The Real Sh*t Show For Founders with Special Guest, Charlie O'Donnell
Featuring Charlie O’Donnell (Brooklyn Bridge Ventures)
If you’ve ever thought, “I wish someone could just tell me how fundraising actually works,” this one’s for you.
For our third session of The Real Sh*t Show for Founders, we will be joined by Charlie O’Donnell, one of the most respected and accessible investors in New York’s startup scene. Charlie is a highly sought-after coach to top VCs, a fundraising expert, and teaches entrepreneurship at NYU’s Courant Institute.
For 20 years, Charlie has been a mainstay in the NYC startup and innovation community, starting as the first analyst at Union Square Ventures, then helping launch First Round Capital’s NYC office in 2009, where he sourced investments in GroupMe, Singleplatform, Moat, and Backupify, among others.
In 2012, he founded Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the first venture fund based in Brooklyn, funding over 100 local startups including Hungryroot, Petal, Brigit, Shortcut, Radformation, and Imagen all while building a reputation for being the most approachable early-stage investor in the city.
BBV made its final investment in early 2023, with a portfolio where 40% of companies were female-founded, 30% had a BIPOC founder, and 9% had a Black founder — reflecting Charlie’s ongoing commitment to inclusivity and community in the NYC startup ecosystem.
This week, we’ll dive into the unfiltered realities of fundraising, what founders often get wrong (and right), and how to stay grounded when everything feels like chaos.
No pitching, no pressure: just real talk, insight, and maybe a few stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
Bring your questions, your stress, and your coffee