Discover Opportunities:

Events for Venture-Scale Founders

Location

13 Available

AI for Founders & CEOs: The Five Levels of Thought Partnership (Remote only)

April

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Zoom

Sam Keller

"Incredible event that taught me a LOT about how to use AI to help me be a better leader."

"This was my favorite event! I loved the feeling of learning. It felt like being in a college class again."

After a successful first event in San Francisco, FounderNexus is partnering with Gen AI Academy again to bring back an exclusive AI workshop. This time virtually, so everybody can join from wherever they are.

This isn't another AI overview or hype session. It's a practical deep dive built around one core promise: you leave with tools and skills you'll use the very next day.

Led by Sam Keller, Co-Founder of Gen AI Academy, this session has already transformed how 300+ leaders think about and use AI — and now it's coming to you, wherever you are.

Before the workshop, you'll receive a personalized AI Self-Assessment so the session is calibrated to exactly where you are and where you want to go.

What You'll Walk Away With

In just three hours, you'll learn how to:

• Pressure-test your biggest decisions: use AI to challenge assumptions and stress-test strategy in real time

• Get dramatically better outputs: brief AI the way you'd brief your sharpest executive

• Build your AI Dream Team: specialized assistants working for you around the clock

• Automate with AI Agents: move beyond insights into real execution: research, workflows, and action

• Win in high-stakes moments: from strategic planning to major negotiations, have AI in your corner

What Leaders Are Saying

"Best one this year by far!! Immediately valuable."

"I was literally blown away - I will be utilizing the new tools immediately."

"This will take our company to the next level. We are already applying it."

"Now I have a much deeper understanding of how to use AI tools in my work."

About Gen AI Academy

Gen AI Academy has an origin story unlike most: in 2023, founder Sam Keller and his 12-year-old son Kaz sat down to explore the promise and pitfalls of ChatGPT. That father-son experiment quickly grew into something much bigger, as hundreds of leaders joined their workshops hungry to make sense of this powerful new technology.

What Sam kept hearing was the same thing: leaders didn't just want technical how-tos. They needed the mindsets, skills, tools, and habits to weave AI into strategy, culture, and daily work. Gen AI Academy was built to answer exactly that need. Today they've trained 1,000+ professionals, including 300+ Founders & CEOs, delivering hands-on training, custom-built AI tools, and governance frameworks that make adoption powerful and responsible.

Featured in Forbes. genaiacademy.ai

Spots are limited. Reserve yours now and show up ready to lead differently.

expert event

Artificial Intelligence and Diagnostic Inventions: Significant shifts in the Examination of Patent-Eligible Subject Matter

April

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Zoom

John Morgan

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) systems offers paradigm-shifting advances in many areas of human endeavor, including healthcare. Yet, innovations in AI and diagnostic medicine have met significant patent-eligibility hurdles in recent years. Innovators will therefore be interested in recent, patent-friendly changes in US Patent Office policy and proposed legislation to reform US patent law regarding subject-matter eligibility, and to adapt their patent practice and strategy accordingly to benefit business needs.

This topic covers:

a brief introductory history of US patent-eligible subject matter examination and case law

recent changes in USPTO policy and proposed legislative reform

adapting patent practice and strategy to benefit business needs, including identifying patent-eligible inventions, IP cost allocation and control, portfolio management, and consistency in approach across the portfolio and multiple jurisdictions

expert event

How to Sell When You're Not a Salesperson: GTM for Early Stage Founders

April

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Zoom

Collin Stewart

You built the product. Now you have to sell it. But nobody taught you how. How do you find leads? What do you say in cold outreach? When do you show a demo, and how do you actually close? What tools should you actually use?

In this AMA-style Expert session, Collin Stewart will answer your real questions about building your sales and GTM process. Come prepared with what's blocking you right now, whether that's crafting your outreach, figuring out or optimizing your sales process, or knowing when to push for the close.

Fit before you Commit-Founder's guide to PMF diligence before the first yes

April

11:00 PM - 2:00 AM

San Francisco, CA

Court Lorenzini

Fit Before You Commit--A founder's guide to PMF diligence before the first yes

You landed the client. You started building. You said yes to every ask.

Then they walked.

It's one of the most common — and most avoidable — patterns in early-stage companies. Founders lose months customizing, iterating, and accommodating a buyer who was never truly committed. By the time the "no" comes, the damage is done: to the roadmap, the team, and the runway.

This talk is about what should have happened before any of that started.

You'll learn how to run real product-market fit diligence before you write a single line of code or sign a single SOW. How to tell the difference between a curious prospect and a genuine buyer. What questions to ask in the first conversation — and how to actually interpret the answers. How to hold your ground without losing the relationship.

PMF isn't a milestone you reach. It's a filter you apply from day one.

Come ready to rethink how you qualify — before you commit.

social event

Founder's Dinner

April

2:15 AM - 4:00 AM

San Francisco, CA

After the Talk: Informal Dinner with Founders

If you want to continue the conversation over dinner, we're gathering informally at a restaurant nearby, afterward. No host, no formal agenda, just founders who want to keep talking about what comes next.

For any pre-qualified founders (www.foundernexus.com)

Members only

expert event

Venture Insights with Foothill Ventures

April

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Zoom

Xuhui Shao

This is your chance to sit down with a deep-tech investor who's been on both sides of the table — as a builder and as a backer.

Dr. Xuhui Shao is a Founding Partner of Foothill Ventures, an early-stage deep-tech venture fund based in Silicon Valley. Foothill backs exceptional founders building highly differentiated products with real technical moat — and Xuhui brings a rare operator's lens to every investment, having spent decades building and scaling some of the most technically complex platforms in the industry.

What Foothill Ventures looks for:

Stage: Seed (primary) and Series A (typically as a follow-on check)

Check size: $1.5M

Investment thesis: Exceptional founders building highly differentiated products with a real technical moat

Before Foothill, Xuhui was VP-II Engineering at Yahoo, leading their global display ads platforms, and was a founding technologist at two landmark Ad Tech companies — Turn (acquired for $310M) and ID Analytics (acquired for $170M). He's also an early investor in Plus.AI, Weride.AI, and Certik, all of which went on to become unicorns. He holds a BS and MS from Tsinghua University and a Ph.D. in EECS from the University of Minnesota.

This is a members-only session. Come with your questions about deep-tech investing, what it takes to build a real technical moat, or whether your company fits Foothill's thesis.

I can say with confidence that I get far more value from FounderNexus than the cost of the membership, and I'm not even taking full advantage! This community is going to be an important part of my journey as I continue building and growing my company.

Steve Tout

founder, Identient

I really loved how welcoming the vibe felt from the moment I arrived.

Katrina Romatowski

founder, reSpace

It was awesome

Edan Shahar

founder, Wild Zebra

The event was great! Highlight: Encouragement of diverse viewpoints and good founder mix

Darian Parrish

founder, PwrOn

I think the breakout sessions are a loose but useful way to get people talking about challenges and resolutions.

Mark Fiebig

founder, Payscore

I was initially hesitant to join yet another group as there is no shortage of people claiming to help entrepreneurs, but Court Lorenzini and FounderNexus are the real deal. Any serious founder will benefit immensely from joining FounderNexus.

Jasper Kuria

co-founder, ConversionMagic

Great event, I learned a lot! Looking forward to next one

Shama Keskar

founder, Mudita Studios

FounderNexus fills a gap for entrepreneurs by complementing traditional incubator and early investment programs with a high-quality peer founder network.

Bob Lach

founder, Lightbridge Solutions

I also felt a sense of real community for the first time as a founder. You're all onto something special here!

Elias DeFaria

co-founder, SDF Labs

This was a fast track to relevant experience/advice in a room where you hold nothing back.

Nicole Resch

Co-founder, Imperative

I have attended events nationwide and joined so-called “MasterMind” groups, but nothing comes close to the network and support I have experienced at FounderNexus.

Arthur Baranovskiy

co-founder, ARY Engineering

Interested in starting a FounderNexus chapter in your area?

If you're an experienced venture-scale founder that's passionate about growing your local entrepreneurial community and likes being at the center of things, we'd love to connect. We've got everything you need to get a local chapter started.