“CEO is the new Analyst.” My former Partner John Frankel of ff Venture Capital observes that 20 years ago, the defining movie of the generation was “Wall Street”. Everyone wanted to work in finance. But now, the defining movie of today’s twentysomethings is “The Social Network”. Everyone wants to work in tech startups. So...
[Continue Reading]Visiting Boston Oct. 3-5: Harvard, MIT, HBS, and SMA Consultancy
I hope to meet some of the local investor and founder community when I visit Boston October 3-5: At October 3 11:45am, the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation Club; VC/PE Club; and Fintech Club will be hosting me for a discussion on all of those topics. Location: MIT Sloan. On October 3 6pm, SMA is hosting a discussion...
[Continue Reading]Why venture capitalists are investing in international startups
Why are more US VCs investing in international startups? Take a look at The Fortune Unicorn List: of the top 100 most valuable unicorns in 2016, 39 are currently based outside of the United States. While fundraising of US VCs has dropped slowly as a percentage of global limited partner allocations over the last decade,...
[Continue Reading]Diversity, why international startups love NY, and why NY VCs love international startups
New York is now the second-most-active tech ecosystem in the US on all key metrics, after the Bay Area. One of the drivers for that growth is that for European, Israeli, Latin American, and Eastern Canada-linked companies, the East Coast is much closer than California. New York venture capitalists like me recognize this trend, and...
[Continue Reading]First annual MENA Tech Summit launches in NY
When Harvard Business School’s Dean, Nitin Nohria, took office, he outlined five priorities to shape his agenda for the School during his tenure: curriculum Innovation, Intellectual ambition, Internationalization, Inclusion, and closer ties to the University (Integration). At HBS Alumni Angels of NY, we have worked on a series of initiatives in line with all 5...
[Continue Reading]Introduction to the New York fintech community
I recently met with a friend who’s a senior executive at a large investment management organization. She said, “fintech is really interesting, but I don’t have a clue as to how to get started.” So I shared with her my notes on who the players are in the ecosystem. If there are additional players I...
[Continue Reading]