From GCT to Company Ventures

The official launch of Company Ventures is a very exciting moment long in the making. As my first post on our new site, I thought it would be appropriate to lay out how we got here.

When we established our flagship program, Grand Central Tech (GCT), seven years ago, our goal was to craft the ideal environment for extraordinarily capable founders to thrive in — notably removing any equity obligation or rent burden — by framing the experience largely on the value of immediately proximate intelligence and aptitude. We believed then, as we do now, that a community of founders invested in each others’ success, supported by infrastructure to enable their routine, value-add, enjoyable(!) interaction could unleash more potential than any alternative, top-down approach. Any success we’ve had to date has been a result of brilliant founders sharing in this belief.

As tends to be the case, success in pursuit of one objective reveals yet more opportunities. We had no idea when we started GCT that we would end up where we are today. But we continually asked, “With some of NYC’s top founders assembled under one roof, what more could we do? What more would be possible?” Three iterations of that question, and how we chose to answer them, have led us to where we are today.

1. [2014] With some of NYC’s top founders assembled under one roof, could we help be a part of creating a more equitable tech sector?

So, we created a robust strategy for inclusion and equitable opportunity. >40% of GCT companies have been female founded since inception; 8% underrepresented minorities (numbers we’re pushing ourselves to improve). We have placed over 200 NYC-area students as interns across our startup community, the vast majority from the CUNY system (a favor to the startups, not the students). We engage with the City and State government extensively, most notably via our Urban Tech Hub in partnership with the NYCEDC.

Our companies engage in comprehensive values-based leadership training. And we routinely host events and conversations with a full range of speakers from well beyond the tech sector to push our community’s perspective to be as rounded and rich as possible.

2. [2017] With some of NYC’s top founders assembled under one roof, could we create an extraordinarily differentiated and valuable real estate offering in the heart of the nation’s largest city?

So, we integrated with Milstein Properties and launched Company, and with it The Company Building at 335 Madison Ave. With Company we married the ideal array of facilities and amenities with world-class hospitality, best-in-class design and technology, and wrapped them all around an engaged, supportive community. The reception has been fantastic and as the pandemic prognosis brightens we are seeing renewed interest in the building, in the prospect of a dynamic environment where ventures of all size can create the future.

3. [2018] With some of NYC’s top founders assembled under one roof, and a track record of adding demonstrable value to their businesses, could we launch a fund and uniquely mitigate startup risk in the earliest stages?

So, we established Company Ventures and raised a $34M Fund I. Company Ventures seeks to provide early stage founders the ideal platform to build world-changing companies focusing on four key pillars: community, capital, expression, and intentionality.

Through Grand Central Tech and the broader Company Ventures community, we gather exceptional people and startups together, add value first, and invest if and when there is mutual alignment. We are sector agnostic but we are particularly interested in Financial, Health & Wellness, Real Estate, and Enterprise technologies. We deploy pre-seed, seed, and series A capital through our fund; we invest through discrete investment vehicles in growth-stage companies. Learn more about our approach, our portfolio, and our team by checking out the full site: www.companyventures.co.

I want to finish with a huge thanks on behalf of the entire Company Ventures team to the broader GCT community, our portfolio companies, and to so many in the NY tech community and beyond who have been instrumental in getting us to this point! We look forward to working with all of you to keep asking what could be true…