Calling all female founders, leaders, investors, and other allies in NYC! (men are welcome) Make new friends with like-minded individuals in the tech ecosystem, exchange ideas and knowledge, and learn from Katelyn Donnelly, Managing Director at Avalanche VC, Co-Founder and Ex-Managing Director of Pearson Ventures, and Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO & Co-Founder of AOA Dx (A biotech company focused on early-stage cancer detection; raised $8M) during an intimate fireside chat, with the amazing Gabriella Garcia, PM- turned- Investor, Two Sigma Ventures, as our host & moderator!
Fireside chat:
We will cover topics such as Katelyn's approach to investing in companies, identifying and supporting talented founders, trends she's seeing in the early-stage venture landscape, and her experiences across everything from founding her own public sector advisory and technology firm (being used by Prime Ministers, Governors, Mayors, Ministers and other senior leaders of 30+ countries), to co-founding Pearson’s corporate VC arm. Katelyn will also discuss Avalanche VC's focus on investing in massive trends transforming how people learn, earn, and own, and how they identify and support entrepreneurs working in these areas.
We will also learn from Oriana her journey of starting a biotech company- everything from how she identified a gap in the market for early-stage cancer detection to building a company from scratch to address this critical need. As an experienced entrepreneur, Oriana will also share her thoughts on the challenges faced in the early stages of the company and provide tips and advice to early-stage founders who may be facing similar hurdles. In particular, she will offer guidance on fundraising strategies.
There'll be time for open Q&A as well.
Katelyn Donnelly is the Managing Director at Avalanche VC, an early-stage venture firm focused on investing in technology-driven companies that are transforming the future of learning, work, and ownership. Previously, Katelyn co-founded and served as the Managing Director of Pearson Ventures, a $65M venture fund that invests in global EdTech companies. Katelyn currently serves on Duke University's Learning Innovation Advisory Council, helping Duke imagine the future of learning both on-campus and online. Katelyn is a published author on topics of innovation, education, and market disruption. She writes a newsletter called Obviously The Future.
Oriana Papin-Zoghbi is the CEO and co-founder of AOA Dx. She is a visionary leader in the field of women's health and diagnostics and recently honored in Inc’s 2022 Top 100 Female Founders for her work in ovarian cancer diagnosis. As CEO of AOA Dx, she has raised over $7M in Seed funding and $1M in non-dilutive grant funding. She also has a proven technical record of creating market entry strategies and product launches in new markets, including launching nationwide HPV screening in East Africa and novel diagnostics in maternal fetal medicine, oncology and infectious diseases.
About the Moderator:
Gabriella Garcia joined Two Sigma Ventures in 2022 with a focus on early-stage investments across a variety of verticals, including FinTech, crypto, B2B SaaS and healthcare. Prior to Two Sigma Ventures, most recently, Gabriella worked as the PM Lead for Banking on Google’s Payments Platform, which powers payments across Google products including Adwords, Play Store, YouTube and Google Cloud. Gabriella holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
About Perkins Coie: Perkins Coie is an international law firm that represents emerging and growth companies across all stages of their life cycle — from founder to IPO.
About Beyond Identity: Beyond Identity delivers frictionless and secure passwordless MFA that accelerates user onboarding, prevents fraud, and lowers customer support costs. With APIs and SDKs for native and web applications, we simplify passkey deployment across all applications and devices to ensure consistent passwordless experiences wherever your users are.
About Supermomos: Supermomos is a network of curated social-professional communities. Join other like-minded biz, finance, and tech professionals in NYC that meet up to learn and socialize together!
About Free Agency: Free Agency is a game-changer for top and emerging talent in tech, providing professionals with Hollywood-style representation for the first time ever. Put simply, they manage “the business end” of their clients' careers, helping them find, win, and succeed at top-of-market roles.
Tech Female Founders Fireside Chat & Mixer - feat. Katelyn Donnelly (MD at Avalanche VC, Ex-Co-Founder and MD of Pearson Ventures) and Oriana Papin-Zoghbi (CEO of AOA Dx - biotech co for early cancer detection; raised $8M)
Host
Thu, Nov 19, 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM (EST)
Cool space in Manhattan (New York)
150 attendees
Calling all female founders, leaders, investors, and other allies in NYC! (men are welcome) Make new friends with like-minded individuals in the tech ecosystem, exchange ideas and knowledge, and learn from Katelyn Donnelly, Managing Director at Avalanche VC, Co-Founder and Ex-Managing Director of Pearson Ventures, and Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO & Co-Founder of AOA Dx (A biotech company focused on early-stage cancer detection; raised $8M) during an intimate fireside chat, with the amazing Gabriella Garcia, PM- turned- Investor, Two Sigma Ventures, as our host & moderator!
Fireside chat:
We will cover topics such as Katelyn's approach to investing in companies, identifying and supporting talented founders, trends she's seeing in the early-stage venture landscape, and her experiences across everything from founding her own public sector advisory and technology firm (being used by Prime Ministers, Governors, Mayors, Ministers and other senior leaders of 30+ countries), to co-founding Pearson’s corporate VC arm. Katelyn will also discuss Avalanche VC's focus on investing in massive trends transforming how people learn, earn, and own, and how they identify and support entrepreneurs working in these areas.
We will also learn from Oriana her journey of starting a biotech company- everything from how she identified a gap in the market for early-stage cancer detection to building a company from scratch to address this critical need. As an experienced entrepreneur, Oriana will also share her thoughts on the challenges faced in the early stages of the company and provide tips and advice to early-stage founders who may be facing similar hurdles. In particular, she will offer guidance on fundraising strategies.
There'll be time for open Q&A as well.
Katelyn Donnelly is the Managing Director at Avalanche VC, an early-stage venture firm focused on investing in technology-driven companies that are transforming the future of learning, work, and ownership. Previously, Katelyn co-founded and served as the Managing Director of Pearson Ventures, a $65M venture fund that invests in global EdTech companies. Katelyn currently serves on Duke University's Learning Innovation Advisory Council, helping Duke imagine the future of learning both on-campus and online. Katelyn is a published author on topics of innovation, education, and market disruption. She writes a newsletter called Obviously The Future.
Oriana Papin-Zoghbi is the CEO and co-founder of AOA Dx. She is a visionary leader in the field of women's health and diagnostics and recently honored in Inc’s 2022 Top 100 Female Founders for her work in ovarian cancer diagnosis. As CEO of AOA Dx, she has raised over $7M in Seed funding and $1M in non-dilutive grant funding. She also has a proven technical record of creating market entry strategies and product launches in new markets, including launching nationwide HPV screening in East Africa and novel diagnostics in maternal fetal medicine, oncology and infectious diseases.
About the Moderator:
Gabriella Garcia joined Two Sigma Ventures in 2022 with a focus on early-stage investments across a variety of verticals, including FinTech, crypto, B2B SaaS and healthcare. Prior to Two Sigma Ventures, most recently, Gabriella worked as the PM Lead for Banking on Google’s Payments Platform, which powers payments across Google products including Adwords, Play Store, YouTube and Google Cloud. Gabriella holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
About Perkins Coie: Perkins Coie is an international law firm that represents emerging and growth companies across all stages of their life cycle — from founder to IPO.
About Beyond Identity: Beyond Identity delivers frictionless and secure passwordless MFA that accelerates user onboarding, prevents fraud, and lowers customer support costs. With APIs and SDKs for native and web applications, we simplify passkey deployment across all applications and devices to ensure consistent passwordless experiences wherever your users are.
About Supermomos: Supermomos is a network of curated social-professional communities. Join other like-minded biz, finance, and tech professionals in NYC that meet up to learn and socialize together!
About Free Agency: Free Agency is a game-changer for top and emerging talent in tech, providing professionals with Hollywood-style representation for the first time ever. Put simply, they manage “the business end” of their clients' careers, helping them find, win, and succeed at top-of-market roles.