Laurel Touby is former business journalist, exited tech CEO and the founding partner at Supernode Ventures (formerly Flatiron Investors).

Supernode Ventures is a microVC, focusing on pre-seed/early stage tech startups. With 15,000+ network connections, Laurel and her partner Jenny Friedman source promising companies at the cusp of hyper-growth. Most of their investments have been in Enterprise, B2B, SaaS and FinTech companies.

Prior to Supernode Ventures, Laurel founded mediabistro.com, an online pioneer that revolutionized the way people in the media industry do business, connect and communicate. A former business journalist, Laurel remains actively engaged with the media via her popular Tech Media Dinner & Discussion events. She is a sought-after public speaker and hosted her own tech show, “Secrets of Successful Startups“ on CBS Interactive.

Following the sale of mediabistro.com, Laurel created an angel portfolio of 20 companies including: Braze (formerly Appboy), Credijusto, Electric.ai, Click Therapeutics, AlphaHQ and others.

No founder can question the value add of being a Supernode Ventures portfolio company. Inveterate connectors, Laurel and Jenny dip into the network daily to connect portfolio CEOs with potential customers, co-investors and media.

Knowing Laurel also means being connected to your peers in new and interesting ways, whether you are a Tech CEO (Cereal Entrepreneurs breakfasts), investor (VC Potluck Deal Dinners), tech journalist (Tech Media Dinners), or a potential customer for Supernode’s portfolio companies (CMO/CTO/CIO Dinner events). In this way, Supernode Ventures remains always tapped into amazing deal flow.  

Laurel lives in a loft in the heart of Silicon Alley and is married to Jon Fine, book author and former Editor in Chief of Inc. Magazine.