Oliver Ryan

NY friends! Please come see me at Tech Day on my panel discussing the future of the NY tech ecosystem and what I hope to bring to it!

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Thrilled to announce BBG Ventures second institutional fund – a $60M early-stage fund backing overlooked founders who are building for the Polycultural Future of America. Thanks Emma Hinchliffe at Fortune for sharing the news: https://lnkd.in/gSwqpHpq We’ve spent the last few years observing the passage of the country from a monoculture to one where women were a bigger part of the story, to today - where identity and lived experience matter more than ever. We call this the Polyculture – a new status quo in which America is a mosaic of unique segments; where identity is multivariate and dynamic; and where individuals can identify with multiple communities at once. I began using this term over 2 years ago, as a cross-culture kid myself: the child of Indian immigrants, growing up in rural Australia - and now an immigrant in America. We wondered - how do Americans perceive identity, and how does that drive their most fundamental needs? We conducted research with +2000 Americans across equal cross sections of race, gender, age and income. Here’s what we found: 1. We have surprisingly common priorities, needs and concerns despite our unique identities. 2. The biggest areas of the economy are still on the table, with Americans highlighting huge areas of opportunity in health, work, financial security, climate safety, and the underserved. 3. But we need new, more nuanced-solutions and personalization considering the emerging majority minority generation, an aging population, widening wealth gaps and continued differences along gender lines. To that end, we’ve officially expanded our mandate to embrace this evolution, backing underestimated founders – female or diverse – addressing the biggest pain points for our polycultural population. Read the full report here: The Mind of Polycultural America - https://lnkd.in/gdtiFE7v We’re proud to partner with new LPs including Fairview Capital, Pivotal Ventures, The California Endowment in addition to our many returning partners like Illumen Capital, George Kaiser Family Foundation who believe as we do: when you make change, you make money. If you’re an early-stage founder working to move the world forward in health, work, financial security, climate safety or for the underserved - in B2B or B2C - we want to talk to you. Susan Lyne Claire Biernacki Drew Silverman Fennessy Carol Magalhães Isaacs, CFA Addison B. Marsh, Jr.

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As we’ve begun building Oversubscribed Ventures, we’ve learned that the world of venture capital is way too mysterious and insular. We wanted to crack it wide open and make it accessible to everyone. So, we launched a new podcast, with Phil Schwarz. Some of you may already listen to our World’s First Podcast (and if you do, thank you!). The Oversubscribed Podcast takes a lot of what makes World’s First Podcast great and focuses on the business world. This is a business podcast for anyone and everyone who is curious about stories of success, failure, recovering from rejection, pivoting, and more. Why launch a new podcast? - The lessons that come out of talking to founders, executives, etc can apply to everyone, whether they’re starting a company or not; - We could add something to the (way too few but super impressive) female voices in the startup and venture world; and - We could inject our own personality and - admittedly - often inappropriate humor into the conversations (iykyk). We hope our Oversubscribed Podcast does all of this and more. Link below, and of course you can find it anywhere you can listen to podcasts. More to come! Link: https://lnkd.in/e2E6kynn

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On the heels of the big Suno fundraise announcement today, I thought it would be timely to share this discussion around how AI will impact creative industries and talent from our recent panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference. As discussed, it is clear that Gen AI tools will greatly increase the number of people who experiment with creating content, most of whom could never have otherwise created this content and none of whom currently create this content professionally or commercially. This will 1,000,000x the amount of content produced and available for consumption. That said, I believe that general consumers will continue to gravitate toward the highest quality content. This goes for everything from written content, to music, to animation, film, and beyond. The idea that Suno song creation is replacing general music fans' time spent listening to music on Spotify or other DSPs is asinine. That said, it is clearly a fun tool to experiment with, allowing thousands of people who never could have otherwise created a song to create a song - I've used it quite a bit to prompt a handful of tech house kpop songs about living in Berlin. It will be interesting to see how much of their funding goes toward legal bills or more likely licensing the music which is currently being used to train their model. At Patron we’re most interested in companies looking to leverage Gen AI technologies to reshape how professional content creators build a business around their creative talent and output. We believe strongly that this represents a huge opportunity to turn static media formats into more interactive and replayable experiences, and to completely change how creative talent producing written content, webtoons/comics, songs, animation, video, and games can better earn a living off of their creative output. #MIGlobal #GenAI

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Lotan Levkowitz of Grove Ventures is a rising star in the VC landscape! He is super intelligent, kind, and very articulate with his words. I really enjoyed talking to him about Deep tech investing, Grove Ventures, and the US elections, among other shenanigans and rhymes. Check out the interview and subscribe to the channel! It is a command, I mean, a request, I mean, do what you bloody want. https://lnkd.in/d6gjSvdQ

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Finding the Perfect Balance at popped.nyc: Where Exclusive Meets Inclusive At popped.nyc, we're all about crafting a unique environment that bridges the gap between exclusivity and inclusivity. We embrace the "IYKYK" mentality, creating a space where insiders and newcomers alike feel valued and engaged. How do we achieve this balance? Open-Access Programming: We host events that are welcoming to all, ensuring that new faces can seamlessly integrate into our community while still offering exclusive experiences that make our regulars feel special. Inclusive Design: Our workshops and events are crafted with everyone in mind. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a curious newcomer, you'll find opportunities to connect and contribute meaningfully. Mentorship and Guidance: Experienced members are encouraged to share their knowledge and guide newcomers. This fosters a collaborative atmosphere where everyone can grow together. Segmented Access: We offer a range of events, from exclusive gatherings to open-access programs, ensuring that there’s something for everyone while maintaining the special touch of our niche community. Transparent Communication: We believe in clear, open communication about the nature of our events and the reasons behind any exclusivity, helping manage expectations and ensure inclusivity. Interactive Elements: Our events are designed to spark curiosity and engagement, providing newcomers with a glimpse into what makes our community unique. Respectful Boundaries: We balance privacy with openness, ensuring sensitive topics are handled respectfully while still fostering an inclusive dialogue. By focusing on these principles, we create a vibrant, dynamic space where the "IYKYK" mentality enhances our community while ensuring that everyone feels welcomed and involved. Join us at popped.nyc and be part of a community that celebrates both exclusivity and inclusivity. Let’s make connections and build something special together! #CommunityBuilding #InclusiveCulture #Networking #PoppedNYC #Events #ProfessionalGrowth

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Appreciative of Tim De Chant's article on Crosscut Ventures' evolution. We've (Rick Smith and Brett Brewer) been building #SoCalTech for 16+ years and have naturally been drawn to the techno-manufacturing revolution of #ElSegundo driving innovation in #FrontierTech. Portfolio companies like Umbra, Aalo Atomics, Proteus Space, Carbon Ridge, Airloom Energy and many others yet to be announced have the potential to transform energy, advanced manufacturing, space and defense to push global decarbonization, secure America's borders and drive the continued commercialization of space. https://lnkd.in/gmy-Srgn #longLA #DeepTech #ClimateTech #SocalTech #Hawthorne #ElSegundo #Torrance #venturecapital #nuclearenergy #aerospace #defense #advancedmanufacturing

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Prime Coalition has long taken a different tack to climate finance compared to its for-profit brethren. It makes the usual venture-style investments in startups through Azolla Ventures and also helps philanthropists direct their money to climate-related projects that it deems high impact. Trellis Climate follows the latter model with a focus on middle stages, where capital has grown scarce. #climatetech #climateVC #climatefinance

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Love these high-level takeaways from my due diligence discussion with Cherub today! So many actionable insights for both founders and investors.

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🎨 📺 Sharon Roth is a Product & Design leader who’s built her career in the lab, across different modalities, to bring more creative product experiences to life 📺 🎨 It's W3 / Q3 / 2024 and this week in our MGMT Boston up & coming operator series we’ve got Sharon who serves as the Senior Director of Product Management at Quantified.ai, the AI-driven flight simulator for sellers. The app feels as real as your next video call, scales across teams, programs, and companies, and ramps reps 42% faster. Sharon is leading Quantified AI’s Product & Design team after previous roles in Product leadership at Tamr & Honor Education. She’s excited to be back working in an Enterprise focused company, leading Design alongside Product, focused on strategic & execution based discipline. ❓Questions Are Your Roadmap ❓ It’s popular to encourage new hires to ask a lot of questions. But it’s always a good time to ask questions! When a member of your team comes to you and says “we really need to build X feature”, they’re coming to you for good reason. Dig into the why to understand how often the issue comes up, when it happens in a customer conversation, and why they’re asking for it in the first place. Is there an even better way to build a solution? Also, people are always excited about getting to a solution. By delaying the solution discussion to first get everyone to agree on the problem, you can coordinate a better response. Sharon has been in rooms where stakeholders can’t agree on the problem they’re trying to solve, which can sometimes be even more painful! By asking better questions and articulating the underlying issues thoroughly, they can work together as an organization to chart a better path forward. 3 Career Insights / Learnings 🙋‍♀️ Seek New Challenges - “Trying new things is how you learn and grow. At a startup, there are so many opportunities to try new things. As startups evolve, you need to embrace all that’s going to happen and make it a positive thing. Otherwise don’t go to a startup!” 🤝 Act with Integrity - “Do your best, show your work. But also treat others with respect and kindness while doing it. How you treat people and how you show up every day will impact your work environment. You’re responsible for the energy you bring to the room, so be authentic and try to inject some positivity. It will help you build the type of network you want to have too” 🗣 Invest in Communication Skills - “It helps you ask questions well, advocate for yourself, have your ideas be heard. It also helps others understand your impact. It takes continuous practice to do well.” If you’d like to learn more about Sharon’s career, the full post is linked in the comments. Go ahead and sign up for the newsletter to see the operator learnings we bring you in the weeks ahead too, will ya? #bostontech #operators

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I'm excited to release the first Steelhead "Investor Series" article, with Rex Woodbury, GP at Daybreak! Rex and I go deep into a topic near and dear to both of us, The Art of Early Stage Investing 🌱 In the article, Rex offers hard-won and timeless insights into what makes a good early-stage investment. Some highlights: 📖 How Rex grew his Substack, Digital Native, to 60k subscribers + how it helps his investing 5️⃣ Traits that Rex looks for in an early-stage founder 💹 The importance of the market that a founder is going after 📱 How investors can add value post investment And a lot more... Link in the comments!

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I am joining dynamic Victoria Yampolsky to talk about "Where's the Money for Women" funding their businesses. Join me today at noon EDT - registration below. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬 🚀The current fundraising landscape is less favorable for female founders, but it doesn’t have to be this way. 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: ➤ 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬: Female founders often spend 65-75% longer fundraising compared to male founders. ➤ 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝: Women-led startups typically secure less funding, limiting their growth potential. In 2023, women founders were the only group who raised less than $500K on average, according to the DocSend Report. ➤ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐠: Female founders often set less ambitious goals, making their ventures less attractive to investors. When evaluating teams, VCs often make decisions based on intuition and subconscious biases rather than rationale. These obstacles can be disheartening, but many female founders succeed, and you can join their ranks by being prepared. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬?” 📅 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: 🗓️ 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞:June 27th 🕛 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 12 PM EST 📍 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Zoom (Link to be provided upon registration) 💡 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝? ➤ 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Learn which questions investors ask to evaluate teams and what they are looking for, and leverage that knowledge to better navigate and counteract the subconscious biases. ➤ 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:Discover what you can do NOW to improve your chances of successful fundraising and building a great company. 🔥 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐰 - 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 3 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭!🔥 Don’t let these barriers hold you back. Secure your spot today and take control of your fundraising journey and the success of your venture. 🔗 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 https://lu.ma/lse01zqw Let’s turn your vision into reality! 🌟

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“The funding landscape has changed during the time we have been involved in it, and continues to evolve,” “And we’re evolving with it, to ensure that there is even more flexibility for companies to access the specific capital they need for a given scenario. We’ve funded well over 180 technology companies across multiple industries and verticals, and we’re not slowing down any time soon.” Regarding the total addressable market for Tractor to operate in, Imam explains that the one-funding-product-fits-all approach has required tweaking, simply due to the totally different needs expressed by the financial decision-makers, related to time, total access to the capital itself, and looming milestones that require a more strategic approach to accessing capital. “If you’re a SaaS company, or an ecommerce company, or a hardware company, or operating in a particular niche or vertical like marketing tech for example, you will have a different set of needs for funding based on your revenue,” explains Imam. “We’ve moved to a scenario-based funding model, based on the most common queries we receive at this point in time. B2B Enterprise SaaS we will always be able to fund in an instant. Other scenarios arise when the financials require a bit more flexible and bespoke assessment.” “In particular, our Inventory product points to our capability to fund in some very very specific and founder-focussed ways, and that flexibility really excites us, now and for the future.” Thank you for this write up SmartCompany!

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If you believe that #Diversity and #Inclusion matter, specifically in times like this, join us on October 30th. We will discuss the challenges and success stories of promoting Diversity in 2024. With me you will find industry leaders who were able to pull it off (!) 💥💥💥 Dorit Dor, Hasan Abasi, Vered Raviv Schwarz, Gal Shaul Guesty, Augury, HAAT Delivery, Check Point Software Power in Diversity Glilot Capital Partners Poalim Tech, Meitar | Law Offices, ESOP - Phoenix, Microsoft, Calcalist כלכליסט #nomatterwhat

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His career started when someone said to him, “well, have you thought about venture capital? We don’t think that you’d be any good at it.” The rest is history. Today’s Alt Goes Mainstream episode features one of the legends of the venture capital industry. Peter Barris joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1992 after a storied operating career as President and COO at Legent Corporation and an executive at GE Information Services. He served as Managing General Partner and Chairman of NEA from 1999 to March 2024. Under Peter's leadership, NEA saw tremendous success, growing into one of the world's largest venture capital firms and raising the largest-ever venture capital fund a number of times. Today, NEA's AUM stands over $25B. Peter was responsible for investing in a number of foundational and industry-transforming technology companies, including Salesforce, UUNET, Groupon, WebMD, Workday, CareerBuilder, Tempus AI, and more. We had a fascinating discussion about the early days of venture capital and how the industry has evolved. We covered: * The inside story of how almost every other Partner said no but Peter's investment turned out to be a 75x return. * What's the “best characteristic and the death characteristic” of an entrepreneur? * In today's hypercompetitive market do VCs have enough time to make good decisions? * Why the world of venture capital is about influence. * What does it mean to earn an entrepreneur’s trust as a VC? * Why VCs with operating backgrounds can bring unique value to startups. * How NEA came up with the term "Venture Growth Equity." * How can a VC tell that a founder is good at experimentation and that they have the good judgment? * Why specialization and domain expertise are prerequisites in today’s venture industry. Thanks to Ultimus Fund Solutions for sponsoring this episode of the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Thanks Peter for coming on the show. It was an honor and a pleasure to hear your views on the evolution of an industry and for you to share your wisdom and experiences. https://lnkd.in/eEJGEFWe

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I love this perspective from my partner Evan Allen - he talks about the #CorporateDevelopment impact that #VentureStudios can create for #startups. I think about sales, ecosystem-building and business development a lot. All of these activities are inputs which target revenue growth and require trust-building with new relationships. Startups go at this from a cold start; venture studios bring existing relationships and established trust. This gives a young business leverage to move a heavy thing (revenue) more easily and quickly. Our #VirtualStudio program addresses this in a few distinct ways - enabling founder-led sales from a coaching and development perspective and helping founders understand the leverage available to them through extended networks.

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