Sparking Innovation at LA Tech Week
Mingle, Play, and Work. LA Tech Week instigated an ecclectic collection of thoughtful and fun gatherings for builders and enablers. I was pleased to see my NYC and SF friends and colleagues in attendance.
Pickleball for the Planet. I played pickleball for the first time with climate impact founders and investors. They were a patient bunch. Innovation requires a bias for collaboration, action, and learning from mistakes. Thanks to Hayley Nystrom (McCurdy), Vaughn Blake, and the team at Blue Bear Capital for sponsoring this gathering. A special shout out to my pickleball partner, Fernando Sainz de Rozas, Founder of Babio. Fernando is not only good spirited with beginners on the court but also has an interesting AI-driven climate impact solution to share.
AI in Practice. Super connector Adetola Olatunji, my former TA at Columbia Business School, moderated an excellent panel of investors and innovators on the topic of how AI is changing the way we work and account for information and fund flows. Great hearing from Olamide Anyanwu, Founder and CEO of Everi AI, who is building a solution to manage and monetize personal IP. Ex-Googler Bonita Stewart, Founder of Black Angel Group , highlighted the status of enterprise interest and deployment of GenAI tools. David Waxman, Managing Partner of TenOneTen Ventures , remarked about the agility and scaling opportunities AI solutions are providing smaller enterprises. Jeff Ponchick of Mogul discussed how his AI solution allows creatives to more easily understand the financial health of their business with prompts for action. Cody Peterson and Orchid Taghdir of Gunderson Dettmer were terrific sponsors of this event.
Sunset Hike for Health. I enjoyed hiking at sunset with women health tech founders and funders sponsored by Nuzi Barkatally of SVB, Naseem Sayani (she/her), formerly with Emmeline Ventures and now with How Women Invest.
Show Her the Money 100+. Pitching while hiking was only matched by pitching while DANCING at the weekend 100+ global city tour wrap-up party for the award winning documentary Show Her The Money. Very impressed with the founders who were able to stay with the beat while crisply stating their venture’s value proposition. Bravo, dancing sisters! A specific shout out to Silvia Mah PhD, MBA and Alicia Castillo Holley, PhD, MBA, MSci who really know how to dance. Impressive attitude and moves by Karmel Graham, MBA. Who says women in tech can’t groove?
Really insightful chatting with Show Her the Money director and executive producer Ky Dickens about how this energizing documentary evolved from idea to execution. Lots of possibilities to share more amazing stories of women in tech and the investors who enable them. Really enjoyed getting to know the cast members whom I had not yet met on my 25+ city tour with this great film. Wonderful to see Diipa Büller-Khosla and her husband Oleg E.H. Büller, co-founders of indē wild, a power couple whose intellect and business savvy are matched by their love for each other. Great to meet Jasmine Jones of Myya, whose products for breast cancer survivors offer dignity and style. Congratulations to Pocket Sun of SoGal Ventures for closing her third fund at $40 million. Next step, deployment of capital to rising stars.
Familia Dinner. Laura Lucas, Cecilia Sanchez, and Israel Muñoz of L'ATTITUDE VENTURES hosted a dinner for LatinX talent, innovators, community builders, and investors at DAMA in DTLA. This was an event well done where each of us came together to enable innovators in our community by specifying what we bring to the table and how to collaborate with us here and now. Nice spotlight on the technical talent in our community for impact and investor return. I am excited about our Latinx MBA Association's summit next week at Nike's HQ in LA.
Let’s build everyone! Así se hace!