Startup Grind Day 2/3: On the AI Revolution & a Ton of Free Swag
We woke up bright and early this morning to attend the first official day of the Startup Grind 2024 conference. Having just attended their invigorating pre-conference the day before, we were eager to see what Redwood City had to offer.
Tuesday on Broadway Street was buzzing with venture capitalists, founders, and tech enthusiasts alike. It was an overcast day, unseasonably windy for California, but we took refuge from the chill in the various startup tents and event spaces near the iconic Fox Theater.
Our morning was spent casually networking and touring the conference grounds, which consisted of branded booths set up by vendors like Mercury, Brex, Zeni and more. Gratuitous tech swag was offered, along with breakfast foods ranging from green juices to charcuterie cones to made-to-order oat milk lattes.
We went to a number of interesting talks and speaker sessions, including “Transforming the Future of AI for Startups” by Microsoft and “Eye on AI: Funding in 2024” with partners from Initialized Capital, NEA, Upfront Ventures, and Obvious Ventures.
The investment teams shared their wide-ranging and at times contrarian views on the future of AI: from the emergence of Generative Science where models are trained on chemistry, physics, and climate change, to the potential for AI to eat itself, with apps winding down into sub-apps and eventually just API layers.
Next up, the quickfire startup pitches happened in two locations: one in the vendor hall, and the other on the Main Stage. At one-minute long each, the founders’ pitches blitzed by in a flash! Our own on-stage pitch for Zette is planned for tomorrow, during the 1:50 pm — 2:05 pm segment. (Come watch us pitch live onstage if you’re in town for the conference!)
We took a break for a bite at a quaint nearby café frequented by many other Startup Grind attendees, planning out the day’s work deliverables over soups and sandwiches. We’ve just crossed the $1M (!!!) mark on our crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder — and with the clock ticking down these last 3 days, we can already tell that this will be our busiest week yet.
After the conference, we headed back to San Francisco to pick up items to set up our exhibition booth for tomorrow, including some fun goodies to pass out to attendees. Find us at Booth #90 in the main hall at Fox Theater, and pitching on the Main Stage at 1:50 PM PST!
With love,
— The Zette Team
