Hi Friends,

I’m writing to you in Rainy New York! Still even though I’m here we have 3+ events going on this week in the Bay Area so please do join us 🙂 If you’re in NYC next week join me at YouCode Forum: Building What's Next in The Agentic Era!

Yesterday was a super exciting day, cause we announced the release of You.com brand new deep research API! No more hallucinations, no stale data. Just live intelligence, on demand. If you want to learn more, join our upcoming virtual workshop.

📄 Docs: https://docs.you.com/research/overview#what-is-the-research-api
⭐ Sign up: https://you.com/signin?redirectUrl=%2Fplatform&UTM_SOURCE=Mariane

If you haven’t connected with me yet, connect me on Linkedin, X and Instagram!

In my 1:1 this week, our very supportive You.com VP Of Marketing, Justin Fink, asked me a simple question:

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s the kind of question people ask all the time in tech.
In interviews.
In career conversations.
In performance reviews.

Usually people answer with confidence.

Founder.
VP.
Exit.
New company.
More impact.

But when he asked me, something strange happened.

I felt a wave of panic.

Because the honest answer is… I don’t know.

Before my divorce, I had a plan.
I knew exactly where I thought my life was going.

Five years made sense then.
It was a straight line.

But divorce does something to your timeline.

It breaks the map.

Suddenly the future is not a clean strategy deck anymore.
It’s survival.

You’re figuring out how to rebuild a life.
How to raise your kids.
How to heal.
How to keep working.
How to keep showing up.

Most days the goal is not a five-year vision.

The goal is just to be okay.

And I think a lot more people are living in this place than we admit.

In tech we love ambition.
We celebrate big plans.
Ten-year visions.
World-changing missions.

But sometimes the bravest thing you can do is rebuild quietly.

One day at a time.

So if you asked me today where I want to be in five years, here is the honest answer:

I want to be peaceful.
I want my kids to be happy.
I want to keep building things that matter.
I want to wake up without fear in my body.

And maybe the truth is this:

When life breaks your original plan,
you don’t lose your future.

You just build a new one.

Slowly.

- Mariane Bekker

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO VIP AND GET FREE TICKETS ($200+ Value):

Wednesday, March 4 - 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

​To celebrate International Women’s Week, we’re bringing together some of the most inspiring female founders and VCs under one roof.

​Join us for an evening of conversation, connection, and shared learning as we explore how we can accelerate progress toward greater gender diversity in tech — and support more women building and investing in the future.

Wednesday, March 4 - 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Join RocketRide's launch event featuring a panel discussion on IDE-native AI development, live demos, and the release of our first open-source project. You'll leave with practical insights on building AI pipelines directly in your editor and early access to tools you can use immediately.

Thursday, March 5 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM PST

Welcome to Oakland-Claw, the newest OpenClaw Hackers’ Den — and the official launch of a new AI + emerging tech series at STAK Space focused on Agentic Workflows, Autonomous Systems, and the Builders Deploying Them.

Friday, March 6 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

Ever built an AI feature that sounded confident… and then someone asked, “Cool—what’s the source?” 😅

​In this 20-minute, developer-first speedrun, we’ll build a deep research endpoint using the You.com Research API that turns one prompt into a clean Markdown report with inline citations + source URLs—ready for your product, internal tools, or customer-facing workflows.

Wednesday, March 4 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Join us for a weekly check-in for very early stage founders who need a community of peers.  Our goal is to create a space for sharing challenges and celebratory moments during this early phase.  We will dedicate a portion of the meeting to self-care for high-performance as well. We will meet weekly via Zoom, and will have a monthly in-person meetup.  All early stage founders are welcome. 

Thursday, March 5 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

​Early-stage founders often rely on gut instinct when making sales decisions—but intuition alone doesn’t scale. In this workshop, fractional GTM & Sales Leader Laura Garrison will teach founders how to build simple, actionable sales reporting that reveals what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus next. You’ll learn how to make informed, data-driven decisions without needing a data team, BI tools, or complex dashboards.

Friday, March 6 - 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

​Use FOUNDERSBAY for 15% off

This intensive one-day bootcamp is designed to transform how you approach fundraising. You'll spend the day with seasoned founders, investors, and fundraising experts who've been in the trenches—and come out the other side with term sheets in hand.

Wednesday, March 11 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Navigating U.S. immigration can be one of the biggest challenges for startup founders and growing teams. This virtual workshop is designed to help founders, operators, and early employees understand the immigration pathways available to startups and their workforce—so you can plan with confidence and avoid costly missteps.

Wednesday, March 4 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Join us for a weekly check-in for very early stage founders who need a community of peers.  Our goal is to create a space for sharing challenges and celebratory moments during this early phase.  We will dedicate a portion of the meeting to self-care for high-performance as well. We will meet weekly via Zoom, and will have a monthly in-person meetup.  All early stage founders are welcome. 

Wednesday, March 11 - 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Join us in SoHo for an intimate evening with James Kaplan, CTO of McKinsey, and Bryan McCann, CTO of You.com, alongside enterprise builders and technical leaders.

Thursday, March 12 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Reverse Ventures is the world’s first AI-native innovation platform that flips startup creation upside down. Entrepreneurs contribute a disruptive idea and become equal partners in the venture through a 50/50 structure.

Sunday, March 15 - 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

​Use FB10 for 10% off

Renaissance 2026 is AI+’s flagship summit bringing together the founders, researchers, and engineers defining the next decade of intelligence.

​Over two days on the weekend between GDC and Nvidia’s GTC, we convene 40 AI leaders, 20+ top AI startups, and 2,000 founders, builders & investors to explore frontier breakthroughs across Multimodal Intelligence, Agents, AI Infrastructure, Embodied AI and Robotics.

Wednesday, March 18 - 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM

The Venture Revolution is a leading venture capital and innovation conference. Building on the success of last year’s event, the conference brings together investors, founders, and operators from across the global venture ecosystem.

Wednesday, March 18 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Join us for a tactical session with Sherry Prescott-Willis, a seasoned Growth & Demand Generation Executive, as she breaks down how high-performing teams define, validate, and operationalize their ICP. Sherry will share real-world frameworks and examples drawn from her experience scaling revenue and go-to-market teams.

Wednesday, March 18 - 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Mariane brings a unique blend of experience as an investor, engineer, and community leader to help startups succeed at every stage, offering hands-on guidance in fundraising strategy, technical decision-making, co-founder matching, talent recruitment, and personal branding. From crafting compelling investor pitches and selecting the right technology stack to building strong founding teams and credible personal brands, Mariane provides personalized, practical support designed to turn ambitious ideas into scalable, investable companies.

Wednesday, March 18 - 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

​Join us for an exclusive evening celebrating the next generation of AI innovation, hosted by Mariane Bekker from Founders Bay. The AI Startup Pitch Showcase brings together visionary founders, savvy investors, and industry leaders to witness cutting-edge AI startups present their ideas, receive live feedback from top VCs, and connect with a curated network of innovators. 🌟

​Apply to pitch HERE

Thursday, March 19 - 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Join us on March 19th for an exclusive evening of AI insights, hands-on workshops, and networking with top AI experts at Tesla Van Ness – SF

​With live music from Bisi Obateru.

Wednesday, March 25 - 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Join us for an exclusive evening designed for founders who have raised $1M+ for their current company. This private dinner brings together a select group of high-growth founders, with limited spots reserved for aligned investors looking to connect in a meaningful, intimate setting.

​Enjoy curated conversations, shared learnings, and a panoramic penthouse view—perfect for building relationships that move companies forward.

​This dinner is proudly supported by Fidelity Private Shares.

Thursday, March 26 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Building a startup is not just about product and growth—it’s about making smart ownership decisions early. In this interactive virtual workshop, Aleks Gollu, Founder & CEO of 11Sight, will break down how early-stage founders can design a healthy cap table, structure fundraising rounds, and avoid unnecessary dilution as they scale.

Thursday, March 26 - 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Join us for an exclusive evening where founders meet investors in an intimate, curated setting, hosted by Mariane Bekker from Founders Bay. The Founder × VC Connect: Dinner & Panel brings together visionary startup leaders and top venture capitalists for a night of insights, storytelling, and meaningful connections.

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