(Online) Founder Session 2: GTM & Community Building
As part of Kepler Plan, this online session brings together experienced GTM and community leaders to discuss how early-stage Multimodal AI startups can find product-channel fit, build repeatable growth engines, and turn early users into lasting communities.
Agenda
7:30–8:30 PM PT — Moderated Panel Discussion
8:30–9:00 PM PT — Founder Q&A
Discussion Topics
1. Developing clear positioning and identifying the right initial customer segment
2. Finding product-channel fit across consumer, prosumer, and enterprise AI products
3. Distinguishing sustainable traction from temporary virality
4. Identifying repeatable acquisition channels and designing scalable growth engines
5. Using community to improve product feedback, retention, advocacy, and organic growth
6. Building category awareness in competitive and rapidly evolving AI markets
The panel will be followed by an open Q&A, giving participating Kepler founders the opportunity to discuss their GTM and community-building challenges and hear practical perspectives from experienced operators.
Moderator
Elenor Zhong — Tencent Americas
Elenor is responsible for business development and strategic partnerships for media AI and cloud infrastructure solutions at Tencent Americas. Her work focuses on identifying emerging opportunities across the North American market, building relationships throughout the startup and technology ecosystem, and translating customer and partner needs into practical GTM initiatives.
Panelists
Catherine McMillan — The AI Collective
Catherine McMillan is the Chief Operating Officer of The AI Collective, a global nonprofit AI community with more than 250,000 members across 200+ chapters in over 50 countries. She has led the development of community programs, chapter operations, events, partnerships, and sponsorships across a rapidly expanding international network. Catherine brings practical experience in turning early grassroots participation into a scalable and lasting community. For multimodal AI founders, she offers a valuable perspective on using community to strengthen product feedback, user retention, advocacy, and organic growth.
Chang Chen — Hockey Stick Growth
Chang Chen is the founder of Hockey Stick Growth, where she advises leading AI companies on GTM, product-channel fit, and user growth. Her experience includes working with companies such as Higgsfield, HeyGen, Gamma, Typeless, and other fast-growing AI products across video, voice, productivity, and prosumer applications. Previously, she led both B2C and B2B growth and marketing at Otter.ai, helping the company scale its user base and revenue. Chang brings practical insight into finding repeatable acquisition channels, distinguishing sustainable traction from temporary virality, and building scalable growth engines for early-stage multimodal AI products.
Lingling Chen — West Operators
Lingling is a seasonaed fractional CMO and growth advisor for AI founders. She sharpens positioning, builds category awareness, and designs GTM strategies and growth engines, for North American startups and for Asian companies expanding into global markets. She has advised founders backed by top firms like a16z, Sequoia, and Lightspeed, and include breakout AI startups such as Seel, Fish Audio, and Viggle.