Why You Shouldn’t Raise VC (Yet): How to bootstrap with Carolyn Katz
How founders build traction before raising venture capital
About the Keynote Speaker: Carolyn Katz Co-Founder of Paddling Furiously
Carolyn Katz is the co-founder of Paddling Furiously, a peer-driven community for founders focused on building sustainable, real businesses through shared experience and practical insight. She has deep experience working with fast-growing companies, from early-stage startups to public multinationals.
Earlier in her career, Carolyn was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, where she led the credit research department covering early-stage communications and technology companies before moving into investment banking, advising both emerging and multinational firms. She later worked at Providence Equity Partners, focusing on venture and growth-stage investments, before founding and running her own digital publishing and eCommerce company. Today, she advises early-stage and growth companies on business strategy, product and geographic expansion, and organizational design.
Since 2001, Carolyn has served on the boards of public and private companies and nonprofits, particularly during periods of transition and growth. She currently serves on the board of Vonage Holding and has previously served on the boards of American Tower and NII Holding. She is also an advisor and mentor to early-stage founders through Founders Institute, Backstage Capital, New Media Ventures, CleanTech Open, and SCORE.
Carolyn holds a BA in Classical Languages from Princeton University (summa cum laude).
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About Founder Institute:
The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 7,000 entrepreneurs raise over $1.75BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
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The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 8,900 entrepreneurs raise over 2BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
