The Upstate Capital Association of New York connects the investment community to increase access to capital for companies, and deal flow for investors. Venture NY is Upstate Capital’s premier annual event for early-stage investors and the innovation community.
Great networking for investors
Conversations on early-stage investing and entrepreneurship
Startup Resource Expo
NYBPC Grand Prize Finals with up to $100,000 in cash prizes
The New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) is the intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition that, since 2010, has provided a platform for training New York’s next generation of entrepreneurs, and launching new ventures, commercializing innovations developed on campuses across New York. The NYBPC’s mission is to provide a robust competition for students across New York to promote entrepreneurship and start new ventures.
Ten regional competitions culminate in the Finals where two teams from each of six tracks in each region are invited to compete in a statewide competition, where up to $100,000 in prize money is awarded at Venture NY! Learn more about the NYBPC here.
AGENDA
8AM
Registration + Breakfast For NYBPC Round Two Student Entrepreneurs + Judges
9AM
NYBPC Round Two Top ten teams from each track pitch will pitch live for judges
12PM
General Registration Networking + Startup Resource Expo
Yoram is the CEO and founder of Dealroom.co, which was launched in 2014 to provide insights and intelligence about the world’s most promising companies and tech ecosystems. Top tier venture capital firms and corporations use Dealroom data to stay at the forefront of innovation and discover the world’s most promising companies.
Before founding Dealroom, Yoram was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Nomura Securities and NOAH Advisors in New York and London. Yoram has a cum laude Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.
Dave Craig is a two-time cancer survivor, oncology researcher and patient experience champion.
After 10 years of struggling to see his own cancer journey in the patient experience research he led for the pharmaceutical industry, he co-founded Gryt Health (‘grit’). Gryt is the only healthcare platform owned by survivors and caregivers.
The Gryt platform helps patients and caregivers navigate their health journey, support their peers and change systems. Gryt provides clinical trial patient activation, data & analytics and patient empowerment solutions to the majority of the Top 10 pharmaceutical companies from early pipeline through commercialization. Gryt bring stakeholders together to increase representation, improve access and achieve equity for all people facing a diagnosis.
Dave has a BS in Communication and MBA in Technology Management, from Rochester Institute of Technology. He has completed Executive Education at Harvard Business School in Building New Ventures and MIT Sloan School of Management in Corporate Strategy.
About Gryt Health Gryt is based in Rochester, NY with employees in 10 states across the United States. The Gryt employees left their careers in medicine, research and technology following life-altering diagnoses to create a healthcare company that improves how medicines are developed and accessed. Gryt’s mission is to amplify more voices to improve health outcomes. It was featured in The Lancet Oncology in October 2022 for its leadership in Patient Experience.
Christine E.B. Howard is passionate about equal and equitable access to funding (dilutive and non-dilutive) for historically underrepresented founders of start-ups. It is her ambition to support the innovation ecosystem and promote inclusive economic growth. She believes inclusivity is imperative for innovation, and building a strong and diverse economy where all our citizens thrive is essential. With this in mind, she founded E.B. Howard Consulting in 2013 (celebrating 10 years this year and securing 100M+ in funding for clients), where they help startups and those that support the startup eco find and apply for funding and measure the success of funding.
She actively mentors and advises small businesses through programs like the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps™), Columbia Technology Ventures, Verizon Forward for Good Accelerator, NYSERDA’s EIR Program, Startup Grind, and many others. She has also served as a pitch judge for start-up competitions like 43North, Female Founders in Tech & (FinTech and InsurTech) competitions, E^3 and NYBPC, and many others. She is a Buffalo/Niagara National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Past Board Member and Past President. She has served as Sponsorship Committee Chair, Programming Committee Chair, and Nominating Committee Chair. She is also an active member of the Chapter’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.
Conversation with Investors Starting and Managing Early Stage Funds and Networks
Nancy Vailakis
Principal – Ancram IRBD
Nancy Vailakis is the principal of Ancram IRBD, a boutique placement agency and investor relations, marketing, and publicity firm for the private funds industry.
Focused on business development for private funds and deals in the private credit, private equity (growth equity and buyout), hedge fund and real estate sectors, and service providers Nancy has 17 years of alternative asset management industry experience as a business development, marketing, and investor relations professional, and over 20 years of experience in financial services overall.
Previously, Ms. Vailakis was a business development director at IQ-EQ, a vice president of investor relations at Cerberus Capital, and a sales and client relations specialist at BlueMountain Capital. She earned her Master of Business Administration from the New York University Stern School of Business and her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Binghamton University. Ms. Vailakis continues to serve the Stern community as an alumni advisory board member of the Stern Private Equity Club.
Ms. Vailakis is engaged with many non-profit and professional organizations in New York, including Women in Funds (an organization through which she hosts the Ignite podcast, highlighting prominent women in the private funds industry), High Water Women, 100 Women in Finance, and Binghamton Women in Business. Nancy is a regular speaker and contributing writer to industry publications including Alternatives Watch, Worth, and Emerging Manager Monthly.
President, NextCorps, Inc. and Managing Director of Rochester Angel Network
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.
Ryoko Nozawa is Sr. Director of New York Ventures, New York State’s venture capital team, at Empire State Development. She runs its SSBCI-funded $102M fund of funds program that invests in emerging/regional venture fund managers. Prior to joining New York Ventures, she worked for Cayuga Venture Fund, helping its portfolio companies and managing fund administration. Earlier in her career, she worked for Mission Investors Exchange, encouraging philanthropic foundations to make impact investments in various asset classes.
NYBPC Grand Prize Pitches Top teams pitch live to the grand prizes judges to win $25,000
Brian Model
Managing Partner at Topmark Partners
Brian is Managing Partner at Topmark Partners. His investment work is focused on growth-stage ventures, predominantly high potential business-to-business technology-enabled companies in up-and-coming regions, such as Florida, the Southeast, and Upstate New York, where an abundance of investment opportunities are underserved by a relatively small number of local growth equity investors. Brian earned a B.A. in Economics from Duke University and an MBA, with honors, from Columbia Business School.
Director of New Ventures at SUNY Research Foundation
Nicholas Querques is Director of New Ventures at SUNY Research Foundation (RF). RF is the largest comprehensive university-connected research foundation in the country, administering over $1 billion in research expenditures annually throughout SUNY’s 64 campuses. Nick leads a growing portfolio of initiatives focused on promoting entrepreneurship and commercialization across the research enterprise, helping SUNY companies start strong and scale, and building partnerships with investors and development partners to get more SUNY technology into the market.
Silvia is a venture investor, entrepreneur, and former life sciences executive. Silvia is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship being an active mentor and speaker at accelerators and events. Before becoming a venture investor, she co-founded a company in digital health. Silvia held several leadership and consultant roles in the industry, including biotech, medical device and digital health companies across therapeutic areas such as cardiology, urology, diabetes, and aesthetics among others. Silvia holds an MSc in Mathematics and an MBA from IE Business School.
Dave Craig is a two-time cancer survivor, oncology researcher and patient experience champion.
After 10 years of struggling to see his own cancer journey in the patient experience research he led for the pharmaceutical industry, he co-founded Gryt Health (‘grit’). Gryt is the only healthcare platform owned by survivors and caregivers.
The Gryt platform helps patients and caregivers navigate their health journey, support their peers and change systems. Gryt provides clinical trial patient activation, data & analytics and patient empowerment solutions to the majority of the Top 10 pharmaceutical companies from early pipeline through commercialization. Gryt bring stakeholders together to increase representation, improve access and achieve equity for all people facing a diagnosis.
Dave has a BS in Communication and MBA in Technology Management, from Rochester Institute of Technology. He has completed Executive Education at Harvard Business School in Building New Ventures and MIT Sloan School of Management in Corporate Strategy.
About Gryt Health Gryt is based in Rochester, NY with employees in 10 states across the United States. The Gryt employees left their careers in medicine, research and technology following life-altering diagnoses to create a healthcare company that improves how medicines are developed and accessed. Gryt’s mission is to amplify more voices to improve health outcomes. It was featured in The Lancet Oncology in October 2022 for its leadership in Patient Experience.
John is Evangelist at Techstars, a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed by providing access to capital, mentorship, talent, and infrastructure. Techstars is a mentorship driven seed stage investment program. To date, hundreds of companies have gone through the Techstars accelerator, and John is charged with supporting and growing a global network of tech entrepreneurs, mentors and investors who surround them and the Techstars team.
As a speaker, John often implores others to have the audacity to “Dream Big”! Hill traded one passion for another which led him to leave Michigan State University to become the Higher Education Evangelist at LinkedIn. And, then one more time moving from LinkedIn to Techstars. Hill believes “changing the world” can be more than hyperbole. Building relationships and connecting people with opportunity are at his core, and he relies heavily on online and offline networks to facilitate each.
