FoundersHack Fireside
Welcome to the FoundersHack Fireside
Note: This event is the official kickoff to FoundersHack Sydney 2026. Open to all registered FoundersHack participants and curious hackers/students. You must register separately for this event.
About
The FoundersHack Fireside is a candid panel with VC-backed founders on what "building hard problems" actually looks like. Founders will go through the entire journey, including
When and where it all started
What they built
What went wrong
What they'd do differently
The fireside chat is intended to focus on everything that happens behind the scenes. Founders will share their insights on the scrappy experiments, hard trade-offs, and the grind of turning a complex problem into a scalable product.
This is also a live AMA with the founders, so come curious, come engaged with questions.
Meet the Founders
Simon Kubica: Co-founder of Alloy. AI Prototyping for Product Managers. Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Y Combinator, and Blackbird.
Pennie Li: Co-founder of A1Base (A1Zap). A consumer-facing messaging platform built for group communication between humans and AI agents. Backed by Y Combinator.
Conversations & Team Formation
The Fireside leads straight into networking with other hackers building at FoundersHack. If you don't have a team yet, this is the perfect chance to meet potential teammates before the Build Phase kicks off.
📍 Details
When: Tuesday, 17th March 2026
Where: AirTree Ventures, Surry Hills
Part of: FoundersHack Sydney 2026
Follow along on the NextGen LinkedIn or join the FoundersHack Discord