Victoria Cheng ’12Journal 1
For a few weeks now, I have been working with NYC Seed, a technology-focused venture capital fund that provides capital to entrepreneurs seeking seed funding. The fund is part of a larger New York City initiative to create an ecosystem around promoting technology entrepreneurship, in hopes of making New York City a center of innovation that attracts and develops new companies, which will contribute to the economic growth of the city.
My duties have centered around two key functions. First, I serve as an investment professional for the fund. As part of this, I review business pitches and evaluate companies that are interested in receiving funding for viability — the ability to achieve scale and create jobs. In this process, I meet with aspiring entrepreneurs and share my thoughts on their business plans. Once a company of interest is found, I undergo a diligence process with the entrepreneur by looking at market-size, sustainability of competitive advantage, and the background of the CEO. It has been amazing to meet with these talented, driven, and optimistic individuals, and to be a part of building these companies.
Second, I work with the NYC SeedStart Program, which is an incubator for very early stage companies. These companies are often still creating products, demonstrating proof of concept, and finding customers. They span industries from fashion, to interactive guides, to deal companies. I share with these companies the knowledge that I have gained in my previous experience and from business school.
I am constantly surrounded by people who are dreaming big and doing something about it. NYC Seed shares an office with over thirty start-up companies and other incubator programs. I can feel the excitement of all the people who are anxious to propel New York City forward in the entrepreneurial world.
During this short period of time, I have learned so much about new technology trends, venture capital in New York City, and the growing support from incubators and accelerators available to entrepreneurs in the city.
Journal 2
I am now in the middle of my internship with NYC Seed. The SeedStart companies in our accelerator program are in the midst of developing their new products and services. Many have begun beta testing and acquiring their first customers. The growth has been inspiring as I watch these entrepreneurs take an idea and build it into a business. One of the companies recently received exposure to a large publication. The company is now creating new products, servicing large corporate clients, and making multiple hires.
At the same time, I see the struggles, such as finding capital and quality employees. There is a constant battle as entrepreneurs try to reach out to multi-billion dollar businesses. During this process, we bring in speakers from around New York City — including CEOs, investors, and lawyers — to give these companies the resources and advice they need to succeed. Topics have included what investors look for, intellectual property strategy and monetization, employment issues, lessons learned from various successful entrepreneurs, perspectives of large corporate customers, how to create a business culture, and attracting talent to a start-up enterprise.
We have also made two new investments. We hope that with our help these companies will be able to contribute to New York City over the next few years.
Journal 3
It is now the middle of September, and we just had the SeedStart Demo Day. Our seven selected companies — Bebarang, Usher Buddy, Categorical, Adsurance, GenJuice, Olapic, Guides.ly — pitched their ideas to a conference room of over 100 venture capitalists, financial investors, and corporations. This is the culmination of the joint efforts of NYC Seed, venture capital partners, and strategic sponsors. The strategic sponsors included AOL Ventures, Hearst Corporation, Time Warner, Ogilvy Entertainment, The New York Times, Google, Gilt City, Comcast, ESPN, MTV Networks, NBCU, and News Corporation.
Our venture capital partners outside of NYC Seed included Contour Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures/Genacast Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, and RRE Ventures. Other partners included Amazon Web Services, Cushman and Wakefield, Chadbourne and Parke, New York Tech Meetup, NYU Stern School of Business, Olark, Silicon Valley Bank, Sorin Royer Cooper, and WTAS.
It was incredible to see the businesses that had come together with government organizations in order to make these companies a success. The final results were astounding, and I feel so privileged to have been able to take part in the growth of these companies. All the companies have changed so much. Many have changed their business models completely, and others have changed their product. The majority of them have hired new employees, showing that these start-ups will add jobs to New York City in addition to creating value through their products to their customers.
Here is a look at the NYC SeedStart Companies for 2011.
