Get ready for New York Tech Week
The best week of the year in NYC is coming fast! Read carefully to know how to make the most of it.
Bienvenue! I am Marion Siboni, CEO and founder of La Creme de la STEM™, the only global, private network for early-stage female founders in tech and science.
I share valuable insights about entrepreneurship, community building, and inspiring women's stories twice a month. 5,000+ investors, entrepreneurs, and operators have already subscribed. Join them!👇
✍️ Current setting ✍️
📍 Writing you from: my desk, enjoying my last two weeks in Brooklyn before a long trip in France - if you are going to Vivatech, hit me up!
☕️ Drinking: a hot chocolate, because I cannot accept that NYC weather can be qualified as Spring
🎵 Listening to: God is a Woman - Ariana Grande
June 5th: Female Founders Unwind
I’m genuinely excited to be hosting my first New York Tech Week event to highlight the incredible Founding Members of La Creme de la STEM™. This is a meaningful opportunity to give our early-stage female founders a platform to share their innovations, connect with the broader tech community, and amplify their hard work:
Abby Rakshit, CEO and Founder at Season
Yasaman Soroori, CEO and co-founder at Consulta
Holly Diamond, CEO and Founder at Work Onward
Saba Ahmed, co-founder at Tiny Dinner
Jennifer Dwork, co-founder at Bummed
Elisabeth Bykoff, CEO and founder at Boxsy
Victoire Mandonnaud, CEO and founder of On My Way
Kristin Scholten, Stealth
Lizzy Palmer, CEO and co-founder of Sync N
Creating spaces like this is at the heart of what we do, and I’m looking forward to seeing the talent and passion our members bring to the stage!
We are quickly approaching capacity, so make sure to register ASAP!
Special thanks to our sponsors:
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How to make the most of New York Tech Week?
Tech Week, (presented by a16z) is a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. NY Tech Week takes place June 2-8. View the full schedule here.
New York Tech Week can be exhausting. Hundreds of events are happening around the city, and you can quickly end up spending more time in the subway trying to figure out where to go next, rather than making the most of the networking events.
If you are looking to turn this coming week into a sea of opportunities while maximising your time, here is what I recommend:
Define the objectives of the week
Before registering for anything, ask yourself what you want to get out of it. Is it knowledge of a specific trend? Is it meeting a particular type of people? Is it being social and trying new activities?
The beauty of NYTW is that there is something for everyone, but you are the only one to know what it can bring you.
Register ASAP
Ok, maybe I should have shared this recommendation earlier, but do not worry, it is still time to register for any event that you are interested in! A majority of community builders are waiting until the last few days before their events to approve anyone. Even if you don’t feel like you are the perfect fit, go for it and apply.
And if there is one specific event you feel like you cannot miss, reach out directly to the organiser and explain clearly why they should let you in - it worked for me last year on a sold-out event!
Take notes every single day, about the event and/or about people you meet
Because if you spent so much time thinking and preparing and reaching out to organisers, what is even the point?
If you are attending a lot of panels, it can make sense to bring a small notepad with you - no distraction, plus writing is the best way to absorb and retain new information.
If you intend to share your insights on social media, then it is more productive on your phone to either post immediately or use AI to organise your notes in a digestible way for future readers. In this case, make sure you tag the organisers; they will appreciate it.
Clean your calendar
You won’t be able to do everything everywhere all at once. There is no need to overwhelm yourself with events that are not relevant to you. So do yourself - and the organisers - a favor, and decline them.
As soon as you get approved to join an event, go back to the description and assess it. If there is no description yet, this is not a very good sign, and that might not be worth your time.
Having a clean calendar is also a great way to remember afterwards what the event was about, who organised it, who attended, etc. I even log spontaneous 1:1s with anyone I consider a VIP.
Always follow up but keep it short and sweet
This is one of my core principles. After adding people on LinkedIn - my favorite way to stay connected, I always use the following structure:
“It was great meeting you at [location] for [here, New York Tech Week] on [date]. Would love to keep in touch about [topic you connected on]. Enjoy [personal matter mentioned during your conversation].”
This personalized approach will not only be appreciated but also help you remember the details of your connection even months or years later.
That’s it for today! If you want to keep up with my content on other channels, join 10,300+ followers who read my posts on LinkedIn and don’t forget to give some love (aka likes) to the company page! Your support means a lot to me, thank you!