Disrupt 2025 Speakers
New speakers added daily. Check back in for updates.
Partner Index Ventures
General Partner defy.vc
Partner CapitalG, Alphabet's independent growth fund
Co-Founder and CEO Chess.com
Co-founder and President Kindred
Co-Founder and Managing Partner 01 Advisors
CEO & Co-Founder Harness
Founder and CEO Chef Robotics
Partner NEA
Partner Harlem Capital
Managing Partner Point72 Ventures
General Partner Greylock
CEO & Co-Founder Lago
Investor Thrive Capital
Co-Founder and Managing Partner 01 Advisors
Co-Founder and CPO Sentry
Co-Founder, President, and Partner Sapphire Ventures
Partner, People & Talent SignalFire
General Partner Felicis
General Partner 01 Advisors
General Partner Andreessen Horowitz
Head of Model Cyber Safety Anthropic
CEO and Co-Founder Writer
Managing Partner, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund Revolution
Executive Director Center for AI Safety
Head of Corporate Development and M&A Coinbase
Head of Operations & Talent 645 Ventures
Partner ICONIQ
CEO Wayve
Chief Product Officer Netflix
Lecturer, Investor, and Advisor UC Berkeley
Partner NEA
Fractional General Counsel for Early-Stage Startups Epigram Legal P.C.
Founder and CEO Pinecone
Chief Technology Officer Pinterest
Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer Runway
Product Manager Reddit
Partner Bessemer Venture Partners
Co-Founder, Managing Partner January Ventures
Co-Founder & Managing General Partner MaC Venture Capital
Co-Founder and Managing Partner 645 Ventures
Co-founder and CEO Kindred
General Partner Freestyle Capital
Director, Generative AI Meta
General Partner ICONIQ Growth
Founder & CEO Flexport
Head of Growth Equity Generation Investment Management
Amazon Business Reshape 2024 Amazon
Staff Product Manager, GitHub Copilot GitHub
Co-Founder ElevenLabs
Founder & General Partner Moxxie Ventures
Captain of Moonshots X, The Moonshot Factory
CEO & Co-Founder Diligent Robotics
Co-Founder Wonder Dynamics, an Autodesk company
Co-Founder & CEO Nextdoor
Founder & CEO Waabi
CEO AHARA
Managing Partner VITALIZE Venture Capital
Co-Founder & Managing Director Renegade Partners
CEO, Founder Pulley
Partner IVP
General Partner GV (Google Ventures)
Nina is a partner at Index Ventures, investing across seed, venture, and growth stages in AI, robotics, enterprise software, and vertical SaaS. She is excited by companies that build solutions to automate “forgotten” functions and industries, replacing pen and paper and siloed tools. Nina is inspired by founders who develop empathy for their customers, have an insatiable curiosity, and operate with a growth mindset. Nina currently serves on the boards or works with companies including SeviceTitan, Gong, Vizcom, Intercom, Persona, Motive, Seso, and Transcend, among others. Prior to Index, Nina worked at Google as an FP&A Lead, where she helped build the GTM infrastructure of the AdSense sales organization. She started her career as a bond trader in New York and London and founded HIVE Ventures, the first seed fund focused on Armenian entrepreneurs. Nina was featured on Forbes’ Midas Brink List in 2022, which recognizes up-and-coming leading investors. She graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in government and is a recipient of the Michael C. Rockefeller Scholarship. Nina currently lives in San Francisco and, in her spare time, can be found watching football and Formula 1.
Nina's Sessions
Where VCs Are Placing Their Bets in 2026
Curious where the smart money is heading next? This panel brings together top VCs to share their 2026 investment priorities, emerging sectors, and what innovations are catching their eye. Early-stage founders, this one is for you, get a rare glimpse into the trends and technologies that could shape your business in the year ahead.
As a General Partner at Defy, Medha is fortunate to support exceptional entrepreneurs from day zero through hyper-growth. Whether building her own startups or partnering with founders, she has experienced the highs and lows of company-building—sometimes all within the same hour. It’s one of the hardest, loneliest jobs in the world, which is why she believes founders need trusted partners who can be there for anything, big or small. Medha strives to be that person. Before Defy, she spent seven years as a Partner at Redpoint Ventures, focused on early-stage fintech, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, and healthcare. She had the privilege of working with companies like Whatnot, Tend, Proper Finance, LiveKit, and Anvyl—founders who taught her as much as she supported them. Medha began her career at Bain & Company, founded two startups (Skedge.me and Roomidex), and started her investing journey at Bessemer Venture Partners. Born in New York to immigrant parents, she’s the eldest of three and shaped by the values they modeled—grit, humility, and continuous improvement. She studied Social Studies at Harvard College and rowed on the varsity lightweight crew team, where she learned what it means to push past limits for your team. She later attended Harvard Business School and now lives in Marin with her husband and three kids. Most weekends, they’re outdoors exploring, and she still squeezes in a morning workout—old habits die hard. Medha is proud to be part of Defy and to continue backing the next generation of iconic founders.
Medha's Sessions
What VCs Really Want to Hear in Your Pitch
Investors hear hundreds of pitches — but only a few stand out. Hear directly from VCs on what they love, what makes them cringe, and the subtle signals founders often miss. This panel reveals insider tips to help you craft a pitch that grabs attention, builds trust, and wins the right checks.
Jane is an investment partner at Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, where she focuses on enterprise software. She brings over fifteen years of operating experience and a passion for company building to her role. Jane has spent her career building and scaling go-to-market teams. Before joining CapitalG, Jane was the CMO of Carta where she led marketing, channel sales, and product-led-growth (PLG). Prior to that, she led sales teams at Salesforce and RelateIQ. Jane attended Stanford Business School and Harvard University.
Jane's Sessions
How AI is Forcing Late-stage Startups to Rewire GTM – or Be Left Behind
Erik Allebest is the CEO and co-founder of Chess.com, the #1 platform for people to play and learn chess. Erik was introduced to chess by his mother when he was eight years old. His passion for the game was reignited in college, where he met Jay Severson, the chess club president, who would later become his co-founder at Chess.com. Together they launched Chess.com in 2005, right as Erik graduated from Stanford Business School. Over the last 18 years, Erik and the team have grown the company to over 700 employees, $100M in revenue, and most importantly, a community of 165 million registered users. Erik lives in Utah with his family, and enjoys a variety of activities including CrossFit, pickleball, and disc golf.
Erik's Sessions
Rethinking Startup Capital Without VCs
VCs aren’t the only game in town. Join us as we explore alternative fundraising paths with an angel investor, a family office vice president, and a founder who bootstrapped to success. Learn how to tap into capital that aligns with your vision, keeps you in control, and gets you to the next stage—on your terms.
Tasneem Amina is the Co-Founder and President of Kindred, a global home swapping community she launched in 2021 with co-founder Justine Palefsky. Born in India and raised by a large extended family, Tasneem’s early years were filled with movement between homes and relatives. “Home,” to her, was always about feeling rather than place–a core value that continues to guide Kindred’s mission today. Prior to starting Kindred, Tasneem was on the early teams of the property technology company Opendoor and social media company YikYak. Tasneem immigrated to the United States in high school, where she attended the University of Chicago. She now lives in San Francisco, though she travels frequently and considers many different cities to be home.
Tasneem's Sessions
The Winning Formula: Turning Your Business Into a Trusted, Scalable Community To Drive Growth
Join Kindred Co-founders Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina as they share how they turned a high-performing tech platform into a community-led movement that redefined home swapping.They’ll explore the strategic blueprint behind building trust at scale to drive exponential growth to include: Turning members into brand ambassadors through a values-driven approach. Using community as a lever for growth and retention. Building for emotional need, not just technical performance. Justine and Tas didn’t just launch a travel product — they revived an outdated category. This talk is for any founder or operator looking to grow an authentic community with integrity, relevance, and resonance.
Adam Bain is the co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, a venture firm targeting companies who have found product-market fit and are looking for operating expertise as they scale. He also serves on the Board of Directors at Opendoor (NASDAQ: OPEN). Adam is the former Chief Operating Officer of Twitter, where he was responsible for the company’s business lines, including the go-to-market, product and operations teams for the advertising and data businesses. Previously, Adam was the President of the Audience Network at News Corp and ran Product teams at Fox Sports and The Los Angeles Times. In 2012, Adam ranked #1 in Ad Week’s annual listing of the top 50 indispensable talent. In 2013, Adam was inducted into The American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement. In 2015, Adam was named one of the 30 United Nations Women “He for She” Impact Champions to help advance gender equality.
Adam's Sessions
Building What’s Next with the Minds Behind Twitter and Meta
Join Adam Bain (former COO, Twitter), Dick Costolo (former CEO, Twitter) and David Fischer (former Chief Revenue Officer, Meta) of 01 Advisors for an insider fireside chat on what it really takes to build, scale, and fund early-stage startups today. From product to growth to fundraising, get candid advice and fresh perspectives from three industry veterans shaping the next wave of tech success.
Jyoti Bansal is a serial entrepreneur who believes passionately in software’s ability to change the world for the better. He co-founded Harness in 2017 to automate and simplify all software delivery processes, and serves as CEO. In 2018, he co-founded Traceable, the leading API security platform, and venture capital firm Unusual Ventures. In 2008, Jyoti founded application intelligence company AppDynamics, which he led to a $3.7B acquisition by Cisco in 2017. The recipient of multiple leadership awards, Jyoti has been named Forbes’ “Best Cloud Computing CEO to Work for,” San Francisco Business Times’ “Best CEO,” Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year™ for Northern California,” and more. Jyoti received his B.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Prior to founding AppDynamics, he worked at several Silicon Valley startups as a software engineer and architect. Jyoti is the lead inventor on over 20 U.S. patents.
Jyoti's Sessions
What VCs Really Want to Hear in Your Pitch
Investors hear hundreds of pitches — but only a few stand out. Hear directly from VCs on what they love, what makes them cringe, and the subtle signals founders often miss. This panel reveals insider tips to help you craft a pitch that grabs attention, builds trust, and wins the right checks.
Rajat Bhageria is the Founder and CEO of Chef Robotics, a company based in San Francisco that designs and deploys AI-enabled robotics that help food companies flexibly automate their production, thereby helping them overcome the labor shortage, increase production volume, and keep production on-shore. He’s also the Founder and Managing Partner at Prototype Capital.
Rajat's Sessions
How to Nail Product Market Fit
Building a product is hard. Building one that has customers chomping at the bit to get it, is priced well and can deliver on its promises is far harder, and always messy. But once you achieve the holy grail of product market/fit, your startup will rocket to growth, funding and success. Hear from a founder who’s lived it and two investors who have helped many others achieve it. This panel breaks down how to test smarter, iterate with intention so you can stop guessing and start growing.
Ann is a Partner at NEA, where she focuses on early-stage investing in consumer technology and AI application software and marketplaces. Prior to NEA, Ann was Chief Operating Officer of Rival (acquired by Live Nation) and held business leadership roles at Uber and Twitter during their growth phase. As an operator, she has seen Silicon Valley startups through each phase of the company-building lifecycle, from first launch to IPO. Ann holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS from UC Berkeley.
Ann's Sessions
How to Nail Product Market Fit
Building a product is hard. Building one that has customers chomping at the bit to get it, is priced well and can deliver on its promises is far harder, and always messy. But once you achieve the holy grail of product market/fit, your startup will rocket to growth, funding and success. Hear from a founder who’s lived it and two investors who have helped many others achieve it. This panel breaks down how to test smarter, iterate with intention so you can stop guessing and start growing.
Gabby Cazeau is a Partner at Harlem Capital – where All Winners are Welcome. At the firm she invests in pre-seed and seed startups, primarily in Enterprise and Vertical software and Applied AI. Gabby sits on the VC Council of Startup:NYC. She has been featured in Business Insider, CNBC, and named to Crain’s NYC 40 Under 40. Gabby received her MBA from the Yale School of Management and holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis
Gabby's Sessions
Seed Money Secrets Every Founder Should Know
Raising your first round is tough—but far from impossible. This panel brings together experienced investors to break down what it really takes to close a seed round. From crafting the right pitch to ensuring you are greenlighting the right partners, get actionable advice to turn investor interest into capital.
Sri Chandrasekar is the Managing Partner of Point72 Private Investments, the private investing business of Point72 Asset Management. Sri joined Point72 from In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment arm of the CIA and the U.S. Intelligence Community. At In-Q-Tel, Sri led investments and built research teams to solve some of the intelligence community’s toughest problems. Prior to In-Q-Tel, Sri spent nearly a decade designing and building systems for the military at BAE Systems.
Jerry joined Greylock in 2013, and backs founders with a strong product and operational sense across a range of sectors including AI, data, business applications, cloud infrastructure, and open source technologies. His current investments at Greylock include Cato Networks, Chronosphere, Docker, Gladly, Instabase, Onehouse, Notable, and others in stealth. Before Greylock, Jerry spent a decade at VMware as a product leader and executive. As an early hire, he watched the company grow from 250 to more than 15,000 employees.
Jerry's Sessions
Where VCs Are Placing Their Bets in 2026
Curious where the smart money is heading next? This panel brings together top VCs to share their 2026 investment priorities, emerging sectors, and what innovations are catching their eye. Early-stage founders, this one is for you, get a rare glimpse into the trends and technologies that could shape your business in the year ahead.
Anh-Tho Chuong is the co-founder of Lago, the open-source billing platform loved by developers. Frustrated by the limitations of traditional billing systems during her experience scaling SaaS companies, she co-created Lago to provide flexible, developer-centric solutions. Lago is now trusted by notable clients like Mistral.ai and Together.ai and has secured $22 million in funding from investors including FirstMark, SignalFire, and Y Combinator. Prior to Lago, Anh-Tho served as VP of Growth at the $5B fintech firm Qonto, guiding its go-to-market strategy from pre-launch through Series C. Her career also includes key growth and strategic roles at Weebly (acquired by Square), Mailjet (acquired by Mailgun), startup studio Hexa, and McKinsey & Company.
Anh-Tho's Sessions
Do Startups Still Need Silicon Valley?
While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world. While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world.
Philip Clark is an investor at Thrive Capital, where he has partnered with leading software and hardware companies that are engineering breakthrough advancements in AI and robotics, including Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Physical Intelligence, and Wiz. He previously invested at Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford with degrees in Computer Science and Management Science & Engineering. He continues to advise the Hoover Institution on various topics in emerging technologies.
Dick Costolo is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, an early growth venture firm leveraging our operating experience to help companies scale. Prior to co-founding 01 Advisors, he was CEO of Twitter from 2010 to 2015 and has been Founder and CEO of multiple startups, including FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007. The former improv comedian has been a consultant on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Dick's Sessions
Building What’s Next with the Minds Behind Twitter and Meta
Join Adam Bain (former COO, Twitter), Dick Costolo (former CEO, Twitter) and David Fischer (former Chief Revenue Officer, Meta) of 01 Advisors for an insider fireside chat on what it really takes to build, scale, and fund early-stage startups today. From product to growth to fundraising, get candid advice and fresh perspectives from three industry veterans shaping the next wave of tech success.
David Cramer is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Sentry, which helps developers find and fix bugs faster so they can get back to the fun parts of building. David started Sentry as an Open Source side project in 2012; today it’s used by over four million developers at over 100,000 organizations, including companies like Anthropic, Disney, Instacart, Duolingo, Slack, and Cursor. In his spare time, he builds projects to dogfood Sentry on and is an angel investor in Vercel, Laravel, Dandelion Chocolate, and dozens of other companies.
David's Sessions
With Vibe Coding, Do Early Stage Startups Still Need to Hire 10x Engineers?
Vibe coding products have completely changed the speed, cost and technical skill needed to build products, from prototypes to shipping. This is especially true for early stage startups. Some makers of these products have even declared that no one needs to learn to code anymore. If so, that means startups don’t need to fill their early rosters with the famed 10x coders. But how much of that is hype and how much is reality? Our panelists will dive into how the developer tool world is changing and what comes next.
Jai is Co-Founder, President, and Partner at leading global software VC firm, Sapphire Ventures. His current investments include Glean, Netskope, Cohesity, Huntress, ThoughtSpot, Defense Unicorns, Clari, CircleCI, DataRobot, JumpCloud, Simpplr, Blockdaemon, and UJET. Fourteen of his investments have IPO’ed, including MuleSoft, Jfrog, Five9, Nutanix, Alteryx, Square, ExactTarget, Apigee, Box, and SumoLogic, while twenty-four of his investments have been acquired. Jai focuses primarily on enterprise tech trends, including AI as a platform shift and its impact on B2B SaaS, and the evolving VC landscape as it pertains to growth-stage companies.
Jai's Sessions
Everything You Need to Know Before an Exit
Go public, get acquired, or double down and stay private? In today’s unpredictable market, founders need to think about exit strategy earlier — and more strategically — than ever. This panel brings together two top VCs and a seasoned CFO to unpack how to set your company up for every option. We’ll talk timing, metrics that matter, investor expectations, and what it really takes to navigate M&A, IPO prep, or just keep building through the storm. Whether you’re 12 months out or just starting to scale, this conversation is all about making smart moves now for whatever comes next.
Dr. Heather Doshay is Partner, People + Talent at SignalFire, the first venture capital firm built like a technology company to better solve for the needs of founders. In this role, she uses nearly 20 years of operating and teaching experience to expertly guide startups to success. Prior to SignalFire, Heather held executive operator roles such as VP People at Webflow and RainforestQA, led Candidate Marketplace at Hired, and taught Organizational Leadership at the University of San Francisco.
Heather's Sessions
Do Startups Still Need Silicon Valley?
While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world. While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world.
Viviana is a General Partner at Felicis, bringing over 20 years of experience designing and building brand categories for successful cloud/SaaS and enterprise social companies. Her expertise includes scaling go-to-market SaaS teams, messaging and positioning, category creation, freemium product strategy, and sales enablement. An experienced angel investor, Viviana previously served as an operating partner and advisor at Emergence Capital. She held leadership positions in marketing at Yammer, Salesforce, Platfora, and Zenefits. After Yammer’s $1.2B acquisition by Microsoft, she became its head of marketing for enterprise social, which included Office 365, Skype, and Lync. She has a BS in Operations Management & Information Systems from Santa Clara University and enjoys spending time with her family and traveling internationally.
Viviana's Sessions
Where VCs Are Placing Their Bets in 2026
Curious where the smart money is heading next? This panel brings together top VCs to share their 2026 investment priorities, emerging sectors, and what innovations are catching their eye. Early-stage founders, this one is for you, get a rare glimpse into the trends and technologies that could shape your business in the year ahead.
David Fischer is a General Partner at 01 Advisors, a venture firm targeting companies that have found product-market fit and are looking for operating expertise as they scale. David is the former Chief Revenue Officer of Facebook. He served at the company from 2010 to 2021, overseeing the advertising business and managing the sales and marketing teams worldwide. In that role, he led the growth of the company’s revenue from less than $1 billion a year to over $100 billion in 2021, while serving over 200 million businesses through the company’s products. Prior to joining Facebook in 2010, David was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google. Starting in 2002, he built and directed Google’s online sales channel. David previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Treasury Department in the late 1990’s. Prior to that, David was an Associate Editor at U.S. News & World Report, where he covered economics and business from Washington, DC.
David's Sessions
Building What’s Next with the Minds Behind Twitter and Meta
Join Adam Bain (former COO, Twitter), Dick Costolo (former CEO, Twitter) and David Fischer (former Chief Revenue Officer, Meta) of 01 Advisors for an insider fireside chat on what it really takes to build, scale, and fund early-stage startups today. From product to growth to fundraising, get candid advice and fresh perspectives from three industry veterans shaping the next wave of tech success.
David George is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads the firm’s Growth investing team and has led many of the firm’s growth investments. Prior to joining a16z, David spent seven years at General Atlantic leading and partnering on numerous consumer internet and enterprise software growth investments, including Airbnb, AppDynamics, Opendoor, Slack, and Uber. Previously, he was an investment associate at FFL Partners and an investment banking analyst for William Blair & Company. David graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and Investment Committee of Sacred Heart Schools-Atherton and the Advisory Council of the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame, and sits on the board of the Foundation for Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. David is a proud native of Kentucky, where he developed his love of basketball, bourbon, and horse racing.
David's Sessions
How Long Should a Startup Stay Private?
Startups today can grow to huge valuations, cash out their employees, and stay private longer than those of previous eras. But that also means that late-stage startups are facing a whole new set of rules. George unpacks the shifting VC landscape, what the next generation of scaled startups needs to know, and how capital is being deployed in an era of tighter money and higher expectations. From IPO windows to secondary markets to the evolving role of growth investors, this fireside chat goes deep on what it really takes to build enduring companies in today’s market — and what’s coming next.
Kyla Guru is Head of Model Cyber Safety at Anthropic, where she architects safety mitigations for AI agents and LLMs before public deployment, tracks cyber misuse patterns, and leads pre-deployment safety evaluations. Her mission: ensuring AI systems are secure by design, not afterthought. A Stanford-trained computer scientist (BS/MS), Kyla brings battle-tested expertise from offensive security and threat intelligence roles at SpaceX, Apple, MS-ISAC, and the U.S. Government. Her thesis pioneered using LLMs for threat actor attribution and technique identification—research that now directly informs her work securing frontier AI systems. Beyond being a technologist, Kyla is a grassroots activator, reshaping cybersecurity education as Founder/CEO of the 501(c)(3) Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education Corp. and co-founder of GirlCon Conference, which unites 700+ industry professionals and students annually to close tech’s gender gap. Now in its 8th year, GirlCon has become the premier tech conference for high school students globally.
Kyla's Sessions
How to Train Your Model: Taming AI Agents Without Breaking Them
Every AI model faces a fundamental tension: make it too harmless and it becomes less helpful, too helpful and it becomes dangerous. This interactive discussion explores real-world decisions in AI training – from constitutional AI to red-teaming strategies and enforcement approaches. We’ll examine case studies of blending safety and functionality, debate steering techniques that preserve model personality, and crowdsource solutions for common training dilemmas. Attendees will leave with frameworks for balancing safety constraints with performance goals, practical approaches to model character development, and strategies for building AI that’s both helpful and harmless.
How to Train Your Model: Taming AI Agents Without Breaking Them [encore]
Every AI model faces a fundamental tension: make it too harmless and it becomes less helpful, too helpful and it becomes dangerous. This interactive discussion explores real-world decisions in AI training – from constitutional AI to red-teaming strategies and enforcement approaches. We’ll examine case studies of blending safety and functionality, debate steering techniques that preserve model personality, and crowdsource solutions for common training dilemmas. Attendees will leave with frameworks for balancing safety constraints with performance goals, practical approaches to model character development, and strategies for building AI that’s both helpful and harmless.
May Habib is the CEO and co-founder of Writer, a leader and pioneer in enterprise AI. With Writer’s end-to-end AI agent platform, hundreds of companies like Accenture, Intuit, Mars, Uber, and Vanguard are building and scaling AI agents that are grounded in their company’s data and fueled by Writer’s enterprise-grade LLMs. From faster product launches to deeper financial research to better clinical trials, companies are quickly transforming their most important business processes for the AI era in partnership with Writer. Writer houses the world’s only enterprise-specific AI research lab. Its family of enterprise-grade Palmyra LLMs includes state-of-the-art frontier models, as well as self-evolving, open-source, and domain-specific models. Palmyra models define industry-leading standards for enterprise-grade transparency, reliability, safety, efficiency, and observability. May is an expert in natural language processing and AI-driven language generation. She has led Writer to become one of the world’s fastest-growing generative AI companies, securing its position as a Forbes 50 AI company and inclusion in the World Economic Forum’s Unicorn Community. Founded in 2020 with its headquarters in San Francisco and offices around the globe, Writer is backed by world-leading investors, including Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Insight Partners, Balderton, B Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, Citi Ventures, IBM Ventures, and others. May and the Writer team have raised over $326M in funding at a valuation of $1.9B. May graduated with high honors in Economics from Harvard University. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, a recipient of Inc.’s Female Founder Award, and one of Worth’s Groundbreaking Women for 2025.
David Hall is a Managing Partner at Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and is responsible for investment sourcing, execution, and oversight of the Fund’s portfolio companies. David began his career with Revolution in 2006, has served as an investor on the Revolution Growth and Revolution Ventures teams, and helped launch Rise of the Rest in 2014. David works closely with and serves as a board member or observer for several Rise of the Rest portfolio companies, including FreightWaves, Hermeus, Pryon, Rheaply, SparkCharge, Speakeasy, and Understory. David also serves on the board of the National Venture Capital Association. Prior to Revolution, David was the Director of Planning and Development at The Washington Post Company. There, he managed corporate M&A and investments and launched new print and digital publications. Earlier in his career, David held positions at Akamai Technologies, Inc. and Morgan Stanley. David received a B.A. in economics from Morehouse College and MBA from Harvard Business School.
David's Sessions
Do Startups Still Need Silicon Valley?
While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world. While Silicon Valley is still the startup capital, how important is access to it anymore? This panel debates whether founders must plant roots in the Valley to succeed or if opportunity is so strong elsewhere that they don’t need it. Hear perspectives from investors and founders redefining what it means to build, scale, and fund a company in today’s decentralized tech world.
Dan Hendrycks is the executive director of the Center for AI Safety and an advisor to xAI and Scale AI. He received his PhD in AI from UC Berkeley. He has contributed the GELU activation function (the most-used activation in state-of-the-art models including BERT, GPT, Vision Transformers, etc.), benchmarks and methods in robustness, MMLU, and an Introduction to AI Safety, Ethics, and Society.
Daniel's Sessions
AI at the Brink: Strategic Playbook for National Security
Advanced AI poses dual-use risks with potentially catastrophic consequences, from bioweapons to cyberattacks. As global competition accelerates progress, managing technological risks is a national and international security priority. This session explores strategic frameworks for the AI age, including Mutually Assured AI Malfunction , technical evaluations, non-proliferation, and supply chain security. Dan Hendrycks (CAIS) will be joined by key voices, potentially including Superintelligence Strategy co-authors Eric Schmidt and Alexander Wang.
As Head of Corporate Development at Coinbase, Aklil Ibssa leads the firm’s merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy and execution, and is the brain behind some of the company’s most substantial acquisitions and investments (ex. Deribit, Spindl). In this role, he’s led over a dozen acquisitions and nearly 50 early & later stage investments, and as one of the first hires on the team, helped scale Coinbase’s M&A program to the most active in crypto with over 30+ completed acquisitions. Prior to Coinbase, he was an early member of LinkedIn’s Corp Dev team leading M&A, strategy, and investments across the business. Before that, he held an investment banking role working on M&A, capital markets, and advisory work at Deutsche Bank in San Francisco.
Aklil's Sessions
How to Get Acquired in Tech (Without Selling Out): M&A Tips for Founders and Builders
Coinbase just pulled off the biggest acquisition in crypto history — and its 6th acquisition in 6 months. So what separates the builders getting acquired from the ones getting ghosted? This no-BS session breaks down how to make your project irresistible: from product-market fit to community traction. Learn how to position your project for a strategic acquisition, partnership, or investment — without compromising decentralization. If you’re building onchain or in tech and wondering whether M&A is a path to scale, this is your playbook. And if you’re an investor, you’ll get a cheat sheet for spotting teams building toward high-value outcomes.
Randi Jakubowitz is the Head of Operations & Talent at 645 Ventures. In this role, she partners with existing portfolio founders to build their teams and culture, create scalable talent-focused processes and leverages best practices to help evolve early-stage companies into rapidly-growing, growth stage category-leading businesses. She also leads the internal People/HR function for 645 Ventures. In addition, Randi is responsible for founder programming, the firm’s events & sponsorship strategies, community development for 645’s portfolio operators and aspects of the firms day-to-day operations across both NYC & SF. Prior to 645, Randi was a Senior People Leader at high-growth companies across a variety of industries including: Seamless/GrubHub (ecommerce), Toptal (tech/services marketplace), Paro (fintech/services marketplace) and Havas (advertising). Randi was a part of the operational leadership team that took Seamless through the GrubHub merger and later, the GRUB IPO. Randi is also a Professional Coach and she received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Randi's Sessions
How Much Salary and Equity Should You Really Offer Early Employees?
Early hires shape your startup’s future—but only if you can attract and keep them. This panel dives into building equity and benefits packages that compete with big tech without breaking your burn rate. Hear real-world strategies to align incentives, boost retention, and build a team that scales.
Murali Joshi is a Partner at ICONIQ. He joined ICONIQ several years ago and has helped lead over $2.5B of investments in DX, Datadog, Procore, Drata, 1Password, Axonius, Netskope, Fivetran, Loom and several others. He was honored and selected on the Forbes’s Midas Brink List in 2024. Before joining ICONIQ, Murali worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs’s Technology, Media and Telecom group where he covered DevOps & Enterprise Software working with companies like Twilio, Zoom, DocuSign, AlienVault, Samsung, Micron and others.
Murali's Sessions
How to Nail Product Market Fit
Building a product is hard. Building one that has customers chomping at the bit to get it, is priced well and can deliver on its promises is far harder, and always messy. But once you achieve the holy grail of product market/fit, your startup will rocket to growth, funding and success. Hear from a founder who’s lived it and two investors who have helped many others achieve it. This panel breaks down how to test smarter, iterate with intention so you can stop guessing and start growing.
Alex co-founded Wayve in 2017 to reimagine autonomous mobility through embodied intelligence. From his award-winning research at the University of Cambridge, he seized the opportunity to use deep learning to pioneer an entirely new way to solve self-driving. He showed for the first time that it was possible to teach a machine to understand where it is and what’s around it and then give it the “intelligence” to make its own decisions based on what it sees with computer vision. As CEO, Alex is responsible for the company’s overall strategy, primarily focusing on establishing all necessary ingredients to develop and deploy AV2.0 globally. He also works closely with our partners and investors to ensure that our technology is commercially viable and can be widely adopted. Under Alex’s leadership, Wayve is fast becoming one of the most exciting companies in the autonomous vehicle industry. Before founding Wayve, Alex’s passion for autonomous vehicles began as a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD in Computer Vision and Robotics. His research has received numerous awards for scientific impact and made significant contributions to the field of computer vision and AI. He was selected on the Royal Academy of Engineering’s SME Leaders Programme and named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 innovators list.
Eunice Kim was named Chief Product Officer in October 2023. She previously led the company’s global Consumer Product Innovation team. Eunice joined Netflix in early 2021 after having spent 10 years in product leadership roles at Google Play and YouTube. Prior to Google, she worked at several tech startups as well as PepsiCo and Adobe Systems. Eunice holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She serves on the Board of Directors for Cure CMD.
Abhi Kumar is a strategy leader at the forefront of aerospace and emerging technologies. In addition to his full-time commitment in the aerospace industry, he’s a visiting lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he designed and taught a brand new course, ‘New Space Economy’, bringing founders, investors, and operators together to decode what’s next in space. His goal: equip the next generation of leaders with a clear-eyed view of current industry dynamics and future opportunities. Abhi serves on two technical committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA): Space Systems and Space Resources. Previously, he helped shape strategic programs at Planet Labs, the SF-based satellite imaging company known for pioneering daily Earth observation. Outside of work, he advises early-stage startups, invests occasionally in space ventures, and mentors founders through the Techstars Accelerator. He holds a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MBA with double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School of Business. Abhi lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two young children.
Abhi's Sessions
Future of Space Economy in the Low Earth Orbit
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is no longer just for satellites; it’s the new frontier for manufacturing, energy, and data infrastructure. This session explores the emerging LEO economy, regulatory shifts, and key investment trends. Attendees will gain actionable insight into partnering with space startups, leveraging orbital platforms for Earth-based industries, and preparing for the commercialization of near-Earth space.
Future of Space Economy in the Low Earth Orbit [encore]
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is no longer just for satellites; it’s the new frontier for manufacturing, energy, and data infrastructure. This session explores the emerging LEO economy, regulatory shifts, and key investment trends. Attendees will gain actionable insight into partnering with space startups, leveraging orbital platforms for Earth-based industries, and preparing for the commercialization of near-Earth space.
Vanessa joined NEA as a Partner in 2016 and focuses on enterprise and consumer investing. She has led investments in Assembled, Kindred, Rewind AI, Cleo, Evernow, Rocket.Chat, and Mejuri, among others. She is also a board observer at Forethought, SafeBase, Orby AI, Granica, Modyfi, and HEAVY.AI. She was a board observer at Robinhood until its IPO in 2021. Prior to Venture, she led product teams at Box, Twilio, Disney, and Xbox.
Vanessa's Sessions
How AI is Forcing Late-stage Startups to Rewire GTM – or Be Left Behind
Rebecca Lee Whiting
Fractional General Counsel for Early-Stage Startups, Epigram Legal P.C.Rebecca Lee Whiting is the principal attorney and founder of Epigram Legal P.C., where she serves as a fractional General Counsel, corporate secretary, and legal advisor to pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A startups in the AI, tech, and biotech sectors. She also provides general corporate, labor and employment, and commercial contracting legal services and advice to individual founders, executives, and nonprofit organizations, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors for several 501(c)(3) organizations. Over the course of her career, Rebecca has served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel to multiple early-stage startups, and has represented and advised a variety of for-profit and nonprofit organizations and state and local public entities in contract negotiations, legislative matters, and high-stakes impact litigation at all levels of the state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. A graduate of Yale College and the U.C. Berkeley School of Law, Rebecca began her legal career as a federal law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, both in San Francisco.
Rebecca's Sessions
How Much Salary and Equity Should You Really Offer Early Employees?
Early hires shape your startup’s future—but only if you can attract and keep them. This panel dives into building equity and benefits packages that compete with big tech without breaking your burn rate. Hear real-world strategies to align incentives, boost retention, and build a team that scales.
Edo Liberty is the founder and CEO of Pinecone whose mission is to make AI knowledgeable. Pinecone is the leading vector database for building accurate and performant AI applications at scale in production. Prior to founding Pinecone, Edo was a Director of Research at AWS and Head of Amazon AI Labs where his team worked on data systems and services including SageMaker and OpenSearch. Before AWS, Edo was a Senior Research Director at Yahoo and Head of Yahoo’s Research Lab in New York. As an adjunct professor at Princeton and Tel Aviv University, Edo taught long-term memory in AI and data mining. His academic work focuses on numerical linear algebra, streaming algorithms, data mining, and mathematical foundations of machine learning. Edo holds a B.Sc in physics and computer science from Tel Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Yale. He has authored more than 75 academic papers and patents.
Matt joined Pinterest as Chief Technology Officer in 2024. Matt leads the company’s product and platform direction, overseeing the product and engineering teams that build our user experiences and the machine learning systems that power them. Previously, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Merchant Shopping at Google, where he led the product and engineering teams that build Google Shopping’s tools, partner integrations, and infrastructure to help businesses and merchants grow and thrive. Prior to Google, Matt was the Chief Technology and Product Officer at Fanatics, where he played a key role in shaping the mobile strategy, while expanding product development and data capabilities driving significant revenue and customer growth. Before Fanatics, he was the SVP of eCommerce & Marketing for Williams-Sonoma, Inc. He also spent 8 years leading product and engineering for eBay’s growth marketing and onsite advertising technology platforms. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Matt was also a senior consultant with KANA Software and began his career as an analyst at Accenture.
Matt's Sessions
Embracing AI for a Better Digital Future
We’re at a crossroads for AI, where the norms and innovations we cement now could define whether AI is additive instead of addictive, inclusive instead of harmful. As AI reshapes digital experiences, leaders must pioneer a new path. Matt can explore how AI works “under the hood” at Pinterest-powering its positivity, personalization for users, and advertiser performance and internal productivity, and how Pinterest charts a different course from other platforms through its vision for tuning AI for good. In a landscape often dominated by “engagement by enragement” models, Pinterest proves that AI can be both powerful and responsible, drive innovation and keep users’ well-being at the forefront.
Alejandro Matamala Ortiz is the Chief Design Officer and Co-founder of Runway. He previously was a research resident at New York University, exploring the interaction of AI and Creativity.
Rachel is the product manager leading Search Experiences at Reddit, scaling search and AI products for millions. She has launched multiple zero-to-one initiatives, led cross-functional teams across frontend and backend, and is driving a more equitable future of tech by building impact and safety focused digital experiences. Beyond Reddit, Rachel is a recognized leader in tech for social good. She founded digital tech initiatives advancing diversity, accessibility, and mental health, and volunteers as a product manager at Taimaka, where she manages engineers building digital tools that have helped treat over 12,000 children with malnutrition in Nigeria. Rachel’s work has been featured numerous times in outlets like TechCrunch and The Verge. She has delivered talks to large technical audiences, appeared as a guest on several podcasts, and frequently judges and speaks at hackathons around the world. She also donates 5% of her salary to high-impact charities through Giving What We Can and is committed to using her product skills to build a better future in technology.
Rachel's Sessions
Scaling Search and AI for Millions: Lessons from Reddit Search
Let’s talk about what it really takes to build AI at scale in a way that users trust. This conversation dives into Reddit’s approach to scaling Search and ML systems for millions globally—balancing relevance, safety, and bias mitigation. We’ll explore tough questions around community expectations, ethical tradeoffs, and real-world implementation. Bring your startup’s challenges and join a candid, collaborative discussion.
Scaling Search and AI for Millions: Lessons from Reddit Search [encore]
Let’s talk about what it really takes to build AI at scale in a way that users trust. This conversation dives into Reddit’s approach to scaling Search and ML systems for millions globally—balancing relevance, safety, and bias mitigation. We’ll explore tough questions around community expectations, ethical tradeoffs, and real-world implementation. Bring your startup’s challenges and join a candid, collaborative discussion.
Lauri Moore is a Partner at Bessemer’s Silicon Valley office, where she focuses on early-stage opportunities in data, AI, developer tools, and related infrastructure. With a unique background spanning research, data science, product management, and investing, Lauri is a passionate ally and coach for entrepreneurs, collaborating with them to tackle the inevitable challenges of company building. Before joining Bessemer, Lauri was a Partner at Foundation Capital. She also co-founded a company that automated top-of-funnel screening using voice AI, leveraging one of the earliest (and ultimately not good enough) externalized BERT models in 2018. Lauri has held product leadership roles at LinkedIn and worked in data science and product across several startups. Her career began at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the Research & Statistics Group.
Lauri's Sessions
With Vibe Coding, Do Early Stage Startups Still Need to Hire 10x Engineers?
Vibe coding products have completely changed the speed, cost and technical skill needed to build products, from prototypes to shipping. This is especially true for early stage startups. Some makers of these products have even declared that no one needs to learn to code anymore. If so, that means startups don’t need to fill their early rosters with the famed 10x coders. But how much of that is hype and how much is reality? Our panelists will dive into how the developer tool world is changing and what comes next.
Jennifer Neundorfer is an operator turned investor who has been investing in early stage startups for the last decade. She is currently the Managing Partner of January Ventures, a pre-seed focused venture capital firm investing in B2B startups leveraging software to transform legacy industries. She founded January Ventures to rewrite the networks in venture capital, and invest in the most ambitious founders regardless of pedigree, network, or access. Prior to January, Jennifer was co-founder of Flashstarts, a startup accelerator focused on software startups outside of Silicon Valley. As an operator, she launched and scaled media and advertising businesses at 21st Century Fox and YouTube. As a Cuban-American and one of the few Latina GPs in venture, Jennifer believes in demystifying venture for founders and future investors. She has a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. Jennifer is based in Boston.
Jennifer's Sessions
What VCs Really Want to Hear in Your Pitch
Investors hear hundreds of pitches — but only a few stand out. Hear directly from VCs on what they love, what makes them cringe, and the subtle signals founders often miss. This panel reveals insider tips to help you craft a pitch that grabs attention, builds trust, and wins the right checks.
Marlon Nichols is the co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital, a leading seed-stage firm renowned for backing visionary founders who redefine industries. Under his leadership, MaC has grown into one of North America’s largest seed-stage venture firms, surpassing $600 million in assets under management (AUM). In October 2024, the firm announced the closing of its third fund ($150 million), further solidifying its influence in the early-stage investment landscape. Marlon’s portfolio includes industry-defining companies such as Airspace, Blavity, FINESSE, Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Pipe, Purestream, Thrive Market, and Shekel Mobility, among others. His keen eye for transformative opportunities has earned him widespread recognition, including consecutive placements on Los Angeles Business Journal’s LA500 (2022–2024) and Business Insider’s Seed 100 (Top Early-Stage Investors) for three years. Additionally, he ranks 25th on the Kauffman Fellows Fund Returners Index and has been featured in PitchBook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch for six years. His expertise is frequently sought by top media outlets such as Axios, CNBC, Fortune, and more. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Marlon serves on the board of Kauffman Fellows, working to expand representation for underrepresented minorities in venture capital. With a unique blend of technology acumen and leadership principles shaped by his athletic background, he actively mentors CEOs, fosters strategic partnerships, and helps founders scale their businesses into market leaders.
Marlon's Sessions
Seed Money Secrets Every Founder Should Know
Raising your first round is tough—but far from impossible. This panel brings together experienced investors to break down what it really takes to close a seed round. From crafting the right pitch to ensuring you are greenlighting the right partners, get actionable advice to turn investor interest into capital.
Nnamdi is a seasoned venture capitalist with over $9B in exit value. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 645 Ventures, he has invested in companies like Setpoint, RentSpree, Overtime, and Iterable. He has helped build the firm into an emerging leader in the early-stage venture category. Prior to 645, he spent eight years at Insight Partners, where he invested in companies like Mimecast (IPO, $5.5B market cap) and Exact Target (acquired for $2.5B). He’s a Board Member of the National Venture Capital Association, and was also named to the Midas Brink List of top venture capitalists. He holds a BA, JD, and MBA from Harvard.
Justine Palefsky is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kindred, a global home swapping community she launched in 2021 with co-founder Tasneem Amina. Prior to Kindred, Justine was on the early teams at Opendoor and Homebound and began her career at Bain & Company. She holds a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University. Raised in San Francisco in a home where the family’s studio apartment was always open to extended relatives and friends, Justine grew up seeing hospitality as a way of life – an early model of reciprocal travel that later inspired Kindred. She’s based inSan Francisco but travels often to New York, Chicago, and Europe, and is an avid drawer, painter, and magical thinker.
Justine's Sessions
The Winning Formula: Turning Your Business Into a Trusted, Scalable Community To Drive Growth
Join Kindred Co-founders Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina as they share how they turned a high-performing tech platform into a community-led movement that redefined home swapping.They’ll explore the strategic blueprint behind building trust at scale to drive exponential growth to include: Turning members into brand ambassadors through a values-driven approach. Using community as a lever for growth and retention. Building for emotional need, not just technical performance. Justine and Tas didn’t just launch a travel product — they revived an outdated category. This talk is for any founder or operator looking to grow an authentic community with integrity, relevance, and resonance.
Maria Palma is a General Partner at Freestyle Capital. Prior to Freestyle, she was a General Partner at Kindred Capital, a seed and early-stage venture firm focusing on European technology companies. Prior to Kindred, Maria was a Principal at RRE Ventures in New York where she spent time on the investment side, and also built out their platform efforts. Maria has invented in companies such as Fung Money, Lovable, Lightning Labs, Moov & Payman. Before venture, Maria was the Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Business Development for a NY-based startup, Eyeview, as they scaled from zero to $40M in revenue. Maria began her career at General Electric in Operations Management & Supply Chain. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from UW-Madison.
Maria's Sessions
Seed Money Secrets Every Founder Should Know
Raising your first round is tough—but far from impossible. This panel brings together experienced investors to break down what it really takes to close a seed round. From crafting the right pitch to ensuring you are greenlighting the right partners, get actionable advice to turn investor interest into capital.
Rohit Patel is a Director on Meta’s Generative AI team, where he focuses on building the company’s next generation of AI models. Known for his ability to distill complex technical ideas into clear, accessible insights, Rohit is a sought-after voice in the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence. In addition to his leadership role at Meta, Rohit also founded and runs a research lab, QuickAI, which builds smaller, task-specific AI models for practical impact. He also advises Baypine, a digitally focused private equity firm, helping shape their AI strategy for acquisitions and across its portfolio companies. Rohit’s unique blend of technical depth and business acumen is grounded in a career that spans enterprise consulting and product innovation. Before joining Meta, he advised CEOs of private equity–backed companies at PwC Strategy&, crafting analytics and data strategies to unlock enterprise value. He holds a PhD in Game Theory from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, as well as Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute. His article “Understanding LLMs from Scratch” has been widely shared by technologists and non-technical readers alike – an example of his gift for making AI concepts approachable and relevant.
Rohit's Sessions
AI Evaluation 101: Addressing Challenges to Real-World AI Applications
This session looks at GenAI under the hood, breaking down how neural networks generate language. We discuss challenges to real-world AI deployment, and why evaluation is key to ensuring success. We’ll compare automated, judge-based and human-rated methods for assessing AI performance. Attendees will learn how to build evaluations for their use-cases to assess AI vs. human performance on their tasks.
AI Evaluation 101: Addressing Challenges to Real-World AI Applications [encore]
This session looks at GenAI under the hood, breaking down how neural networks generate language. We discuss challenges to real-world AI deployment, and why evaluation is key to ensuring success. We’ll compare automated, judge-based and human-rated methods for assessing AI performance. Attendees will learn how to build evaluations for their use-cases to assess AI vs. human performance on their tasks.
Doug Pepper is a General Partner at ICONIQ Growth. He joined ICONIQ Growth in 2019. Doug has helped lead ICONIQ Growth’s investments in Airtable, Guild Education, Reify, and others. Prior to joining ICONIQ Growth, Doug was a managing director at Shasta Ventures, a premier early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was a general partner at InterWest Partners for 15 years where he was the first investor in Marketo and served on its board of directors for 10 years. He began his career working at Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com. Doug received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.
Ryan Petersen is Founder and CEO of Flexport, a leader in global supply chain technology. Since its inception, more than 10,000 companies of all sizes – from emerging brands to Fortune 500s – have used Flexport’s logistics and technology to move more than $175 billion dollars in merchandise. Prior to starting Flexport, Ryan was the founder and CEO of ImportGenius, a premier provider of transaction data for the global trade industry. He earned a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Ryan's Sessions
Building in a Time of Uncertainty
Uncertainty is the new normal—but it’s also an opportunity. In this fireside chat, Ryan Petersen, CEO of global logistics unicorn Flexport, shares his hard-won insights. With $2.3B raised, Flexport’s shipping technology sits at the intersection of international business and policy, giving Petersen almost prescient economic insights. He’s been vocal about everything from tariff policy to AI. He’s also experienced personal volatility, famously leaving his CEO role and then returning less than a year later. Founders, take notes: this is how you build when the rules keep changing.
Lila Preston joined Generation Investment Management in 2004 and is Head of the Growth Equity strategy. Previously, Lila was a director of finance and development at VolunteerMatch in San Francisco. Lila was also a Fulbright Fellow in Southern Chile. Lila received a BA in English and Latin American Studies from Stanford University and an MBA from London Business School. Lila speaks fluent Spanish. Lila serves on the board of Nature’s Fynd and as a board observer for CiBO Technologies, Optoro and Pivot Bio. She is also on the Board of Advisors at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Lila's Sessions
Preparing Now for Your Later Stage Raise
Raising later-stage rounds takes more than luck — it’s about strategy from day one. Join these 2 exceptional VCs and an experienced founder as they share how to build metrics, storytelling, and relationships that position your startup for future funding success. Learn the key moves that set you up to close bigger rounds with confidence.
Anmol Rastogi is a technical product leader who builds the future. With over 10 years of experience shipping AI/ML products and large-scale platforms, he’s a proven expert in turning cutting-edge technology into business growth. Anmol currently leads product for Science, Analytics, and Engineering at Amazon Business, a $75 billion portfolio entity. He previously spearheaded product innovation for Amazon One’s AI/ML-based palm payments system and was the founding product manager for the award-winning “Hello Baby” app. A dedicated mentor and community builder, Anmol also founded a career development program that has empowered over 20,000 Amazonians.
Anmol's Sessions
Agentic AI for Startups: Automate, Adapt, and Accelerate Growth
Agentic AI is revolutionizing how startups scale by enabling automation, personalized user experiences, and data-driven agility. In this session, we’ll break down how startups can identify high-impact AI opportunities, build practical agentic AI workflows, and measure outcomes. Using real startup case studies, attendees will gain a hands-on blueprint for integrating agentic AI to streamline operations, enhance customer engagement, and accelerate growth — empowering founders and teams to outpace competition with AI-driven strategies.
Tim is a product manager at GitHub, and recovering software engineer, from London, UK. Currently, he works on GitHub Copilot’s coding agent, and has been at GitHub for 3 years, working on a variety of products including the GitHub Enterprise Importer (GEI) migration tools and the launch of GitHub Copilot code review.
Tim's Sessions
From Vibes to Velocity: How AI Tools Can Help You Achieve Your Development Goals
With the recent surge in popularity of vibe coding, developers are looking at every option to help them work faster, think bigger, and commit more secure, high-quality code. GitHub Product Manager, Tim Rogers is pioneering agentic coding at scale with GitHub Copilot, the AI-powered peer programming tool used by more than 15M people to scale their impact. During this breakout session, Tim will give the audience a first-hand look at how GitHub’s latest innovations, insights, and AI-powered tools are changing the future of software development and advancing developer workflows in an increasingly autonomous world.
Mati Staniszewski is the co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, a research company building audio AI tools to solve audio intelligence and make digital interactions feel more human — with voice as the most direct path to that. Before founding ElevenLabs, Mati worked at Palantir as a Deployment Strategist, managing large-scale implementations across public and private sectors, and at BlackRock, where he helped launch the Aladdin Wealth platform.
Katie is the Founder and General Partner of Moxxie Ventures. Prior to Moxxie, Katie served in numerous executive operating roles at Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Color. She has led teams in marketing, comms, recruiting, product and media. In addition to working in Silicon Valley, Katie served in the (Obama) White House and State Department and began her career as a banker at JP Morgan Chase. Katie sits on the Board of Vivendi, a French multinational media company headquartered in Paris, and previously served on the Board of Time Inc. Katie started her venture career as a Founding Partner of #Angels and has invested in 40 early-stage companies including Airtable, Cameo, Carta, Coinbase, Literati, Modern Fertility, Shape Security and Threads.
Katie's Sessions
How to Raise a Series A in 2026
In this no-fluff panel, top VCs reveal what really gets them to offer a term sheet with a healthy valuation —from metrics that matter to the pitch mistakes that kill deals. Learn how to position your company for its first priced, institutional investment.
Dr. Astro Teller currently oversees X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory for building breakthrough technologies and businesses designed to help tackle huge problems in the world. Before joining Google / Alphabet, Astro was the co-founding CEO of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, an investment management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Before his tenure as a business executive, Dr. Teller taught at Stanford University and was an engineer and researcher for Phoenix Laser Technologies, Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems, and The Carnegie Group Incorporated. Dr. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University, Masters of Science in symbolic and heuristic computation, also from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a recipient of the Hertz fellowship.
Andrea Thomaz is the CEO and Co-Founder of Diligent Robotics and a renowned social robotics expert. Her accolades include being recognized by the National Academy of Science as a Kavli Fellow, the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Tech, MIT Technology Review on its Next Generation of 35 Innovators Under 35 list, Popular Science on its Brilliant 10 list, TEDx as a featured keynote speaker on social robotics and Texas Monthly on its Most Powerful Texans of 2018 list. Andrea’s robots have been featured in the New York Times and on the covers of MIT Technology Review and Popular Science. Her passion for social robotics began during her work at the MIT Media Lab, where she focused on using AI to develop machines that address everyday human needs. Andrea co-founded Diligent Robotics to pursue her vision of creating socially intelligent robot assistants that collaborate with humans by doing their chores so humans can have more time for the work they care most about. She earned her Ph.D. from MIT and B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin and is a Robotics Professor at UT Austin and the PI of the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab.
Andrea's Sessions
Preparing Now for Your Later Stage Raise
Raising later-stage rounds takes more than luck — it’s about strategy from day one. Join these 2 exceptional VCs and an experienced founder as they share how to build metrics, storytelling, and relationships that position your startup for future funding success. Learn the key moves that set you up to close bigger rounds with confidence.
Nikola Todorovic is the Co-Founder of Wonder Dynamics, an Autodesk Company. An entrepreneur, visual effects supervisor, and award-winning filmmaker, Nikola spent most of his career working at the intersection of film and technology. This ultimately led him to dream up Wonder Dynamics with fellow co-founder and actor/producer Tye Sheridan. Together, they created the company’s proprietary AI software, Autodesk Flow Studio (previously Wonder Studio), a cloud-based 3D animation, CGI and VFX platform that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with established tools, helping artists more easily animate, light, and compose 3D characters within live-action scenes. In 2024, Wonder Dynamics was acquired by Autodesk, giving even more creators access to the industry-leading technology.
Nirav Tolia has been at the forefront of creating, scaling, and leading innovative consumer internet companies for over twenty years. Nirav is the CEO, President, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, and Co-Founder of Nextdoor, the essential neighborhood app, where community and camaraderie come together across 11 countries. Nirav also serves as Non-Executive Chair of Hedosophia, has appeared as a Guest Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank, and is a co-founding director of the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership in SMU’s Cox School of Business. Nirav previously led Nextdoor as CEO from 2010 through the end of 2018 – expanding Nextdoor’s footprint throughout the US (encompassing 90% of American neighborhoods), UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, and Australia. Before founding and serving as Nextdoor’s CEO, Nirav was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Benchmark Capital and COO of Shopping.com, an organization he founded via a merger between Dealtime and Epinions, which later went public and sold to eBay for $620 million. Tolia Co-Founded and served as CEO of Epinions.com following the beginning of his career as the 84th employee at Yahoo.
Nirav's Sessions
How AI is Forcing Late-stage Startups to Rewire GTM – or Be Left Behind
Raquel Urtasun is Founder and CEO of Waabi, an AI company building the next generation of self-driving technology. Raquel is also a Full Professor at the University of Toronto and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for AI. Raquel earned her Ph.D. from the Computer Science department at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2006 and did her postdoc at MIT and UC Berkeley. In 2024, she was named a fellow of The Royal Society of Canada for her contributions to computer science and was included on the CNBC Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list. In 2023, she was named one of the TIME100 Most Influential People in AI, made Business Insider’s AI 100 list of Top People in AI, and was awarded the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Tech CEO Award and the Order of Ontario, the highest civilian honor in the province.
Julie Wainwright
CEO, AHARAJulie Wainwright is considered one of the pioneers in ecommerce. Starting her career in the personal computer software industry in 1983 at Software Publishing, she was the CEO of Berkeley Systems, known for its flying toasters screensavers and its best selling game, You Don’t Know Jack, the CEO of Reel.com, the first site to sell movies in 1997 (sold to Hollywood Entertainment, a once rival to Blockbuster) and then Pets.com which lives on as a dotcom symbol. She founded The RealReal in 2011, bringing luxury consignment online and into the modern world with a digital marketplace for authenticated luxury goods. When Julie took The RealReal public in 2019, she became the 23rd woman in history to found and lead a company to an IPO. She is also the author of Time to Get Real, a bestselling business memoir about her entrepreneurial journey creating The RealReal, which shares the lessons, triumphs, and setbacks she faced along the way. She has received several prestigious industry awards including the Silicon Valley Visionary Award and accolades from Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Business of Fashion, and more. She was recently selected by Forbes for their inaugural 50 Successful Women Over 50 list and was celebrated on the cover of Forbes Magazine in June 2021. Along with being a sought-after speaker, Julie serves on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and as an advisor to several venture capital funds including Shakti VC and Volition Capital. She is launching a podcast, The Armchair Entrepreneurs, in the Fall of 2025 to give advice to entrepreneurs.
Julie's Sessions
Building What Comes Next
Wainwright knows how to spot a wave — and ride it. From pioneering luxury resale at The RealReal to jumping into personalized nutrition with Ahara, she’s made a career out of building ahead of the curve. In this fireside chat, Wainwright opens up about what it takes to start over, scale fast, and stay resilient through market shifts and personal pivots. We’ll dig into the lessons learned from category creation, the risks of reinvention, and why experience might just be the ultimate startup edge.
Gale Wilkinson is the founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed stage venture capital fund investing in transformative WorkTech software. Previously, Wilkinson founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. Gale has led nearly $80M in early-stage deals across 150+ portfolio companies, and she has made 50 personal angel investments. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two HR tech startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and data strategy with Orbitz. Wilkinson received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a founding Board member of Chicago:Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups in Chicago. Wilkinson enjoys public speaking, design, teaching, and connecting. Her inspirations include energy work, vintage and antique pieces, dogs, and nature. She is an avid dog rescuer and will be publishing her first book (on pet loss grief) very soon. You can find her on X @galeforceVC. She lives in Chicago and Nashville with her husband and two dogs.
Gale's Sessions
Rethinking Startup Capital Without VCs
VCs aren’t the only game in town. Join us as we explore alternative fundraising paths with an angel investor, a family office vice president, and a founder who bootstrapped to success. Learn how to tap into capital that aligns with your vision, keeps you in control, and gets you to the next stage—on your terms.
Roseanne is a venture capitalist, early-stage startup founder and operator, scientist, and co-founder of Renegade Partners. In more than a decade in venture, she has gravitated toward pioneering founders tackling big, bold problems in AI & ML, Fintech, Vertical SaaS, Infrastructure, and Consumer Technology. Her recent investments include the AI-driven sales enablement platform Spekit, enterprise WebRTC platform Daily, and real-time incident response solution, Rootly. Prior to starting Renegade, Roseanne served as a Partner at IVP and Principal at Canaan Partners. Past investments include Glossier, Compass, MetaCloud, Unifi Software, Wise, Looker (Acquired by Google), Turo, Motive, and MasterClass, where she continues to serve on the board.
Roseanne's Sessions
Everything You Need to Know Before an Exit
Go public, get acquired, or double down and stay private? In today’s unpredictable market, founders need to think about exit strategy earlier — and more strategically — than ever. This panel brings together two top VCs and a seasoned CFO to unpack how to set your company up for every option. We’ll talk timing, metrics that matter, investor expectations, and what it really takes to navigate M&A, IPO prep, or just keep building through the storm. Whether you’re 12 months out or just starting to scale, this conversation is all about making smart moves now for whatever comes next.
Yin Wu is the co-founder and CEO of Pulley, the equity management platform empowering startups to take control of their cap tables with speed and transparency. A seasoned entrepreneur and engineer, Yin has founded four companies. Before Pulley, she built ventures ranging from door-to-door laundry service to computer vision technology for advertising. Her most notable early success, Echo, a customizable Android lock screen, amassed over five million downloads before being acquired by Microsoft in 2015, where it continues to live on as Microsoft Launcher. Yin is redefining how startups manage equity—one founder at a time.
Yin's Sessions
How Much Salary and Equity Should You Really Offer Early Employees?
Early hires shape your startup’s future—but only if you can attract and keep them. This panel dives into building equity and benefits packages that compete with big tech without breaking your burn rate. Hear real-world strategies to align incentives, boost retention, and build a team that scales.
Zeya Yang is a Partner at IVP, where he invests in AI-native companies transforming how we work and create. Zeya brings sharp product intuition and a thoughtful, founder-first mindset to every partnership, shaped by his experience as both an investor and a builder. Prior to IVP, he focused on early-stage SaaS and AI investing at a16z. Before his time in venture, Zeya led product for several teams at Plaid and was the founding PM of the Subscription Growth team at Dropbox. Zeya’s investing track record includes companies like Graphite, Macro, and Tennr. He’s become a trusted thought partner to technical teams navigating the path to product-market fit. A global citizen, he’s lived in China, Japan, and Canada and draws on that perspective to connect with founders. Zeya holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University, where he graduated second in his class, and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Zeya's Sessions
Preparing Now for Your Later Stage Raise
Raising later-stage rounds takes more than luck — it’s about strategy from day one. Join these 2 exceptional VCs and an experienced founder as they share how to build metrics, storytelling, and relationships that position your startup for future funding success. Learn the key moves that set you up to close bigger rounds with confidence.
Sangeen is a general partner at GV, focusing on high-growth AI and enterprise investments. He works with both early and late-stage startups. Sangeen’s investments include Chronosphere, Fabric, Harvey, and Hebbia. He is on the board of Vercel, and a board observer at Harvey. Before joining GV in 2021, Sangeen was an investor with Founders Circle Capital, where he helped lead the firm’s investments in Attentive, Algolia, Cohesity, Confluent (IPO), Databricks, Segment (acquired by Twilio), Robinhood (IPO) and UiPath (IPO). He spent over five years at Centerview Capital, where he sourced investments in Affirmed Networks (acquired by Microsoft) and Sauce Labs (acquired by TPG) and began his investment career at Summit Partners.
Sangeen's Sessions
How to Raise a Series A in 2026
In this no-fluff panel, top VCs reveal what really gets them to offer a term sheet with a healthy valuation —from metrics that matter to the pitch mistakes that kill deals. Learn how to position your company for its first priced, institutional investment.