Founders Breakfast & VC Panel: Raising Capital in the Age of AI
Join us for breakfast and a conversation with leading early stage investors as they share what’s shaping their investment decisions today. This panel will explore:
The sectors and business models they are actively backing
The signals they look for when evaluating AI start ups
How founders can position their companies to stand out
What drives conviction in a startup’s current potential and future defensibility
This intimate event is for founders building in AI and approval is required. Location is in a private, enclosed terrace in Midtown.
Come learn, network, and share what you're building with a room of fellow entrepreneurs. 👋
Event Agenda
🥐 Breakfast & Networking - 9AM
🧠 Panel and Q&A - 9:30 - 10:15AM
🤝 Networking - 10:15 - 11AM
Our panel includes:
Laura Chau is Partner at Canaan, where she has been investing in consumer software and commerce tech companies for the last decade. Some of the companies she sits on the board of include Clutch, Ollie, MSCHF, Arcade, Solvely, and Nagish. Laura was one of the first employees at Kabam, one of Canaan’s portfolio companies that was acquired by Netmarble in 2017. She has also worked at Branch Metrics and Greenhouse in sales and marketing functions, in addition to working closely with Marie Kondo, the author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, to help launch her venture-backed e-commerce business. Laura holds a B.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Kelley Mak is a General Partner at Work-Bench, where he focuses on investments in areas in security and cloud-native infrastructure. Kelley also leads corporate engagement at Work-Bench, where he is a key point for the firm's relationships with forward-thinking technology executives across the Fortune 1000 and enterprise early adopters. He works closely with these leaders on enterprise technology trends transforming data and analytics, infrastructure, security, and the future of work. Prior to Work-Bench, Kelley covered the security market as an industry analyst at Forrester Research. Kelley is a graduate of Boston College with a B.S. in Physics and Philosophy.
Mustafa Neemuchwala is a Partner on NEA's Technology Investing Team. His investment focus from seed to late-stage growth includes AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure, defense, and frontier technologies across hardware and software. Before NEA, Mustafa advised on $58B of transformative tech M&A deals at Qatalyst Partners across frontier tech, infrastructure & application software, cybersecurity, fintech, and consumer internet. After early years in Tokyo and Mumbai, Mustafa moved to the Dallas suburbs and is a proud Texan. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, studying fundamental and quantitative finance, liberal arts, computer science, and mathematics.
Thank you to our co-sponsor:
Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP
Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP is a full-service public accounting firm offering a range of services to both individuals and businesses. The Accounting and CFO Advisory practice provides fractional accounting, controller, and CFO advisory services to early and mid-stage companies until they are ready to build in-house finance teams. Their services allow management teams to focus on the areas that matter most to the growth and success of their businesses.
About Stifel Bank
Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF) is a global investment bank with $500B+ AUM. Stifel Bank, Member FDIC, offers fund banking, venture lending, capital call, tailored startup solutions.
Learn more at https://bankwithstifel.com/venture-banking/
By attending this event, I agree that photographs, video, and/or audio recordings may be taken of the attendees, which Stifel Bank and its affiliates will own and may use hereafter in any electronic or print distribution, or by other means (including social media) for any purpose.