Show Me the Money: What Investors Want from Entrepreneurs

Discover what investors really look for and learn how to make your business an irresistible investment opportunity.

What does it take to turn an innovative idea into an investment opportunity? Raising capital is about more than having a great pitch—it’s about demonstrating business potential, market opportunity, scalability, and a clear path to profitability. Join us for an engaging conversation with investors as they share what they look for when evaluating startups and entrepreneurial ventures. Learn what makes a business attractive to investors, how to prepare for investor conversations, what common mistakes entrepreneurs should avoid, and how to position your company for funding success.

Whether you're launching a startup, growing an established business, or preparing for your next funding round, discover what investors really want—and what it takes to get them to say YES!

Presented by the Entrepreneurial Strategy Series and Gearhart Law.

AGENDA:

• Networking (11:30 am - 12 pm EDT)
• Presentation (12 pm - 1:15 pm EDT)

OUR SPEAKERS:

Peter Bodenheimer is the Executive Director of New York Angels (NYA), one of the country’s most established and active angel investing organizations. Since joining NYA in 2026, he has led the group’s operations, member engagement, and deal flow, working closely with its board and members to connect experienced investors with promising early-stage founders. His work includes modernizing how NYA sources and evaluates investment opportunities, including using AI to surface strong candidates from the group’s application pipeline.

Before NYA, Peter was the U.S. Venture Partner at PeakBridge, where he sourced deals including Nourished RX and Vytala. He previously ran Food-X, SOSV's food innovation accelerator, where he worked with early-stage founders building the future of food. Peter also co-founded SuperKingdom, a data platform focused on better understanding fungi's potential across industries. He is deeply connected to New York’s startup ecosystem and the broader North American angel investing community. Peter is based in Brooklyn. Read more at: https://www.newyorkangels.com/

Nolan English is the Head of Platform at Azolla Ventures, where he is responsible for providing post-investment support, ensuring portfolio companies increase their chances of success. Nolan curates a wide array of services, such as platform tools, peer networking opportunities, events, expert content, masterclasses, and strategic partnerships. Nolan joins Azolla Ventures from a decade-long career in Venture Capital. Most recently, Nolan worked at SOSV, one of the largest seed-stage investors in deep tech for human and planetary health, where he led platform and portfolio services for 1000+ portfolio companies. Nolan holds a B.A. in Literature from Bard College.

Azolla Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies with the potential for gigaton-scale climate impact. Azolla Ventures was created by Prime Coalition, a nonprofit organization that partners with philanthropists and other mission-driven investors to support market-driven innovations designed to catalyze, deepen, or accelerate solutions for climate change. Read more at: https://azollaventures.com/

Laine Clark, Program Manager at Big Idea Ventures: Laine's career spans entrepreneurship, innovation, and venture capital. Big Idea Ventures is a global venture capital firm, where she works with foodtech startups around the world as they develop and commercialize new technologies.

Before joining Big Idea Ventures, Laine spent nearly four years at the Good Food Institute, a think tank and network of international organizations focused on advancing alternative proteins, where she served as Senior Corporate Engagement Manager, Innovation. Earlier in her career, she founded and grew a regional retail business in the pet industry, which was acquired by a national retailer.

For nearly a decade, Laine has been an Entrepreneur in Residence and, more recently, a Venture Advisor for Georgetown University. She has also mentored entrepreneurs through George Washington University, NSF I-Corps, and the Korean Innovation Center. Read more at: https://bigideaventures.com/

David Postolski, Esq. is a senior partner at Gearhart Law, is a registered patent attorney and Intellectual Property (IP) attorney for close to 20 years. David specializes in assisting inventors, creators, artists, start-ups, entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, and emerging companies with their U.S and international IP strategy, protection, enforcement, and monetization. David is a frequent speaker and author on emerging IP issues and technologies including, raising capital, business formation, food science, software, licensing, Data and Privacy Compliance, equity-based crowdfunding, and compliance with other US and International Regulatory structures. David is also a Professor at Temple University, Parsons School of Design and the Radzyner Law School (Herzliya, Israel) where he teaches master-level students about IP, ethics, and other regulatory considerations. David is a current Council Member of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law, founder of their International Action Group, and editor of their monthly newsletter, and the outgoing Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Officer. David currently serves on Harvard’s Lemann Entrepreneurial Program Advisory Board. Read more at: https://gearhartlaw.com/team/david-postolski-esq/

Email the event moderator, David D. Postolski, Esq.. with any questions at david@gearhartlaw.com

This event is sponsored by Gearhart Law, a full service Intellectual Property firm specializing in Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law domestically and globally. We serve inventors, entrepreneurs, and established businesses. We can help you strategize and build your IP portfolio based on your business needs. Call us for a free consultation at 908-273-0700 or contact us through: https://gearhartlaw.com/