize technology created by NYU’s 60,000 students, faculty and researchers. Their team of startup experts offers educational programming and events, and helps identify funding opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs.
