Over the last four years our Summits—in both the United States and Australia—have brought together over 120 unique attendees (not counting our amazingly supportive sponsors), including guest speakers, guest entrepreneurs, and local leaders.
In early October, we hosted our fourth annual Lighter Summit in Boulder, Colorado. Once again, we brought together CEOs, founders, and startup leaders from around the U.S. (over 20 states, in fact) to connect, learn, and collaborate with one another.
The Summit not only provides an energizing break from entrepreneurial isolation, it also strengthens the Community that the leaders of our portfolio companies find so valuable. The founders who return to the Summit year after year, growing their relationships, are a testament to that value. We look forward to continuing our annual event, moving from city to city around the US, and sharing this experience with even more entrepreneurs from our client community.
Lighter Summit 2024 Recap
This year, we enhanced the two-day event with insights from trusted partners in our ecosystem.
Together, we dived deep into the core topics of the startup journey—sharing stories, seeking advice, and exploring challenges, strategies, and successes. It is these candid, organic conversations that make the Lighter Summit an unparalleled experience.
Unlock the Secret of Growth
Presentation and session led by Dr. Philippe Bouissou, CEO of Blue Dots Partners and author of Aligning the Dots: The New Paradigm to Grow Any Business.
Session Highlights:
The 4 axes of alignment: pain vs. claim, perception vs. message, frictionless transaction, and delight & offering.
To grow you must ensure that the business and customer market are aligned, and then the team must be aligned after this point.
5-step alignment process: Assess, generate, measure, analyze, and build.
“Amazing event with great entrepreneurs who are sharing their journeys with authenticity and candor.” — Philippe Bouissou, Ph.D.
 | "Got our business changing from the insights we are already implementing before the plane trip home!" — Chris Fellows, Founder and CEO of Bold Street |
Navigating the M&A Markets - Strategizing for Sale or Capital Raise
Presentation and panel moderation by Gaurav Bhasin, Managing Director of Allied Advisers.
Panelists included:
Ben Camp, CEO & Co-Founder of Recovery.com
Srikant Chellappa, President, CEO & Co-Founder of Engagedly
Scott Sehon, Owner of Mod 4 Finance
Session Highlights:
"Ask yourself the honest question—are you hitting their metrics? Optimize for the investor you are going to work with and understand the investor’s motivation and how they plan to work with you. Understand their why." — Gaurav Bhasin
"If you are burning capital and not growing at a substantial rate, then you need to figure out how to be breakeven/profitable soon. You need 12 months of runway when you decide to raise. Raising now, most investors have their key valuation drivers on their website. You will go into the meeting knowing if you are a fit or not." — Scott Sehon
Selling Your Company Panel
Moderated by Melissa Widner, CEO of Lighter Capital
Panelist included:
Conor Begley, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Board Member at CreatorIQ, former Co-Founder of Tribe Dynamics (sold to CreatorIQ)
John Stewart, CEO & Co-Founder at Fastbreak.ai, former CEO & Co-Founder of MapAnything (sold to Salesforce to become Salesforce Maps)
Vanessa Wilson, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Advisor. Former CEO & Co-Founder of StorReduce, Inc. acquired by Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG)
“As a three-time attendee, I don't know what is more valuable to me—the useful information I pick up or the chance to spend a few days with fellow entrepreneurs, the only other people who understand our challenges.” — David Gould, Principal of Solution One Partners
Culture and Wellness Panel
Moderated by Jamie Moy, Investment Director at Lighter Capital
Panelist included:
Kai Blache, President of TicketSocket
Chris Fellows, Founder & CEO of Bold Street
Tracy Saunders, Founder & CEO of BossmakeHer
Session Highlights:
Hitting your first major milestone—revenue, team size, market size—may come with a new set of challenges. One of our panelists described the rebuild of their leadership structure; goals structure, meeting structure, and more. This brought the alignment they needed and they are now on an incredible path forward.
The importance of a well-balanced team, for your specific company and culture, will alleviate the inevitable stress of a growing company. Find the time to reflect on what is really required of you and your team for the upcoming milestones.
 | "An unmatched calibre group of founders that are in the arena building, with solid revenue." – Cameron Graham, Co-Founder & CEO of Storii |
Time for fun!
Startup leaders get to have fun too, but that’s our little secret! We split into two groups for some entertaining activities in Boulder. One group rode around town on two wheels, while the other used their strategic minds to escape.
“Why pay tens of thousands to Vistage or Hampton when you get it for cost at these Summits.”
— Srikant Chellappa, President, CEO, & Co-Founder, Engagedly
"As a recent addition to Lighter Capital's clientele, I had the privilege of attending the Lighter Summit. The event featured an array of distinguished speakers and presented a superb platform for engaging with Lighter's dedicated team and fellow clients. The interactions with clients across various industries were invaluable, offering unique insights and a deeper comprehension of their reasons for selecting Lighter Capital as a partner and the advantages they have gained from this alliance." — Tavis Schriefer, Founder CEO of teleCalm | ||
Thank You to Our Summit Sponsors
We were thrilled to have two sponsor partners who were able to connect directly with Lighter Summit attendees this year.
Allied Advisers
Allied Advisers is a global technology-focused boutique advisory firm focused on investment banking for entrepreneurs and investors. The Silicon Valley-based firm, with a presence in Los Angeles, Israel, and India, serves entrepreneurs and investors of technology growth companies globally on strategic advisory including M&A and capital raises. Allied Advisers’ bankers have completed technology transactions globally for clients with Fortune 50 buyers and top tier Private Equity firms. Read more at www.alliedadvisers.com.
“Lighter Capital did a phenomenal job getting founders together in a two-day event where a lot of learnings and best practices were shared in addition to having good social bonding activities in an intimate setting. Allied Advisers appreciated the opportunity to participate with founders who continue to push forward, adapt and grow despite somewhat challenging macro conditions”
— Gaurav Bhasin, Managing Director of Allied Advisers
Mod 4 Finance
Mod 4 Finance provides fractional CFO services to high growth organizations. The services include KPI, cashflow & budget modeling, controllership & bookkeeping, debt & equity fundraising advisory, and corporate governance. https://mod4.finance/.
Interested in attending a future Lighter Summit?
The Lighter Summit is an annual gathering exclusive to the Lighter Capital client Community. Learn more about non-dilutive startup financing from Lighter Capital and apply today to get funding plus the benefits you'd expect from VCs.
If you are interested in exploring partnership opportunities with Lighter Capital, please reach out to us at info@lightercapital.com.