Breaking into Investing: Inside the Mind of a Modern VC

Join us and our partner Venture University for a panel discussion with investors in venture capital, non-profit management, and equity crowdfunding sharing their insight of how they broke into the investing world and what they look for in making investments. The event will include light refreshments and the panel discussion will be followed by networking with the investors.

Big thanks to our venue host and sponsor Samsung NEXT!

Speaker Backgrounds -

Aaron Walker
FOUNDER & CEO, Camelback Ventures

Aaron is on a journey to live in the spirit of his baseball hero, Jackie Robinson, who said “a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” With this ethos, Aaron taught ninth grade English in West Philadelphia, put together deals for companies large and small as a lawyer, and supported new ideas to improve education as a portfolio director for the NYC Fund for Public Schools. Aaron is humbled to say that he graduated from the University of Virginia and Penn Law School. He also knows that this doesn’t entitle him to anything and is ready to earn his keep.

Henri Pierre-Jacques 
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, Harlem Capital Partners

Henri is currently an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School (2019). Previously, Henri was a Private Equity Investment Professional at ICV Partners, where he evaluated and conducted due diligence on mid market buy-out opportunities. Prior to ICV, he was an Investment Banker in the Real Estate, Gaming & Lodging Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he completed mergers & acquisitions, debt refinances and various strategic alternatives. Henri sat on a non-profit board for two years for Management Leadership for Tomorrow.

Henri was presented the EBONY Power 100 2018 award and has been featured in Forbes, Black Enterprise and PitchBook. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and minors in Political Science and Business Institutions from Northwestern University. Henri is Haitian-American and originally from Detroit, MI. For fun, he plays basketball and travels around the globe with family and friends.

Bianca Caban 
DIRECTOR, Republic

Bianca Cabán is Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Republic, a fintech platform that runs investment campaigns for tech startups and blockchain projects to raise capital from retail investors. Before Republic, she worked on Wall Street for 5 years, including at Credit Suisse, BlackRock, and Atlas Merchant Capital, where she conducted business in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Bianca also established a consultancy, Taino Capital, where she worked with various entities on new fund infrastructure and strategy, business development, as well as the tax and economic incentives in Puerto Rico. Through Taino, she advised and launched economic revitalization projects in real estate, medical cannabis, and the entrepreneurship accelerator space. She is on the Advisory Board of Lilu, an innovative female-led hardware startup, and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers and Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle. Bianca earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Harvard College.

Pablo Perez
COO & PARTNER, Leap Innovation

Pablo Perez III serves as a Partner and Chief Operating Officer of LEAP Global Partners. At LEAP Global Partners, Pablo is responsible for the operations LEAP Global Partners, as well as the management of LEAP Partners I portfolio companies.

Pablo is a serial entrepreneur, with over 10 years of experience in product, operations and strategy in social networking, education and financial technology sectors. Pablo has founded companies such as Drink Me Magazine (sold to private investor), Kibin.Com (funded by 500 Start-Ups), BriefMine (Legal Tech), LAM Network (one of the largest Latino networks in the US). He has also advised in the development of other startups such as Tipitom, Inviti, Dos, Comodin, Konketi, & WholeBody IQ. Previously, he also worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and as a management consultant at Tiburon Strategic Advisors, where he was quoted in various media sources such as Wall Street Journal, Board IQ, Investment News, and the Financial Time’s Fund Fire on subjects related to strategy, financial products, & technology. Pablo has a degree in Mathematics and Economics from the Claremont Colleges. He speaks English, Spanish, & Tagalog.