Last Tuesday, the 2025 Stern Venture Fellows Summer Accelerator continued with a high-impact lineup of workshops designed to strengthen marketing, sales, and go-to-market skills. The cohort spent the day immersed in practical frameworks and exercises with expert operators across industries. Each session was designed to help founders clarify and refine their approach to growth.
Building Content That Converts
First up was Catherine Cantave (NYU Stern MBA ’10), Co-Founder of Soapbox Strategists, who led a workshop on building a content strategy that doesn’t just inform, but also converts. Her key message: content needs intention.
Founders were encouraged to define the “why” behind their social presence, whether that’s building awareness, generating leads, or reaching specific stakeholders. Cantave pushed Fellows to think beyond product shots and instead lean into storytelling: What makes your product different? What benefit does it bring? How can you make your startup feel more human?
Her session also touched on practical tools and tactics, including A/B testing, competitor benchmarking, and highlighted the growing role of AI tools in streamlining content workflows. From Instagram’s auto-reply and engagement features to emerging AI tools that help generate captions or schedule posts, founders were encouraged to leverage automation to maintain consistency while freeing up time for strategic thinking. Most importantly, she emphasized staying flexible: “Don’t get stuck in a strategy that’s not working, pivot based on data.”
Sales That Stick
Next, Lisa Saacks, President of Trillium Surveyor, guided the Fellows through the art of closing a sale. Her workshop, “Crafting a Sales Strategy to Close,” gave participants a chance to workshop their pitches and practice cold calls with peers.
Through hands-on roleplay, Saacks emphasized the power of listening and understanding customer pain points before jumping into the value prop. Founders were challenged to strip down their sales language to the essentials and keep the focus on the customer, not just the product.
Go-to-Market, Built to Scale
The day wrapped with Alex Montas, Head of Marketing at MyRecipes, who presented a comprehensive framework for go-to-market strategies. With an emphasis on execution, Montas walked Fellows through how to identify their target audience, select the right channels, and time their launch for maximum impact.
One highlight of Montas’s session was the importance of a strong copy, and using messaging that immediately communicates your product’s value to users. He contrasted feature-heavy marketing with user-centered copy, using Apple’s classic iPod pitch of offering “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
The interactive session encouraged Fellows to pressure-test their GTM assumptions, revisit pricing models, and think critically about customer acquisition.
Tips & takeaways
- Your content should speak to a goal – Whether it's lead generation or awareness, define the purpose behind each piece of content before hitting "post."
- Don’t just pitch, connect – A good sales strategy starts with empathy. Really understand who you're speaking to, and what matters to them. Weave that into your pitch.
- Test, track, and tweak – From marketing content to sales scripts, the best strategies are iterative. What works at launch may not work at scale. Keep optimizing!
