Building a venture firm in public + event database resource
Actively engaging in events and community building for deal flow and brand building
When we launched Supply Change Capital two years ago now, we knew that there was an opportunity to build a firm that was approachable – one that didn’t require a warm intro and one that was, by design, deeply embedded in intersectional ecosystems.
Beyond the mutual benefit of open access, the last two years have also reminded us, by experience, that for women leading venture firms, there is an overwhelming requirement to build in public. As the research goes, men are judged on their potential, but women on their performance. To raise limited partner capital, many of our female friends and colleagues have found, as we have, the need to build an echo chamber of mentions, a list of access points, and a collage of participation. It doesn’t go unnoticed that our male friends and colleagues experience this less and have been successful building out firms behind closed doors.
To be clear, we enjoy community building. Our community-first approach helps us build deal flow, nurture co-investment relationships, advance equity of opportunity in venture capital and throughout the food ecosystem, and leave the world a better place for the next generation. A full page on our website is dedicated to our approach to community ❤️🌎.
The role of events in our strategy
In 2022, 25% of our deal flow - over 250 companies - came via events. And it’s no surprise given our participation in events across the US and in Mexico and the UK. Along the way, we’ve collated a list of events and the value we’ve found – we happily share it with you and welcome your additions. Special thanks to Candice Rezvanian at Strut Consulting for helping us structure the database as a community resource (for the last year, Strut Consulting has been a great outsourced operations partner for us, helping us build in process so we can focus on execution).
If we were to dish out event awards, they would go to:
🏆 SXSW for the best deal flow;
🏆 SXSW Future of Food, the LatinxVC Summit, L’Attitude, and many World Business Chicago/P33 gatherings for the strongest community building;
🏆 Gender Smart, Culture Shift Labs, and curated Bridge events for creating truly value-add fundraising access for emerging GPs.
We believe in paying it forward, and to this end we’ve aggregated a public events database to share with our community with a few verticals in mind:
Venture capital; specific link here
Food tech; specific link here
Supply chain; specific link here
LatAm; specific link here
DEI/Impact; specific link here
We’ve also noted the value we have historically found at these events (whether fundraising from LPs, fundraising from VCs, deal flow, community building, or thought leadership). Version1.0 of the database includes 102 events, with October, June, September, and March as the most saturated months.
We hope you find the list useful as you consider where to spend your precious time, and that you help us continue to build the database.
To add an event, please use this form.