Founders Pitch Night - End of the Year Edition
Event Description
2025 is wrapping up, so before everyone disappears into “OOO till Jan 7,” we’re throwing one last banger for the NYC founder community.
Join us at a super cool venue in Brooklyn!
We’ll have select early-stage founders pitch in front of a room full of builders, investors, and people who swear they’re “just here for the vibes.” Expect sharp pitches, honest feedback, zero fluff, and that classic NYC energy that makes you start planning your next startup on the subway ride home.
Founders who want to pitch: mention while filling the form. We’ll be selecting a small group of high-signal founders to take the stage.
Come for the pitches. Stay for the people. End the year by meeting the founders you’ll actually want to build with in 2026.
What’s Happening
6:30 – 7:00 PM: Arrivals, networking, and socializing
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Startup pitches begin. Each founder will have 3 minutes to pitch, followed by 3 minutes of Q&A and feedback from our judges and the audience
8:00 PM onward: More hanging out, meeting people, and good conversations
About the Judges
Jimmy Lederer is a family office investor specializing in small-cap public equities with a focus on undervalued opportunities in biotech, mining, CPG and emerging technologies. Through his family office, he actively deploys capital via private placements and open market accumulation, backing companies with strong management teams, near-term catalysts, and scalable business models.
Ashley Jefferson is the founder of Startup Baddie and a strategic product leader who helps startups cut through product fog, misalignment, and scaling friction. She guides teams to build what’s needed next, from features and launches to new ways of engaging users, blending product and community to keep everyone aligned.
Nathan Poon is a 3x founder (2 exits), investor, and advisor. He currently runs Avol, which builds autonomous electric aircraft for delivering blood, organs, tissues, and other medical products between healthcare centers. His companies have been backed by Tim Draper, Untapped Capital, Alchemist, and others. He has invested and/or has an advisory role in 12 startups, mostly concentrated in the SF/Bay Area and received his PhD in mechanical engineering from Berkeley.
About the Venue
We’re hosting this at Sanders Studio in Clinton Hill - a massive loft that can hold a lot of ambitious New Yorkers. High ceilings, great lighting, Brooklyn charm, and enough space to run events that actually feel good.
Hosts
Somya Gupta - Prev. Founder at Context who is now on a mission to make NYC the biggest startup ecosystem in the world.
TechBrig is an AI product design and development partner for early-stage startups and venture-backed companies.We help teams build and scale software, from MVP to growth. We also help SMBs implement AI in their internal ops.
Dominic Smith is building the future of Al avatars. You can meet these avatars like real people in real places. The platform blends AR, voice, and personality to give venues a digital presence 24/7, helping brands connect with their audience through immersive storytelling and interactive experiences.