I recently video interviewed Renee DiResta, Associate @OATV to find out how she was enjoying the move from Wall Street to Venture Capital. Bryce Roberts, Partner OATV had reached out to me a long while back & had complained that they weren’t getting any women applying for the position. So I had shared his post across my social networks “Let’s Try This Again Ladies: OATV is Hiring”, asking for women to consider the position & apply. I was really thrilled when I heard that they had hired a woman. Renee had some interesting perspectives about venture capital & the differences from her past career on Wall Street. Renee invests in technology companies at the seed stage. OATV is a theme-driven fund with a focus on innovative technology that ultimately creates new markets and long-term value. Renee’s role spans the entire investment process: opportunity review, diligence, market landscape analysis, and work with the portfolio companies. Prior to joining OATV, Renee was an emerging market equity derivatives trader at Jane Street Capital, a quantitative proprietary trading firm in New York. She has a B.S. in Computer Science and Political Science from the Honors College at SUNY Stony Brook. She is also active in social venture as a member of the Leadership Council of The Resolution Project, a nonprofit that empowers young people to enact social-change projects across the globe. You can reach her on Twitter at @noUpside, or on LinkedIn.
Bryce Roberts
Importance of the Startup Pitch
Its been my experience, since my first startup 7 years ago that the pitch & deck are crucial for every entrepreneur. Even if you are not raising money & running lean, you always need a good pitch & deck to find partners & customers. There is no escaping it. However I have sat through many pitches over the years and most Fail. These entrepreneurs may have wonderful startup ideas or business models however their pitches let them down. My former business in Dublin, Ireland put me on the other side of the cameras as an expert on TV & radio. I saw first hand that if you don’t engage your audience, you Fail!
Black Founders PitchParty mashup
Black Founders hosted a PitchParty in San Francisco last week. Crosswalk won the competition. Pitches by Cheryl Contee, Attentive.ly; Joel Cheuoua, Symbyoz; Patrick Jackson, Crosswalk; Jabari Martin, Tagive; Clarence Nathaniel, Netwirth; Charles Van Norman, Hactus; Julie Ko, SurePod; Eoin McMillan, Picture.ly. Thanks again to the investors who attended as judges for their generous feedback to the entrepreneurs Gwen Edwards, Golden Seeds; Nancy Pfund, DBL Investors, Bryce Roberts, OATV & Cameron Lester, Azure Capital Partners.