UVC Welcomes Brad Feld - Sharing Investor Insights & Entrepreneurial Generosity in Little Falls, NY
**This event has reached capacity, please look at our other event in Rome: https://lu.ma/lugpvo7d
Venture capital pioneer and author Brad Feld will be visiting Upstate NY to meet with founders, investors, and community builders. This event will center around the themes of mentorship, ecosystem growth, and Brad's new book Give First: The Power of Mentorship - as well as feature the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with Brad and other investors.
Join us at the beautiful Rock City Centre for an energizing afternoon featuring Brad Feld - a renowned investor, startup ecosystem builder, Techstars co-founder, and author of Give First. This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of tech’s most generous thought leaders in an intimate setting, right here in Upstate NY.
Whether you’re an early-stage founder looking for clarity, or a seasoned entrepreneur thinking about growth and paying it forward, this session is designed to spark meaningful conversations and connections.
Founders have the option to apply for 1:1 office hour slots with Brad Feld and other experienced investors to get tailored feedback and strategic insight on your company. Priority will be given in booking office hour slots to those founders already registered as members of Upstate Venture Connect.
Agenda:
10:30 am - 11:30am: 1-1 Office Hour slots for founders to speak with investors.
Confirmed investors include:
Brad Feld, Partner at Foundry
Martin Babinec, Managing Partner at UpVentures
Chuck Stormon, Managing Partner at StartFast Ventures
David Brown, Managing Partner at Impellent
Jim Senall, Managing Director of Rochester Angel Network
Zack Pecenak, Ph.D, Director of Innovation Venture Capital Fund at NY Ventures
Veronica Fey, Principal at SoundBoard Ventures
Alex Killian, Partner at BOLD and Endeavor
Brad Banikowski, Investment Manager at INSPYRE
You must sign up for the office hours ticket to be eligible. UVC will assign your schedule after you sign up.
11:30 - 12:30pm: Grab some lunch, meet other founders, and get ready for the fireside chat!
12:30 - 1:30pm: Fireside Chat on Give First: The Power of Mentorship with Brad Feld, moderated by Martin Babinec
1:30 - 2:00pm: Brad Feld book signing for Give First
Speaker and Investor Bios
Brad Feld
Brad Feld is a Partner & Co-Founder of Foundry. He has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur for over 35 years, since founding his first company, Feld Technologies, in college. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars and, with his wife Amy Batchelor, runs the Anchor Point Foundation. Brad has written 12 books on entrepreneurship and venture capital and started blogging in 2004 before VC Twitter existed. Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brad is also an art collector and long-distance runner who enjoys wandering around alone in the mountains for hours at a time.
Martin Babinec
Martin Babinec founded HR solutions platform TriNet (NYSE: TNET) in 1988, serving as CEO for the company’s first 20 years through retiring from the Board of Directors in 2022. Martin also founded UpVentures – a holdings company investing in emerging tech startups, hospitality businesses and real estate. He is active in social impact through his family’s UpMobility Foundation as well as founding and helping to lead non-profits Upstate Venture Connect, Entrepreneurs Across Borders and democracy reform advocates Unite NY. He serves on the Board of Directors for Endeavor Northeast, is a past recipient of the SVBJ Silicon Valley Entrepreneur of the Year award and is author of Amazon best seller More Good Jobs: An Entrepreneur's Action Plan to Create Change In Your Community.
Chuck Stormon
Chuck Stormon, is a 7X serial entrepreneur and prominent figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and venture capital. Stormon left his PhD studies to found Coherent Research which commercialized chip architecture for neural networks, which was acquired by Cypress Semiconductor. Stormon then co-founded Coherent Networks which combined neural networks and expert (rule-based) systems with human-in-the-loop processing at scale in one of the first commercially successful hybrid AI solutions, SmartMaps, which transformed the electric utility industry. Coherent Networks was acquired by Osmose Corp. Stormon’s next venture was Steleus, which was acquired by Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC), and was subsequently acquired by Oracle. After these successes, Stormon pivoted into Venture Capital, while continuing to be an entrepreneur/operator in a series of businesses. Stormon earned his Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.
David Brown
David Brown is the Founding Managing Partner of Impellent Ventures, a preseed / seed stage venture capital firm based in UNY that invests nationally. Brown has been a community builder, startup investor and operator, and mentor for over a decade, supporting hundreds of companies, holding events for over 14,000 tech leaders per annum, and applying venture principles to both for profit and nonprofit entities. Brown’s work has been affiliated with programs such as Techstars, MassChallenge, Harvard iLab, and Babson College and has been covered in many national publications. Brown graduated with a BA in psychology and leadership studies, from Williams College and he holds an MBA in entrepreneurship, summa cum laude, from Babson College.
Jim Senall
Jim joined the organization as President in 2009, and leads NextCorps in achieving its mission of creating entrepreneurship and innovation-based regional growth. During his tenure, the organization has launched several new initiatives including a software accelerator program, a clean tech accelerator, a statewide Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, and an optics, photonics, and imaging accelerator. Through these and its other offerings, NextCorps has served more than 800 client companies over the past 5 years. Prior experience includes co-founding the Rochester Angel Network in 2005, which he continues to lead as its Managing Director; experience with multiple startup companies; engineering and manufacturing roles at multi-billion dollar firms; and teaching graduate level courses in tech entrepreneurship. Jim has served in various board roles including chairman of the Business Incubator Association of New York State, board member of the New York State Economic Development Council, board member of Adarza Biosystems, Executive Committee member of the University of Rochester’s Tech Development Fund, Investment Committee member of Launch NY’s seed capital fund, and board member of Rochester Angel Network and the Rochester Angel Fund. Jim holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, and an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.
Zack Pecenak, Ph.D
Dr. Pecenak leads the Innovation Venture Capital Fund at NY Ventures, where he drives investments in high-growth technology companies from seed through Series B stages. Drawing on his Ph.D. research and extensive experience scaling climate technology startups, he identifies and supports transformative ventures that are reshaping New York's innovation ecosystem. His deep technical expertise and hands-on startup experience enable him to partner effectively with founders building solutions for tomorrow's sustainability challenges.
Veronica Fey
Veronica Fey joined SoundBoard Venture Fund in Summer 2021 to facilitate fund operations and provide analysis through due diligence. Veronica is a proud non-traditionalist with a broad role at SBVF to match as she assists with all aspects of SBVF. Veronica has a decade of experience supporting the C-Suite as they've aspired to startup, realign and grow. Veronica began her career as a plaintiff's paralegal tasked with a high-volume collection litigation portfolio and navigated through elder, corporate, and real estate law. Real estate led her to pursue a career in mortgage banking, working her way from originator to assistant branch manager. In 2010, Veronica was presented with the opportunity to get in on the ground floor and grow another business. Confidence in working autonomously or collaboratively and her ability to remain unwavering under pressure made her a commodity to the C-Suite, expanding her experience into the world of finance.
Alex Killian
Alex Killian is a Entrepreneur Experience Manager at Endeavor as well as a Partner at BOLD Ventures. At the former he supports late-stage founders to scale their businesses by connecting them into the leading global network of high-growth founders, mentors, and investors. At BOLD Ventures, Alex invests in Seed/Seed+ founders across the Rust Belt Region. Alex earned his BS and MBA from the University of Buffalo. Alex resides in Buffalo with his wife and 3-year old daughter.
Brad Banikowski
Brad Banikowski is the Investment Manager at CenterState CEO where he oversees investments in their various funding programs’ portfolio companies at the Inspyre Innovation Hub (including the GENIUS NY accelerator). He is also an adjunct faculty advisor for the University of Rochester’s Simon School Venture Fund and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Columbia Technology Ventures’ ClimateTech Expertise Network (CEN). Brad’s prior roles include Entrepreneurship Navigator at Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation (NYSTAR), independent consultant for startups and venture investors, and Senior Associate at Rochester-area VC, Excell Partners. Brad holds an MBA from the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School, an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a BA in Philosophy from Syracuse University.
This event is sponsored by JPMorganChase.
This event is supported by UVC. Learn more at uvc.org