February Edition
What Gen Z thinks about mental health, community-led startups and group chats, and resources in entrepreneurship & VC field
Hi, welcome to the January edition of The Group Chat Queen newsletter. I am Natalie, the creator of The Group Chat Queen. I have had 3+ years of experience managing and creating 300+ chats for different universities, startups, and organizations. Coming from a non-target and non-traditional background, I found out about entrepreneurship and VC purely from group chats. So, I created this platform to share out resources, tips, and connections from this space to show a different perspective on building community.
What I’ve Been Up to:
Currently got accepted into HBCUvc as a finalist, which reimagines the innovation economy by developing the next generation of venture capital leaders in communities where entrepreneurs face barriers to accessing capital. I have 2 VC interviews scheduled and will know the results by March. Since I graduate in May, I am looking for full-time VC positions.
With over 1200 + students, Meagan Loyst’s VC 101 course is officially over now. I was happy to get the opportunity to be the community lead for the program and met so many cool people. Highly recommend this course for those that are interested, familiar with, and experts in VC. Make sure to follow her social media accounts to be updated about future events.
Main Feature (Community + Mental Health🌱)
Your mental health data is being sold on the internet for as little as 6 cents.
This is the same title I saw embedded on my screen after Googling this perfectly legal practice by some telehealth companies.
Imagine being a Gen Z using a telehealth app for your clinical depression because you feel that there is nobody else you can tell.
Then all of a sudden, you get a flyer in the mail that is about depression and suddenly everyone in your house is aware.
You double-check your app to see if you gave consent for your data to be sold at this scale and do research about the app. Then you find that this is perfectly legal.
A research team over at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy found 11 companies that were willing to send data. This includes personal information, such as names, addresses, and income.
We are overdue for federal privacy legislation regarding this. As a community builder, this decreases the sense of belonging and community for users of telehealth and therapy apps.
If this data got out, insurance could drop you, your job can fire you, or you could get discriminated against at work.
For universities that use telehealth services, I would be interested if domestic and international students' information are protected. How would this affect people with H1 visas?
After posting this on LinkedIn, I got a response that 48% of participants use telehealth apps.
This creates a lose-lose situation for consumers along with the company, especially if it is a small or medium-sized company.
Community Tools
Lens Protocol 🌿- A permissionless, composable, & decentralized social graph that makes building a Web3 social platform easy. From the team that brought you the Aave Protocol.
Threado- The Command Center for Community Builders. Get insights. Automate tasks. Drive engagement.
Outverse- Community infrastructure for product-led companies. Designed for modern teams & products. Kick-start & scale your community discussions, feedback & knowledge base on Outverse.
Nas.io- is the platform for creators to take back control of their community with exclusive Memberships, Courses, Events, and more – all in one and all for free.
Community-led Startups
Melon- your new fav social listmaking & community-led learning platform🍈 we’re building our app – come join us as an early access user!
Landing- is a next-gen community building the future of positive, creative social media. MOBILE APP COMING SOON. They are known for digital vision boards
Pineapple- the professional network for Gen Z
Gen She- building the next generation of female tech talent by investing specifically in this generation of women, Gen Z'ers.👩💻
Fud- the world’s 1st social hustling community that empowers hustlers to maximize their education and earnings. Raising pre-seed.
Contra- allows anyone to work for themselves and gives clients the ability to hire the best freelance talent 🚀
Chill Pill- on a mission to create better days 🌈 we are a world of future friends who lift each other up we are helping each other feel better, together.
AI Creator Communities
Alnauts- a community of AI explorers
Alethea AI- building at the intersection of Generative AI and Blockchain
Wand: wield the power of infinite creative energy. Assisted by AI with the magic of a wand. Launching soon
Mid Journey- is an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species focused on design, human infrastructures, and AI
Stability.ai- designing and implementing solutions using collective intelligence and augmented technology
Lexica- create anything with Lexica
The Culture DAO- a guild of AI game and AI movie makers powered by Gepetto AI
More communities here
Resources
Gen Z VCs Startup Stack Marketplace: free access to $250k+ in discounts for founders on their startup stack from 50+ partners. Gen Z VCs saved founders $8m+ to date on their startup stack :)
Gen Z VCs Job Board: founders/VCs can post openings within their companies for free, and Gen Z VC help spread the word (also for free) :) We've facilitated 2k+ job applications and would love to help you too!
The Z List: Curated list of events hosted by Zehra and collaborators. Most of them are small events based in NYC.
SF List: Top tech events in San Francisco created by Jonathan Chang (also known as theventureguy on TikTok).
Antler’s next residency: first-check VC and founder residency for pre-seed founders. 6 weeks of in-person vetting and validating your business.
Collective Media: The collective is made up of the new wave of consumer social founders who are committed to re-imagining and building the next generation of social spaces. If you own a community, you can sign the pledge.
Pioneer: selected founders get a $20k investment, go through a 3-month remote accelerator, spend a month in San Francisco with fellow founders, get mentored by top operators/investors, and much more.
I didn’t know that February ended on the 28th and not the 30th, so apologize for the delay.
If anyone wants to set up a coffee chat, or has anyone that I should have an intro to, just let me know. My email ncn9@psu.edu is always open!