A Closed-Door AI Salon: Researchers, Founders, and Investors; An Evening Across the AI Ecosystem
The AI researchers decide what’s possible. The founders decide what becomes real. The capital decides what comes next. They’re rarely in the same room.
This is a closed-door gathering for 30 people: researchers from frontier labs, founders building AI-native companies, and leading Bay Area investors backing AI.
This evening is for firsthand perspectives: what the people training the models actually see coming, what the people shipping products are encountering in production, and what the people writing checks genuinely believe.
Format:
The evening begins with networking, followed by a one-hour Founder Sharing Session featuring five to ten selected AI-native companies.
This is an intentionally relaxed, conversation-led session. There are no judges, rankings, or winners. It simply gives a few founders the opportunity to share what they are building with a thoughtful room of researchers, fellow founders, potential partnerships and investors.
Founders can talk about an early idea, a product already in market, a technical challenge, or a question they are still working through. The goal is to create useful conversations, receive direct feedback, and meet people who may have relevant experience, insight, or connections.
Founders who would like to share can indicate their interest in advance and submit a short company overview or deck. OpenStages will review the submissions and confirm five to eight companies with individually scheduled presentation slots before the event.
After the presentations, we move into a moderated salon discussion centered on the companies and ideas shared that evening.
Researchers, founders, and investors will explore the projects together: the problems they are solving, the technical choices behind them, what they may encounter in real-world deployment, how their markets could develop, and where collaboration may be useful.
Agenda:
5:00 PM: Doors open, registration and networking
6:00 PM: Founder Sharing Session x Q&A — 10 companies
7:00 PM: Salon discussion around the projects shared
8:20 PM: Open networking and curated introductions
9:00 PM: Close
Who’s in the room:
Researchers: Doing frontier or applied work at leading labs and companies. You know what’s real because you build it.
Founders: Running AI-native companies, already in market and with technical depth. Pre-seed to Series A.
Investors: Actively deploying capital into AI from pre-seed through Series B. Partners and principals who take the first meeting themselves.
Every registration is reviewed to maintain the balance of the room.
Interested in sharing your company?
Indicate your interest when registering and send us a short company overview or pitch deck. We will select five to eight companies and confirm each company’s scheduled presentation slot in advance. Presentation submissions are reviewed separately from general attendance registration.
A note on RSVPs:
Please register only if you’re committed to attending. If your plans change, let us know early so we can offer your seat to someone on the waitlist.
About the host:
Hosted by OpenStages, a Bay Area team that designs and hosts curated, closed-door gatherings for founders, researchers, and investors.
LinkedIn · openstagesai.com
Cohosting with Inference.ai
Inference.ai* is an end-to-end AI infrastructure platform that brings together models, agents, and GPU compute in one place. Whether you're building prototypes or deploying production-scale AI systems, we provide the infrastructure to help you move faster while reducing complexity and cost.
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By registering for this event, you acknowledge that participation is voluntary and at your own risk. The organizer, venue, sponsors, and partners shall not be liable for any personal injury, property damage, or other loss arising from participation in the event.