🌟 Big Dog 2023: our 5th Founders Retreat

We recently brought together 40 of our portfolio founders for our annual Big Dog event. This is our fifth year running the event, which provides an opportunity for founders to share knowledge, network, and, of course, have a great time together. 

💫 Why do we call it Big Dog?

We decided to give this name to our annual gathering of founders because Adara Ventures is named after a set of twin stars called Canis Major, which means "Big Dog." The “Adara” star is the 22nd brightest star visible during the night, shining 30K+ times brighter than the sun as the brightest-known extreme ultraviolet source. 

We found the name fitting since, as early-stage investors, we strive to find the best opportunities which may not always be apparent at first glance. We also like to say that the founders in our portfolio form the “Big Dog constellation.” And as in any constellation, the connections between the stars (founders) reinforce the big picture and help founders to individually achieve their ambitions.

🤝💡Connecting founders and sharing insights

This year we held the event in Valencia, Spain, where our portfolio founders could meet and share their entrepreneurial journeys with each other in a relaxed, fun environment.

Our Managing Partner Nico Goulet kicked off the retreat, followed by a thought-provoking session on resilient leadership with Freddie Birley, Executive Coach at Pop Coach. 

Later in the afternoon, we took time to hear and share important insights on timely topics like fundraising, AI and the search for GTM fit.

Our Managing Partner, Alberto Gomez, and Paul Brodie, Managing Director of Liquidity Group shared some thoughts on how the fundraising landscape is evolving from an investor perspective. 

We also heard from Adara portfolio founder Gabriel de Maeztu, CTO of IOMED, who shared details about their journey of raising a Series A round earlier in the year. Talin Bezmen, VP of Growth at Quality Clouds then hosted a session on how startups can transition from Product-Market Fit (PMF) to Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.

For the final session of the day, we welcomed Pablo Carlier, Head of Data & AI at Google Cloud, who shared a glimpse into the world of AI and its impact on various industries. 

⛵️🙌 More networking and fun

The next day we took to the sea for a sailing regatta! We split into seven yachts and ran a treasure hunt along the Valencia coast. With low levels of wind, it was the ideal setting to connect in a more informal setting.

🌟 Thank you to our partners Liquidity Group

We want to thank everyone who attended Big Dog this year and our partners, Liquidity Group for their support in making the event possible. We look forward to many more get-togethers like this in the future, helping founders connect and learn from each other on their entrepreneurial journeys.

See you again next year! 🚀