The Pitch Season 2, Episode Three: Status Chart — A New Kind of Resume
Visit the all new The Pitch: Season Two.
Visit the all new The Pitch: Season Two.
Twenty New York startups are competing to be featured in the second season of our web series The Pitch. But only 10 will move on for a chance to pitch investors–Steve Schlafman of Lerer Ventures and Nikhil Kalghatgi of SoftBank Capital–and win funding for their idea. And you get to decide!
Check out the slideshow and vote for your favorite startups to make it to the next round. Read More
The topography of New York’s tech scene has changed since 2011, when we first peeked behind closed doors to document the fundraising process for season one of The Pitch. According to the latest reports, venture capitalists are investing more money in more local tech startups, luring expats from fashion and Wall Street Read More
The Coffee Shop in Union Square, located on the bustling corner of 17th St. and Union Square West, is famous for several things: the waitresses are models, it turns into a Brazilian dance club on the weekends, was voted Best Bar for Modelizers in the Village Voice, and New York says it boasts a “high risk of poor service and unpleasant encounters with attitudinal (but often pretty) people” but praised the crayons and puzzle place mats for kids. This noisy, WiFi-less den is famous for something else within the tight-knit community of Silicon Alley: it serves as the de facto meeting place for VCs and founders such as Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson and IA Ventures’ Roger Ehrenberg. “Pitch your startup to First Round Capital here. They’re right across the street,” says the Foursquare tip left by Charlie O’Donnell. Read More
“We’re going to miss Betaworks but we love our new home at 560 Broadway,” writes Lerer Ventures’ new principle, Steve Schlafman, of the Soho building that hosts Dean & Deluca and until recently, Lerer VC Eric Hippeau’s Huffington Post, right by Ben Lerer’s Thrillist at 568 Broadway. “Not only is the Soho location better, Read More
The Lerer Ventures family is growing! Formerly just Kenny Lerer, Eric Hippeau, Ben Lerer, his buddy Jordan Cooper and their entrepreneur-in-residence Christopher Poole, the fund announced about a month ago a new $25 million seed fund and started recruiting for venture capitalists. Today the fund announced its first hire since the new fund: Steve Schlafman, natural business development hustler, former director of investments at the Kraft Group, former StickyBits employee and Startup Bus veteran, is joining as a principal investor.
Mr. Schlafman is enthralled with the start-up scene of New York! “After spending the last twelve months entrenched in the NYC tech community, I’m now convinced that we are witnessing a tech renaissance–and in less than a decade, the tech industry will certainly be as influential (if not more) than any other sector in NYC,” he wrote in a guest post on Mr. Cooper’s blog.
Why not go back to StickyBits now that it’s blowing up? Betabeat asked, thinking that the virally popular site could surely use some business development.
“I’m a small investor in Sticky/Turntable so my relationship with those guys is still intact and very positive,” he wrote in an email. “That said, I have ADD so I thought going back to venture was better suited for me.” Read More
