StrictlyVC, TechCrunch’s boutique evening event series, is coming to New York’s West Village on Thursday, September 10. The gathering marks the series’ first New York appearance in two years, following a run of events in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Athens.
Keith Rabois Opens the Evening
The night begins with venture investor Keith Rabois, who recently moved East from Silicon Valley. Rabois has backed Ramp four times and invested as often in State Affairs, a company using AI and local journalists to track statehouse-level news and policy data across all 50 states. He is expected to share his views on founders who raise more capital than they need, and to discuss Khosla Ventures’ early EUR 43 million investment in OpenAI in 2019, when the company had no clear business model. Rabois will also address the narrative that OpenAI now faces greater headwinds than its rivals.
Following that discussion, Craig Shapiro, whose venture firm Collaborative Fund is co-hosting the evening, will sit down alongside Jason Levien, CEO of D.C. United. The pair will examine sports organizations as business investments and the intersection of sports, fandom, commerce, and community.
Founders Building Around AI and Community
The event continues with a conversation featuring two founders building for a world reshaped by AI. Tristan Walker, who sold Walker & Company Brands, maker of Bevel, to Procter & Gamble in 2018, returns with Heirloom Craft, a startup focused on reshoring American fine craftsmanship by training a new generation of artisans and rebuilding the supply chains behind them.
Walker will be joined by Brynn Putnam, who sold connected-fitness startup Mirror to Lululemon for EUR 429 million just three years after launch. Her newest venture is Board, a game company that blends physical play with AI-powered creation tools, designed to counter the isolation technology has fueled by bringing people together around a board.
Insight Partners Takes the Stage
The lineup closes with Deven Parekh, who has co-run New York investment firm Insight Partners for more than 25 years. Insight rarely engages with the press, but Parekh has agreed to discuss how the firm approaches a landscape where distinguishing asset classes has grown harder, as some of the largest funds have expanded significantly. The conversation will focus on how Insight competes in an environment where capital itself has become a commodity while potential returns on major investments remain in question.
StrictlyVC takes place Thursday, September 10, in New York’s West Village.
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