Overview
*REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS AT CAPACITY AND NOW CLOSED*
**NOTE: This month’s Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg event will be hosted at Bloomberg’s 120 Park Avenue office. Please check the “WHEN & WHERE” section below for details.**
Bloomberg, Cornell Tech, and Tech:NYC invite you to join us for the latest installment of the Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg Speaker Series, featuring Hayley Barna, Partner at First Round Capital, in conversation with Caroline Hyde, host of Bloomberg Television’s flagship daily technology show.
First Round Capital is an early-stage venture firm that has backed transformative companies such as Uber, Square, Notion, and Warby Parker. As the co-founder and former co-CEO of beauty subscription startup Birchbox, Hayley scaled the company into a category-defining brand that reshaped how consumers discover and buy beauty products, leading the company through growth, scale, and global expansion.
Since joining First Round Capital in 2016, Hayley has focused on bringing a founder-operator empathy to her work with early-stage entrepreneurs. Her investments span sectors from consumer products and digital health to enterprise SaaS, including game-changing companies like Mirror, Alma, Thirty Madison, and Arbor.
Hayley also knows firsthand what it takes to build and scale enduring companies in today’s market, and how early-stage capital can catalyze outsized impact.
We hope you’ll register to attend this exciting conversation, where Barna will share her journey from startup founder to venture capitalist, offer her take on the next wave of breakout startups, and explore what it means to back bold ideas from day one.
Twitter: @TechAtBloomberg
Facebook: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg
Agenda
- 5:30 PM
Networking reception begins
- 6:00 PM
Doors close, conversation starts
- 6:45 PM
Audience Q&A
- 7:00 PM
Networking and hors d’oeuvres to follow
- 7:45 PM
Food service ends
PLEASE NOTE: Seating is limited and registered attendees will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors close promptly at the top of the hour. Individuals arriving late may be turned away from the building. No walk-ins will be allowed.
*REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS AT CAPACITY AND NOW CLOSED*
Speakers
Hayley Barna
Hayley Barna joined First Round Capital as a partner in 2016 to lead its New York office. She particularly enjoys working with founders tackling problems with real-world impact across healthcare, climate, supply chain, and commerce that have been either overlooked or assumed to be unsolvable.
A former founder, angel investor and operator, Hayley co-founded Birchbox in 2010, a First Round-backed subscription e-commerce company widely credited for the rise of the subscription industry. There, she grew what started as a school project into a 200-person business with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Prior to Birchbox, Hayley spent time at Bain & Company, Christie’s, and Amazon, where she cut her teeth on everything from strategy work to product management. She is a founding member of All Raise, an organization committed to accelerating the success of female founders and funders. She has been recognized as Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and Fortune’s 40 Under 40, and is a Trustee for the Society for Science, a non-profit dedicated to promoting scientific research, education and literacy.
Hayley received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard and MBA from Harvard Business School.
READ BIOWhen & Where
Monday, June 16, 2025
5:30 PM-8:00 PM EDT
Bloomberg
120 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
22 MPR