Bay Area Founders Club

6th Top AI Researchers Roundtable & BBQ Party in Los Altos Hills 🎉 Excited to announce the 6th Top AI Researchers Roundtable & BBQ Party, hosted by Bay Area Founders Club (BFC) on November 15, 2026, at a private residence in Los Altos Hills, California. Special Thanks go to our generous sponsors @llama_venture @AperaAIBayarea @OrphLux ! Since launching this series in May 2026, we've successfully hosted five exclusive, closed-door roundtables, bringing together some of the brightest minds shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Participants have included: •⁠ ⁠Ed Chi — VP of Research at Google DeepMind •⁠ ⁠15 researchers from OpenAI •⁠ ⁠5 researchers from Anthropic •⁠ ⁠26 researchers from Google DeepMind •⁠ ⁠6 researchers from xAI •⁠ ⁠7 researchers from NVIDIA •⁠ ⁠2 Stanford professors •⁠ ⁠Xuedong Huang — CTO of Zoom •⁠ ⁠Yuandong Tian — Co-founder of Recursive (reportedly raising $650M) For our sixth edition, we're bringing together a carefully curated group of leading AI researchers at a private residence in Los Altos Hills for an intimate, off-the-record discussion. This time, we'll explore five critical questions shaping the future of AI: 1.⁠ ⁠THE UTILIZATION GAP — AI labs are investing unprecedented amounts in compute. How much of that investment actually translates into better learning and model performance? 2.⁠ ⁠THE CHANGING COMPUTE MIX — How will the rise of reasoning models and AI agents reshape the future of AI infrastructure? 3.⁠ ⁠ONE MODEL, MANY CHIPS — To what extent does hardware architecture influence how we design and train AI models? 4.⁠ ⁠AI RESEARCH ON AI — Can AI meaningfully accelerate the development of the next generation of AI systems? 5.⁠ ⁠SCALING UNDER CONSTRAINTS — As access to additional compute becomes increasingly constrained, what will drive the next wave of AI progress? Following the roundtable, we'll continue the conversations over a private BBQ reception, connecting researchers, founders, investors, and industry leaders in a relaxed, informal setting. 📅 November 15, 2026 | 3:00–5:00 PM 📍 Private Residence | Los Altos Hills, California 🔒 Invitation Only | Limited to 30 Participants 🔗 Join Us: luma.com/3w0imp02

If you're attending the CEO Summit or VIP Dinner, come say hi! 👋 🌟 Featured Speakers & Industry Leaders: Lip-Bu Tan @LipBuTan1 — CEO, Intel Andrew Feldman @andrewdfeldman — CEO, Cerebras Sassine Ghazi @SassineGhazi — CEO, Synopsys Naveen Rao @NaveenGRao — CEO, Unconventional AI Rodrigo Liang @RodrigoLiang — CEO, SambaNova Raghib Hussain — CEO, Altera Michael Hurlston — CEO, Lumentum Mark Wade @markwadebass — CEO, Ayar Labs Gavin Uberti @UbertiGavin — CEO, Etched @Etched Dylan Patel @dylan522p — CEO, SemiAnalysis @SemiAnalysis_ Sid Sheth @sidsheth — CEO, d-Matrix @dmatrix_ai Sunghyun Park — CEO, Rebellions Xin Guo — CEO, Solidigm Irving Tan @irvintyan — CEO, Western Digital Ajit Manocha — CEO, SEMI Anna Goldie — CEO, Recursive Intelligence Faraj Aalaei — CEO, Cognichip Mary Ellen Randall — CEO, IEEE Khurram Ismail — CPO, SanDisk Paul Cho — President, Samsung Semiconductor Michael Xie — President, Fortinet Albert Kim — Head, Samsung Venture America David Lam — Founder, Lam Research Chenming Hu — UC Berkeley Professor & FinFET Co-Inventor John Martinis — Quantum Computing Pioneer, Qolab Shahin Farshchi — General Partner, Lux Capital Stacy Rasgon — Managing Director, Bernstein Jimmy Cheng — President 2026–2027, CASPA From semiconductor giants to AI chip startups, leading researchers, and investors, this is an exciting gathering of people building the future of AI infrastructure. AI's future depends not only on models, but also on breakthroughs in chips, computing, and infrastructure. Looking forward to connecting with everyone!

🔥 Stanford GSB’s Legendary “Touchy Feely” Professor Carole Robin Is Coming to BFC! We’re excited to welcome Carole Robin, former Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, co-founder of Leaders in Tech, and bestselling author of Connect, for an exclusive 2-hour interactive leadership workshop! Carole taught Stanford’s legendary Interpersonal Dynamics course, affectionately known as “Touchy Feely.” Many Stanford MBA students have described it as one of the most valuable experiences of their education—some even say it was worth the entire price of their MBA tuition! 💡 What You’ll Learn: ✅ Build trust and develop deeper, more meaningful relationships ✅ Apply the 15% Rule to strengthen communication and connection ✅ Navigate conflicts and give feedback effectively ✅ Become a more influential founder, CEO, and leader ✅ Strengthen relationships with co-founders, investors, teams, and even family members One of my favorite insights from Carole is: “people do business with people—not ideas, not products, not strategies, not even money—they do business with people.” Building a successful company isn't just about technology, products, or fundraising. It's about trust, relationships, and the ability to inspire others. This isn't another lecture. It's a Stanford-style, hands-on workshop featuring small-group discussions, real-world exercises, and practical leadership skills you can apply immediately. Highly recommended for founders, CEOs, investors, and anyone looking to become a better leader and build stronger relationships. 🎟️ Register here: luma.com/crhrhf26 Looking forward to bringing this legendary Stanford learning experience to our BFC community! 🤝

🚀 Silicon Valley × Shenzhen: The Future of Physical AI Is HERE! 🤖🇺🇸🇨🇳 What if you could explore the future of AI and robotics in just 7 days? 👀 Starting November 10, join us in Shenzhen with Ian Gunther — Stanford alumnus, 4× NCAA champion, and creator with 2M+ followers! 🔥 🏭 Go behind the scenes of China's AI and robotics revolution. 🤖 Explore humanoid robots, Physical AI, and advanced manufacturing. ⚡ Discover how Shenzhen turns cutting-edge AI into real-world products — and scales them to millions. 🤝 Connect with Silicon Valley investors, founders, and tech leaders. Silicon Valley builds intelligence. Shenzhen brings it to life. 🌏 7 Days. One City. Endless Possibilities. 🎟️ Limited spots! Apply now: luma.com/bayarea-no8f #PhysicalAI #Shenzhen #SiliconValley #Robotics #HumanoidRobots #ArtificialIntelligence #Stanford #IanGunther #TechInnovation #AIRevolution #ChinaTech #FutureOfAI #BayAreaFoundersClub #BFC #TechTok #InnovationMission

🚀 Our 5th Top AI Researchers Roundtable is coming to Atherton on October 18! Across our first four events, we've welcomed researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, xAI, NVIDIA, and Stanford. 🔹 Ed Chi — VP of Research, @GoogleDeepMind 🔹 Xuedong Huang — CTO, @Zoom 🔹 12 researchers from OpenAI @OpenAI 🔹 5 researchers from Anthropic @AnthropicAI 🔹 21 researchers from @GoogleDeepMind 🔹 5 researchers from xAI @xai 🔹 6 researchers from @nvidia 🔹 2 professors from @Stanford This time: AI cybersecurity, recursive self-improvement, agent security, and AI safety. 🔒 30 guests. Closed-door. Off the record. 🔥 Private BBQ reception afterward. Hosted by Bay Area Founders Club. Special thanks go to our generous sponsors DigitalDx Ventures; Llama Ventures @llama_venture ; CoreThink AI @corethink_ai; MagStone Law, LLP @MagStoneLaw Join us: luma.com/ispcjmq1 #AI #AIResearch #SiliconValley #BayAreaFoundersClub

🔥 This Friday: AI Pitch Night — Global AI Pitch Summit Silicon Valley Qualifier 📅 Friday, October 9 | Silicon Valley 🍽️ VIP Dinner Limited to 30 Guests The Bay Area Founders Club (BFC) and Be The Change Foundation invite you to AI Pitch Night, bringing together AI founders, VCs, investors, and technology leaders for an evening of startup pitches, investor insights, and meaningful connections. AI startups currently raising or preparing to raise are invited to apply. Please also share this with great AI founders in your network! 👉 Apply now: luma.com/bayarea-3v2a 🌎 Highlights from previous Global AI Pitch Summits: globalpitch.ai 🎤 10 Selected AI Startups Will Pitch Live VC Panel Topic: AI Investing in 2026: What Gets Funded — and What Doesn’t Ray Wu @Boundaryfree — Managing Partner, Alumni Ventures Gloria Zhang @gloria_zwq — Investment VP, DCM Ventures Holly Zheng — Founding Partner, EnvisionX Capital Sue Xu @suexuamino — Managing Partner, Amino Capital ⏰ Agenda 5:30–6:30 PM | Networking amp; Dinner 6:30–7:00 PM | VC Panel 7:00–7:30 PM | Startup Pitches 7:30–8:30 PM | Networking Whether you’re raising capital, looking for your next investment, searching for a co-founder, or hoping to connect with more AI founders and investors, we’d love to have you join us. 🔥 VIP Dinner is limited to just 30 guests — register early to secure your spot! 👉 Register here: luma.com/bayarea-3v2a

🤖 Inside Physical AI — Silicon Valley × Shenzhen 🇺🇸 × 🇨🇳 📅 Nov 10–16, 2026 | 📍 Shenzhen For the past few years, Silicon Valley has been asking: How intelligent can AI become? The next question may be even bigger: What happens when that intelligence enters the physical world? Robots. Drones. Autonomous vehicles. Smart glasses. AI wearables. Intelligent devices. That’s Physical AI. This November, we’re bringing a curated Silicon Valley delegation to Shenzhen to go inside one of the world’s most dynamic ecosystems for robotics, hardware, rapid prototyping, supply chains, and advanced manufacturing. Not just company tours. We want to understand how the system actually works—from idea → prototype → production → global scale. Confirmed: 🏅 Ian Gunther — Stanford alumnus, entrepreneur & creator with 2M+ YouTube subscribers; Mission Leader 🔗 Dr. SiMing Li — Silicon Valley technology leader with deep experience across AI, supply chain & logistics; Co-Organizer We’re bringing together investors, founders, tech leaders, researchers, professors, and operators to explore what happens when: Silicon Valley’s AI ecosystem × Shenzhen’s physical technology ecosystem. 🎟️ BFC members: $500 off with code BFC500 ⏰ Early Bird ends Oct 12 Seats are limited. Please register using the link in the comments. Silicon Valley × Shenzhen — From intelligence to the physical world.

⛳️ Swing for AI: Golf with Silicon Valley Investors + AI Pitch Night On October 9, the Bay Area Founders Club (BFC) × Be The Change Foundation will host the 14th edition of Swing for AI + AI Pitch Night, sponsored by Llama Ventures, CoreThink AI, and MyVision Labs. One round of golf. One private dinner. One evening of AI pitches and high-level connections. Join a curated group of successful founders, senior technology executives, VCs, and experienced investors for an afternoon and evening designed to bring together golf, meaningful conversations, investment opportunities, and new partnerships. ⛳️ 1:30–4:30 PM | 9-Hole Golf 🥂 5:00–8:30 PM | Private Dinner + AI Pitch Night During the evening, a select group of AI founders will pitch their startups live, presenting directly to investors, technology leaders, and fellow entrepreneurs. Your next investor, business partner, or co-founder could be in the room. Golf. Pitch. Connect. 👉 Join us for golf, AI Pitch Night, or both. Spots are limited, so please register using the link below.

AI Pitch Night & Golf Event — Pitch Your Startup. Meet Investors. Get Funded. The Bay Area Founders Club (BFC) and Be The Change Foundation invite you to an exclusive AI Pitch Night bringing together AI founders, venture capitalists, investors, technology leaders, and potential co-founders Your Next Investor or Co-Founder Could Be in the Room. This is more than a pitch competition. It’s an opportunity to get your startup in front of an influential Silicon Valley audience, build meaningful relationships, and potentially find the people who can help you take your company to the next level. Selected founders will have the opportunity to pitch their startups live and connect directly with investors and fellow entrepreneurs. BFC Network 1,000+ VCs 8,000+ Investors 5,000+ Startups Who Should Join? Founders: Pitch your startup, meet investors, find potential co-founders, and build strategic connections. Investors: Discover promising AI startups and meet founders building what’s next. Builders & Executives: Meet ambitious founders, investors, and technology leaders across the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Agenda: 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm: 9-Hole Golf 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Dinner and AI Pitch Night Private Dinner · AI Startup Pitches · Investor Networking Special thanks go to our sponsors Llama Ventures & MyVision Labs! Come pitch. Meet investors. Find your next opportunity.

🔥 Top Creators Gather in San Francisco — Substack CEO Chris Best @chrisbest Takes the Stage

Great meeting Lenny Rachitsky @lennysan of Lenny’s Newsletter at the SF Substack Bestseller Celebration! 🎉 Bay Area Founders Club @BFC_Global published our first Substack post in May 2024. A little over 2 years later, with over 110K+ subscribers, we’ve grown to become the #11 Venture newsletter globally on Substack. From one post → one subscriber → a global community of founders, investors & builders. Start small. Dream big. Keep building. 🚀 Looking forward to more BFC × Lenny’s Newsletter connections and collaborations ahead. #LennysNewsletter #Substack #Startups #Founders #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #SiliconValley #BayAreaFoundersClub #BFC

Great conversation with Substack CEO Chris Best @chrisbest about entrepreneurship and building from the ground up. The longer I build, the more I believe: Why you start often shapes where you ultimately end up. Products change. Business models evolve. Teams transform. But if you go far enough, what you build often comes back to the original problem you wanted to solve. Your founding purpose is your compass. The path may change. Your “Why” shouldn’t. #Founders #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Substack #BayAreaFoundersClub

⛳️ Learn Golf from a Pro — and Connect with Founders & VCs Some of the best conversations don’t happen in conference rooms. They happen on the golf course. Bay Area Founders Club @BFC_Global is excited to host an exclusive 1.5-hour Golf Clinic & Networking Night led by Keith Shiver— an experienced golf coach, U.S. Navy veteran, and UC Berkeley alumnus. Whether you’re picking up a golf club for the first time or looking to sharpen your swing, this small-group clinic is designed for golfers of all levels. 🏌️ Golf Clinic 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM 🤝 Founder & VC Networking 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM What to Expect ⛳ Learn from an experienced coach — Get hands-on instruction on swing mechanics, fundamentals, and course etiquette. 🏌️ Improve your game — Receive practical guidance you can immediately apply to your next round. 🤝 Build meaningful connections — Meet founders, VCs, investors, and members of the Bay Area Founders Club community in a relaxed setting beyond the typical networking event. Learn golf. Improve your game. Build meaningful connections. #Golf #SiliconValley #Founders #VentureCapital #Networking #BayArea #Entrepreneurs #Startups #BayAreaFoundersClub

Last month, Bay Area Founders Club (@BFC_Global) hosted our 3rd Top AI Researchers Roundtable & Private BBQ in Woodside Hills. Moderated by Xuedong Huang @xdh, CTO of Zoom, the closed-door discussion brought together: • Ed Chi @edchi, VP of Research @GoogleDeepMind • 4 researchers from @OpenAI • 2 from @AnthropicAI • 8 from @GoogleDeepMind • 2 from @xAI • 3 from @nvidia • 2 Stanford professors Prof. Jan Liphardt @JanLiphardt & Prof. Huijun Zhou Several attendees told us it was one of the most substantive AI conversations they’ve had in the Bay Area. So we’re doing it again. On September 27, BFC will host the 4th Top AI Researchers Roundtable — a fully closed-door, off-the-record conversation with researchers from frontier AI labs and leading research institutions. Core Discussion Topics: 1. The post-AGI economy: What becomes scarce when intelligence is abundant? 2. Recursive self-improvement: Does AI begin to pull away from humans — and from itself? 3. The agentic bottleneck: What still separates intelligence from autonomy? 4. The monitorability problem: Can we control intelligence we can no longer fully observe? 5. The benchmark problem: Are we still measuring intelligence — or just measuring optimization? No presentations. No panels for show. Just a small group going deep on the future of AI — followed by a private BBQ. 🔥 Silicon Valley is at its best when the smartest people can speak candidly in the same room. Join Us this Sunday using the link below.

🚀 CEO Meet VC 3.0 is officially LIVE! Get Funded in 2 Minutes. Find your best-fit investors in just 2 minutes with AI-powered investor matching, fundraising insights, and warm introductions. We’ve also launched the new BFC Founder Level System — LV0 → LV6 🏆, designed to recognize and support founders at every stage of their journey. Log in to the BFC website and click your profile photo to see your current level 👀 Give CEO Meet VC 3.0 a try and let us know what you think! Feedback, feature requests, and bug reports are very welcome — we’re building this together with the BFC community. 👇 Try CEO Meet VC 3.0 now: bayareafoundersclub.com/ceo-…

Finally, we may be seeing a new model paradigm beyond LLMs. Jev is a System 1 model: extremely fast, ultra-low-cost, and designed to bypass language-based reasoning entirely. It doesn’t need to “speak” before it acts. Its approach also raises interesting questions about objectivity and whether some forms of intelligence can operate without language-level alignment. The potential is huge. LLMs may not be the only path toward AGI. Jev is coming to BFC AI Gateway @BFCAIGateway soon. 🚀

This Week in the Bay Area: 55 Curated Events linkedin.com/pulse/week-bay-…

Cut Inference Costs by Up to 70% — We’ll Benchmark Your AI Stack for Free Using multiple AI model providers shouldn’t mean maintaining multiple integrations—or rebuilding retry logic every time a provider goes down. *BFC AI Gateway gives you one API for leading text, image, video, and audio models*—including Seedance, Kling, Veo, MiniMax, GPT Image, and many more. Already running AI workloads at scale? Share an anonymized usage range and a few representative workloads. We’ll run a *free cost comparison* and benchmark your workloads for *quality, reliability, and performance*. *Only migrate if the results are better.* Open to a *20-minute review*? Fill out the form below to get started: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…