Startup Leadership Program

Ben McKean (SLP NYC Class of 2011) and his cofounder, Dan Leahy, were recently named as finalists in Bloomgberg Businessweek’s 2010 America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs and to the Silicon Alley 100, an annual list of New York’s top movers and shakers in the technology sector. Their startup VillagesVines helps upscale restaurants sell excess inventory.

Excerpt from Business Insider SAI’s earlier article on VillageVines:

http://www.businessinsider.com/village-vines-washington-dc-2010-9#ixzz13xhEq3GM

startup, that offers users discounts at high end restaurants is set to expand its reach.

With two 2 SLP alums (Kanchan Koya and Ajay Kulkarni) and SLP NYC’s mentor (Somak Chattopadhyay of GSA Venture Partners) leading the way, the 2010 – 2011 SLP NYC fellows gathered at the offices of Cooley LLP to kick of SLP NYC’s inaugural program.   After a delicious dinner (thanks to Cooley!), Kanchan introduced us to the founding principles of SLP and expectations for the year.  Our mentor Somak also graciously shared his entrepreneurial and VC journey, highlighting key learnings along the way.  Then, it came time for each of the us fellows to present our 3 minute introductions using picture-only slides that we prepared earlier.   Laughter soon filled the room as we bonded over hilarious past experiences and common interests.  Finally, Kanchan and Ajay spoke about of their own experiences in SLP and how the program impacted them, encouraging us to fully leverage the power of the SLP network.

The room was energized and the enthusiasm palpable. The festivities and sharing continued at a bar after class for which no one had to be coaxed to stay on! An absolutely brilliant and high energy beginning to what promises to be a fantastic year ahead for the NYC chapter.

Ajay Kapoor – Fresh Foundry
Alan Carniol – Career Cadence
Bedrick Gadea – Pulse of the Patient
Benjamin McKean – VillageVines
Brian Murray – Elm City Capital
Brittany Laughlin – Gtrot
Chris Brady – Chart Ventures
Gauri Manglik – SpotOn
Giulia Stellari – Agsquared
Haytham Elhawary – Hibergenica
Ji Li – Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University
Jonathan Hefter – Neverware
Joseph Tomitz – OutNest
Lisa Hodges – Joint Leap Technologies
Matthew Shapiro – Tooble
Mingjack Po – Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University
Phil Kim – Bundle
Prabhdeep Singh – NYCIF
Sarah Lensing – SpotOn
Sebastian Jayaraj – 10Biosystems
Seni Thomas – Last Mile Networks
Sergey Nazarov – FirstMark Capital
Trevor Owens – GoGo Chinese

Mentor
Somak Chattopadhyay – GSA Venture Partners

Program Leadership
Kanchan Koya – SwitchBiotics
Vipin Goyal – ex-Joost