Your First Venture Round: Advice & Insights for Founders

On October 25th, 6-8PM, join us at Union Square Ventures for an important panel discussion for early-stage entrepreneurs: "Raising Your First Venture Round" with Susan Lyne from BBG Ventures, Mark Ghermezian from Gynger & MXV Capital and Charlie O’Donnell from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.

The panel will be followed by Q&A, drinks & networking! ??

Founder pain points: Raising seed or venture money is a new skill set for most first-time founders. It’s the linchpin to growing your company, but can feel out of reach because you don’t know the right investors, you’re not sure what the right investors want to see from you, a valuation feels about as easy as pinning, you have no clue what metrics will matter when an investor is reading your deck, the market is ?, you’re an outsider in what feels like an insidery game ... and the jargon … how much is a seed round anyway (?!), you really have no idea what makes venture different from any other asset class and valuations seem about as rock-solid as a marshmallow.

Why this panel will help you: If these pain points resonate with you, please join us on October 25th at Union Square Ventures. Stacklist, NYC’s most popular series for entrepreneurs, will be hosting a panel on raising your first venture round. We’ll be joined by 3 brilliant and extremely active investors in early-stage startups. One of these investors is also a prolific entrepreneur and has perspective from both sides of the table.

• Susan Lyne // founding partner of
• Mark Ghermezian // founder/CEO of & founding partner at
• Charlie O’Donnell // founding partner of .

A few of the important topics we'll be covering:

* How to find the right investors: We'll talk about how to identify and diligence the investors who will be a fit for your startup, and the best ways to research the nuanced differences among investors - like the size of the checks the write, their industry preferences and what stage of a company interests them most.

* What a fundraising process looks like: How long should you expect the process to take? And what are the critical steps?

* What matters to investors: Ok, you're pitching the next unicorn - and you're selling yourself. So how will you make both compelling to investors? You'll do it through your deck, your elevator pitch, your interview and your communication throughout. We'll talk about the best ways to articulate the story of your business and assure investors that you are the best person in the world to be building it.

* Venture versus other funding sources: Venture is an outstanding match for some startups, but not all. We'll talk about the pros and cons of the high risk / high reward nature of the venture capital route. We'll also discuss the longterm implications of the decision - including expectations of raising more money.

Speaker bios:

*Mark Ghermezian is the founder & CEO of Gynger and the founder and General Partner of m]x[v Capital. Through m]x[v Capital, Mark funds the future of cloud and enterprise by investing in trailblazing products like Conduit, Spiky.ai, and Apploi. As an angel investor, Mark has advised 50+ companies (largely focused in SaaS), including Nutanix, Lattice, and Riskified. Currently, he is also the Founder & CEO of Gynger and previously, he co-founded Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) and led the company as its CEO for 9+ years (Braze IPO’d in November 2021). As a serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor, Mark is proud to be a mentor to his founders and entrepreneurs, offering his experience and expertise to help their companies find the same success.

*Susan Lyne is the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of BBG Ventures. She has held leadership positions at companies of all sizes and stages, from startups to public companies, media to eCommerce, Editor-in-Chief to CEO. Decades of learning and leading at Disney, ABC (where she greenlit shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Gilt.com and AOL’s Brand Group reinforced a conviction that women are the key drivers of economic growth and cultural change -- and in 2014 she made the leap to launch BBG Ventures with Nisha. With four daughters, three sisters, and scores of smart women in her orbit, her biggest wins have come from listening to, building for and betting on women.

*Charlie O’Donnell is the Managing Partner of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. He has been an active member of the NYC startup community for nearly 20 years, with a reputation of being the most accessible early stage investor in New York. After being hired as the first analyst at Union Square Ventures and helping to open First Round Capital’s first NYC office as a Principal, he founded Brooklyn Bridge Ventures in 2012. Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has made over 70 investments including Petal, Brigit, The Wing, Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse), Hungryroot, Canary, and Imagen, among others. The fund was the first to be launched in Brooklyn--where he was born and raised.

* Susan Lyne* is the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of BBG Ventures. She has held leadership positions at companies of all sizes and stages, from startups to public companies, media to eCommerce, Editor-in-Chief to CEO. Decades of learning and leading at Disney, ABC (where she greenlit shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Gilt.com and AOL’s Brand Group reinforced a conviction that women are the key drivers of economic growth and cultural change -- and in 2014 she made the leap to launch BBG Ventures with Nisha. With four daughters, three sisters, and scores of smart women in her orbit, her biggest wins have come from listening to, building for and betting on women.

* Charlie O’Donnell* is the Managing Partner of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. He has been an active member of the NYC startup community for nearly 20 years, with a reputation of being the most accessible early stage investor in New York. After being hired as the first analyst at Union Square Ventures and helping to open First Round Capital’s first NYC office as a Principal, he founded Brooklyn Bridge Ventures in 2012. Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has made over 70 investments including Petal, Brigit, The Wing, Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse), Hungryroot, Canary, and Imagen, among others. The fund was the first to be launched in Brooklyn--where he was born and raised.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Stacklist