The Woman Entrepreneur's Field Guide to New York Tech Week: 20 Tips for Building Real Relationships
My first New York Tech Week, I made 120 contacts. Here's the field guide I wish I'd had — 20 tips for women entrepreneurs on building relationships that actually last.
My first New York Tech Week, I turned 120 contacts into a new startup ecosystem for women. This is your guide to turn one chaotic week into the relationship backbone of your next year.
Calling all my women going to New York Tech Week!
My first New York Tech Week, I went to 16 events and made well over 120 contacts on the ground. Many of those contacts turned into sponsors, partners, investors, mentors, and — totally cliché, but yes — friends (hey, when you are one of three women entering an event that looks like the basement of a frat party, that will bond you for life, too).
Unfortunately, I don't always see other ecosystem folks convert NY Tech Week into the relationship backbone of their next year, or even know how to navigate the space to begin with. This is a major missed opportunity. And if I'm being brutally honest, watching many founders of all backgrounds last year approach ecosystem players brought a huge amount of bystander ick (remember the guy who intro’d himself to an investor and asked for $1 Million, all in one breath?).
So let's make this your best week yet — and turn chance meetings (and deliberate ones) into intentional relationships that are a win for everyone. Here are my top insider tips:
New York Tech Week (primarily organized by Tech Week and a16z) has exploded from a scrappy, localized experiment into one of the largest tech gatherings in the world. Attendance has skyrocketed well past 60,000 attendees, with over 1,000 events NYC B2B.
Before You Go: Strategy & Prep
1. Assess your situation and goals, then proceed accordingly
My first year at New York Tech Week, I was looking to rebuild an ecosystem for the company I was working for. Last year, I utilized the contacts from my first New York Tech Week to spearhead three separate events, two of which were sold out / over capacity, with more than 1,000 sign-ups in total. Setting up your goals beforehand allows you to get the most value out of navigating this once-a-year event, potentially for years to come.
2. Have your fifteen-second "here's me" ready
Knowing your goal is step one. Being able to say it out loud and effectively is step two. The people worth meeting will ask, "So what are you working on?" — and a crisp, confident answer is the difference between a contact and a conversation. Practice it until it sounds like you, not a pitch deck reading itself aloud.
3. Use the New York Tech Week platform to find events that match your goal
https://www.tech-week.com/calendar/nyc gets granular and specific, and can help you narrow down top events and fast. But also, don't be afraid to export that list of events — or put the entire New York Tech Week calendar into Claude with a prompt dictating what you are hoping to gain. Claude helped me identify the top events I’ll be attending at this year's NY Tech Week pretty cleanly. Use technology to your advantage!
4. Top-billed events don't mean top networking
These big-name events can be extremely overpacked, and you won't get facetime with the people you'd ideally like to connect with. A packed pitch competition in a large, seated auditorium is a theater, not a pipeline. Instead, choose events that align with your objectives — are you there to meet investors supporting underrepresented early-stage CPG companies? Use the NY Tech Week portal to get granular in finding what events best serve your goals.
5. Look for credibly sponsored events
I've made this mistake (see basement frat party example above). Attending events sponsored by reputable companies is a great way to know that credible people are running the show, and that there's a certain amount of trust, safety, and value you should get out of the room. That doesn't mean unsponsored events don't provide value. It just means there are fewer chances of you ending up at an event with red cups and men swarming you (see above).
6. Women's and diversity events are the holy grail of networking
I've truly met some of my favorite investors, lawyers, fellow ecosystem builders, founders, and friends at these events. Whatever crusty and cut-throat reputations exist in the industry (for good reason), it all goes out the window when you're with the passionate players within women's health, or speaking with investors who bend over backwards to steward their first-time, early-stage Series A founders. If you're looking for a place to get started at New York Tech Week, start here. But ya know, avoid the Girl Bosses.
7. Look up and reach out to speakers and sponsors
Once you get into the event, the relationship building begins. Get a head start by researching the main players at these events and reaching out to them on LinkedIn to introduce yourself, thank them for the invitation, and express what you are looking to gain from the event. Make sure to say hello at the event and follow up with them afterward to thank them or to use that opportunity to make an ask. By that time, you will have established three engagement points and started to develop a rapport, setting a great foundation to start a relationship and begin to do business.
8. Reach out to your ecosystem for meetups
Everyone is here! Truly, New York Tech Week is the New York Fashion Week for tech nerds. People fly in. People fly out. Some are here for hours. Some are here for days. This year, thanks to Claude prioritizing my list of events, I've reserved multiple afternoons to meet up with old industry contacts. Don't buy into the notion that you have to have an ask or a give to request a coffee date, either. Use this time to catch up and build relationships.
9. Be aware that you are presenting your brand
Outside of "how do I raise money," one of the top questions I get from women entrepreneurs is what should I wear? I'll make this short — just remember that all the same stigmas that appear in society appear in business when it comes to women and how they dress. You're going to be talking to all sorts of stakeholders — investors, partners, potential hires, ecosystem builders — who have distinct industry mores around what credibility looks like. Be yourself and dress in what makes you feel credible, comfortable, and confident. Personally, I love a maximalist floral print more than anyone (seriously, you should see my wallpaper). But for industry events, I tend to stick to more neutral tones and timeless, professional cuts.
10. Mind the map
NYTW sprawls across Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the calendar does not care that you cannot teleport. Two events 40 minutes apart with 30 minutes between them is a recipe for arriving sweaty, late, and frazzled to both. Build travel time and post-event networking into your day like they are meetings — because they are.
Year one of New York Tech Week, I kept running into the same investor — Erika Stuart of Society Capital — at so many events we started calling each other twins. Year two, Erika graciously showed up to speak at the sold-out New York Tech Week event I ran. That's how this week works when you do it right: the contact becomes a friend, the friend becomes a collaborator, and the room you wandered into one year is the room you build the next.
Working the Room: At the Events
11. Please don't ask for money
The biggest mistake I've seen young entrepreneurs — and CEOs — make at Tech Week is to outright ask investors and potential sponsors for money. It's cringe. It's ick. It also shows that you don't value yourself or your business, or that you're desperate. If your goal is marriage and you're on a first date, do you ask someone if they'd like to wed tomorrow? Exactly. Build a relationship. Repeat. Build a relationship. Then make asks.
12. Give back
Business is based on transactions. That means two parties BOTH make and gain meaningful contributions. If someone goes out of their way to support you, offer and expand on the ways you can support them in return.
13. Birds of a feather
You'll enter certain spaces and meet people who will make you feel certain ways. I like to identify whether they're a giver, taker, or matcher, and proceed accordingly. Givers and matchers are your people. Takers are a tax. I'm a matcher and a giver. Those are my ride-or-dies. At this point in my career, I've learned to politely step away from takers, and I suggest you do too. Time at NYTW — in building a company, and in life — is limited. Spend your time and energy wisely.
14. Ask everyone: "Who else should I meet while I'm in town?"
This is the highest-ROI question of the entire week, and it costs you nothing. A great contact isn't just a relationship — they're a doorway to three more. People love to play matchmaker when they like you. Let them.
15. Beware the open-bar trap
Networking, free drinks, and a marathon week are a combination nobody warns women about — and the credibility math is not in our favor when it goes sideways. Pace yourself. A seltzer with lime still reads as "I'm here and engaged," and you'll thank yourself at the 9 a.m. coffee the next morning.
16. Look out for yourself — and each other
Listen - Tech Week is a blast. The events and people you meet are incredible. But occasionally, you’ll hit that frat-party basements or meet someone that makes you feel uncomfortable or even comical (let me tell you about a time I had to listen to an investor explain to me what investing was).
Tell someone your schedule, trust the instinct that says it's time to leave, and never feel obligated to close down a room, especially one that's gone sideways. And if you see another woman in that room who clearly wants an exit? Be her excuse. We get further when we get there together. And who knows? You might make a lifelong friend or business contact.
17. Capture every contact the second you make it
After 16 events, 120 names turn to mush. The woman you swore you'd never forget becomes "blue blazer, something about climate?" by Friday. Don't trust your memory — it's lying to you. Connect on LinkedIn on the spot, or dictate a quick voice memo in the cab ("just met X, she runs Y, follow up about Z"). A stack of business cards you can't place is just confetti.
One of the NYTW pitch events I built last summer. (Things got busy about ten seconds in.) Every investor and sponsor in that room? Someone I'd met at NYTW the year before. That's the compound interest of doing this week right — the contacts you make this June become the room you build next June.
The Long Game: Energy & Follow-Through
18. Schedule a morning or afternoon off
By the time I got to the end of Wednesday during my first New York Tech Week, I'd run through a pair of newly bought Steve Madden kitten heels, was sore all over, and slept for ten hours the next day. If you're planning on going hard throughout the entire week, plan to take either a morning or afternoon off (Thursday morning is usually a good midpoint).
19. Follow up
Don't wait until July to reach out. Yes, summer is a busy time. So show people you value their time by being conscious of theirs with timely follow-ups (not afterthoughts). Additionally, lots of people fly in for NY Tech Week, and your window may be a matter of days (or hours) to have that coffee chat, hold an informal pitch meeting at a hotel bar, or make an introduction to someone else in town. And if you're not one for writing follow-ups during the day (points for being present), take an extra hour each night to preschedule follow-up emails.
20. Consider hosting your own thing
You don't have to wait to be invited into the room — you can be the one who builds it. A curated dinner of eight beats a party of eight hundred every time, and as the host, you're the connector everyone in that room wants to know. It doesn't have to be big or expensive. It has to be intentional. Some of my best relationships started at a table I set.
Go build the relationships. The checks come later — and they come faster when you didn't ask for them on the first date.
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