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The Z List and Fidelity are partnering to host more programming dedicated to seed-stage founders, particularly content that educates them on how to approach a Series A fundraise.

Get ready for small curated breakfasts with founders who’ve just raised their Series A, investors who lead Series A rounds and will share the ins and outs of their decision making process, and another reverse demo day. Want to join? Fill out this form!

Z List IRL hosted by Zehra

wednesday 10/11

• Nexus AI Mixer

  • for who: investors, founders, operators in AI

  • hosted by: Nexus Venture Partners & Zehra 

thursday 10/12

• The Z List & Carta: Fundraising Fundamentals

  • for who: investors, founders, operators

  • The Z List & Carta are back for round three of our fundraising fundamentals series.

sunday 10/15

• ‘Money Matters’ with Girls That Invest: Simran Kaur & BrownGirlMag

  • for who: femme identifying investors & operators

  • hosted by: Zehra, Trisha (BrownGirlMag), & Simran (Girls That Invest) 

NY Tech Week Events

I know that tech weeks can be super overwhelming, especially with the abundance of choice that comes with conference weeks. Here’s how I break down and prioritize what events to go to:

• Have a reason to go to events: is it to meet potential investors for your seed extension round? connect with other investors in your industry? learn something new? meet people?

  • Try to be specific with your reason and if you have to decide between two events remind yourself of what your goal is. These are all events for your professional advancement at the end of the day. You should be getting something from them.

• Give yourself time to think and reflect when you can — I’ve fallen into the trap of attending too many events in a week and am unable to meaningfully follow up with everyone I met.

• Avoid FOMO! If you hear about an event day of and the details aren’t clear, ask questions to the organizer. You’re 100% entitled to learn more about who will be there and how the event will be structured. If it doesn’t make sense to attend, don’t.

monday 10/16

• For the Girls: NY #TechWeek Founder & Funder Breakfast

  • for who: femme founders & investors

  • hosted by: Zehra & Gold House Ventures

  • sponsors: SVB Private 

• The Consumer Council: NY #TechWeek

  

  • for who: consumer (tech & cpg) founders, investors, & operators

  • hosted by: Zehra & Nate 

  • sponsors: Pilot.com, Dwight Funding, Recharge, Retention

tuesday 10/17

Join us for a panel with Turner Novak (VC), Nichole Wischoff (VC), Nikita Bier (2 exits) & Ankur Nagpal (1 exit) all about founding, investing, and going viral. You will not want to miss this! Link below.

• Founding, Investing, & Going Viral: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: founders, investors, operators

  • hosted by: Zehra & Ocho (Jaiya)

  • sponsors: The Scene

• Pitch & Walk: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: founders & investors (operators welcome too!)

  • sponsor: Habit Skin 

wednesday 10/18

• Vision Boarding: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: founders, investors, operators — anyone who wants to take a mental break from happy hours, breakfasts, & networking to do something creative in the middle of the day

• Fun & FinTech & Litquidity NY #TechWeek

  • for who: founders & investors in FinTech

  • hosted by: Litquidity, Zehra, Osiris (Jonathan), Picus 

  • sponsors: Hedge 

• Collective Media Summit #NY TechWeek

  • for who: consumer founders & investors

  • hosted by: Miri Buckland & Emma Bates

thursday 10/19

• No GPs Allowed: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: full-time VC analysts, associates, VPs, principals, anyone but a GP (sorry)

  • hosted by: Zehra & Marcello

  • sponsor: Fidelity 

friday 10/20

• Louder with Umana: An Honest Conversation At Full Volume (with Noah Schnapp)

  • for who: consumer founders & investors interested in learning more from Noah & Ba!

  • hosted by: Zehra (Republic), Ba (Umana), & Dhruv (Celebrity Packaged Goods)

• Color Me Mine: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: founders & investors — taking a small group of founders & investors to color me mine to do something creative and destress as NY Tech Week winds down

• Angel Investors & Venture Scouts Social: NY #TechWeek

  • for who: angel investors & venture scouts

  • hosted by: Zehra & Jack 

  • sponsor: Carta

Opportunities (Fundraising)

• $50,000 Southwest Region University Competition 

  • for who: Any University Founders building in B2B SaaS

  • hosted by: ORCA and Honors Fund

• Three $90,000 Grants for Founders: Do You Fellowship 

  • for who: Latina & Black Femme Founders

  • hosted by: Digital Undivided 

• $100k NYC MBA Startup Competition

  • for who: MBA students and MBA alumni founders

  • hosted by: ORCA and MBA Ventures

Resources — a lot of folks reach out to me for recommendations of engineers, website devs, designers, & more. This new section of The Z List will feature recommendations from folks I’ve worked with.

• Need a reliable office space? I’ve worked with Codi for a few events and their NY office spaces are awesome.

• Need a website developer? Tamir is amazing and has been working with me on The Z List’s website. Fill out the form to work with him.

Besties' Events & Projects

a reminder on the below section! i only feature events when I've been to at minimum three of host's/organizer's past events and had a good time. no other events get featured unless they are sponsored (indicated).

tuesday - friday: 10/10 - 10/13

• Boston Fintech Week!

  • Boston Fintech Week October 10-13, 2013 is a must-attend annual event for the global fintech community. This year, the theme is On the Brink: Building the Infrastructure We Need for a Bold Financial Future. Event organizer Fintech Sandbox will bring the fintech ecosystem together at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for a 2-day conference Oct 11 & 12 to discuss how new pathways for products, services and new distribution channels are - or maybe are not - ushering in the golden age of financial services. Register here.

  • for who: Fintech founders, entrepreneurs, investors, payments nerds, financial service providers, etc.

  • hosted by: FinTech Sandbox, Boston FinTech Week, & Emily O'Connor

friday 10/13

• WEVE Accelerator 2023 Demo Day

  • for who: investors

  • hosted by: WEVE Acceleration featuring their first cohort of Singaporean Startups as part of the GIA Acceleration Program Network

  • A note: I am Singaporean — if you’re hosting anything to support Singaporean founders I will happily share it in The Z List. The same goes for events supporting Hong Kong-based, Muslim, and Pakistani founders.

wednesday - thursday: 10/18 - 10/19

• Innovation Show x Hawkefest: the ultimate discovery show for new-to-market, next-generation clean and sustainable brands in the beauty, health, wellness, home, and food + beverage space, paired with world-class education and networking opportunities with celebrity founders and VCs. Register here and use code ZLIST15 for 15% off.

  • for who: brands, retailers, investors, resource partners, influencers, media in the D2C or CPG space

  • hosted by: FounderMade

  • Are you a founder? Limited Booths Available: Inquire here

Please reply to this email if you'd like to amplify your events with the z list community or if you'd like to collaborate on an event together.

Have fun! 💥🧿✨👩🏻‍💻