After a 2021 hiatus (thanks COVID!), the 2022 Upfront Summit was a chance for many attendees to see friends and colleagues again in person for the first time. There were renewed feelings of excitement - bringing over 1,500 people together in two days filled with networking, content, and entertainment.
On day one, we kicked off the Upfront Summit with discussions around the current VC landscape, from how seed investing has changed over the years to growth investment strategies from speakers such as Nagraj Kashyap of Softbank and Elliott Robinson of Bessemer Venture Partners. We also heard from Dannie Herzberg and Jess Lee of Sequoia Capital and Laela Sturdy of CapitalG about their firms' thesis and differentiators.
We hosted timely, critical discussions around the state of Ukraine and the history behind authoritarianism with New York Times best-selling author Barbara Walter and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum. Another important discussion involved combatting Asian hate, led by Mike Su of Snap with Eugene Wei and Jon Chu.
The Upfront Summit also covered the angel investing landscape with none other than Ron and Topher Conway of SV Angel, while LPs from Summit Rock Advisors, Agility, Spur Capital Partners, and Mercer Alternatives Group shared advice on fundraising, and what emerging managers need to know to stand out.
On the second day, we welcomed speakers like Russell and Harry Wilson of Limitless Minds to discuss the power of having a neutral mindset. We also addressed the importance of using one’s platform for good with Laura Dern and Adam Lilling of PLUS Capital.
Of course NFT, crypto and Web3 was on everyone's mind this year - we heard from Paris Hilton and Emilie Choi of Coinbase discussing why they were excited to be involved in the space.
And to close out the event, we had Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures interview Alanis Morissette about her career and experience as an activist and feminist.
If you missed any of the talks, you can check out the rest of the speaker sessions from the 2022 Upfront Summit here.
All photo credits to Scott Clark Photography.
