Recap Attending TechUnited's NJ Better Capital Conference and BetterX Summit June 2023
When the opportunity presented itself to attend Tech United's NJ Better Capital Conference and BetterX Summit, I couldn't resist. As an avid technology enthusiast, the prospect of spending two days immersed in the thriving ecosystem of New Jersey's technology sector was genuinely enticing. Both were hosted by TechUnited which also hosts the Propelify Innovation Festival. A big plus of being part of this community is that the event was free. It could of easily garnered an admission of a few hundred dollars for each event. Being in rooms with like minded individuals is always great and a great way to network. Those that attended were start up founders, investors, and those in the the general tech space. The events were also part of New Jersey's North to Shore Festival. As someone in the podcast, marketing, and tech space I'm always looking to network and collaborate.
TechUnited:NJ BetterCapital Conference
The event was held in Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park. The format was a half day of networking and panels on a wide range of topics. Mariquit Corcoran Head of Fintech Advisory & Venture Capital Coverage, Independence Point Advisors spoke about her 2 decades of experience in the finance space and what she had to go through in a space dominated by men. Other sessions included topics on how to stand out to investors, the power of community, founder verse investor, and growth in places like music. I thought the investor verse founder session was interesting because you could see the mindset of both, where they were similar, and where they were different. There was a pitch contest with 3 start ups that was interesting. They were also given feedback on how they could improve their overall pitches which was a valuable thing to see. The networking was valuable because normally its hard to find a room with potential of hundreds of millions of funding and those with similar mindsets. For those that purchased an add on, the night closed with a fireside chat with Bill Nye.
BetterX Summit
I also was about to attend the BetterX Summit held at NJ PAC in Newark, New Jersey. I'm an alumni of Rutgers University Newark, so it was nice being in Newark and seeing all the positive developments in the city. The event focused largely of growth and innovation within the city of Newark. This event also focused on marketing opportunities to grow your business especially through platforms like Meta. Some of the sessions that day focused on solving sustainability's biggest challenges, what opportunities 5G connectivity provides to startups, technology's role in growing your business, what opportunities 5G connectivity provides to startups, and accelerating wellness. On of the sessions I enjoyed was called More Than Mojo with Vinit Bharara co-founder of Mojo. Vinit Bharara's biggest exit was when he sold diapers.com for almost 600 million dollars to Amazon. It was nice to learn about Vinit's journey along the way and what made him co-found Mojo a stock market style sports market place. The summit featured an emerging startup showcase where the startups presented there pitches as well. Time was set aside as well to network and connect. For a separate fee you could see Daymond John from Shark Tank deliver a keynote as well.
Regardless of the space you are in I would encourage people to go out and network with others. LinkedIn is super spammy now and has turned into a pitch fest of automated messages. In person you really get to know someone and if it makes sense to collaborate. Regardless of if you're and introvert or extrovert you should invest in growling your network with like minded individuals.
