On Thursday, March 31, attendees from all over the country gathered at Carnegie Tower in New York City for a night of discussion and networking. Hosts Nadia Xiaowan Tian, MBA and Mark Young from Bridge Point Capital treated guests to a breathtaking view of the New York City skyline and Central Park. Joel Palathinkal of Sutton Capital, who co-hosted, commented that the event hit capacity within a week of being announced! The in-person event was so well received that a virtual session was created.
Attendees, live and virtual, were engrossed in the three panel discussions:
- B2B, Fintech, and Consumer Tech Trends
- Deep Tech Trends
- The Future of Crypto & Web3
The B2B, Fintech, and Consumer Tech Trends panel covered how businesses, consumers, and financial services providers are leveraging tech. Joe F. Zhao from Millennia Capital led the panel; panelists included Leslie Goldman from The Artemis Fund , Abby Lyall from Tribeca Venture Partners, and Saka Saddiq Nuru from Funnder. Democratizing access to wealth and lowering the barrier of entry to financial products were key themes amongst panelists. How can tech be leveraged to lower the barrier of entry? Leslie Goldman explained that Artemis is seeing a hole in the creator economy when it comes to monetizing yourself. Goods and services provided by creators present a real opportunity to diversify access to wealth but require financial products in order to process digital payments. Another key takeaway is that cybersecurity needs to be on your radar, and founders need defined plans to keep data secure.
Things started heating up as the conversation shifted to the exciting and growing deep tech ecosystem in New York City. Panelists Julie Wolf from 2048 Ventures, Garrett Winther from HAX/SOSV, Joseph F. Krause from AlleyCorp, and Shaun Stewart from Newlab left guests with a lot to think about. Is the tech scene shifting away from San Francisco to New York City? In an industry pushing to more of a remote work environment, shifts are certainly possible. Should one of the goals of the deep tech space be to help us get to the root cause of the issues challenging crumbling systems so we can rebuild in a way that is better for consumers and the environment? One thing is for certain, the wearable trend has ended.
Brian Forman of Morrison Cohen LLP stepped in as moderator for the final panel, The Future of Crypto and Web3. Brian was joined by Aditya Dave from Republic, Diegane Dione from H+M Rise Consulting, and Jason Gottlieb from Morrison Cohen LLP. These experts did a fantastic job “meeting the audience” by beginning with a high-level overview of staking and centralized versus decentralized exchanges. It is clear there is a lack of education and understanding about digital assets at all levels, federal included. It seems the digital asset industry wants to be in compliance, but simply can’t be as existing regulations haven’t caught up yet. It will be interesting to see how things unfold; I highly recommend following these panelists to learn more.
After the panels ended, guests were welcomed outside to an open bar and perfect city view. Like many of the attendees from out of town, this was my first time in New York City since before COVID. The energy and excitement were palpable. It was fantastic to be able to meet virtual friends and peers in person for the first time. As great as video conferencing is, nothing beats connecting in real life.
At Vector, we love being a part of the emerging manager and VC community, and we’re honored to be among the list of sponsors for the event. Other sponsors included First Republic Bank, Aumni, Passthrough, and Morrison Cohen LLP. New York City is truly back, and the Vector team is looking forward to many more Industry events there!
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