NY TechWeek Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network Event
Quick Answer: On June 3, 2026, EchoHer, TECH WEEK by a16z and Lair East Labs hosted the Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network at New York's Woolworth Building. Witti Marketing took part as a sponsor and speaker: Witti founder Miao Kang shared startup GTM and growth insights on stage. The afternoon included a founder demo showcase, 90-second pitches judged by four investors, an AI patent talk from Wolf Greenfield, and networking. 287 guests registered.
Contents
What was the Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network?
How did Witti Marketing take part in the event?
How did the afternoon run?
Who judged and spoke at the event?
Who were the partners behind the event?
Why do women-founder pitch events matter in 2026?
What can early-stage founders take away from the event?
Frequently Asked Questions
The NY Tech Week women-led startups pitch brought women founders, AI builders and investors together for one afternoon in the Financial District. Witti Marketing was there as a sponsor and on the speaker lineup, alongside the founders, judges and partners. This recap covers what happened, who was involved and what founders can take from it.
What was the Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network?
The Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network was a public NY Tech Week event held Wednesday, June 3, 2026, from 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET at the Woolworth Building. Women founders demoed their startups, gave 90-second pitches and received live investor feedback. The event also set out to connect the West Coast and East Coast startup ecosystems.
According to EchoHer's event announcement, the goal was to "bring more visibility, capital access, and community support to women-led startups." EchoHer founder Qianwen Chen shared the event on LinkedIn and invited anyone building, investing in or supporting women founders and AI to join. The event page on Partiful listed 287 registered guests and another 17 marked as interested.
Key facts at a glance:
Date and time: Wednesday, June 3, 2026, 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET
Venue: The Woolworth Building, Financial District, NYC (venue sponsor)
Co-hosts: EchoHer, TECH WEEK by a16z, Lair East Labs
Sponsors: Witti Marketing, Wolf Greenfield
Speakers: Miao Kang (Witti Marketing) on startup GTM and growth; Amanda Varrichione (Wolf Greenfield) on AI patents
Format: founder showcase with demo tables, 90-second lightning pitches, live investor feedback, a founder fireside chat, expert talks and networking
Audience: open to everyone, with a focus on women-led and AI startups
Founders applied to pitch and demo through an application form, and the event page listed 10 women founders in the showcase.
How did Witti Marketing take part in the event?
Witti Marketing played two roles. As a sponsor, it supported the event alongside Wolf Greenfield. As a speaker, Witti founder Miao Kang gave founders startup go-to-market recommendations and growth insights. Throughout the afternoon, the Witti team was in the room for the showcase, the pitches and the networking.
As a sponsor. EchoHer thanked Witti Marketing and Wolf Greenfield as the event's sponsors, and Qianwen Chen thanked Witti among the partners "for helping make this happen." Witti works with startups on GTM and user research, paid media and GEO/AI search visibility, so a room full of early-stage founders is where much of that work begins.
As a speaker. Miao Kang shared startup go-to-market recommendations and growth insights with the founders and investors in the room. The session focused on practical advice for pre-seed and seed teams, which rarely have a dedicated marketing lead.
In the room. Beyond the stage, the Witti team took part in the founder showcase and the networking hour. That meant hearing founders explain their products at the demo tables, listening to the judges' feedback after each pitch, and talking with founders, investors and operators about growth.
This kind of event is a regular part of Witti's work with the startup community. Witti has also covered Plug and Play's session on how Chinese AI companies can go global and partnered with Peachscore on startup go-to-market execution.
How did the afternoon run?
The three-hour event moved from demos to pitches to talks and conversation. It opened with a founder showcase during happy hour, then 90-second lightning pitches with live investor feedback. It closed with a founder fireside chat, talks on startup GTM and AI patents, and networking with VCs, operators and builders.
Founder showcase. Selected founders set up demo tables and talked directly with investors, operators and the startup community before the pitches started.
Lightning pitches. Each founder had 90 seconds on stage, followed by live feedback from four investor judges.
Founder fireside chat. A conversation about building a company from the founder's side.
Startup GTM and growth. Miao Kang of Witti Marketing shared go-to-market recommendations and growth insights for early-stage teams.
AI patent talk. Amanda Varrichione of Wolf Greenfield covered what AI founders should know about protecting their technology.
Networking. Open time for founders, investors, operators, sponsors and speakers to connect.
The sequence gave founders three kinds of input in one afternoon: investor feedback on the pitch, go-to-market advice from a growth marketer, and legal guidance from an IP attorney.
Who judged and spoke at the event?
Four investors judged the pitches, from an accelerator, an early-stage venture firm, an AI startup and a corporate venture arm. Two speakers covered startup go-to-market and AI patents, two practical areas where early-stage founders often need outside expertise.
Investor judges
Judge Role Organization Michelle Wang Partner Lair East Labs Sarah Romanko Investor Geek Ventures Helena Fogarty Co-Founder Backable Rachel X. Zhao Investor PayPal Ventures
Speakers
Speaker Role Topic Miao Kang Founder, Witti Marketing Startup GTM recommendations and growth insights Amanda Varrichione Associate, Wolf Greenfield AI patents
Organizers also thanked Chenxi Wang, Ph.D. for supporting the founders.
Who were the partners behind the event?
Five organizations worked together on the event: a nonprofit founder community, a citywide tech week, a startup accelerator, an IP law firm and a growth marketing agency. Each brought something different, from founder selection and investor relationships to legal and go-to-market expertise.
Partner Role at the event What they do EchoHer Co-host A nonprofit founded by Qianwen Chen and led by founders and startup experts. It works to increase the representation of women and non-binary leaders in entrepreneurship through introductions, investor-facing pitch events and curated networks. TECH WEEK by a16z Co-host The startup week presented by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. Lair East Labs Co-host A New York accelerator focused on US and Asia founders. Its three-month program offers up to $150,000 in investment, and it is named among Crunchbase's top 100 accelerators. Witti Marketing Sponsor and speaker A New York growth marketing agency working on go-to-market strategy, positioning, performance marketing and AI search visibility for startups and growth-stage brands. Wolf Greenfield Sponsor and speaker An intellectual property law firm with nearly a century of practice, more than 160 IP professionals and offices in Boston, New York and Washington, DC.
The Woolworth Building supported the event as venue sponsor.
Why do women-founder pitch events matter in 2026?
Women-founded startups raised a record share of venture capital in 2025, but most of that money went to a few very large AI companies. Teams made up only of women still receive around 1% of US venture dollars. Events that put women founders directly in front of investors help close that access gap.
PitchBook's 2025 US All In report, published March 5, 2026, found that companies with at least one female founder raised $73.6 billion in 2025. That was 27.7% of total US venture deal value. PitchBook noted that Scale AI and Anthropic alone accounted for more than $30 billion of that total.
The numbers look different for teams made up only of women. Citing PitchBook data, Inc. reported that:
All-female founding teams received 1.1% of US venture capital dollars in 2025.
Mixed-gender founding teams received 37.7%.
Of 124 new US unicorns in 2025, none was founded by an all-female team, and only 20 had at least one female founder.
This is why an afternoon with four investor judges, expert speakers and 287 registered guests matters. It gives women founders access to people who can fund, advise and buy from them.
What can early-stage founders take away from the event?
The event's structure points to four lessons. Condense your positioning until it fits in 90 seconds. Treat investor feedback as a free test of your go-to-market story. If you are building AI, think about intellectual property early. Keep building visibility after the event ends.
1. Positioning has to fit in 90 seconds. If a founder cannot explain in a minute and a half who the product is for and why it wins, the positioning is not ready. The same weakness shows up later in ad copy, landing pages and sales calls. Witti's guide to building a growth engine after Series A explains why clear positioning should come before scaling paid channels.
2. Investor feedback is market research. Investors hear hundreds of pitches, so their questions show where a pitch is unclear. Founders can use those questions to direct their customer research and sharpen their messaging.
3. Protect the AI you are building. Amanda Varrichione's talk covered an area many early AI teams deal with too late. Getting advice early costs less than fixing an ownership or patent problem during due diligence.
4. Visibility continues after the event. A pitch reaches the people in the room. A well-structured recap, founder profile or press mention keeps reaching investors and customers afterward, including those who now search with ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. For more on what founders should expect from marketing partners, see what AI startups should expect from a modern agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was the NYTechWeek Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network?
The event took place on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, from 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET at the Woolworth Building in New York's Financial District. It was part of NY Tech Week 2026, presented by a16z. The Woolworth Building supported the event as venue sponsor, and 287 guests registered through Partiful.
Who organized the Women-Led Startups Pitch at NY Tech Week 2026?
EchoHer, TECH WEEK by a16z and Lair East Labs co-hosted the event, led by EchoHer founder Qianwen Chen. Witti Marketing and Wolf Greenfield were sponsors and also provided speakers. The Woolworth Building was the venue sponsor.
What was Witti Marketing's role at the Women-Led Startups Pitch?
Witti Marketing was a sponsor and a speaker. Witti founder Miao Kang shared startup go-to-market recommendations and growth insights with the founders on stage. The Witti team also took part in the founder showcase, the pitches and the networking with founders, investors and operators.
How did the pitch format work at the Women-Led Startups event?
Selected founders first showcased their startups at demo tables during happy hour and met investors in person. Each founder then gave a 90-second lightning pitch on stage and received live feedback from four investor judges from Lair East Labs, Geek Ventures, Backable and PayPal Ventures.
Was the Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network only for women?
No. The pitching startups were women-led, but anyone who wanted to support founders could attend, including investors, operators, AI builders and members of the startup community. 287 people registered on the event's Partiful page. Founders applied through an application form to pitch and demo.
What is EchoHer?
EchoHer is a nonprofit founded by Qianwen Chen and led by founders and startup experts. It works to increase the representation of women and non-binary leaders in entrepreneurship. It runs investor-facing pitch events, curated networking, founder introductions and practical conversations, including the Women-Led Startups Pitch & Network during NY Tech Week 2026.
How much venture capital went to female founders in 2025?
According to PitchBook's 2025 US All In report, companies with at least one female founder raised $73.6 billion in 2025, or 27.7% of US venture deal value. More than $30 billion of that went to Scale AI and Anthropic. All-female founding teams received about 1.1% of US venture dollars.
Where can you connect with the founders and partners next?
To hear about EchoHer's next pitch night, mixer or virtual pitch, follow EchoHer on LinkedIn. Founders looking for accelerator support can look at Lair East Labs' program. Founders with IP questions about AI products can contact Wolf Greenfield.
If your startup is working on positioning, go-to-market or visibility in AI search, book a free consultation with Witti Marketing. More startup growth guides are on the Witti blog.
