VCs at Freestyle, Plexo Capital and Sequoia sign up for Startup Battlefield judges • TechCrunch

Are you in a position to rumble, TechCrunch taste? Twenty of essentially the most promising and inventive early-stage startups — selected from the elite Startup Battlefield 200 — will carry the warmth for $100,000 within the world-renown Startup Battlefield pageant at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco.

We now have an impressive cohort of VCs in a position to listen to their pitches and apply up with tricky Q&As — and we’re extremely joyful so as to add 3 extra to the slate. Did you leave out the opposite Startup Battlefield VC judges? You’ll be able to in finding them in teams one, two, 3, 4 and 5.

Do you know? Startup Battlefield isn’t simply exciting to look at; it’s a masterclass in how buyers assume. The judges’ comments supplies perception into the factors they use to decide whether or not an organization is viable or no longer. Watch and be informed what buyers search for, what motivates them and what pushes them to time table a gathering. 

Buckle up, people, listed below are the following 3 judges in a position to lend a hand crown the following Startup Battlefield champion:

Josephine Chen, a spouse at Sequoia

Josephine Chen makes a speciality of seed and Collection A corporations in endeavor tool, fintech and crypto. She works with corporations comparable to Discovered, Magic Eden, Benchling and Anrok. Previous to becoming a member of Sequoia, Chen labored at Emergence Capital and McKinsey.

Dave Samuel, the co-founder of Freestyle.vc

An skilled govt, serial entrepreneur and web pioneer in tool and media, Dave Samuel is co-founder of Freestyle.vc. The seed-stage undertaking capital company holds greater than $565 million property below control and investments in over 150 startups. Freestyle led the seed rounds in Airtable, Patreon, BetterUp, Narvar and Snapdocs.

In 2004, Samuel co-founded Crackle, an web video platform obtained by means of Sony for $65 million in 2006. Previous in his profession, he based Spinner, the primary web radio provider, which AOL obtained for $320 million in 1999. Samuel graduated from MIT with a point in electric engineering.

Lo Toney, the founding managing spouse at Plexo Capital

Lo Toney incubated and spun out Plexo Capital from GV with a technique to build up get entry to to early-stage deal float. The corporate invests in rising seed-stage VCs (led by means of numerous managers) and invests at once in corporations sourced from the portfolios of VCs the place Plexo Capital has an funding. 

Buyers in Plexo Capital price range come with Alphabet/Google, Intel Capital, Cisco Investments, RBC, Southern New Hampshire College, House Depot, Hearst Company, Hampton College Endowment, JIMCO and the Ford Basis. 

Toney’s making an investment experience contains endeavor infrastructure, cybersecurity, monetary know-how, marketplaces, e-commerce, gaming and technology-enabled shoppers. As a standard CNBC contributor, he supplies statement on monetary markets and know-how corporations. 

Previous to founding Plexo Capital, Toney was once a spouse at the GV making an investment workforce the place he excited about marketplaces, cellular and shopper merchandise. Toney gained his MBA from the Haas Faculty of Industry (College of California at Berkeley) and his BS from Hampton College in Virginia.

TechCrunch Disrupt takes position on October 18–20. Purchase your cross nowadays, and in finding out why Disrupt is the place startup founders move to develop.

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