Table of Contents

• Down the AI Rabbit Hole GigaParty [“SundaySpecial” …

• Upcoming Events

• The Hidden Superpower in Startup Success (Hint: It …

  • 💬 5 Smart Networking Moves That Actually Work

Hi friends,

We just unlocked something BIG for Gigaparty — and it’s going to take Gigaparty to a whole new level.

🚨 Lisa Carmen Wang, best-selling author of The Bad Bitch Business Bible and GP of Bad Bitch Empire, is joining us to host a live female founder competition.

And the winner?
Will receive $25,000 in investment on the spot!!. No waiting. No chasing. Just capital for your company — live at Gigaparty.

About Lisa:

• 4X USA National Champion gymnast & USA Hall of Fame inductee

• Founder & GP of Bad Bitch Empire, backing female-led billion-dollar ideas

• Author of the #1 best-seller The Bad Bitch Business Bible

• Named Forbes 30 Under 30, Fast Company Executive Board, and one of Entrepreneur’s 100 Most Powerful Women

She’s raised millions, helped other women raise $50M+, and she’s on a mission to break good girl brainwashing and help women own their boundaries, bank accounts, and power.

And now… she’s doing it LIVE at Gigaparty.

If you’re a female founder → buy your ticket for 50% off (‘WOMENFOUNDERS’ discount code) and apply to pitch!

For everyone else:

This is not your average startup event.

Gigaparty is 5 floors of immersive tech, art, music, and funding.

Think:
🎧 DJs like Justin Kan, Arielle Zuckerberg, Chris DN
💼 VCs from Blackrock, TPG, LG Ventures, Context VC
🔥 Fireside with Fiona Ma ($3.7T in state capital)
🎤 Comedy pitch roast + Female Founder Pitch Competition +Investor & Family offices panels
🎁 $25K for one amazing female founder

🎟️ Tickets: https://lu.ma/gjtpkqe1?coupon=SUNDAYSPECIAL
Use code SUNDAYSPECIAL for $15 off (browser only)

Let’s build something unapologetic.
See you at the Rabbit Hole 🐇

— Mariane Bekker

If we’re not already connected, I’d love to hear from you—please follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram and follow Kristopher Floyd on instagram and LinkedIn. Let’s connect!

Featured Events

Want us to sponsor an event or partner together? Contact us here

Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: 2 Hour Block Legal Advice

Tuesday, April 15 - 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

​Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: 2-Hour Block Legal Advice is a chance for startup founders to get direct legal guidance from experienced professionals. Whether you have questions about setting up your business, protecting your ideas, handling contracts, or staying compliant with the law, this session will help you understand the essentials.

Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Securing your IP and Accelerating Innovation

Wednesday, April 16 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

​Join Younus Aftab (CEO) and Larry Chao (Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer) of TrustMe.AI for a hands-on session designed to help startup leaders tackle real-world security and compliance challenges head-on.

Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Free Hubspot for the Startup

Thursday, April 17 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

​Join us for a virtual workshop tailored for startup founders looking to optimize their marketing, sales, and customer service using HubSpot’s free CRM. This session will guide you through essential tools and strategies to automate workflows, manage customer relationships, and generate leads, helping you grow your startup efficiently.

The AI Agent Era: B2B Panel & Founder/Investor/Engineer Mixer

Thursday, April 17 - 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM

​​AI Agents are no longer just copilots—they're becoming closers, coders, researchers, and deal-makers. From outbound sales to internal ops, startups are using autonomous agents to 10x how B2B businesses run.

​Join us for an exclusive panel with top AI founders, engineers, and investors diving into the rise of intelligent agents in B2B.

​Whether you’re building an agent startup, investing in the space, or exploring how to integrate AI into your workflows—this conversation is for you.

Down the AI Rabbit Hole GigaParty [“SundaySpecial” discount code for $15 off]

Thursday, April 24 - 6:00 PM - 2:00 AM

Embark on a one-of-a-kind adventure down the rabbit hole at the official afterparty for the AI Rabbit Hole 2025 conference — a night where reality bends, imagination thrives, and wonder awaits at every turn!

VC Firms Include: Blackrock, LG Technology Ventures, Alumni Ventures, 500 Global, Race Capital, TPG, Plug and Play, Context VC, Boost VC, Founders Bay Ventures, Yes VC, Avestix Group, Bad Bitch Empire, Boost VC, Oyster Ventures

Schedule

6pm - 9pm: Tech Summit: Panels, Fireside Chats, Demos, Keynotes, Female Founder Pitch Competition, and a Comedy Pitch Roast Competition with top-tier investors.

10pm - 2am: Gigaparty: Nonstop Music from SF’s best DJs & special guest performances including Justin Kan, Arielle Zuckerberg, Chris DND and a special robot DJ...

The AI Rabbit Hole 2025 [FBAY30 for 30% off]

30% off - FBAY30

Thursday, April 24 - 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

​🎩🤖 Venture through the looking glass and into the whimsical world of AI Wonderland!

​Join us in San Francisco for a tea party of innovation, where algorithms dance, machines chatter, and ideas twirl in a curious mix.

​For Founders, Engineers, Investors and Corporate Leaders

Founders & VC Go to The Chainsmokers

Sunday, May 25 - 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Grammy-winning and chart-topping duo Alex Pall & Drew Taggart bring their signature sound to The Midway. From breakout hits like #Selfie to multi-platinum anthems like Closer, Don’t Let Me Down, and Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers have dominated charts and festival stages worldwide. Their fusion of indie, progressive, and pop continues to push boundaries, making them one of the most influential acts in electronic music.

​We will be hosting the main room inside Midway with DJ David Carvalho and the SFVibe DJs!

​🎟️ MUST BUY TICKET HERE: https://www.tixr.com/groups/midwaysf/events/the-chainsmokers-block-party-138712

​➡️ USE PROMO CODE “VIBE” FOR A DISCOUNT AND CHANGE TO WIN AN EPIC PRIZE!

Don’t miss out on these exciting new offerings! Upgrade your membership today and take your involvement to the next level.

Subscribe To Growth Access and get free tickets to: Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Securing your IP and Accelerating Innovation, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Free Hubspot for the Startup, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Raising a Seed Round: Navigating Early-Stage Fundraising

Subscribe To VIP Access, get all the workshops above for free and get free tickets to: Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: 2 Hour Block Legal Advice, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Securing your IP and Accelerating Innovation, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Free Hubspot for the Startup, AI Founder Pitch Night, Down the AI Rabbit Hole GigaParty, Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: Startup Legal Advice, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Raising a Seed Round: Navigating Early-Stage Fundraising, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Sales Prep & ICP Buildout: Maximizing Your Sales Strategy, Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Building Secure AI Systems: Best Practices and Strategies

Upcoming Events

🗓️ Monday, Apr 14

👉 Ai Salon: Mother Earth [SF] (5PM-7:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​AI is transforming our relationship with the planet — not only through its potential to improve some sustainability efforts, but also through its massive environmental footprint.

👉 Smart Ships, Smarter Seas: AI & Clean Energy Transforming Maritime (5:30PM-8PM)
📍 San Mateo
💬 ​Join us on April 14, 2025, for an exciting panel that brings together the brightest minds in AI, maritime and mission critical industries!

🗓️ Tuesday, Apr 15

👉 FC SF • Founders Run & Coffee! (7AM-9AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join Founders Common for our weekly early morning run with other founders, operators & creatives! Come run and then hang out afterward to chat with new friends across the startup community over coffee.

👉 AI User Conference 2025 - Marketer Day (8AM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI is transforming marketing at an unprecedented pace. Imagine creating highly targeted campaigns in just a few clicks, instantly engaging your customers, gaining deep insights on demand, and automating repetitive tasks.

👉 VeloxCon ’25 (9AM-7PM)
📍 Menlo Park
💬 Data processing is a core component of various modern applications ranging from business intelligence to AI/ML technologies. Velox is an open-source unified execution engine that aims to commoditize data processing in these applications.

👉 GenAI in EdTech: A Hands-On Workshop (10:30AM-2PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an immersive, hands-on workshop hosted by New Math Data, where we dive into the transformative power of generative artificial intelligence in the education sector.

👉 AI Lab SF Lunch & Learn - 🚀 Weekly AI Training Series: Vibe Coding with Azure OpenAI Service (12PM-1PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for power-packed 1-hour workshops designed to kickstart your AI-assisted development journey using the latest AI coding tools and intelligent IDEs.

👉 AI Keynotes at Microsoft - Agentic AI at Microsoft (12PM-4:30PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 We're thrilled to invite you to our upcoming event! Agentic AI is revolutionizing all our lives, and we've got a stellar lineup in store for you!

👉 Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: 2 Hour Block Legal Advice (1PM-3PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Online
💬 Founders Bay Expert Office Hours: 2-Hour Block Legal Advice is a chance for startup founders to get direct legal guidance from an experienced professional. Led by Jessica North (Jorrie).

👉 Mike Krieger and the Future of AI Product (3PM-5PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join SPC for an off the record conversation with Mike Krieger, Chief Product Officer at Anthropic. This is the final event of the SPC x Anthropic Hackathon. All approved hackers who complete a project are guaranteed admission to the fireside chat.

👉 Building the Pathway from Agentive AI to AGI (4:30PM-5:50PM)
📍 Stanford
💬 As Generative AI expands from the world of chatbots to AI Agents that automate wider ranges of tasks in addition to communication, artificial intelligence will have to take on more and more aspects of AGI.

👉 AI Agents Meetup: Voice in San Francisco with Zowie & Assembly AI (5PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for the AI Agents Meetup: Voice to see how voice-powered AI agents are transforming customer interactions, driving operational efficiency, and redefining enterprise support.

👉 Private VC / Startup Wine Tasting Mixer (5PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Featured investors include Andrew Karsh, GP at Bay Bridge Ventures, and Murray Newlands, Principal at Bay Bridge Ventures, in the Private VC / Startup Mixer.

👉 AI on the Edge Series: Edge AI Workshop with Qualcomm Technologies (5:30PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Dive into the essentials of on-device AI, explore the Qualcomm® AI Hub, and participate in a build-along session using a Copilot+ PC with the Snapdragon X Elite.

👉 Agentic AI and Pizza (6PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Working on Agentic AI? Grab a slice and hang with other founders building in the Agentic AI Space. Pull up, grab a slice, and let's talk AI.

👉 Gen&Juice SF Discussion: What Does an AI-Native Entertainment Industry Look Like? (6PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for a lively discussion about the future of entertainment. ​If we look at creative industries that many of us still work in, they’re still running on old economic models, workflows that are now beset by all these new assumptions that come with Gen AI and what’s still to come.

👉 The AI Hustle: Happy Hour for Startup Founders & VCs (6PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 3rd meet up in 2025! Calling all AI founders in San Francisco! 🧠 Join us for an evening of networking, learning, and fun as we connect with fellow founders, explore fundraising strategies, and discover the latest advancements in AI. 📈

🗓️ Wednesday, Apr 16

👉 AI DISRUPT (8AM-7PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​AI is transforming every industry, but technology and business leaders face a critical challenge – integrating it seamlessly with their data and systems while ensuring accuracy and transparency.

👉 AI User Conference 2025 - Designer Day (8AM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​AI is transforming marketing at an unprecedented pace. Imagine creating highly targeted campaigns in just a few clicks, instantly engaging your customers, gaining deep insights on demand, and automating repetitive tasks.

👉 VeloxCon ’25 (9AM-3PM)
📍 Menlo Park
💬 Data processing is a core component of various modern applications ranging from business intelligence to AI/ML technologies.

👉 Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Securing your IP and Accelerating Innovation (11AM-12PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Online
💬 ​In today’s digital-first world, startups face growing threats from every angle—phishing schemes, compromised software dependencies, and sophisticated IP theft tactics are no longer just enterprise concerns.

👉 HealthTech Hang's April Helpful (and Happy) Hour (2:30PM-5PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 JOIN US for a "Helpful Hour" and empower fellow HealthTech founders, builders, operators, and enablers! Don't worry, it will be happy too 🥳

👉 Microsoft Private Mixer (5:30PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Brought to you by Microsoft Private Mixer. Details: Microsoft Insights – Ashley Tarver

👉 Scaling with AI: Live Discussion with UpHonest Capital and AI Founders (5:30PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join us for an exciting gathering in San Francisco that connects enterprise leaders with leading startup founders! Hear insights from Alan Zong, Partner at UpScaleX.

👉 vibe copying night | TabTabTab (5:30PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Calling all productivity obsessed folks. We're TabTabTab, a Mac app that brings AI everywhere to your computer using copy & paste, making you insanely productive.

👉 Built on Bedrock Demo Nights (5:30PM-7:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an exciting evening of Generative AI demos from local startups leveraging Amazon Bedrock. Generative AI is truly changing our lives and the way we work - opening up new use cases and opportunities.

👉 An Intimate Discussion on Developer Productivity: Measuring AI Investments (6PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join us for our second installment of "An Intimate Discussion on Developer Productivity", where we dive into the best (and worst) practices around measuring the impact of AI investments.

👉 The Future of Engineering Leadership (6PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Network with fellow engineering executives over hosted food & cocktails, then hear from a panel of leading CTOs & Engineering Leaders sharing practical advice.

👉 AI Agents for Enterprise (6PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 We’re bringing together visionaries, builders, and leaders from Silicon Valley’s top tech and AI companies for a night of connection, innovation, and insight.

👉 🧠 The Thought Experiment Lab [public] (6:30PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 "Imagination without reason is mere fancy, but reason without imagination is sterile. That is partly why scientists and philosophers alike have always used imaginary scenarios to help sharpen their ideas and push them to their limits."

👉 Code Lab: OPEA, InfiniEdge AI, and AI Governance (7PM-9PM)
📍 Berkeley
💬 ​Join us for a dynamic, hands-on Code Lab focusing on cutting-edge open-source AI technologies and responsible AI governance practices.

👉 AI & Tech Networking in San Francisco (7PM-10PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join the AI Tech Networking Event in San Francisco! Every month, we bring together startups and investors from diverse industries. This is your opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, share ideas, and grow your business.

🗓️ Thursday, Apr 17

👉 AI User Conference 2025 - Developer Day (8AM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI is revolutionizing software engineering by making coding, debugging, and deployment faster and more efficient.

👉 Microsoft AI Roadshow - CTO Live Workshop - By Invitation (9AM-11:30AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Kick off the morning by connecting with leading industry figures, founders, and investors. The workshop is part of the "AI Keynotes at Microsoft" series, providing an exclusive opportunity for invited attendees to engage in insightful discussions and network with peers.

👉 Founders Bay Virtual Workshop - Free Hubspot for the Startup (11AM-12PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Online
💬 This virtual workshop is tailored for startup founders looking to optimize their marketing, sales, and customer service using HubSpot’s free CRM. Learn how to set up HubSpot’s CRM, leverage email marketing, automate sales processes, and use reporting tools to track performance.

👉 The AI Kaleidoscope: For Founders by Founders (2PM-5PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 The Founders Creative Kaleidoscope Series invites top AI experts from various sectors to engage in cross-sector collaborations.

👉 [Zero Gravity] Agentic RAG Hack Night at GitHub (4PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an exciting evening of hacking, networking, and innovation at GitHub. This event, presented by Weaviate, focuses on exploring AI’s potential to create impactful solutions alongside fellow developers.

👉 Intimate Conversations: AI Insights Driving Therapeutic Programs with Fauna Bio (4:30PM-6:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join Ashley Zehnder, CEO of Fauna Bio, for an intimate discussion about AI-driven drug discovery. Fauna Bio leverages data from 100 million years of evolved disease resistance in mammals, using AI to revolutionize therapeutic programs.

👉 Shaken, Stirred, and Slightly Unhinged: A Book Happy Hour (4:30PM-6:30PM)
📍 Oakland
💬 Enjoy an irreverent night of book talk and mixology magic. Featuring authors like Elisabeth Saake and Jennifer Newens, this event blends witty conversation and creative beverages.

👉 GenAI Expert Fireside Chat (5PM-7PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Dive into the latest advancements in Generative AI with experts from New Math Data. This fireside chat will cover GenAI’s impact on industries like energy and finance, and explore real-world applications of this transformative technology.

👉 Llama Lounge 17: The AI Startup Event Series at Stanford (5PM-9PM)
📍 Stanford
💬 This event at Stanford is a must-attend for AI entrepreneurs. Network with investors, corporate leaders, and fellow startups as you showcase your work.

👉 ai agent swarms | no code build w/ flo, ceo of lindy ai (5:30PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join this no-code AI build sprint and test new AI features with Flo, CEO of Lindy AI. This session offers a hands-on opportunity to demo, get feedback, and discuss AI applications.

👉 AI Keynotes at Qlay: Perspectives of Industry Leaders (5:30PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join top enterprise leaders and AI startup founders at this exciting event. Learn from industry experts who will share their perspectives on the latest trends and innovations in AI.

👉 The AI Agent Era: B2B Panel & Founder/Investor/Engineer Mixer (5:30PM-8PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Palo Alto
💬 ​AI Agents are no longer just copilots—they're becoming closers, coders, researchers, and deal-makers. From outbound sales to internal ops, startups are using autonomous agents to 10x how B2B businesses run.

​👉 Product Growth Forum (6PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Statsig has teamed up with top tech leaders to dive deep into product growth strategies. Join a panel of experts to gain insight into what’s driving product development today.

👉 Real Intelligence Book Club (6PM-7:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Love books and lively discussions? Join the Real Intelligence (RI) Book Club for engaging conversations over snacks and drinks.

👉 🧠 GenAI Collective x Thesys ➕ Exploring Generative UI 📟 (6PM-9PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join an evening at the forefront of human-computer interaction as we explore Generative UI, the next evolution in building software.

👉 AI Founders - Living Room Discussion (6:30PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI founders are invited to an intimate living room discussion. This informal setting offers an opportunity to connect with fellow AI founders, exchange ideas, and collaborate on emerging challenges in the AI industry.

👉 SF AI Panel: Predictive Intelligence, AI Agents, and Competitive Advantage | Feat. CPO Crunchbase, CTO Inscribe, and CEO Zock Communications (6:30PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join an insightful panel discussion featuring experts like Megh Bartma (CPO, Crunchbase), Conor Burke (CTO, Inscribe), and Mark Gilbert (CEO, Zock Communications).

🗓️ Friday, Apr 18

👉 Google Cloud Next Build Weekend - Day 1 (5AM-8PM)
📍 Hillsborough
💬 This is Day 1 of the two-day Google Cloud Next Build Weekend, cohosted by Google and AGI House, designed for AI founders, researchers, and builders.

👉 Mtn View Bootstrappers Breakfast at Red Rock Coffee (In Person) (7AM-8:30AM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 Mtn View Bootstrappers Breakfast at Red Rock Coffee (In Person)

👉 Founders Bay Virtual Workshop: How To Get Into Top Accelerators (11AM-12PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Online
💬 Join us for a candid and info-packed virtual session with Daria Kroshkina (Dasha) — a serial founder and alum of Techstars NYC and Berkeley SkyDeck — as she shares her real-world tips, strategies, and application hacks for getting accepted into competitive accelerator programs.

👉 Signal Fire Presents: ⚡ One Day Vibe Coding Hackathon — Build with AI, Code by Vibes (12PM-5PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Are you a non-technical founder ready to break through technical barriers? Or a technical team using AI to 10x or even 100x your velocity?

👉 Startup Art Fair San Francisco 2025 (2PM-7PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 The fair returns April 18-20, 2025, to the fun and funky Hotel del Sol, the iconic 1950s motor lodge in the beautiful Marina District adjacent to the Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

👉 AI Privacy Forum (3PM-7PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI has become more prevalent in our daily lives but with glaring concerns around security and privacy. Join us on April 18th as we discuss the importance of confidential computing and privacy in AI in order to address these issues.

👉 Minerva Hacks - AI in Education | Hackathon & Essay Contest (3PM-8PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI is changing the way we learn – but isn’t it making us lose critical thinking skills? At Minerva Hacks, we’re challenging you to create AI tools that for the better, redesigning teaching to have the learner at its center.

👉 Planting Workshop with David of Rhizome Urban Gardens (3PM-5PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us during Friday happy hour for a planting workshop with David Hunt, the owner and CEO of Rhizome Urban Gardens. He will bring supplies to teach you how to pot and take care of your own plant!

👉 Tech Start Up Founders Gatherings (READ Description) (4PM-6PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 In the world of startups, success often hinges on who you know. In a vibrant ecosystem like San Francisco, your connections can be the difference between stagnation and explosive growth.

👉 Next Protest At OpenAI (4:30PM-6:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Help us say, "Close OpenAI!" OpenAI is the company leading the race to smarter-than-human AI, also known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), i.e., an AI that is smarter than all human experts across all technical domains.

👉 VIBE25-1: After Dark Vibe-Coding Hackathon (5PM-11PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Let’s take vibe coding to the absolute fullest. Come build something experimental, fast, and actually useful. No pitching. Just deploying. We're kicking off the FIRST VIBE25 event this year!

👉 Hack on ARC Prize or Fine-tune Deep Seek: Strong Compute + GPUs included (6PM-8:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join a curated, interview-only hackathon alongside top AI researchers, engineers, and developers to tackle the ARC Prize.

👉 AI for the Enterprise: Building Next-Gen Tools for Workflow Automation & Productivity (6PM-8PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 Join EntreConnect for an exclusive panel discussion exploring how AI is driving workflow automation and business productivity across enterprise software, talent management, and technical documentation.

👉 SF UAP Hackathon (6PM-11:30PM)
📍 Alameda
💬 We're going back to the USS Hornet for another Hackathon! This time the theme is UAPs - biologics analysis, materials science, identification, and tracking.

🗓️ Saturday, Apr 19

👉 smol hackathon for smol models v0.2 (9:30AM-6:30PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A place to start that weekend AI project, a new feature for your product, or just to explore something new. Whether you're building a product or experimenting with AI, this hackathon offers an environment for collaborative learning and creative growth.

👉 Transforming Rare Disease Care Through AI (10AM-7:30PM)
📍 Berkeley
💬 Let’s make a difference for those living with rare diseases! Join our event to explore innovative solutions, team up with experts, and make a meaningful difference for millions.

👉 Google Cloud Next Build Weekend - Day 2 (10AM-10PM)
📍 Hillsborough
💬 This is Day 2 of the two-day Google Cloud Next Build Weekend, cohosted by Google and AGI House, designed for AI founders, researchers, and builders.

👉 Green Business Expo at the 2025 Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy Earth Day Festival (10AM-3PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate San Francisco Green Businesses at the Yerba Buena 2025 Earth Day Festival! This event, hosted in partnership with the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy, showcases sustainable practices and local green businesses.

👉 Mission Creek History Exhibit & Evolved SF "Creative Bar" for Climate Week (12PM-3PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an interactive activation combining the history of the Northeast Mission ("Mission Creek") neighborhood with the culture and creativity of community artists from Evolved SF.

The Hidden Superpower in Startup Success (Hint: It’s Not Your Pitch Deck)

By Mariane Bekker

Everyone talks about product-market fit, fundraising, and go-to-market strategy. And sure — those matter.

But the real difference between founders who survive and those who scale?

Their network.

Your network is your greatest unfair advantage. It’s the warm intro when you’re out of runway. The unexpected partner who opens a distribution channel. The investor who gets your vision — and wires fast.

And unlike capital or code, your network compounds. Every time you show up, every time you add value, every time you connect someone else — it grows. Stronger, faster, wider.

But let’s be real: showing up is only half the game.

Want to actually stand out and build meaningful relationships at your next event?

Start here:

💬 5 Smart Networking Moves That Actually Work

1. Say names out loud
When someone introduces themselves, repeat their name:

2. Use wearable curiosity
A bold jacket. A tote bag with a line that makes people smile. A vintage pin.
Make it easy for others to approach you without a cold open — and give them something to comment on.

3. Ask: “Who else should I meet tonight?”
This turns the person you’re talking to into your connector. People love making intros — and it keeps the convo flowing.

4. Practice your story — short and sharp
Have a 15-second and 60-second version of your “what I do.”
Tailor it for context. Founders, VCs, artists — they all care about different things.

5. Use the ‘Close + Loop’
Instead of just saying “Nice meeting you,” end with:

If your network is your best asset — this is where you build it.

🎉 Gigaparty: The AI Rabbit Hole

📍 April 24 | Temple SF
🎧 500+ investors and family offices from SignalFire, Blackrock, TPG, LG Ventures, Context VC
🔥 $25K female founder pitch hosted by Lisa Carmen Wang
🎤 Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer ($3.7T under management)
🎭 5 immersive floors of art, music, capital & connection

🎟️ Get your ticket now
Use code SUNDAYSPECIAL for $15 off (browser only)

One great convo can change everything.
Let’s make it happen.

— Mariane

Hi! I'm Mariane Bekker, an investor and a tech executive with over a decade of experience building high-performing engineering teams at leading startups such as New Relic and Mindbody. I've led engineering through 5 acquisitions and 1 IPO. 

I’m the founder of Founders bay and Women Founders bay, connecting founders with expert guidance, events and funding opportunities in the Bay Area.