Meet the Judges

Trace Cohen just completed his MBA at Columbia Business School and is Managing Director of New York Venture Partners where he manages over 50 direct early stage startup investments.

NYVP is a Family Office that invests in early stage startups that provides an ecosystem of financing, mentorship and strategic marketing. Trace has sourced/met thousands of founders, conducted due diligence, leading to multiple strategic investments every month, while also helping to manage over 50 current investments. He also runs the Active Investors Community with hundreds of investors around the world providing deal flow, speakers and networking opportunities through my newsletter, Slack channel and Upstream app.

He was the President and Co-Founder of Launch.it, a new self-publishing platform for PR professionals, agencies and brands to launch and socialize everything new.

Prior to that Trace was an SVP at iFluencePR where he “created understanding for a complex world.” He specializes in strategic PR for tech companies looking to develop their communications, branding and outreach strategies to connect with their communities and customers with transparency.

Trace is a graduate of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with a double major in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. He is one of the original Co-Founders and former CMO of Brand-Yourself.com, which helped students and young professionals manage their reputation and personal brands online. Best class he has ever taken.

Specialties: Branding, Identity, Leadership, personal brand, online identity, personal website, SEO, consulting, strategic communications, presentations, social media, twitter, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, thinking, ideation, PR, Public Relations, launching