Wharton SoCal VC/Startup event during LA Tech Week, Tue 6/6/23

Recap of our Inaugural Wharton SoCal VC/Startup event during LA Tech Week from host, Roger DaSilva

I was blown away by the quality of the conversation, the genuine and very real stories from the VC and Startup founder panel that I hosted with Wharton Club of Southern California. Having investors who want to shine a light on under-represented founders, like Garnet S. Heraman co-founder of Aperture Venture Capital, Juliette Richert from The Artemis Fund, Adela Jamal, co-founder of Milemark Capital & Josh Resnick, founder Renegade really resonated with all who attended.

Some of my favorite moments/pieces of advice:

Jenna Kerner, co-founder at Harper Wilde, talked about using empathy when sitting across from an investor who isn't familiar with the pain points of buying women's undergarments - she tells it from a male perspective ("Imagine if...") and then they have that WOW moment

Josh Resnick telling founders that you need to be on the front foot with investors/advisors when things AREN'T going well. They are the most invested in helping you figure out solutions so bring them in

Adela Jamal: 'We are all in the same boat, just rowing from different seats' talking about community resources (like All Raise) and finding support when you are going through tough times - everyone is going through something and it helps to just talk about it with someone!

Thank you to all who participated and attended! Especially those from UCLA Anderson School of Management Harvard Business School and of course The Wharton School!