Armory Square Ventures

Gathering our community together is in our DNA, which is why we look forward to our annual meeting all year long! We couldn't have had a better day for sharing the year's highlights, spotlighting our incredible portfolio companies, and, of course, sharing a few laughs together. Our thanks to everyone who came out, and deepest thanks to Sal Khan for his thought-provoking keynote discussion on the promises and pitfalls of AI, his work at Khan Academy, and his new book, Brave New Words.

Cheers to our 2024 summer venture fellows, Jin Kwon and Pearson Ehrich! Thank you both for all your efforts this summer. In addition to helping out with sourcing and operational tasks, Jin and Pearson conducted a deep dive on the vertical AI landscape, surfacing a slew of new insights for our investment team. Most importantly, both fellows demonstrated an insatiable curiosity about the art of venture. Know a young person who might be interested in our 2025 fellow program? Reach out to us!

Cintrifuse Capital hosted ASV Founder Somak Chattopadhyay and Senior Associate Anthony Santaro last week in Cincinnati for dinner with local founders at Colette, followed by a day of speed dating where they met more wonderful Cincy founders and business owners. Our thanks to Max Dworin for organizing and to Chris Bergman, Daniel Farrell, Dave Theus, Emily L. E., Joshua Reid, Justin Deja, Kiet Ho, Lucas Gould, and Rosie Levy for the fabulous company!

We're getting excited for this year's 43North pitch competition! There's a great crop of companies in the 16 semifinalists, and we can't wait to see them pitch on Oct. 9 & 10. We always love attending this event, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. ASV portfolio company and Upstate NY's first unicorn ACV Auctions won this competition in 2015. We can't wait to see who's next! https://lnkd.in/eME2kBc3

Last week we hosted our all-day CEO summit. This outgrowth of our annual meeting has taken on a life of its own, and this year we were thrilled to bring in a packed house of founders and business leaders for a day of knowledge sharing and networking in beautiful Skaneateles. Sapna Sadarangani Werner gave a rousing keynote address, while Robyn Meredith, Dan Magnuszewski, and ASV advisors Laura Kinder and Pritam Advani spoke on topics of critical importance to entrepreneurs including fundraising, talent acquisition, and exit planning. Huge thanks to our sponsors for the day: BNY Wealth, Akerman LLP, CPS Recruitment, and Daversa Partners, and a special shout out to Robyn, Mario Fallone, Lauren Crossett, and Laura!

ASV founder Somak Chattopadhyay is the focus of this week's Conversation on Leadership at syracuse.com! He shared his thoughts on inspiring founders, creativity, and why our region is perfectly poised for growth. Read the interview here: https://lnkd.in/ertr9gpA

Come out to hear from Somak at this fantastic conference in NYC on Oct. 26! We look forward to seeing you there. Get your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/gUNKKUfa

🎉🎉Congrats to Prabhdeep Singh on this exciting move! He will continue to support our portfolio companies as an advisor.

What do we look for in the entrepreneurs we meet? Leaders who show up every day, no matter what, and never stop building on their goals. Quote: Arthur Ashe

"As an entrepreneur, you're going down a road that is just the most challenging possible endeavor that you can ever do in your life. If you don't have a passion and a story or can't get that out, you should probably reconsider what you're doing. " FIFTEEN (Agency 15) co-founder and ASV advisor Zachary Schneider shares his best marketing advice for founders in our latest interview: https://lnkd.in/e9K47g4x