LISTSERVS/EVENTS

CONTENTS:

• Listservs & reading material
• Events & conferences

LISTSERVS & READING MATERIAL:
Sources to stay in-the-know on investment and market topics.

News and latest deals:

• FORTUNE Term Sheet: THE VC newsletter with the latest deals and insights.
• Axios Pro Rata: Similar to Term Sheet, a good roundup of deals plus insights (I usually read both TS & PR, which often overlap but also complement).
• Pitchbook: An investor data platform with good news and roundups, especially annual reporting on the industry overall.
• CB Insights: Another data platform listserv with the added benefit of hilarious "bad charts" and other email roundups.
• TechCrunch: My friend in PR fondly calls this outlet "a VC rag," but it does therefore track cool startups in lock-step with trends, and will give you a good idea of what is "in" or "out" in public opinion.
• For New Yorkers: Digital.nyc and AlleyWatch are both a bit salesy but often have good scoops and content.

VC deep dives:

• Brad Feld: Co-author of the famous Venture Deals. His site and newsletter have lots of great insights.
• Other great VC blogs: GVCdium, VC Adventure, and John Gannon maintain a collection of recruiting and other advice from industry denizens.

Higher education & workforce related:
Admittedly more niche, but I get 100s of LinkedIns from folks asking for materials, and have curated a list I'm placing here to spare my sanity.

Education:

• Chronicle of Higher Education: Academia's news outlet.
• Inside Higher Ed: Academia + other "thought leadership'" news outlet.
• Center for Education Reform: Your news outlet if you're K-12 focused and love charters.
• Edsurge: Private sector-friendly news outlet.
• Eduventures: A research and advisory org with some good public research.
• And keep an eye out for these annual / quarterly industry overviews and roundups: BMO's annual Edtech report, Boston Search Group's quarterly State of the Education Industry.

Workforce:

• Strada and Lumina Foundation: Heavyweights in the education-to-employment scene.
• Burning Glass: A leading workforce data platform with lots of data-based insights.
• Staffing Industry Analysts: The leading staffing and placement focused research engine, with a ton of general workforce-related insights.
• Whiteboard Advisors: A leading advisory group across education to workforce topics.
• Ryan Craig's newsletter: Focused on the Skills Gap and education-to-employment pathways.

EVENTS & CONFERENCES:

General:

• Cooley (startup law firm) hosts a lot of free conferences, pitch nights, etc. Great first foray into VC "pitches" and the scene.
• AWS: Similar to above, lots of good free events and workshops.
• Google: Sometimes does this as well.
• A note: It's often super helpful to find smaller conferences, where you have a better chance of potential contacts hearing you + paying attention. Highly recommend finding these in your field of interest.

Diversity focused:

• WAVE hosts an annual jobs fair + conference for women in alternative investments.

Education and workforce focused:

• ASU GSV: THE big education conference (read: mosh pit). T-shirted entrepreneurs and suited investors are abundant. Very pricey.
• BMO's Back to School Conference: NY-based education conference, with lots of good content, which I believe is free. 
• America Succeeds: Frequently hosts smaller conferences which have all the top players, are easier to navigate, and typically free, including annual EDventure Summit.
• Full calendars: Edsurge keeps a conference calendar for both Higher Education and K12, updated yearly.

Impact focused:

• SoCap: The ASU GSV for impact investors (smaller, but many of the right people show up).
• Impact Capital Managers: Impact capital network with an annual conference (for members only, but typically partner with a business school and permit student attendees).