hosted its first Investor-Ready Symposium on April 19 in Bird Library, with attendees coming from members of Blackstone LaunchPad from ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, Colgate University and Blackstone LaunchPad at State University of New York at Albany.
The symposium included a networking breakfast and panel discussion with young startup founders who have successfully raised funds: Sean Lattimore ’23, founder of Suptho; Aidan Meany, founder of Found Surface; Ben Haber, founder of Monark Markets; and Matt Schneider, founder of e-States.
The panel was followed by an open session where student entrepreneurs learned about the various types of early-stage investors, including a distinguished panel from across the country, including Libraries Advisory Board member and angel investor, Yvonne Hyland; Andrew Schwartz ’20, Zenyatta Capital co-founder; Andy Reed, ESD–NY Ventures director; Sashi Tripathi, Nurture VC managing director; Dustin Doucette, director of Upstate Venture Connect; and David Tsung, co-founder of Oculus VC, a local venture capital firm. The symposium wrapped up with a lightning round of elevator pitches by current LaunchPad student founders to the panelist judges.
Student startups competed for the People’s Choice Awards during the Blackstone LaunchPad’s first Investor-Ready Symposium.
The following student startups were the People’s Choice awardees for the event:
Funds for the awards were generously donated by Andrew Schwartz ’20.
Prior to the symposium, the LaunchPad hosted a series of workshops designed to prepare students to meet potential investors on the topics of contract negotiation; due diligence-data room preparation; term sheet overview; and financial instruments review.
