Edition : HEALTH, AI & LONGEVITY ECONOMY
The most valuable asset of the next decade won't be information.
It will be relationships.
The first person who taught me the power of relationships didn't do it through advice. He taught it through example. He was a gentleman in his fifties who worked in our family business. He remains one of the most influential business people I've ever met not because of his title or position, but because of the trust and relationships he had built over decades.
His superpower was relationships. He was what I call a relational entrepreneur. He knew everyone. And somehow, everyone knew him.
There wasn't a person he couldn't reach. If he didn't know someone directly, he knew two or three people who did. He introduced me to customers, partners, and decision-makers. He wasn't necessarily the person negotiating the deal, but he often connected the people who could make it happen.
What fascinated me wasn't that he had a network. It was that he had spent decades building trust.
Over time, I realized he wasn't simply connected. He was infrastructure the invisible infrastructure that helps businesses grow.
Working alongside him changed how I thought about business. That lesson stayed with me. When I entered the startup world, I quickly realized the same principle applied. Relationships shape everything in this ecosystem.
I experienced this firsthand while building the global women's health ecosystem, where trust, community, and long-term connections compound over time. When we hosted our first event in San Francisco this January, more than 650 people signed up and 250 people were in the room.
The following week, I sent a personalized email to every single person who attended.
It wasn't the most efficient use of time. But if someone had chosen to spend two hours of their schedule with us, I wanted to invest time in building a relationship with them.
That's how I think about community. Not as an audience, but as people and relationships.
The fundamentals haven't changed.
Today, we're living through one of the most significant technological shifts in history. AI can generate ideas, summarize research, write code, analyze markets, and answer questions in seconds. Every day, information becomes more accessible.
Yet the fundamentals of business have not changed. Capital, credit, cash flow, customer service, integrity, strategic partnerships, and trust remain at the center of business and the venture ecosystem. And relationships matter more than ever.
Founders spend a lot of time thinking about products, fundraising, hiring, and growth. Investors spend time evaluating markets, teams, and opportunities.
But behind almost every breakthrough moment is a relationship. Someone made an introduction. Someone took a chance on a person before they took a chance on a company.
The courage to say, "Here's what I'm building, and here's how we might work together," still matters.
Research continues to reinforce what many of us have learned through experience. Skills and intelligence alone are rarely enough. Social capital the trust, relationships, and credibility we build over time continues to be one of the strongest predictors of long-term opportunity and success.
The right conversation can change the trajectory of a company. It can lead to a partnership, an investment, a career opportunity, or an entirely new way of seeing a problem.
Introducing FORWARD
That's why we're launching FORWARD, a new conversation series from TechThrive Ventures. Because if relationships remain one of the most valuable forms of capital, then we need more spaces intentionally designed to build them.
Our first gathering brings together founders building at the intersection of AI, longevity, and healthcare; investors backing the future of these sectors; and operators driving access, equity, and systems change on the ground.
Three curated conversations with founders, investors, bankers, legal leaders, and family offices in one room representing more than $100M in capital, influence, and decision-making.
Designed for dialogue that rarely happens at larger conferences.
FORWARD is our way of creating more of those conversations.
We’re building FORWARD for people who are curious about where consumer health, longevity, and women’s health are headed. For those building ambitious companies. For investors looking beyond the noise. For operators committed to solving meaningful problems.
Speakers lineup 23rd/June
The future won't be built by information alone. It will be built by people who trust one another enough to create, invest, collaborate, and solve hard problems together.
That's what FORWARD is designed to do. I hope you'll join us
If you're building, investing, researching, or leading in health, women's health, wellness, AI, or longevity, we'd love to have you in the room.
RSVP here - https://luma.com/3k58mdfl I 20% off Founder Tickets with code: NEWSLETTER20.
We're grateful to our partners and sponsors for supporting FORWARD and helping create spaces where founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem leaders can build meaningful relationships.
Thank you to BANC OF CALIFORNIA I COVINGTON I MEDICINES360 I CBRE
And a special thank you to our friends at Boardy
See you soon.
