FirstMark: the network is the position
Review date: 23 September 2026
Evidence window: 23 March 2025 to 23 September 2026, with earlier anchors where they explain the current system
Status: Deep strategic review complete; Laurie review pending
Headline reading
FirstMark is trying to own the role of New York's high-conviction, early-stage firm whose relationships help companies compound. Its public language names grit, curiosity, community and taking the longest view. The harder-to-copy position sits underneath those words: a set of founder, executive and specialist networks that generates access, operating knowledge and repeated encounters with the firm.
The system is effective for relationship creation, company-building proof and AI/data credibility. It is less effective as one coherent institutional point of view. Matt Turck's AI and data franchise has stronger memory, consistency and external transmission than FirstMark's general editorial surface. The firm therefore has a valuable federated system whose most recognisable intellectual asset remains partly portable with one partner.
What the firm is and where it sits
FirstMark's canonical domain is firstmark.com. The former firstmarkcap.com redirects there. The firm describes itself as an early-stage venture firm in New York backing founders globally. Its 2022 fund announcement separated a $500 million sixth early-stage fund across consumer and enterprise from a $700 million fourth opportunity fund. A current 25-person team spans 6 investment partners, investors and an operating layer across platform, communities, content, talent, portfolio operations, events, finance and legal (identity-redirect, fund-2022, team-current).
FirstMark launched under its current identity in 2008 after the Pequot Ventures spin-out. Current LinkedIn and X descriptions use 2005, reflecting the predecessor lineage. The review treats 2008 as the current firm's formation date and 2005 as a branding claim with historical context (firm-history).
In market terms, FirstMark sits between focused seed firms and multi-stage venture platforms. Its concentration, New York roots and early leadership resemble First Round, USV and BoxGroup. Its opportunity fund, enterprise franchise and executive platform bring Battery and Bessemer into the comparison. FirstMark's distinctive asset is the density of its New York-centred relationship infrastructure across founders, functional leaders, AI/data practitioners and fintech operators.
What the content system actually does
The institutional publication surface is busy. The official API exposed 121 dated stories in the window: 59 in 2025 and 62 in 2026. Taxonomy labels overlap, and the archive combines portfolio news, investment announcements, third-party media, event recaps, podcasts and original perspectives. This supports portfolio amplification and search visibility. It weakens the archive as a memory structure for FirstMark's own judgement (publication-census).
Four programme families matter more than that volume.
Guilds by FirstMark turns private C-suite relationships into services, events, surveys and public learning. The platform page reports 2,500+ executives, 60% of unicorns and 100+ annual company-building events. Ben Winn's 2026 Guilds Summit recap distilled 26 operators across product, engineering, finance, go-to-market and people under Chatham House rules, then routed readers towards joining a Guild or applying for the next summit. Two Guild surveys converted member access into gated reports, although the public pages omit sample sizes and methodology (platform-current, guilds-summit, guild-reports).
Data Driven NYC, the MAD Landscape and the MAD Podcast form a durable, person-led AI/data franchise. Data Driven dates to 2012 and reports 20,000+ members, 110+ events and 400+ speakers. The 2025 MAD Landscape condensed more than 2,000 companies into roughly 1,150 selected entries, added an agent stack and local AI, and credited a real production team. The podcast published 69 YouTube items in the review window, including near-weekly long interviews in 2026. Full captions from Felix Rieseberg and Granola episodes show a repeatable grammar: provocative cold open, concise guest framing, then detailed questioning about product, technology and market structure (data-driven, mad-landscape, mad-podcast, youtube-census, youtube-captions).
Founder Guild and Fintech Driven create smaller, applied entry points. Founder Guild offers recurring private events, an always-on forum and an application route for early-stage New York founders. Adam Nelson's Fintech Driven meets quarterly and names a credible local speaker set. These are relationship products with content attached, rather than media brands (founder-guild, fintech-driven).
AI✦NY, the successor to CloudNY, brings 150+ CEOs into an off-the-record summit. Battery has co-produced the event with FirstMark for 9 years. The programme proves convening power and shared market access. Ownership is joint (ai-ny, peer-battery).
People and creative behaviour
Matt Turck defines the clearest intellectual territory. His blog, landscape, meetup, podcast and distribution reinforce one another. Apple lists the show under his name, and YouTube presents the channel as The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck. FirstMark benefits directly, while the destination remains person-centred.
Rick Heitzmann anchors the firm publicly through market commentary and guest appearances. Amish Jani extends the community and enterprise/cloud lane through Founder Guild and AI✦NY. Adam Nelson creates fintech and vertical-software reasoning, including an unusually accountable Henry investment essay that explains his earlier scepticism. Ben Winn operationalises the community system and makes private operator access legible in reports and recaps (investment-writing, linkedin-firm, operator-ben-winn).
The creative signature is analytical and convening-led: maps, surveys, executive summits, operator recaps, specialist interviews and investment arguments. It takes operational access and editorial discipline. It takes limited entertainment risk. Several 2026 Summit clips linked from the recap are now private, reducing the durability of that proof.
Effectiveness and observable loop
Recognition is strong: early stage, New York, founder support. Association is strongest around community and AI/data, while “Make Your Mark” remains generic. Proof is substantial for programme repetition and network scale, although most outcome claims are firm-reported. Transmission is strongest for Turck's franchise: 2026 YouTube episodes ranged from hundreds of views for event demos to 77,659 for Felix Rieseberg and 87,111 for Dylan Patel. Apple showed 28 ratings, a small positive sample. Guild and founder applications provide clear action routes (youtube-census, apple-podcast, independent-reception).
The observable loop is network encounter to event, survey, map, interview or story; public distribution to an application, mailing-list signup or next event; participation to a deeper FirstMark relationship; selected portfolio and operator outcomes back into proof. The first two movements are visible. Participation, qualified deal flow, customer introductions, hiring and investment conversion remain unknown (platform-current, business-loop).
Market judgement
First Round owns public founder operating education more strongly through First Round Review and the PMF Method. USV owns explicit institutional thesis development more strongly. Bessemer owns reusable sector research and roadmap memory more strongly. BoxGroup expresses the earliest founder entry point more simply. Battery shares FirstMark's cloud and AI convening territory (peer-first-round, peer-usv, peer-bessemer, peer-boxgroup, peer-battery).
FirstMark owns a more specific combination: New York density, private executive networks and a long-running public AI/data community. The strategic tension is legibility. The relationship system is stronger than the general story archive makes visible, and its best-known intellectual franchise is concentrated in one partner.
What could overturn this reading
This assessment would change if unaided founder research showed a different primary association; CRM attribution demonstrated that the general publication feed creates more qualified relationships than the named programmes; representative portfolio data disproved the value of Guild, recruiting and customer introductions; audience data showed the MAD franchise reaches few relevant founders; or succession evidence showed that its authority transfers cleanly beyond Turck.
X was visible only through indexed profile evidence, LinkedIn exposed selected pages, TikTok was robots-blocked, Instagram could not be verified, and YouTube streams were inaccessible. These are unknowns. No consequential FirstMark mention appeared in Laurie's complete local newsletter archive, and Benchmark's hypothetical newsletter treatment was excluded.
Partner and operator map
Matt Turck
Role and lane: Partner focused on ML/AI, data, infrastructure and enterprise applications.
Observed voice: Technically literate, curious and market-structuring. Data Driven NYC, the MAD Landscape and the MAD Podcast compound around the same category. Full episode captions show detailed follow-ups on product mechanics, market structure and technical change.
Channels and destination: FirstMark, mattturck.com, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, LinkedIn, Data Driven NYC and the interactive MAD Landscape.
Firm relationship: Defines the strongest public intellectual territory. The system transfers authority to FirstMark, although naming, copyright and destination design keep substantial equity with Turck personally.
Rick Heitzmann
Role and lane: Founder and Partner focused on consumer, marketplaces, healthcare and gaming.
Observed voice: Broad market and company-building commentary, especially public markets, IPO conditions, AI and consumer technology. Recent items are mainly appearances on CNBC, Newcomer and Standing Table distributed through FirstMark's archive.
Channels and destination: External television and podcasts, FirstMark Perspectives, LinkedIn and firm events.
Firm relationship: Anchors institutional recognition and leadership. His public activity supplies reach and senior authority, with less cumulative owned intellectual structure than Turck's programmes.
Amish Jani
Role and lane: Founder and Partner focused on enterprise software, commerce and infrastructure.
Observed voice: Founder evaluation, durable moats, enterprise and cloud markets, and New York's technology ecosystem. He is publicly tied to Founder Guild and the CloudNY to AI✦NY convening system.
Channels and destination: FirstMark, LinkedIn, external podcasts and private communities.
Firm relationship: Extends the house position into founder and enterprise relationships. Public evidence is more event- and appearance-led than a sustained authored archive.
Adam Nelson
Role and lane: Partner focused on fintech, proptech and vertical software.
Observed voice: Specific investment reasoning and operator questions. His Henry essay exposes an earlier negative judgement, the evidence that changed it and the resulting market thesis. Fintech Driven gives his lane a recurring New York relationship product.
Channels and destination: FirstMark Perspectives, LinkedIn, The Longest View, Fintech Driven and Founder Guild events.
Firm relationship: Specialises FirstMark's community thesis in fintech and vertical software. His investment writing adds accountable judgement that the broader news-heavy archive often lacks.
Ben Winn
Role and lane: VP Communities & Content.
Observed voice: Community as operating infrastructure. His Guilds Summit recap converts a private event into cross-functional lessons and a clear route into FirstMark's network.
Channels and destination: FirstMark site, Guilds, events, LinkedIn, reports and external community podcasts.
Firm relationship: Operationalises the system. His remit joins programme design, content, partnerships and founder impact, making him consequential to the public position despite being outside the investment partnership.
Beth Viner
Role and lane: Partner and Head of Platform, appointed in August 2025.
Observed voice: Platform framed through talent, insights and opportunities for founders. Her current public footprint is limited relative to the scale of the remit.
Channels and destination: FirstMark team and platform pages, LinkedIn and private portfolio work.
Firm relationship: Leads the operating layer that should make the community promise consequential. Public evidence establishes the role and stated remit. Representative delivery and her individual content lane remain unknown.
Overall people pattern
FirstMark has a genuine operator layer and a distributed set of partner lanes. Turck creates the strongest repeatable intellectual signature. Winn makes the relationship infrastructure public and actionable. Heitzmann supplies institutional authority, while Jani and Nelson connect sector judgement to communities. The resulting architecture is federated, with significant personal ownership inside an institutional network system. Incomplete social access means low observed activity is treated as unknown rather than absence.
Working notes
Method and sequence
The full rank-69 queue record, existing Firm Signal Index materials, the complete pre-existing FirstMark analysis path and Laurie's preserved newsletter archive were inspected before external collection. No FirstMark analysis directory or content-system-audit.json existed before this run. The queue and shared state files were left untouched.
Current official pages, the public WordPress API, team and community pages, programme pages, social and podcast surfaces, representative authored work, reception signals and 5 official peer surfaces were then inspected. Claims from firm pages remain firm-reported unless independently supported.
Identity resolution
- Canonical domain: https://firstmark.com/
- firstmarkcap.com and www.firstmarkcap.com returned 301 redirects to firstmark.com. The former domain had a certificate-chain problem during direct retrieval, so redirects were checked with certificate verification disabled and no page claim was accepted from the old host.
- Current firm formation: 2008. The SEC history records FirstMark taking over Pequot's venture funds on 20 August 2008. Current X and LinkedIn profiles use “since 2005”, which is treated as predecessor lineage.
- Exclusions: First Market, Firstmark Credit Union and Firstmark Foundation are unrelated.
Accessible universe
- Official stories in window: 121, verified through
X-WP-Totalon the public API. - Calendar split: 59 in 2025 and 62 in 2026.
- Overlapping taxonomy counts from the retrieved records: News 85, Perspectives 55, Events 6, Podcasts 16, Videos 14.
- Series tags: Longest View 3, Media 25, CTO Summit 1. Data Driven and MAD Podcast tags were incomplete even where titles and pages clearly belonged to those programmes.
- YouTube: 69 uploads from 27 March 2025 to 10 September 2026 in the direct item-level census. The channel page listed 543 videos and 31,200 subscribers at review time.
- Full auto-captions read: Felix Rieseberg and Chris Pedregal. Richard Socher captions were requested and returned HTTP 429.
- Local newsletter archive: complete exact and expanded search across FirstMark, FirstMark Capital, named partners, Data Driven NYC, MAD Landscape, MAD Podcast, CloudNY, AI NY, The Longest View, Guilds by FirstMark and Fintech Driven. Zero consequential mentions. One “grainy” false positive came from an overly broad AI NY regex and was rejected.
Programme tests
Guilds
Repeated, named and action-linked. Current platform claims 2,500+ executives and 60% of unicorns, while Ben Winn's biography reports 3,000+ and over 80% of the global unicorn ecosystem. These figures may reflect different dates or definitions. They are preserved separately and are not reconciled.
The 2026 CTO/CPO and People reports are based on invite-only Guild surveys and promise hundreds of data points after email submission. Public landing pages do not expose sample size, response rate, questionnaire or calculation method. The Summit recap offers substantive operator lessons and an application CTA. Linked YouTube clips returned private-video pages on review day.
Data Driven, MAD Landscape and MAD Podcast
These form one compounding category system around Matt Turck. Data Driven supplies live relationships and recurring speakers. The landscape turns market observation into a costly reference object. The podcast sustains specialist encounters and creates a searchable archive. The strongest accessible episodes use a teaser-led opening and detailed long-form questioning. Captions support editorial observations; video streams were unavailable, so camera, set, edit rhythm and visual quality are unknown.
Founder Guild, Fintech Driven and AI NY
Each has a stated audience, a live event mechanism and an application or attendance route. Founder Guild is a private relationship layer for early-stage New York founders. Fintech Driven is quarterly and person-led by Adam Nelson. AI NY is the next iteration of CloudNY and is co-owned with Battery.
The Longest View
The current archive shows a small set of founder conversations in 2025 and early 2026, led by Dez Fleming and others. It is a useful format, with insufficient cadence and external reception to count alongside MAD or Guilds as a flagship position asset.
Representative work inspected
- Ben Winn, “What Changes When Every Function Learns to Ship”, 22 July 2026: extracts cross-functional operating lessons from 26 Summit speakers and ends with a Guild application route.
- Adam Nelson, “From Busywork to Business”, 29 July 2026: names his initial rejection of the market, explains the technological change that altered the thesis and supplies company-reported adoption evidence.
- “The State of Engineering & Product in 2026” and “People Practices in 2026”: gated Guild data products with a visible audience and unclear public methodology.
- Matt Turck and Aman Kabeer, 2025 MAD Landscape: selected map, long-form analysis and interactive artefact with explicit production credits.
- MAD Podcast episodes with Felix Rieseberg and Chris Pedregal: full captions read. Episode framing is assertive and contemporary; questioning moves quickly into product design, workflows, trust, adoption and market structure.
- Kathryn Weinmann's health-companion thesis: a specific emerging-market frame rather than portfolio publicity.
Reception
Visible YouTube engagement is uneven and topic-sensitive. Selected 2026 long interviews reached 11,490 to 87,111 views, while live product demos reached hundreds to low thousands. Apple displayed 28 ratings at 5.0, a small sample. Independent LinkedIn posts recognised the MAD Landscape, and guests amplified their appearances. Battery's independent account confirms joint CloudNY and AI NY ownership. These signals establish transmission. Audience qualification, completion, repeat use and commercial conversion remain unknown.
Observable business loop
- FirstMark builds or enters a founder, executive or specialist network.
- The encounter becomes an event, survey, map, interview, investment argument or recap.
- Site, YouTube, social distribution and email create public encounter.
- Applications, event registration, speaking forms and mailing-list signup provide next actions.
- Participation can deepen a relationship with investors, platform staff, founders and operators.
- Selected company or community outcomes return as testimonials, guests and proof.
Steps 1 to 4 are observable. Step 5 is a route rather than measured conversion. Step 6 is visible through selected firm-published examples. Content-attributed investments, customer outcomes, hires, fundraising and LP outcomes are unknown.
Platform and access limits
- LinkedIn: firm page and selected indexed posts were accessible; complete firm and personal feeds were not.
- X: indexed profile and selected results were accessible; a complete 18-month feed was not.
- YouTube: metadata, counts and 2 full caption files were retrieved. Video streams returned HTTP 403; one caption request returned HTTP 429.
- TikTok: robots-blocked, therefore unknown.
- Instagram: an older
@firstmarkcapreference was located, while a current canonical destination and complete feed could not be verified. Activity is unknown. - Newsletter: a general site mailing-list signup exists. No separately named institutional newsletter was located through navigation, exact search and platform search.
- Several Guild Summit YouTube clips linked from the official recap were private at review time.
- Private CRM attribution, programme analytics, founder interviews, LP materials and representative portfolio support data were unavailable.
Peer boundary
The peer set is directional and tests specific ownership claims:
- First Round: public operating education and a clear PMF programme.
- USV: explicit institutional thesis and sustained partner writing.
- Bessemer: institutional sector research, roadmaps and indices.
- BoxGroup: earliest-stage New York entry clarity.
- Battery: enterprise/cloud research and joint ownership of CloudNY and AI NY.
Interpretation status
All strategic interpretations remain pending_human_review. Factual counts are dated observations, not durable truths.
Sources and limits
Observations and interpretations are recorded separately. Unknowns are preserved.
Review scope and methodology
- firm
- FirstMark
- registry firm id
- 64c2440c3f60cc1d
- review date
- 2026-09-23
- canonical domain
- https://firstmark.com/
- scope
- Identity, mandate, current team, 18-month content system, historical anchors, programmes, creative behaviour, people, reception, observable business loop and 5 directional peers
- recent window
- start
- 2025-03-23
- end
- 2026-09-23
- method
- The full rank-69 queue record, existing Firm Signal Index evidence, complete FirstMark analysis path and every consequential local newsletter mention were inspected before new collection. Current official pages, the public publication universe, programme pages, YouTube metadata and captions, podcast and social surfaces, selected people, independent reception and official peer materials were then examined. Machine interpretations remain pending human review.
Top-100 ranked research queue record · queue-record
- source type
- local_index_record
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Rank 69 is FirstMark, firm_id 64c2440c3f60cc1d, matched to corpus name FirstMark Capital and the historical URL https://firstmarkcap.com/. The record lists no prior deep review, newsletter mention or fund breakdown.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Routing metadata is not firm evidence. The queue was read and left unchanged.
Existing Firm Signal Index evidence · local-index-evidence
- source type
- local_research_record
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-08-20
- observed
- The prepared evidence resolves FirstMark Capital to the same firm ID and preserves one homepage material. Its selected positioning says FirstMark is an early-stage venture firm in New York City that backs and accelerates founders making their mark on the world.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The saved page extraction was unvalidated, so current identity and positioning were checked again.
Laurie's complete local newsletter archive search · laurie-archive-search
- source type
- local_archive_search
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Exact and expanded searches across FirstMark, FirstMark Capital, selected partners, Data Driven NYC, MAD Landscape, MAD Podcast, CloudNY, AI NY, The Longest View, Guilds by FirstMark and Fintech Driven found zero consequential mentions. A broad AI NY expression produced one unrelated 'grainy' false positive, which was rejected.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- No local mention is not evidence of no public reception. Benchmark's hypothetical newsletter treatment was excluded.
Canonical-domain redirect check · identity-redirect
- source type
- direct_http_observation
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- https://firstmark.com/ returned HTTP 200. https://firstmarkcap.com/ and its www variant returned HTTP 301 to https://firstmark.com/.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The older host presented an invalid certificate chain during retrieval, so only its redirect header was used.
Current FirstMark homepage · home-current
- source type
- official_firm_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The homepage leads with 'MAKE YOUR MARK', describes FirstMark as an early-stage venture firm in New York City and says it backs exceptional founders. Values are grit, excellence, curiosity and community. Founder testimonials emphasise early support and founder-like grit.
- quoted passage
- MAKE YOUR MARK
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Positioning and testimonials are firm-controlled.
FirstMark $1.1 billion fund announcement · fund-2022
- source type
- official_firm_announcement
- date
- 2022-06-16
- observed
- FirstMark announced a $500 million sixth early-stage fund for consumer and enterprise companies and a $700 million fourth opportunity fund for growth investments. It describes a focused, high-conviction model, leading comparatively few investments from the earliest stages onward.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Fund sizes and mandate are firm-reported historical anchors.
FirstMark and Pequot venture-fund history · firm-history
- source type
- regulatory_filing_and_official_history
- date
- 2009-03-02
- observed
- The filing records FirstMark Capital becoming investment manager to the Pequot venture funds on 20 August 2008. The current team page says the firm planted its New York roots in 2008, while current social profiles use 'since 2005'. The review treats 2008 as current-firm formation and 2005 as predecessor lineage.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The 2005 interpretation is historical reconciliation, not a legal conclusion.
Current official team index · team-current
- source type
- official_team_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The official page displayed 25 people. Investment partners are Rick Heitzmann, Amish Jani, Matt Turck, Adam Nelson, Arnav Bimbhet and David Waltcher. Shilpa Nayyar is Partner and COO, Beth Viner is Partner and Head of Platform, and the operating roster includes communities, content, portfolio operations, talent, events, legal, finance and IT.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Roles are current firm claims. The review does not infer unlisted remits.
FirstMark platform and company-building proposition · platform-current
- source type
- official_firm_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- FirstMark presents peer networks, recruiting, customers and partners as its support system. It reports 2,500+ Guild executives, 60% of unicorns, 100+ annual events, 50,000+ community members and 15+ years of company-building. It describes warm introductions, full-lifecycle recruiting, masterclasses and on-demand resources.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Counts, testimonials and reported outcomes are firm-published and were not independently audited.
Official 18-month publication census · publication-census
- source type
- official_site_census
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The public API exposed 121 stories from 23 March 2025 through 23 September 2026: 59 in 2025 and 62 in 2026. Overlapping taxonomy counts were News 85, Perspectives 55, Events 6, Podcasts 16 and Videos 14. The surface mixes portfolio news, third-party media, investment writing, events and original analysis.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Taxonomy and series tags are incomplete and overlapping. A URL count is not a count of original editorial commissions.
Current FirstMark communities · communities-current
- source type
- official_firm_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The page presents Founder Guild, Fintech Driven, CloudNY, Data Driven NYC and Guilds as networks for founders and operators built through private events, exclusive content and off-the-record forums.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The landing page establishes programme framing, not activity or outcomes.
2026 Guilds Summit recap · guilds-summit
- source type
- official_operator_recap
- date
- 2026-07-22
- observed
- Ben Winn distilled lessons from 26 operators across product, engineering, finance, go-to-market and people at FirstMark's first cross-functional Guilds Summit. The article uses Chatham House rules, makes a cross-functional argument about redesigning work around AI and ends with routes to join a Guild or apply for the next summit.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Linked YouTube extracts returned private-video pages during review. Attendance and the reported 500-person figure were not independently audited.
Guilds by FirstMark 2026 survey reports · guild-reports
- source type
- official_research_landing_pages
- date
- 2026-04-13
- observed
- The State of Engineering & Product survey was restricted to CTO and CPO Guild members. People Practices used the Chief People Officer Guild. Both offer selected public takeaways and gate hundreds of data points behind an email form.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Public pages do not state sample size, response rate, questionnaire or calculation method. The second page is https://firstmark.com/story/report-people-practices-in-2026/.
Data Driven NYC programme · data-driven
- source type
- official_community_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- FirstMark describes Data Driven NYC as the largest US data and AI meetup, running since 2012 with 20,000+ members, 110+ events and 400+ speakers. It reports monthly free Manhattan events of 150 to 300 people and provides next-event, mailing-list and speaker-application routes.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Scale and outcome claims are firm-reported. The current archive exposed selected 2026 events rather than a complete monthly history.
2025 MAD Landscape · mad-landscape
- source type
- partner_led_research_asset
- date
- 2025-06-26
- observed
- The 11th edition selected roughly 1,150 companies from more than 2,000 considered, added an agent stack and local AI, and paired a dense visual map with long analysis and an interactive site. Matt Turck credits Aman Kabeer as co-author and FirstMark colleagues for logistics, promotion and site work.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Selection criteria and company universe are author-controlled. The asset sits on Turck's personal domain while crediting a FirstMark production system.
The MAD Podcast programme and ownership · mad-podcast
- source type
- partner_led_media_programme
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The channel is presented as The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck and links Turck, FirstMark and the MAD site. Apple lists Matt Turck as creator and copyright holder. FirstMark's site describes it as a weekly show with founders, technical leaders, researchers and thinkers in ML, AI and data.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Channel and storefront counts vary by crawl and region. Personal ownership and firm benefit coexist.
MAD Podcast YouTube census and visible reception · youtube-census
- source type
- platform_content_census
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- A direct item-level census found 69 uploads from 27 March 2025 to 10 September 2026. Selected 2026 interviews showed 11,490 to 87,111 views and 152 to 1,589 likes; selected live demos showed 714 to 1,136 views. The channel page displayed 543 videos and 31,200 subscribers.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Public counts are snapshots. They do not reveal qualified audience, source, completion, repeat viewing or conversion.
Representative MAD Podcast full captions · youtube-captions
- source type
- full_auto_caption_files
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Full captions from the Felix Rieseberg and Chris Pedregal episodes show a consistent teaser, host framing and long-form interview structure. Questions move into product design, trust, workflows, adoption and market change rather than staying at founder biography level.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Auto-captions contain transcription errors. Video streams were inaccessible, so set, camera, graphics, edit rhythm and visual quality remain unknown. The second local file is IcbuTTVUY7M.en.vtt.
The Longest View founder-interview series · longest-view
- source type
- official_media_programme
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The filtered archive exposed 3 tagged recent items, including founder conversations hosted by Dez Fleming. Episodes focus on company-building, market shifts and investment categories.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Tagging is incomplete. Observed cadence and external reception were insufficient to classify it as a flagship programme.
Fintech Driven · fintech-driven
- source type
- official_community_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Adam Nelson founded and hosts this private, in-person New York fintech community. It meets quarterly, names speakers including leaders from Ellevest, Ramp, Plaid and Alloy, and offers an application route.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Membership, attendance and relationship outcomes are private.
Founder Guild · founder-guild
- source type
- official_community_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Founder Guild is a private, in-person community for early-stage New York founders met by FirstMark. It combines recurring members-only events, an always-on question forum, Guild resources and an application route.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Selection criteria, membership, attendance and outcomes are private. One member testimonial is firm-published.
CloudNY to AI NY · ai-ny
- source type
- official_event_recap
- date
- 2026-05-20
- observed
- FirstMark presents AI NY as the next iteration of CloudNY, bringing 150+ CEOs together for an off-the-record summit on AI, company-building, enterprise adoption and markets. The event remains co-hosted with Battery Ventures.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Attendance is firm-reported and sessions were off the record. Ownership is shared with Battery.
From Busywork to Business: Why We Led Henry's Series A · investment-writing
- source type
- official_partner_essay
- date
- 2026-07-29
- observed
- Adam Nelson explains why he initially advised Henry's founder against the market, the agentic change that altered his view, product usage claims and the founder-market fit behind the investment. The essay makes a prior judgement and its revision observable.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Adoption, efficiency and deal-value figures are company- and firm-reported.
Health Companions thesis · health-companions
- source type
- official_partner_thesis
- date
- 2026-01-08
- observed
- Kathryn Weinmann develops a patient-owned health-agent thesis and separates the emerging market into functional layers. It is a specific category argument rather than company news.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The page was partially indexed during review; the claim is bounded to the accessible article structure and text.
FirstMark LinkedIn surface · linkedin-firm
- source type
- social_platform_observation
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- The indexed company page displayed 33,458 followers and current updates around Guild Summit, portfolio companies, investment theses and partner appearances. Selected posts show event clips and guest amplification.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- LinkedIn exposed selected pages rather than a complete 18-month feed. Followers are not qualified reach or engagement.
FirstMark X profile · x-firm
- source type
- social_platform_observation
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Indexed profile evidence showed approximately 21,600 to 22,000 followers, roughly 7,000 posts and the description 'Backing generational founders since 2005'.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- A complete current feed was inaccessible. Activity, cadence and reception beyond indexed samples are unknown.
The MAD Podcast on Apple Podcasts · apple-podcast
- source type
- podcast_platform_observation
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Apple presented the show under creator Matt Turck, active from 2023 to 2026, with 130 episodes and 28 ratings averaging 5.0 in the checked storefront. The copyright is Matt Turck.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Counts vary by storefront and crawl. A 28-rating sample is small and does not identify listener quality.
Independent and participant reception sample · independent-reception
- source type
- external_reception_sample
- date
- 2025-06-27
- observed
- Christopher Klaus independently highlighted the 2025 MAD Landscape as a resource he looks forward to. Podcast guests and portfolio participants also reposted appearances, and public YouTube comments engaged with technical claims and guest arguments.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- This is a bounded sample. Guest reposts are participant transmission, while one independent recognition post cannot establish broad category ownership.
Ben Winn role and operating remit · operator-ben-winn
- source type
- official_operator_profile
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Winn is VP Communities & Content and is responsible for creating and scaling impact through Guilds, bespoke networks, content, events and partnerships. His profile reports Guilds at 3,000+ C-level executives representing more than 80% of the global unicorn ecosystem.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The profile's larger Guild counts differ from the platform page, possibly due to date or definition. Both remain firm-reported.
Observable public business loop · business-loop
- source type
- cross_source_synthesis
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Network encounters become events, surveys, maps, interviews, essays and recaps; public distribution routes readers to applications, registrations, speaking forms and email; selected operator and portfolio outcomes return as testimonials, guests and proof. The asset, exposure and action routes are observed.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Participation, qualified relationship, investment, customer, hiring, fundraising and LP conversion are unknown. This is researcher synthesis pending human review.
Platform and absence-search coverage · platform-coverage
- source type
- research_access_log
- local capture
- Local capture retained in source corpus
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Official navigation, site search, indexed platform search and direct endpoints were checked for LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, newsletters, Instagram and TikTok. A general mailing-list signup exists. No separately named institutional newsletter was located. Instagram could not be verified and TikTok was robots-blocked.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Blocked or unverified platforms are unknown, not absent.
Peer: First Round · peer-first-round
- source type
- official_peer_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- First Round Review has published tactical operator material since 2013 and offers a weekly editorial destination. The separate PMF Method is a free 4-day programme with explicit sessions and founder action.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Directional comparison tests public operating-education ownership, not investment performance.
Peer: Union Square Ventures · peer-usv
- source type
- official_peer_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- USV presents a New York-based investment thesis around large markets transformed by technological and societal pressures and maintains a current institutional and partner writing archive.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Directional comparison tests institutional thesis legibility, not audience size or returns.
Peer: Bessemer Venture Partners · peer-bessemer
- source type
- official_peer_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- Bessemer Atlas organises founder material into roadmaps, memos, indices, research and company stories across sectors, creating reusable institutional research objects.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Directional comparison tests institutional sector-research ownership, not investment quality.
Peer: BoxGroup · peer-boxgroup
- source type
- official_peer_page
- date
- 2026-09-23
- observed
- BoxGroup states a New York and San Francisco pre-seed-to-Series-A mandate, invests up to $1 million and asks founders to make it their first conversation. The entry proposition is unusually simple.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- Directional comparison tests earliest-stage proposition clarity, not platform depth.
Peer and co-owner: Battery Ventures · peer-battery
- source type
- official_peer_page
- date
- 2026-05-20
- observed
- Battery describes the inaugural AI NY summit as the next iteration of CloudNY, held for 9 years in partnership with FirstMark. Battery also publishes enterprise and software research through named sector practices.
- independently checked now
- True
- access limits
- The source proves joint event ownership. It does not allocate relative contribution or resulting relationships.