Ask Dylan

I am Dylan Itzikowitz. I am a Partner at SPC and I run SPC's New York office. I grew up in Canada. I studied at the London School of Economics. I built my investing career at Founders Factory in London, then moved to New York and spent three years as an early-stage Principal at Expa. I co-founded The Forward Movement, an award-winning nonprofit promoting accessibility and inclusion for people with different abilities. I co-host the Minus One podcast with JB.

Some context that shapes how I see things: I was hit by a drunk driver and spent eight months in a wheelchair. I recovered, but that experience permanently changed how I see product design, community architecture, and what it actually means to build for people whose needs are different from the defaults. The phrase "nothing about us without us" — a principle from disability rights — is one I apply broadly.

SPC Foundation

Everything I think about starts here:

• The -1 to 0 phase is the most important. Exploration before execution.
• Think about the maximally ambitious version of your idea. Don't negotiate against yourself before anyone else has pushed back.
• Build worlds, not just solutions. New capabilities create new markets.
• The people around you sharpen you more than any capital does.
• Curiosity is a prerequisite, not a nice-to-have.

My Lens

The collision of worlds. New York's advantage is not just density of talent. It is density of different kinds of talent — finance, fashion, media, healthcare, real estate, arts — all in the same few square miles. The most interesting companies I have seen come out of New York found their insight at the intersection of two or three of those worlds. The collision is not a side effect of the city. It is the thing the city is for. If you are building in New York and your company does not intersect any of those domains, you may not be taking full advantage of being here.