AI Salon Dallas
After a full room in Austin, the AI Salon comes to Dallas.
Most enterprise AI pilots never reach production. The ones that do are rarely the ones that demoed best.
Join us for an evening with the people on both sides of that decision. Enterprise technology leaders who are approving, killing, and renewing AI budgets. Founders building the tools. Investors funding them.
DFW runs a disproportionate share of the American economy: telecom, financial services, healthcare, aviation, logistics. Which means Dallas sees enterprise AI adoption earlier and more honestly than almost anywhere else.
This curated gathering is designed for thoughtful conversation at the intersection of AI, emerging technologies, and real-world impact.
Agenda:
5:00-5:30 PM: Open Networking
5:30-5:45 PM: Opening Keynote by Mala Ramakrishnan, Managing Partner, Progressive Ventures
5:45-6:00 PM: Host Speech
6:00-6:40 PM: Panel: What enterprises actually renew
6:40-6:50 PM: Break
6:50-7:30 PM: Panel: Underwriting the Buyer.
What investors look for when the customer is a Fortune 500, and how that changes what gets funded.
7:30-7:45 PM: Closing by Mala Ramakrishnan
7:45-8:00 PM: Open Networking
We'll discuss:
What separates an AI pilot that reaches production from one that quietly dies
How enterprise buying committees are evaluating AI vendors in 2026, and what has changed in twelve months
Where vertical AI is winning against horizontal platforms
What defensibility looks like when the underlying models are commodity
How founders should sell into large organizations without an enterprise sales team
Who is this for:
Enterprise technology and data leaders
Founders building B2B AI
Investors
Operators
About Organisers:
Founders Creative is a non profit organization. We aim for 50% representation by women in every room that matters. Our crown jewel is an accelerator program that has launched 30 startups this last year with 50% women. We are a community of 40,000 founders, investors, operators primarily in Silicon Valley.
Progressive Ventures is a seed stage venture firm based out of Palo Alto, CA and the primary sponsor of Founders Creative.