Every month we hand select two investors as our Sharks, and then we bring 15 founders to pitch them live. I work with those founders the prior week to ensure we're ready to impress.
apply to pitch
Every month we hand select two investors as our Sharks, and then we bring 15 founders to pitch them live. I work with those founders the prior week to ensure we're ready to impress.
apply to pitch
Gene Munster is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Deepwater Asset Management. He focuses on "frontier tech" sectors such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, and electrification. Named "Top Stock Picker" from Forbes and "Best on the Street" from Wall Street Journal. Gene is the bridge from Wall St to Silicon Valley.
Bradford invests from SignalFire's $3B fund. Previous to this he was at Insight Partners until 2023, deployed $600 million across application software, data infrastructure, security, and consumer internet. Focuses on early-stage investments in applied AI/ML and vertical SaaS companies. He's on the board of UpRound Ventures at the University of Michigan. And, mentors at Harvard Business School’s Rock Summer Fellows program.
Don wears many hats, including real estate lending, startup CEO events, and much more. He runs UglyStartups.com and has brought thousands of founders together over the years. His last startup raised $5M+ from some of the world's top VCs like General Catalyst. You should consider pitching at his Shark Tank events.
Not anymore. Now it's fun.
Come pitch Bradford from SignalFire Ventures ($3B) and Gene Munster from Deepwater Capital Asset Management ($450M) in 2 weeks from now!
Don's raised VC from General Catalyst, Lightspeed Ventures Scout, Spark Capital, Future Positive, Betaworks, Courtside VC, and many family offices. He loves startups, and is technical himself.
Gain new skills, insights, and strategies to move forward. Apply what you learn, improve your work, and grow as a giant unit of founders. I emphasize social connection amongst members.
Hear stories, ideas, and experiences that spark drive required to stay up an extra three hours working late at night, or early morning wake up at 4 AM to get ahead. Walk away with motivation and f**king confidence to tackle daily challenges.
Be one of the lucky startups who gets to pitch and engage with these investors directly. It's our job to bring the best investors and facilitate the best environment for you to meet them. Our goal is for you to leave the pitch with a follow up meeting for capital.
2 investors meet 15 founders over 1-2 hours. Those founders prepare with me the week before, and they pitch over 3 minutes. If you want more info, do some research on Don Stein and the startup work he does.
Ugly Startups is designed for.... you guessed it, startups! Specifically we tailor our work towards founders and co-founders. We are experienced fundraisers, so we value the CEO connection as they're the only one in the company who VCs and Angels truly want to meet. Apply to pitch so you can grow your funding in a fun way.
Yep!
RSVP HERE to join the event as an audience member
https://calendly.com/donversationz/bradford?month=2025-05
Oh yes, we always do our best to facilitate an open convo so the audience is getting what they want.