Forget everything you think you know about "soft skills." Empathy isn't the nice-to-have in your founder toolkit — it's the unfair advantage hiding in plain sight.
Join us for a session with Mark Achler, serial entrepreneur and Managing Director of MATH Venture Partners, on what happens when you stop pitching, selling, and hiring by instinct — and start doing it by design. Mark has built and backed companies across four decades, and he's here to make the case that empathy isn't a personality trait, it's a repeatable operating system — one you can use to raise capital, land the big sale, understand your customer, and hire the right people.
This isn't another fundraising workshop. It's a working session on how to actually get inside the head of the person across the table, whether that's an investor deciding whether to write a check, a customer deciding whether to buy, or a candidate deciding whether to say yes.
Details:
📅 October 7, 2026
🕤 9 AM - 10 AM
📍 1871 - 111 N Canal St, Chicago
☕ Coffee & bagels on us
About Mark Achler:
Mark is the Managing Director of Math Venture Partners - www.mathventurepartners.com - an early to mid-stage technology venture capital fund and a retired Adjunct Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Northwestern University Kellogg school of Business.
He is a serial entrepreneur who started four companies, managed three venture funds, and was head of Innovation for Redbox as well as an early employee of Apple. He is the co-author of Exit Right - how to sell your startup.
Achler is a frequent speaker, resource and ardent champion for the entrepreneurial community; where he is a mentor for TechStars and several other entrepreneurial organizations.
This session is intended for startup founders and leaders. Attendance is acceptance based.
