8th My NEXT Raise Founder Funder Event | DC Startup & Tech Week 2026

🚀 8th My NEXT Raise Founder Funder Event Connects Startups, Investors, and Business Leaders During DC Startup & Tech Week 2026 Startup founders, venture capital investors, and entrepreneurship leaders gathered on October 21 for the 8th My NEXT Raise Founder Funder Event, hosted by SR NEXT (formerly NEXT powered by Shulman Rogers) as part of DC Startup & Tech Week 2026. Organized by Anthony Millin and Lisa Friedlander, Co-Founders of My NEXT Raise, the five-hour event featured one-on-one investor meetings, expert-led workshops, fundraising discussions, and networking opportunities designed to help entrepreneurs prepare for investment and sustainable business growth. 🤝 Connecting Founders with Investors Representatives from 11 investment organizations participated, including Citrine Angels, Dreamit Ventures, Ecphora Capital, gener8tor, Halcyon, Hustle Fund, Ringbolt Capital, Sands Capital, TCP Venture Capital, Techstars, and Zeal Capital Partners. According to Anthony Millin, the My NEXT Raise event series was expected to facilitate more than 500 one-on-one founder-investor meetings by the conclusion of its eighth edition. 💡 Expert-Led Workshops 🔹 Zach Connor and Lauren Moore-Lewis, Aprio – Post-funding financial management, governance, and investor readiness. 🔹 Hunter Haines, SR NEXT – Common startup legal mistakes, intellectual property, and securities compliance. 🔹 Debbie Cline, Buzzy Rocket – Marketing strategies, customer engagement, and business growth. 🎙️ Inside the Raise: New Podcast Announcement Anthony Millin and Tien Wong, Founder of Opus8, Inc. and CONNECTpreneur, announced their upcoming national podcast, Inside the Raise, exploring real-world startup fundraising experiences from both founders' and investors' perspectives. A special panel discussion featured Daniel Saragnese, Co-Founder and CEO of SereNeuro Therapeutics, and Sathya Janardhanan, Venture Partner at Ecphora Capital, discussing SereNeuro's oversubscribed $2 million-plus pre-seed financing round, investor relationships, and biotechnology fundraising challenges. 🤝 Sponsors and Partners: Potomac24, Opus8, Inc., The Big Idea CONNECTpreneur Community, and Freedom Brew, with Aprio, SR NEXT, and Buzzy Rocket contributing to the educational program. 📈 The event highlighted the importance of combining access to capital with financial discipline, legal readiness, effective marketing, and meaningful investor relationships. 🎥 Watch Potomac24's video coverage featuring event highlights, investor connections, expert workshops, and insights from startup founders and business leaders. 🎥 YouTube Link: [Insert YouTube Link] 📰 Read the full event coverage: https://potomac24.com/8th-my-next-rai... #MyNEXTRaise #DCStartupWeek #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #InvestorReadiness #InsideTheRaise #MarylandStartups #Potomac24