🇺🇸 When the Funnel Breaks: Building Brands in the AI Era - New York City Edition
​Join a curated room of up to 50 growth-stage founders leading the next generation of consumer brands. This is a great opportunity to pressure-test your growth plans and receive candid, high-level feedback from consumer VCs, an LLM industry expert, a brand strategist, and experienced operators who have navigated this inflection point themselves.
​Overview
​The growth funnel that got you from $0 to $5M in ARR doesn’t behave the same way once you scale beyond it.
​Paid performance becomes more expensive.
​Attribution gets murkier.
​Retail expansion doesn’t automatically translate into velocity.
​With AI reshaping how consumers discover, compare, and choose brands, the real question is: what actually makes growth defensible today?
​Format
​30 minutes Panel Discussion + 30 minutes Q&A
Followed by Founders & Investors Afterdrinks & Bites
Led by four expert speakers across founding, investing, LLM, and branding, this open discussion will touch on:
​How VCs distinguish between performance-driven revenue and brand equity during diligence
​Which marketing indicators give investors confidence in long-term durability
​How to build mental availability (not just optimize for clicks) when performance plateaus
​How the funnel changes when consumer behavior shifts toward AI-assisted discovery
​What role brand plays in being selected, and trusted In an LLM-driven world
​Who This Is For
​Founders and senior operators of CPG, DTC, and consumer AI brands generating 7-figure revenues and are serious about brand building.
This is an opportunity to connect with similar-stage founders and gain invaluable perspectives on scaling your business.
​Agenda
​3:00 – 3:30 PM | Guests Arrive & Refreshments
3:30 – 3:45 PM | Welcome & Guest Keynote
3:45 – 4:15 PM | Panel Discussion
4:15 – 4:45 PM | Q&A
5:00 onwards | Founders & Investors After Drinks & Bites (Location TBD)
​Past Speakers
​​Emily Libresco - Head of Marketing and Communications, Lerer Hippeau, leading investments in next-generation consumer and media companies.
​​Ashley Marable – Senior Director at RTL AdAlliance, specializing in international media partnerships and brand growth strategies across TV, streaming, and digital platforms.
​​Pedro Schmidt – CEO and Co-Founder of Ka-Ex, driving the company’s international expansion of its science-backed wellness and recovery products across Europe and the US.
​​Giovanni Lepori – Vice President, Global Retail Development at Rothy’s, leading the brand’s international retail strategy and expansion into new markets.
​Upcoming Sessions:
​Creative in the AI Era
​Retail & Demand Calibration
​Measurement Beyond Last Click
​Brand & Valuation
​About mediaforgrowth (MFG)
MFG is the next-gen capital partner for challenger brands. We invest premium advertising in growth-stage brands in exchange for minority stakes, providing strategy, creative, and measurement to help founders scale efficiently.
The MFG investment model allows brands to access premium video and audio advertising early, accelerating brand recognition and driving cash-efficient growth toward premium valuations. Our media partners cover all major media types and are among the leaders in their respective categories. Through our media capital alliance, we support brands scale across the world.