Boston Speaks Up is a multi-platform storytelling series from Fabric Media.
Ari Fine Glantz is the director of development and strategic initiatives at the New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA), the regional trade association for the venture capital industry, with a mission to foster a collaborative, inclusive and prosperous innovation ecosystem. At NEVCA, Glantz leads the organization’s revenue generating activities, manages legislative strategy and supports president Jody Rose on new program development.
Glantz has served as a coach and judge for a variety of accelerators and pitch competitions around Boston, and is an infrequent contributor to TechCrunch, BostInno and TEDx.
Glantz recently launched a lighthearted fundraiser, Fund.Razor, to decide the stylistic fate of his year-plus-long beard. All funds raised will support Hack.Diversity, a division of the NEVCA tackling the underrepresentation of high-skilled minority talent in Boston's innovation ecosystem.
Here’s Glantz explaining the Fund.Razor further in a video released on Twitter:
Glantz leans on an atypical journey that led him to the NEVCA, one that includes entrepreneurship, international athletics and social work and that took him around the globe, from San Francisco to Paris and Australia, before he returned to his roots in New England. Glantz is a graduate of Vassar College and a native Cantabrigian (person from Cambridge).
You can listen to our BSU podcast discussion via any of your favorite audio platforms: SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play.
Pre-podcast Q&A:
Where did you grow up?
Cambridge, MA.
How would you describe your childhood?
Exciting
What’s the biggest lesson you learned from your parents?
Communication is everything
What did you study undergrad at Vassar College?
Psychology major, dabbled in Econ and Philosophy
In what sport were you an international athlete?
Baseball
Outside of Boston, what’s been your favorite place to live and why?
A van in the Australian Outback. The total freedom of relative solitude in an unspoiled land is incredibly powerful.
You’ve lived around the globe. What drew you to back Boston?
Family drew me back at first (and I was flat broke, so also necessity). The special characteristics of this city is what keeps me here.
Can you describe the professional social work you previously participated in?
I worked for an organization providing in-home services, primarily with young children where the whole family was referred by a state agency (MassHealth, the Department of Children and Families, or the Department of Mental Health). High conflict homes, poverty, etc.
What do you love most about your role at NEVCA?
I love the dynamism and the mission-orientation. We sit at such an incredible intersection of people and industries, and our role is to support them in achieving incredible things - and support the ecosystem in being an incredible place.
What do you believe is NEVCA’s most important work?
We do a lot but, I’d say the NEVCA allows VCs to engage with and empower the big-vision initiatives that no one firm or investor can do alone.
What do you love most about living and working in Boston?
Boston is both nerdy-smart and tough-as-nails. Those two identities are often looked at as separate and/or in conflict, but I love the places where they run together.
You’ve recently announced a Fund.Razor to raise money for Hack.Diversity. What’s that all about?
It’s a humble attempt to do some good and bring some levity to the community while maintaining an appropriate social distance. My beard has had a nice 16-month run, and brought some humor to a fair share of Zoom calls, but much like the grim headlines we’ve seen during this pandemic, it’s time for it to go. We have five absolutely ridiculous beard styles up for bid, and participants can vote my fate by pledging to their favorite beard style. Whichever style raises the most money, I will wear on my face.
Hack is a special org. I believe in the mission and I’ve seen the success. I grew up in Cambridge, and watched the explosion of the innovation economy, both the positives and negatives. Hack.Diversity is all about rethinking access and opportunity to some of the positives.
What has the pandemic taught you about the community of people in Boston?
They’re human, and they’re adaptable.
What single thing would you most like to see change about Boston?
I guess I’d like to see people pause to sniff a few more roses. One of the things that makes Boston so vibrant is the extremely high level at which we do all of the things we do. Innovation. Academia. Sports. Science. Medicine. Accents. I think that can cut both ways sometimes, in terms of overall joie de vivre.
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