Join us every Tuesday at 9:00am at The Venture Center for casual, consistent networking with fellow entrepreneurs, founders, and mentors.
We encourage you to bring a guest each week, so feel free to extend the invitation to a friend that would enjoy connecting and growing their network with our members and mentors.
After VC Coffee + Connect, we welcome you to stay and spend the day with us! Grab a spot on the 2nd floor, and work alongside other innovators.
Join us every Tuesday at 9:00am at The Venture Center for casual, consistent networking with fellow entrepreneurs, founders, and mentors.
We encourage you to bring a guest each week, so feel free to extend the invitation to a friend that would enjoy connecting and growing their network with our members and mentors.
After VC Coffee + Connect, we welcome you to stay and spend the day with us! Grab a spot on the 2nd floor, and work alongside other innovators.
Join us for our next VCInnovate as we welcome Alina Zelenaya, a Belarusian startup ecosystem strategist and Manager at Civitta, an international consulting firm supporting startups, nonprofits, corporations, and public organizations across Europe.
Joining The Venture Center through the American Councils Professional Fellows Program, Alina works closely with early-stage founders and diaspora entrepreneurs, helping them navigate fundraising, growth, and community-building across changing environments and borders.
Based in Warsaw since 2020, Alina co-authors Civitta’s annual Belarus Startup Report, which tracks the evolution of the Belarusian startup ecosystem, and has helped build initiatives connecting founders with investors, mentors, and support networks around the world.
Join us for a conversation exploring how entrepreneurial communities adapt during periods of uncertainty, what founders need when systems shift, and what growing regions like Arkansas can learn from startup communities across the globe.
This event is free and open to the public!
Join us every Tuesday at 9:00am at The Venture Center for casual, consistent networking with fellow entrepreneurs, founders, and mentors.
We encourage you to bring a guest each week, so feel free to extend the invitation to a friend that would enjoy connecting and growing their network with our members and mentors.
After VC Coffee + Connect, we welcome you to stay and spend the day with us! Grab a spot on the 2nd floor, and work alongside other innovators.
Join us on July 8 from 11:30 AM–1:00 PM for our next Member Speaker Series Lunch & Learn featuring Alese Johnston. In her session, Why Building Community Around Your Startup Matters More Than Most Founders Expect, Alese will explore one of the most overlooked drivers of startup success: community. She'll discuss how community helps reduce founder isolation, builds trust faster than traditional marketing, creates unexpected opportunities, and fosters a sense of belonging that goes beyond simply building an audience. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for cultivating meaningful connections and building a stronger foundation for long-term growth.
Alese is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and speaker with deep roots in Arkansas's startup and innovation ecosystem. She is the founder of Fabulous70.com, co-founder of StorageTrader, and currently serves as interim Executive Director of Project Phoenix at The Forge Institute, where she works with startups, founders, and emerging defense technology initiatives. A founding board member of the Arkansas Angel Alliance, Alese brings a unique perspective on entrepreneurship, community-building, and innovation, making this a session founders and business leaders won't want to miss.
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