EVCA Newsletter: University Edition | May 2021
what’s hot🔥: Gen Z Trends
⭐What’s all the buzz around Gen Z?
Gen Z includes everyone born between 1997 and 2012 and is the next big consumer group to look out for! There’s 3 billion Gen Zers worldwide, and they collectively hold $143 billion in spending power. To ride this next wave, consumer startups have been catering to Gen Z in creative ways.
⭐ What are some of the ways Gen Z behaviors have impacted consumer startups?
The biggest impact in this regard can be seen in consumer social products. Consumer 2.0 marks a shift in the way people use and interact with social media; rather than placing an emphasis on perfect, polished profiles, this new wave of social media emphasizes authenticity instead.
⭐ What are some examples of Consumer 2.0?
Poparazzi, the current #1 free iOS app, only lets users post pictures of their friends. They’ve gotten rid of the selfie, an integral part of social media in the past, and focused on the authenticity of photographing others rather than superficially focusing on yourself.
Honk emphasizes ephemerality in a way Snapchat has slowly evolved away from, by only allowing two live messages at a time.
Lastly, Monet is a dating app allowing people to meet by drawing, in a gamified way similar to Skribbl or Drawful.
⭐ What’s next? We asked investors in the Gen-Z space for their perspective on where they see Gen-Z trends disrupting in the near future 👇🏼
Jay Drain Jr (Associate, Maven Ventures):
Digital health: “One thing I've been thinking about recently is as Gen-Z's grow into their mid-20s and become "full-fledged" adults, there might be opportunities to make healthcare more approachable for those growing out of their parents' healthcare plans, providers, etc...”
Michelle Nie (Associate, Norwest Venture Partners):
The rise of creator driven businesses (i.e. MrBeast Burger, Addison Rae’s ITEM Beauty): “The concept is not new… but, it’s interesting to see how TikTok is much more horizontally vs vertically focused. Historically, YouTuber always had to consider whether their sponsorships were in line with their personal brand (i.e. fitness YT endorse fitness companies) … but TikTok and/or Gen Z care less about that alignment - see Charli D’Amelio’s Sabra commercial or Dunkin Donuts’ flavor. I think that mass appeal will enable the rise of large, creator-driven businesses with multiple product lines.”
The evolution of dating: “Whether it’s TikTok-style content feeds (Snack, Lolly), drawing based chat (Monet), or real-time conversations (Teleport), there’s a clear desire to break away from the rigid, binary, swipe-based behavior that Tinder made popular. Despite the different formats, all of these apps are focused on showcasing more aspects of users aside from physical appearance and that speaks to how Gen Zs are more inclusive and open-minded.”
If you’re interested in getting more insights on Gen Z trends, check out this blog post from Michelle Nie, these research reports from GenZ Designs and from Zebra IQ, or this medium post from Meagan Loyst.
founder spotlight ✨👀
💡 featuring the founder of an up and coming startup in the Gen Z space
Snack 🥨, a “Tinder meets TikTok” dating app built for Gen Z that has secured $3.5 million in pre-seed funding, seeks to pioneer an authentic, video-first approach to online dating. We sat down for a chat with Kim Kaplan, the founder and CEO, to talk through the inspiration behind Snack and what it’s like being a founder in the Gen Z space. Here’s some key takeaways on what it takes to build an app for Gen Z👇🏼
Take inspiration from trends on social media: “I came across this person’s (TikTok) video of their take on the ‘What’s Your Name’ challenge (to the Chase Rice song with the hashtag #single) and I realized that they were trying to date through TikTok. TikTok normalized video-first profiles, but TikTok is fundamentally not built for dating — you don’t know someone’s location or relationship status, and if you post a really good video, you’re getting hundreds of likes and comments that you have to go through to connect with someone.”
Get as close to Gen Z as possible: “Talk to your customers and validate your idea. You have to go to the source of whom you’re trying to build for — think about how you can involve them in the process.”
The company’s name “Snack” came from a couple folks in the Gen Z Mafia tech community!
The logo was designed by Gen Z. “We put out a challenge to a bunch of different colleges with a cash prize and ended up with the pretzel”
Community and feelings of ownership are important. “We recently launched our own Gen Z Syndicate, where a bunch of Gen Zers can actually invest in the app. I wanted to create a Slack channel where they can share their opinions and feel like they have a vested interest in it. And we should be listening to them, because they are one of our investors.”
“Gen Z” = authentic, authentic, authentic!: “I love the [“this is who I am, take it or leave it”] mentality that Gen Z has, and I think that a video-first format allows that to come out a lot more. Whereas in the previous generations, it was more about “how I can curate the best version of myself?” When it comes to dating on Snack, our message to people is to show the real you — that’s how you’re gonna meet someone with whom you connect with in a more genuine way. When it comes to Gen Z, they’re a lot more authentic and raw, and I love that.”
community 👩🏻🧑🏼🧑🏾
🏫 find out what’s going down in the entrepreneurial ecosystems at other campuses!
✴️ Envision, a virtual accelerator program for young, underrepresented founders held a demo day on May 19th featuring companies from their first three cohorts. One of the companies demoed was Pareto, a platform for outsourcing repetitive virtual work to help startups grow faster. Another was Forage, a tool making paying with EBT (a system commonly used by those receiving food-related assistance) on the internet more accessible.
⚡️UC Launch is an early-stage accelerator program spanning the nine schools in the University of California system, and they just hosted their demo day on May 2nd. First place went to Myntor, a standardized test prep platform featuring 24/7 AI tutoring. The Audience Choice prize also went to an edtech platform, EdVisorly, which focuses on creating transfer plans for community college students.
🖥 Coming up from May 31st-June 6th is the Feminist Futures Hackathon, a week-long event centered around three social good tracks: urban justice, health and well-being, and financial inclusion. Along with creating a technical project, participants will be guided through a design process to critically assess problems in the track they select before they begin hacking.
👀 Community Spotlight: HBCUvc Fellow, Ime Essien
HBCUvc supports startups from the HBCU ecosystem, provides a culturally-affirming investor curriculum, and connects members to a network of prominent entrepreneurs and investors.
Ime, a HBCUvc Fellow, is currently a student at Morgan State University studying electrical engineering. To date, his experience ranges from time at a corporate venture arm to even starting his own company last summer! His next steps are interning at a yet-to-be-announced fund🤫.
Why venture capital?: “I've always enjoyed being around people and I'm super energetic, so working in the lab or coding all day isn't a good fit for me. I love having the opportunity to work with some of the most passionate people I've met, which are founders!”
What’s your biggest piece of advice for folks looking to break in?: “Don't be afraid to cold DM or email someone for an opportunity. That's how I was able to get all my gigs! People tend to want to respond because you’re a student. Learn how to write a compelling message that grabs people’s attention, you never know what will happen.”
Make sure to check out Divergent Unicorns, a podcast organized by HBCUvc fellows about giving advice and actionable steps to founders that have been typically underrepresented in fields related to tech, startups, and VC. You can also find Ime on Twitter here!
opportunities ⚡
👌 get the latest scoop of curated entrepreneurship opportunities
👩🏻💻Contrary Startup Fair: On July 15th, meet founders, execs, and talent teams from breakout startups such as Figma, Ramp, Anduril, Vise, Vesta, and more. Job-seekers have the opportunity to match directly with companies they’re interested in, and other events, like AMAs with founders and CEOs and office hours with Contrary’s talent team.
🚀Greylock Techfair: Apply to Greylock Techfair to meet engineering and product teams at top venture-backed startups like Snorkel AI, Nuro, Robinhood, Nextdoor, and dozens more. The virtual event will take place July 22, 2021 - apply by June 15
🏙 On Deck NYC: For three weeks, join startup operators, investors, and subject matter experts to come together and explore new startup ideas. The program is hosted by On Deck, which is a startup-centered community focused on ideas.
🍐Pear Accelerator (Summer 2021): Receive hands-on mentorship on product, growth, recruiting, and fundraising from partners who have built eight companies - rolling basis
🤩101 Fellowship(Summer 2021):8-week unpaid program that includes the experience of practical work in a VC company - apply by the end of May
🕶Ramen Mafia Healthcare Cohort (Summer 2021): Invite-only matching platform for the world’s most talented people to meet and start companies. This next cohort will be focused on healthcare - apply by May 28
⚡️M13 Investor Relations Internship (Summer 2021): work on the investor relations team at one of LA’s largest early-stage venture funds
🌀OpenView Investment Internship: support investment team by sourcing and identifying new companies and assist with conducting market research and initial outreach to key contacts.
🌱Techstars Finance & Investment Data Internship: help with documentation, research, process improvement, and analytics on the Techstars portfolio of startups.
👀 Juno Product Management Internship: join as a product management intern at a fast-growing, venture-backed startup to help scale student loan product offerings.
🐠 Ribbon Health APM Role: maintain and enhance existing data products by understanding their usage and impact, identifying gaps in feature sets and driving the incorporation of new data to fill those gaps.
♣️ nate Career Accelerator Program: work on an artificial intelligence startup that seeks to become the world’s only universal shopping app in a 2-week rotation program with potential to advance to a paid 3-month program.
plug yourself! 🤩
👀 are you a student founder or leader in your campus entrepreneurial scene? got a cool startup or entrepreneurship event you recently hosted?
We’re looking to spotlight student entrepreneurship on college campuses in upcoming newsletters. Feel free to plug your startup or student organization for a potential feature in the next EVCA university newsletter, as well as any suggestions for how the newsletter can be most helpful to you by clicking on the button below.
Connect with us: EVCA, Courtney, Caitlyn, and Prianka
The Emerging Venture Capitalists Association (EVCA) was founded in 2017 as the primary community for the pre-partner venture capital investor. Our highly-curated membership of over 750 investors represents a diverse group of institutional, micro VCs, and corporate venture funds from across the United States. The community is organized on Slack, with 40+ channels dedicated toward discussing industry verticals, co-investment opportunities, career planning, community service, and personal interests.