One of the best things about running Trivium is that even though it is a venture company, it is also a startup, and we are always trying new tools to do our work faster and better.

In addition to raising for EcoClaim (Insurtech / Bates) and Engine Room Media (AI & Creator Economy / Williams), Trivium spent much of April upgrading internal systems to increase our ability to scale (including our website). It also raised a lot of questions about the best new AI tools in the game.

Here are the tools Trivium uses and why (this is not an endorsement for any of these products, we want to show founders new tools and correct ourselves if we are missing something):

  • Claude Pro (co-work & code)

  • Beehiiv (this newsletter)

  • Stripe (payments)

  • Wispr Flow (voice text)

  • Attio Plus (CRM)

  • Google Drive (files)

  • Google Chat (internal comms)

  • Gmail (email)

  • Granola (AI notes)

  • Notion (integrates calendars)

  • Zoom Pro (video calls)

  • LinkedIn (marketing)

  • Lovable (website)

  • All Stage (startup deal portal)

  • Seedlabs (SPV syndicate)

Combine, these systems cost us less than $400 a month and they save dozens of hours each week.

NESCAC founders: What did we miss? What are your favorite tools? Which ones are overrated?

Updates

This month we spoke to five more amazing NESCAC founders, almost a dozen prospective angels, and over 100 entrepreneurial-oriented students on campus at two events. We co-sponsored the Griffiss Institute’s defense tech pitches and spoke at a Hamilton Ventures event (shown below).

The more people that know about Trivium, the more organic deal flow we receive!

A Look Back at Our Recent Liberal Arts Startups

  1. Spike (Wesleyan): A Prediction Market for Social Media Virality.

    1. Spike lets users trade binary contracts on whether videos will hit view thresholds (e.g., 1M views in 24 hours). Creators earn 1% of all trading volume on their content. The behavior already exists: millions of users post comment predictions on viral videos with no real payoff. Spike converts that latent speculation into an actual market.

    2. The pilot filled 1,500 users in under 12 hours with 13,350+ bets placed (8.9/user avg) and 31% D7 retention, well above the 10-20% consumer app benchmark. 54 creators with 122M combined followers onboarded for the pilot, with 65M targeted for v1. Featured in User Magazine (Taylor Lorenz) and The Publish Press, with upcoming coverage on Colin & Samir, Nasdaq, and The Block.

      1. Click for Spike's Website

    3. Founded by Nelson Bellows (Wesleyan).

      Nelson Bellows | Co-Founder & CEO | Wesleyan

  1.  Engine Room Media (Williams) AI-Powered Analytics and Growth Capital for the Creator Economy.

    1. Engine Room unifies fragmented creator data (YouTube, Meta, Spotify, TikTok, Patreon) into a single dashboard with actionable insights. Their second product, PartnerPro, deploys growth capital to high-potential creators, recouping from incremental revenue before sharing 40% of upside.

    2. In the test case with cooking channel SweetAmbs, SweetAmbs has seen 7x growth in YouTube views, 2x increase in paid memberships, and 4–5x improvement in brand deal pricing. The company has $550K committed out of a $950K angel round. The management team brings experience across $1B+ in media transactions at Paramount, Def Jam, Netflix, and HBO.

      1. Click for Engine Room's Website

      2. Click for Engine Room's All Stage Deal Portal

        Geordie McClelland | Co-Founder & Head of Product, Engine Room | Williams

  1. SCAP Athletics (Wesleyan): Purpose-Built Shoulder Recovery for Overhead Athletes.

    1. SCAP Athletics makes the ScapStick, the only recovery tool designed to safely reach the subscapularis — a deep shoulder muscle that contributes to the majority of overhead athlete injuries but is unreachable by any existing product without injury risk. Athletes currently improvise with baseballs and lacrosse balls; the ScapStick provides safe, controlled leverage for pre-game activation and post-game recovery.

    2. Two sold-out production runs, 425+ units at 74% gross margin ($18 COGS / $69.99 retail), averaging 55 units per week, with placement in 21 Division I programs and 10 MLB organizations and zero paid acquisition. The company has generated $16,505 in gross revenue to date, 2M+ organic social views, and has a provisional patent filed. Targeting a $200K pre-seed raise.

      1. Click for SCAP Website

      2. Click for SCAP Athletic’s All Stage Deal Portal.

    3. Founded by Nicholas Dargel (Wesleyan)

    Nicholas Dargel | Co-Founder & CEO | Wesleyan

Upcoming

  • 🛣️Meet with Trivium on our Road Trip 🛣️

    • JUNE — NYC

    • JULY — Maine, Ohio & Chicago

    • AUGUST — Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming & Montana (you never know)

    • SEPTEMBER — Seattle, Portland & San Francisco

    • OCTOBER — Los Angeles

    • NOVEMBER — Las Vegas, Utah & Dallas

    • DECEMBER — NYC again

      • If you plan to be in one of these areas, please reach out in advance to connect.

  • 🛰️ Spacemilk Raise (CPG x Wesleyan) 🛰️

    • A Yeast-Based protein power startup. $1M+ sales already.

      • Reply if you are interested in looking at further diligence 🔽

  • 🗣️ Engine Room Media AI & Creator Economy Info Webinar 🗣️

    • May 12th at 1pm

    • Co-hosted by Elissa Shevinsky (Williams ‘01)

    • RSVP required, Trivium investor members only. Reply 🔽

Trivium Venture Network is a registered LLC. Nothing in this content constitutes investment or legal advice. The information provided should not be used as the basis for making investment decisions. Readers should conduct their own research and consult with investment advisers before making investment decisions.

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