2019 Annual Celebration Dinner
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
HOW SHE BUILT THIS
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Please join Wharton Alumni Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) for breakfast and conversation with Hayley Leibson, co-founder & COO of Lunchclub.
Lunchclub is an AI superconnector that makes introductions for 1:1 lunch and coffee meetings. Lunchclub’s mission is to power a future of work where making new connections is easy, meaningful, and fun. Hayley is also the founder of Lady in Tech, an award-winning tech and lifestyle blog for women, and writes a column for Forbes that motivates and moves millennial women to enter the tech industry and build impactful products at scale to improve the world.
Lunchclub has made tens of thousands of in-person connections that have resulted in outcomes including hiring, startup and entertainment investments, consulting and advising, new friendships, and co-founders meeting and starting a business.
Lunchclub is invite-only and live in 8 major cities including the San Francisco Bay Area, NYC, LA, London, and Toronto.
For her inclusion and diversity advocacy work, she’s been featured in ABC 7 News, BBC World Service, BBC 100 Women, Tech Forward, and OZY. She was named a “Top Tech Influencer” by IVY Magazine, “Most Influential Women in Tech” alongside Sheryl Sandberg and Katrina Lake, and included in 20 On The Rise 2018.
We hope you can join Hayley for breakfast and conversation moderated by Shannon Grant. As part of this event, Lunchclub is also giving Wharton attendees an invite to try Lunchclub.
Register Online
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2019Time: 8:30am – 9:30am
Location: CANOPY Jackson Square – 595 Pacific Ave, 4th Floor
Cost: $10 Members, $15 Non-Members
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Join WAFFA for one of our favorite the women-only picnic and walk at Glen Park. Meet other incredible women at this casual yet intimate event. We will gather at a picnic table by the Glen Park Recreation Center for some food and great conversations. We hope to see you all there.
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Date: Saturday, Nov 2nd, 2019Time: 10:30am
Location: Glen Canyon Park – ELK ST and Chenery ST, San Francisco, CA 94127
Cost: FREE with Registration
It’s our first WAFFA event in the Big Apple!
Join us for a panel discussion on the Business of Building a Brand with Wharton alumnae founders and funders!
Thursday, October 3, 2019
6pm – 7:30pm
Dorie Smith (WG’13), Co-Founder, Of Mercer
Erum Hasnain (WG’13), Partner, Idea Farm Ventures
Melissa Mash (WG’12), Founder & CEO, Dagne Dover
Wharton alumnae founders Dorie Smith and Melissa Mash along with funder Erum Hasain of Idea Farm Ventures discuss how a new wave of women-led consumer companies are building their brands and developing products women love.
3L Capital
137 W 25th St
10th floor
New York, NY 10001
Join WAFFA for an evening with Han Shen WG’09, Founding Partner at iFly.vc. This talk is part of our series “Know Your Numbers”. Han will share his journey founding iFly.vc, a thesis-driven fund focused on early-stage investment. Together with Han, we will explore the lessons learned both as a founder and a funder. We will talk numbers and learn what to watch out for and how to ensure you have strong numbers to back up your story.
About Han Shen
Han’s career in venture capital started in 2009 and has spanned at VantagePoint and Formation 8, where he was the first hire on the investment team. He led and/or contributed to the investment in Motive Drilling (acquired by Helmerich & Payne), Lucid (acquired by Acuity), Comfy (acquired by Siemens), Oculus (acquired by Facebook), Taxon (acquired by DuPont), and AlertMe (acquired by British Gas). Han has served on the board of multiple portfolio companies including BorderX Lab, Sweet a Little, Motive Drilling, and Grabit, and has closely advised entrepreneurs in building a startup from the ground up. He received the title of “Honorary Employee” (with badge #36) from one of his current portfolio companies to recognize the instrumental role he has played. Earlier in his career, Han worked for Rohm and Haas Company, the largest US specialty chemical company, where he was credited as key inventor of four US patents.
Han earned his bachelor’s degree from Nanjing University, Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Han holds a private pilot license issued by the US FAA and was the Dignitary Champion of International Cherry Pit Spitting Competition in 2002.
Date: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2019Time: 6:00 – 7:30pm
Location: WeWork, 1161 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Join WAFFA for a conversation with Phin Barnes, a Partner at First Round Capital, a sneakerhead and an WG’09. This talk is part of our series on “Know Your Numbers”. We will discuss everything from what numbers are interesting to VCs to how to create the right company culture. We will explore how to get to know your customers, how to make constraints part of your product value, and how to great brands.
Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Location: T3 Advisors 140 Geary St Ste 1000, San Francisco 94108
Cost: $20/person. Wine & light food will be provided.
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Kids and adults join WAFFA for an evening with Brian Weisfeld, founder and author of The Startup Squad, and a Wharton grad. The Startup Squad, is a multi-platform dedicated to empower girls to realize their dreams. Brian will be signing copies of the recently released first book in The Startup Squad series, which has been described as THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB meet LEAN IN. We will discuss everything from having the courage to follow your dreams to how to learn from failure. Brian will share how he as a parent to two girls share the ups and downs of his journey from COO to startup founder and author.
Date: Tuesday Aug 27th
Time: 6-7:30 pm
Location: Dandelion Chocolate, 2600 16th Street (@ Alabama/Rescue Row), San Francisco, CA 94103
Sandra will talk at this session about the state of the healthcare industry, which broadly encompasses any tool, service or product with which a patient may interact to seek a diagnosis or treatment, and the opportunity exists to bring technologies that are currently in adoption mode in other industries (tech, gaming) into healthcare.
Healthcare follows when it comes to tech adoption; it doesn’t lead. This presents the opportunity to take proven successful technologies adopted in other industries and bring them to healthcare in customized ways. It also presents the opportunity to find new technologies that increase the efficiency of the healthcare system. In this talk you’ll learn about:
As well as: Exit Strategy – Making the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell your business; Mindful startup – Key lessons for periods of high output and creativity.
More about Sandra:
Ms. Shpilberg is the Founder of Seeker Health. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Seeker Health offers breakthrough digital patient identification technology to accelerate drug development and commercialization for biopharmaceutical companies. Since starting the company in 2015, Ms. Shpilberg developed a breakthrough software product, filed a US patent, and built a team which serves 40+ biopharmaceutical companies to accelerate clinical trial enrollment in rare diseases and oncology. During this time, the revenue of Seeker Health doubled each year and profit tripled. In September 2018, EVERSANA the leading independent provider of global services to the life science industry acquired Seeker Health, in an all cash deal. Ms. Shpilberg continues to lead the company.
Prior to this successful entrepreneurial pursuit, Ms. Shpilberg held executive roles at biopharmaceutical companies. She served as Vice President of Commercial Development and Strategic Marketing for Nora Therapeutics, and as Executive Director at BioMarin Pharmaceutical where she led the commercial launches of NAGLAZYME and KUVAN, and advanced PALINZIQ from Phase 2 to Phase 3.
Medical Marketing & Media named her a Top 40 Healthcare Transformer, and she was a featured speaker at 2018 SXSW. She’s originally from Uruguay, speaks fluent Spanish, and brings a global approach to her work and impact. She holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Date: Thursday, July 18, 2019
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: 2479 E. Bayshore Drive, Suite 100, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Cost: $10
Join us April 2nd at the Alumni Ventures Group office in San Francisco for a special fireside chat and happy hour with Gail Gilbert Ball, Senior Partner of the new Women’s Fund and Managing Director of Chestnut Street Ventures. Gail will speak about her journey to venture and the new AVG Women’s Fund. Don’t miss this opportunity to see Gail in San Francisco! Plus Happy Hour!
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Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: Spaces Mission and 3rd, 95 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Cost: Free, but you must register to attend.
Balancing technology and old time ways, join Shannon Grant, Founder of Deus Capital and Robyn Sue Fisher, Founder of Smitten Ice Cream as she shares her story and her mission to make the absolute best ice cream. Breakfast will include ice-cream sampling, with a discussion on fundraising and Robyn’s journey on bringing a healthy, freshly made product to the consumer.
Register Online
Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Time: 8:30am – 9:30am
Location: CANOPY Jackson Square, 595 Pacific Ave, F4, San Francisco
Cost: $10 including breakfast & FREE ice-cream sampling