Armory Square Ventures

🎙️ Last Thursday, I had the privilege of joining "𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝘂𝗽 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁" by FounderSquare and Singular Innovation. The timing was simply perfect to see others' #pitch decks, as I was about to create my very own the next day (story coming soon). For now, I just want to share and amplify some of the neat things that #NYC #founders are building: 1️⃣ 𝗚𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀.𝗳𝘂𝗻 - 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 Glass lets you gamify your events and activations, capturing data about consumer behavior to drive more referrals and UGC. It's all-in-one gamified loyalty. 2️⃣ Nsight (𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗽.𝗰𝗼𝗺) - 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 nsight wrangles data across disparate data sources, combined with integrations with popular tools to drive faster decisions and actions. 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗱𝗼 (𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗱𝗼.𝗰𝗼𝗺) - 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗹𝗲 Legado provides online estate planning (more than what wills typically cover) at an affordable price. They even offer it as a choice in employment benefits enrollment. (side note: by far my favorite, on-brand, aesthetically pleasing pitch deck — nicely done Noelle McEntee!) 4️⃣ inGENuity Trading - 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 Use simple English to research and generate trade ideas with #AI, create order tickets and execute them efficiently. 5️⃣ Open Admissions - 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 & 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Reimagining and simplifying the college admissions process, making it easier for everyone. 🙏🏻 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼... → Silvia Lupu and Joaquin Muntaner for organizing and letting me join → Marty Ringlein, Thierry Ho, Preston DeGarmo, and Adam Haney for judging and asking great investor questions → Microsoft for hosting us → Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLP for supporting NYC startups with all things Legal

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the fall season of Web Summit, held in balmy Lisbon! It was my foray into the tech scene in that city although my love for the place made for an easy ask on the part of the organizers :) Many thanks to Stephen MacNamara and Marysol Angeloni for coordinating a smooth and engaging week for Somak and me! On our first day (event title: VENTURE), we participated in a slew of meetings and roundtables on the state of the VC industry. As part of those we discussed the rapidly evolving economic environments, globally, as well as in Europe and America. Of particular concern was how these circumstances are affecting technical and non-technical startups both. On our second day, I judged a startup pitch competition comprised of several European founders, men and women (and one extraordinarily talented American ;)). On our third, we managed both a quiet trip to a local museum and another Startup Showcase. This was one I hosted with another fresh slew of enthusiastic founders (mostly from Europe but also from the Middle East). Each gave us a glimpse of their companies in under 2 minutes! Remarkable. I felt their pain and don't envy them those days! Overall, Web Summit attracts 90,000 visitors a year, and this year was no exception. There were more food trucks here than Somak and I could ever get to the bottom of. I restrained myself from taking a photo by the capacious wine ‘summit’ section (which took up half a city block). And so, in short, yes, this was most certainly a week to remember! To my Lisbon friends: you’re a dazzling crew!! I can’t believe what you've accomplished and how you pulled it all off! Brava! Warm regards Pia, Somak and the Armory Square Ventures team

Full house at Eclectic Convergence conference today at Cornell Tech. Kudos to Zach Shulman and Entrepreneurship at Cornell team!