Elevating Black Entrepreneurs: Pitch, Play & Strategy

This week, we’re doing something special. In honor of Juneteenth, we’re opening the stage to Black entrepreneurs for a dedicated pitch practice session: a supportive, feedback-rich space to sharpen your message and build real confidence, whether you’re preparing for investors, customers, or competitions. Applications are open until midnight TONIGHT! Look for the results on LinkedIn tomorrow. Join us at 6:00 PM this Thursday to cheer on these remarkable founders!

The evening kicks off at 4:30 PM with Connection Collider, featuring OVR Technology, which adds a powerful sense of smell to digital experiences, transforming games and interactive environments into fully immersive, multisensory worlds. Alongside them is the Maria L. Baldwin Community Center, a Cambridge nonprofit that has been removing barriers and creating opportunities for over 50 years. Come early, meet the community, and let the room do its thing.

At 5:00 PM, Jeff Berman joins us with a session every founder will want to hear. His premise is simple: it’s people who buy things. Hospitals don’t buy things, hotels don’t buy things, and companies don’t make decisions. It’s the people. He’ll walk through the process of finding the right person inside any organization and making your work impossible for them to ignore.

If you miss OVR’s demo table during the Connection Collider, there’s still another chance at 6:00 PM, when they’ll be running live demos of the Omara, their award-winning scent-enabled device that brings smell into digital environments. It quite literally adds another sensory layer to the experience, bridging the gap between what you see on screen and what you can physically perceive. Yes, you can smell it.

Next week, we’ll have a special Tuesday Gathering to take a closer look at one of the most talked-about and often misunderstood startup ecosystems: Saudi Arabia. Join us for a panel on Common Misconceptions in Saudi Entrepreneurship, where practitioners will unpack what building in the region entails, challenge assumptions, and highlight emerging opportunities for founders and investors. It’s a rare Tuesday edition alongside our regular Thursday Gathering!