Joy Fairbanks

Joy is an experienced founder, investment evaluator, and advisor to innovative early stage companies across sectors. Prior to forming her own boutique advisory firm, Fairbanks Venture Advisors, she served clients at LEK Consulting and Mitchell Madison Group, where she was a founding member and engagement manager. She started her career as a securities analyst at Fidelity Investments.

Joy has extensive experience advising companies across geographies from M&A and strategic planning to operations and supply chain management. She advises early stage companies on business modeling, MVPs/prototyping, go to market strategy, fundraising/investor presentations, partnerships, and financial forecasting.

Joy is an active advisor across accelerators and university startup communities including: Blackstone Launchpad (powered by Techstars), Black Ambition, The German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC-Step USA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Venture Out, Inventor to Founders (I2F) Cyber NYC, StartEd’s NYU New Media Lab, Stanford University’s Hacking for Recovery Lean Launchpad, and Columbia University’s Entrepreneurship Design Studio. Joy is on the admissions committee of the Long Beach Accelerator, a public-private partnership on the West Coast.

Areas of Expertise

• Entrepreneurship, Finance, Innovation, Strategy

Education

• Master of Business Administration - MBA Columbia Business School (1993 — 1994)
• Master of Science - MSc The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (1989 — 1990)
• Bachelor of Arts - BA University of California, Berkeley (1983 — 1987)
• Visiting Undergraduate Program (inc Summer Sessions) Harvard University (1984 — 1986)

Companies

• Adjunct Assistant Professor Columbia Business School (2021)
• Admissions Committee Member | Startup Advisor Long Beach Accelerator (2020)
• Mentor | Startup Advisor for Blackstone Launchpad (powered by Techstars) Blackstone (2020)
• Startup Advisor Cyber NYC Inventors to Founders Initiative (2020)
• Founder and Managing Principal Fairbanks Venture Advisors (1999)
• Mentor in Residence | Startup Advisor VentureOut (2019 — 2021)
• Engagement Manager and Founding Team Mitchell Madison Group (1994 — 1999)
• Associate L.E.K. Consulting (1991 — 1992)
• Securities Analyst Fidelity Investments (1987 — 1989)