Kanvas

We make new ideas compelling, viable, and investible. We help innovative leaders and founders explore new products, services, functions (e.g. Innovation Labs), or ventures. 

"Kanvas for Start-Ups" -> 

We help founders secure funding, manage burn, and confidently make business decisions. We translate their vision into a compelling, viable, and investible business model.

We offer business model courses to our partner Venture Capital firms, accelerators, and universities to support their portfolio companies. Our capstone content is our six-week "Dreams to Dollars" program.

When we co-invest with our VC partners, we have a proven track record of directly contributing to multi-million dollar raises. 

Example engagements, services, and client references available upon request.

Founder + Partner

HF Scale Partners

Investing @ HF Scale Partners. HF Scale Partners invests in leading growth and late-stage technology companies through direct equity investments and secondary liquidity transactions. Investments include Canva, Anthropic, Epic Games, Eight Sleep, Anduril, ShieldAI, Pipe, Public.com, AngelList, Ellevest, Boom Supersonic, Possible Finance, Webflow, and more.

Principal

The Venture Mentoring Team

The Venture Mentoring Team (VMT) is a nonprofit educational 501(c)(3) dedicated to fostering the startup community by training and certifying mentors, and connecting them with the best and brightest entrepreneurs to help startups reach their full potential.  The organization is composed of 200+ experienced entrepreneurs and executives with corporate, legal, academic, profit and not-for-profit backgrounds who donate their time and talent. The VMT mentors startups to gain traction and sustainability up to their Series A funding.

NYC Chapter President

Certified Mentor for: eMerge Americas (Miami's premier tech conference), Target Forward Founders, Babson College, and more.

Certified Mentor

National Science Foundation (NSF)

One of my best career moments is serving as an Industry Mentor during the U.S. NSF's National iCorps Winter Cohort #3, 2024. Read for more:

About NSF I-Corps:

In NSF’s I-Corps competitive national program, top researchers in science and engineering fields are immersed in a hands-on experience of customer discovery — a key step in the entrepreneurial process that involves talking to potential customers, partners, and other industry stakeholders.

Selected teams are awarded up to $50,000 to conduct 100+ customer discovery interviews during a seven-week course. Through this process, the teams learn how to evaluate the potential for translating their laboratory invention into a successful product and/or service.

About the accepted research:

The Graham Test is a training and concussion assessment system that uses stability and reaction time in sport-specific positioning, with a primary focus on equestrians. As a lifelong equestrian, I'm deeply passionate about the impact this kind of system could have on our sport.

About the role:

NSF I-Corps Teams include a mentor – an experienced entrepreneur who can guide the team as they refine their business models, gain insights from their customer market, and pivot down alternate paths.

Industry Mentor (ICORPS PROGRAM)

Techstars

Mentoring startups on business models and go-to-market strategies. Since 2006, Techstars has worked with startups across a range of verticals, from aerospace to finance, logistics, and retail, connecting them to a network of successful mentors and partners. Each year, Techstars chooses over 500 early-stage companies to join one of their 3-month, mentorship-driven accelerators, investing $120K and providing hands-on mentorship and access to the Techstars network for life.

Affiliated Programs: Techstars New York Comcast

Mentor

Hustle Fund

Angel investing alongside Hustle Fund, seed to Series A. 
Focusing on systemic issues that keep me up at night (e.g. FemTech, financial literacy, digital health)

Angel Squad Member

Global Women in VC

The world’s largest global community for women in venture capital to connect, collaborate, and create new opportunities. Learn more here: https://www.women-vc.com/

Member

Forbes

Founding member of Forbes’ invite-only, private networking forum for leading women to exchange ideas, innovation, dialogue, and support one another.

ForbesWomen Forum

Day One

I participate in Office Hours and Group Mentoring sessions to help founders fine-tune their business models and pitches. It's a blast.

Day One is building an ecosystem to power the next generation of entrepreneurship. Our Fellowship program is purpose built for early-stage entrepreneurs to tap into a vibrant community, powerful network, and guidance from experienced operators, investors and founders.

Better.com

Learned a lot driving strategy and execution during hyper-growth. Highlights below:

+ Drove strategic planning initiatives across C-Suite to facilitate decision-making (e.g. 2020 strategy roadmap, investor relations, quarterly Board Meeting materials)
+ Orchestrated optimizations across the biz during hyper growth, including scaling onboarding capacity of the underwriting function by 200% (in one month!)
+ Managed weekly executive metric gathering and presentations. Became intimately familiar with things like CAC and LTV, and how their fluctuations provoke insights/action. Took a SQL course, too
+ Organized a new cross-functional Data Governance team to standardize company-wide metrics reporting. Motivated to make my weekly executive metric presentations a little easier (!) and to eliminate KPI confusion I saw popping up in different teams
+ Participated in investor meetings and crafted materials as the business prepared for its Series D raise ($200MN)

... caught the 'startup bug' while I was here. Passion projects evolved accordingly. Left to pursue them, and been an entrepreneur ever since.

Strategy & Business Operations

Founder & Partner @ Kanvas | Foster Innovation, Develop Business Strategy, Drive Growth

Katie Nowak

Honored to host a breakout at the All Raise VC Summit tomorrow on a topic we’re all navigating: what do you do when IPOs stall?

At "Choose Your Exit: Liquidity When IPOs Stall," we will be in dialogue on all things re: liquidity in venture!

Topics may include:

✨ how expectations around liquidity is shifting generally,
✨ secondaries-as-a-strategy (for investors and their founders),
✨ stories of founders and investors navigating off-cycle exits, and
✨ how to keep stakeholders (LPs, GPs, founders) aligned through it all.

We can't wait to share best practices and learn from each other.

If you’re at All Raise, we hope to see you there! 

Looking forward to co-hosting this important topic with Seyonne from Stepstone. 

I will be channeling our fearless leader at Altra, Jamie! 💫  

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I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly.

Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned!

Innovation Leader, New Venture Designer, Speaker @ Kanvas || Investor @ Altra Venture Partners

If you're in the Bay Area,
here's a holiday event you don't want to miss! 🤯 

I'm delighted to be a Founding Member at Aureum Leaders Circle, a community of founders, investors, and executives here in the Bay Area.

At our first annual holiday party, we will be reconnecting with old friends and building new relationships that will last a lifetime. :)

Here are a lot of communities out there, but I have been blown away by the quality of what Mohammad has created - he has an incredible gift of identifying smart, genuine humans...

...and keeping them engaged! The Aureum Leader Circle is officially my most active group chat.

Just one month into ALC, and I've:

✨ met rockstar founders (like Anatoly)
✨ made intro's to investors in my network
✨ received comp'd tickets to national conferences 
✨ attended events I never would have found otherwise
✨ brainstormed new investor events with ecosystem partners
✨ forged new ideas of how we can support the venture landscape

…and so much more.

So join us!!

December 4th, Fairmont San Francisco.
Seats are limited, don’t miss yours → https://luma.com/z2fuqofy
Comment "Founder Fuel" for an exclusive discount.

___

I'm Katie Nowak, an innovation leader, new venture designer and investor sharing stories & lessons weekly.

Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Join me @ Founder Fuel - Dec 4th, SF Fairmont Hotel

Here's a secret to selling faster,
no matter what industry you're in - 🤯 

Build trust, systemically.

Recently, I connected with a founder who said buyers pick his B2B solution because they trust him.

...but he noted that building trust takes time (sometimes months) and that slows sales cycles. Especially in new markets.

Plus, there are only so many 1:1 lunches you can do!!

So, we brainstormed how he could accelerate trust at scale.

Here are some examples we came up with:
✨ co-deliver with respected implementation partners
✨ build his leadership teams' personal brands (hi LinkedIn)
✨ publish thought leadership with real market insights/wins
✨ speak at industry panels or on podcasts customers follow
✨ host relevant discussions/roundtables within the industry
✨ bundle with complementary products already in customers’ tech stack
+ many more.

In all sectors, trust is the root driver of most deals and referrals.

When you find ways to build it at scale, your sales cycles shrink, and your credibility compounds.

Social proof is a ~ mystical, magical ~ thing!!
(Humming Benson Boone's song while I type that 😂)

-

How does trust factor into your growth strategy?

Which of these strategies are you going to try...

...and what else should we add to the list?!

Tell us below in the comments 👇 

—

I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

2025 is the year of AI dominance in venture capital. 🤯 
These market insights make it official - 

According to CBI Insights Q3 2025 Venture Market Report:

✨ For the first time, AI startups command 50%+ of VC funding
✨ The U.S. market represents 85% of AI dollars invested, globally
✨ Mega-rounds are taking the lion's share (yes we see you Anthropic, OpenAI), so while dollars are up, deal count is down.

Venture aims to back the next wave of innovation - and this year, the data tell us it's a full-throttle bet with AI at the core.

...anyone surprised?!

Jokes aside, here’s what I’m thinking about:
+ How might these investments reshape how we live, work, and play?
+ What lessons will we look back on, five years from now?
+ How do we plant seeds for what comes next? :)

Would love to hear your reflections and ideas. Drop them in the comments!

(P.S. I’ll tag CBI’s full Q3 report below if you want to nerd out, too 🤓)

—

I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Thrilled to join the investor panel for Desafía SF’s 1:1 Office Hours on Nov 17!
Here's why -

Ten high-growth startups are flying in from around the world with big ambitions to scale in the US. The teams are building across hot industries like Fintech, CleanTech, HealthTech, and AI.

Their impressive innovations include:
✨  Zero-emission delivery fleets
✨ VR medical training & digital neuro-rehab for patients
✨ Grid optimization already used by 30+ utilities
✨ AI copilots for wealth management, dev automation & video intelligence
✨ A platform to launch institutional-grade funds in days

They’ve collectively raised $20M+, backed by global VCs, corporate partners, and real customers. 🤯 

Can't wait to meet the teams, understand their solutions, and help shape plans re: what it will take to grow in the US market.

Big thanks to Founder Institute and the wonderful Serephina Ha for bringing together this amazing lineup! I'm thrilled to be a part of it. 

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I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly.

Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned!

Desafía SF 1:1 Office Hour with Investors

Here’s the growth strategy hiding in plain sight, 
no matter what your company does - 🤯 

Your personal brand!! 

Here are three key takeaways from talking brand (and seeing it work):

✨ Your brand works harder than any pitch deck.

People do business with people, not logos. 

(Say it louder for the people in the back!)

A well-tended brand bridges cold intros, opens unexpected doors, and quietly shapes the narrative even when you’re not in the room.

Quick ideas to build brand:
+ Speaking on podcasts/panels
+ Sharing good vibes at industry events
+ "Giving" first when building relationships
+ Writing thought leadership content (LinkedIn!!!)

✨ Authenticity isn’t a buzzword... it’s your moat.

Trying to sound like everyone else? 
Using ChatGPT to write your LinkedIn?

We notice! And its unfortunately forgettable. 

Show up as you are. The quirkier the better IMO, as my followers know by now 🤣

Over time, consistency and honesty make you memorable (and magnetic) in a sea of sameness.​

✨ Treat your brand like a product your company offers.

...because it is!

Experiment, measure, and iterate your brand, just like you would any new offering.

For example - writing content online? 
+ Test messages and platforms.
+ Ask peers/colleagues for feedback.
+ Measure engagement metrics.
+ Double down on what connects.
+ Sunset/reword what doesn't land.
+ Offer real value to your audience along the way!

-

Over the last several years, I've invested in my brand and ended up creating my own business model design course, an ever-expanding business, and my dream role in venture. 

It's been the single best career move that I've made.

If I can build my brand, so can you!

-

So tell us - what’s one move you’re making (or resisting) on brand right now?

And if you posted on LinkedIn today, link it so we can support you!

See you in the comments 👇 

—

I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Today, Dyson is a multi-billion dollar household name.
...but it took 5,127 prototypes to get there. 🤯 

Here's what I love about the Dyson story:

✨ Patience brought the hardware moat to life.

A lot of people would have quit after 100 prototypes. 
Dyson made it to 5,126.
(The 5,127th worked!)

Ask yourself: 
+ What is your relationship with patience, today?
+ What areas of your business could use a learning mindset (focused on experiments, not fearful of failure)? 
+ How could you nurture that mindset over time?

✨ Boring problems can have exciting solutions. 

A vacuum sounds boring. 
...but solving it better changed an industry.

Ask yourself: 
+ What boring problems is your industry overlooking, today? 
+ What is the resulting opportunity, near-term?
+ Where could it grow, long-term? (Thank you, Dyson Airwrap!)
+ How are you uniquely positioned to solve it?

✨ Constraints force creativity.

Dyson had no funding. No manufacturer backing (because they wanted to keep selling vacuum bags ugh). No shortcuts.

...and look what he created!

Cheers to his wife for supporting him in the early days. 🥂 

Ask yourself: 
+ How could our perceived financial limitations actually be an advantage?
+ How might we generate revenue along the way to my North Star vision?

---

It's been awhile since I've highlighted another entrepreneur's story!

What inspired you from Dyson? And who would you want to hear about next?

Tell me in the comments :)

—
I'm Katie Nowak, an investor, innovation leader, and new venture designer sharing examples & lessons weekly. Follow me + hit 🔔 to stay tuned.

Cory Hymel

Crowdbotics

* Leadership role designed to synthesize the ambitions across all areas of Crowdbotics
* Bridge between the technical, product, and marketing teams
* Create research program from the ground up with leading universities 
* Author whitepapers with industry partners
* Public speaking events to share where the future of software development is going with AI

VP Product & Research

The Human Cloud

• Advising the implementation of a competitive intelligence terminal leaders can use to access hyper relevant freelance economy insights in seconds. 
• Advising ways to leverage emerging technologies such as AI, ML, and blockchain into freelance marketplaces.
• Providing thought leadership and strategy on leveraging technology to enable the human cloud.

Strategic Advisor

Gigster

*Managing 4 departments: Platform, NetOps, Product, and MetrX (acquisition)
*Direct report to CEO
*Main goal is creating company strategy and paths to revenue

VP of Product & Research

Helping lead research with Stanford and Berkeley into how distributed teams work at scale.

Head of Academic Partnerships

Leading all things blockchain. NFT's, crypto, enterprise, etc.

Director of Blockchain

Creating teams and process to build software via distributed employees. 

I also manage academic partnerships to help further research in distributed work. 

Personal areas of interest and specialization:
- blockchain                (incentive models and distributed systems architecture)
- IoT                             (sys architecture, deployment, etc.)
- embedded systems (bluetooth low energy (cypress semiconductor))
- finTech                      (international banking infrastructure, AML/KYC)

Senior Solutions Architect

Enventys Partners

....continuing to pioneer the Internet of Things.

Director of Connected Technologies

Enventys

Simble Co.

Launching iBeacons in real estate, conferences, and a consumer app.

Co Founder

Prime Notion Technologies, Inc.

Building custom enterprise mobile applications for Fortune 500 clients.

Co Founder & CEO

Pull Communications

Built platform that would allow museum curators to build self guided tours of exhibits.

Senior Developer

Resolute Games

Building 2D and 3D games for iOS and Android.

Senior Programmer / Developer

Fedex Institue of Technology

Was a member of the Dynamic Obstacle Handling Research team. Researching and building self driving tugs for FedEx.

Center for Advanced Robotics Research

VP of Product & Research @ Gigster | Innovating on the Future of Work

//--In my own words
Washed software engineer that was better at telling stories and painting visions that writing code. I usually find myself working in research or innovation teams due to attention deficient and boredom with solvable problems. I very much enjoy speaking, teaching, and sharing things I've learned with others. 


//--In my PR teams words
The root of Cory’s passion for the connected nature of tech enhancing the future of work began in the early 2000s in robotics research initiatives for the FedEx Institute of Technology. He went on to pioneer mobile helping enterprises develop strategies to mobilize staff workflows and collaboration in the pre-enterprise project management app era of “BYOD to work” in the mid-2010s. Seeing the promise of physical and digital integration, Cory brought physical products to life leading the Connected Technologies division at a hardware development firm. Beginning in 2018 Cory began researching and leading the Future of Work at Gigster as VP of Product and Research advocating for leveling outdated hierarchical structures within organizations. Cory is a futurist with the goal to continuously question the status quo. His research answers the questions that will define how the innovations of today will impact the work of tomorrow.

It was truly an honor to be invited by Hayden Brown and the Upwork team to come speak at their investor day on how AI is shaping the future of work. 

A couple key points: 

***
1. Code is no longer a defensive moat:
Operate under the hypothesis that the cost to generate code is going to $0. 

Capex to write code used to be a valid, defensible moat but with the insane progress AI code gen is making that's quickly going away. We're already seeing companies come out of Y Combinator with 2 founders and fleshed out platforms that in the past would have taken $Xm in funding to build. 

Example: 
We've been able to completely re-write a legacy java app using Cognition's Devin tool in about a day. 

***
2. The best ideas will (finally) win
Research led companies will win. Full stop. 

This doesn't mean go hire a bunch of PhD's. 
What I mean by this is companies that foster internal experimentation and validate ideas with data can now quickly accelerate on those to gain market share....and it's literally never been easier to do this. 

Example: 
We had a hypothesis that injecting business context into GitHub Copilot would improve it. So, in 6 weeks we ran a study using 300 flex talent resources from Upwork and proved it. Then we doubled down and brought that to market. 

We had a whitepaper, empirical evidence, and usage data that gave us an edge. The code was the easy part. 
https://lnkd.in/eyeZyQaE

***
***
Thank you again to everyone on Upwork team Sheri Baker, Peter Sanborn, Frisco C. and everyone else that helped prep and put on the session. 

Also, huge shoutout to my fellow panelist Gabriel Richman and Philip Rasori you guys were incredible!

VP Product & Research @ CoreStory | HCI research on AI’s impact to the SDLC

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