Capital Calling Podcast

Capital Calling: ConnNext

Celia Davis pitches ConnNext to investors Jennifer Wolf of Initialized Capital, Jeremy Kagan of Textbook Ventures, and Antonio Calderon of Distributed Ventures.

Date

03/19/2026

Author

Team Coeus

Professional networking is more fragmented than ever. Young professionals are told that relationships matter, yet most platforms still leave them cold messaging strangers, collecting weak ties, and hoping something turns into opportunity. But can a platform built to make networking more intentional convince investors it belongs at the center of career growth?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Celia Davis, Founder of ConnNext, pitches a professional relationship platform built for young professionals looking to form more meaningful connections. ConnNext is designed to help users build real professional communities through a matching system focused on career growth, support, and relationship quality rather than passive social feeds or transactional outreach. The company’s core thesis is that networking should feel more human, more relevant, and more useful than sending hundreds of cold messages or endlessly applying to jobs online.

Across the table, investors Jennifer Wolf, Former Managing Partner at Initialized Capital, Jeremy Kagan of Textbook Ventures, and Antonio Calderon of Distributed Ventures engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess professional networking behavior among younger users, the challenge of building trust and engagement in a relationship platform, the product’s differentiation from LinkedIn and other social networks, and whether ConnNext can scale into foundational infrastructure for meaningful professional connection.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

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