MSIV Hosts 4th North Bay NEXT
On Tuesday, May 20, MSIV convened the Marin + Sonoma startup community for our fourth annual North Bay NEXT gathering.
Our 2025 theme was “Startup Resilience.” Entrepreneurship is hard, and it can be lonely, unforgiving, and difficult to see the path up when you’re in a valley.
340+ North Bay leaders came together in search of inspiration and lessons from those who had been there before. But on stage we didn’t invite strangers, but rather their Marin + Sonoma neighbors, who happened to have founded incredible companies such as Allbirds, Yardzen, Thistle, Demandbase, Waggl, VivaReal, 6sense, and more.
As I was exiting the venue, I ran into a founder I knew and I asked him how his day was. He was speechless. He then uttered: "I needed that. This morning I woke up wondering if I should quit, if this was really going to work. After today, after that medicine I received inside, I'm full steam ahead."
The day after NEXT, I woke up to an email from another local founder, who wrote me: "Transparently, the last few weeks have been some of the more challenging of my founder journey to-date and today's theme, the quality of the speakers, and their messaging was exactly what I needed to get back in the arena and moving forward."
This is why Elizabeth Murphy and I do the work we do. At its core, Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures is about neighbors helping neighbors on their professional journeys. If we're doing that, we're doing our job, and if we're uplifting this community, we’ll usher in a brighter economic future for all of our North Bay neighbors.
I hope the below recap helps bring the day to life for those who missed the gathering, and video recordings of the day's sessions will be published throughout the month of June. Let’s go North Bay!
- Zachary Kushel, Founder & Managing Partner, MSIV
Keynotes and Conversations
The conference theme, ‘Startup Resilience’ was brought to life through the keynote speakers, all of whom have founded and scaled successful ventures and now reside in the North Bay.
The 2025 NEXT program included keynotes from Joey Zwillinger (Allbirds), Allison Messner (Yardzen), Chris Golec (Demandbase + Channel99), Michael Papay (Waggl + Sageful AI), John Mills (Watch Duty), Mike Lewis (Onward), Sara Beykpour (Particle), Amanda Kahlow (6sense + 1mind), Shiri Avnery (Thistle), Brian Requarth (VivaReal), and Mike Ghaffary (Yelp Eat24).
The dynamic keynotes got real about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and those in attendance were encouraged to push through those tough moments to make it out the other side on their entrepreneurial journeys.
North Bay Startup Showcase
The NEXT Startup Showcase provided a snapshot into the next generation of entrepreneurs actively building their early-stage companies in the North Bay.
The ten showcase founders were given a maximum of five minutes and five slides to give the audience a TED-esque talk on their company. This year’s cohort of entrepreneurs represented a large cross-section of industries building in the North Bay.
Lunch and Learns with Morning Speakers
The morning speakers and MSIV community partners hosted topic lunches for interested community members. These small groups allowed for closer connection and deeper dives into entrepreneurial themes and industries.
Afternoon Reception
Everyone’s favorite NEXT tradition! We finished the day outside on the beautiful Meadowlands Lawn and enjoyed food and drinks while wrapping up with new connections made throughout the day.
The reception featured North Bay entrepreneurs building companies in the Food & Beverage and Consumer Goods spaces who shared samples of their products. The NEXT reception featured Kiki Milk, Gut Nuts, Tommy Breeze, Hot Drops, Voyager Milk, and Hey!Hunger.
Thank You to Our Community Partners
Thank you to the LePage Center for Global Innovation at Dominican University of California for co-hosting the NEXT gathering.
We also want to thank our community partners for their support of MSIV’s gatherings throughout the entire 2025 year, without which NEXT would not be possible.
Our 2025 MSIV Community Partners include:
Founding Level: Redwood Credit Union
Platinum Level: LePage Center for Global Innovation and Bank of America
Gold Level: Cerity Partners, 1299 4th Street (San Rafael), Acrisure
