Networking @ #AIWeekNY
Network with other AI week attendees!
We'll run this virtual networking event as a bit of an experiment. Two virtual rooms. Two fates. 30 minutes.
One room is hand-picked. The other is pure roulette. You won't know which you got until the day of. A real A/B test on whether curation beats chance.
Virtual networking events promise "meaningful connections" and then drop you into a 40-person breakout where everyone's on mute. I'm a tech recruiter. I've been on both sides of this. I have a theory that hand-picking does better than hoping — and this is the experiment to prove it.
Here's how it works:
> You RSVP. On the morning of the event, one of two things happens:
> Path A — Curated. You'll get a personal email from me with a different Zoom link. You'll be going into a breakout with 5 peers I matched you with by hand — similar career stage, complementary lanes, a specific reason I thought you'd click.
> Path B — Random matches. You'll join on the public Zoom link at the top of this page. You'll be dropped into a breakout with 5 strangers, picked purely at random from everyone who RSVP'd.
> Same 30 minutes. Same opening prompt. Wildly different inputs. At the end, we compare notes live — which room had the better conversation, the better intro, the better story. You'll leave knowing, in the most literal sense, whether curation is worthwhile.
> Path A invites will likely come out of the Trajectory pool — a 30-second intake (10 questions + your LinkedIn) that tells me enough to actually match you on something real. If you're already in the pool, you're already eligible. If you're not, you can join the pool here, and, I'll try to make a match for you regardless of this event. https://trajectory-exp.lovable.app/
> Attending is open to everyone. Path A is selected.
Who? tech professionals — engineers, PMs, designers, founders, ops
Capacity: 200 for Path B. Path A caps when it caps.
I'll email Path A exclusive invites with a special zoom link the day of the event. If you don't see one, you're in the main room with me — which is still a fun place to be.
Facilitator: Jovena Natal is the founder of Clutch Talent, a tech recruitment agency. She has supported technical staff in getting jobs at companies like Google, MongoDB, Bitly, The New York Times and Harry’s. She has been featured as an expert on PBS, Fox, Bloomberg, and Crain's. Clutch Talent is a boutique tech recruitment agency founded in NYC with a newly opened office in California. https://clutchtalent.com
This event is part of #AIWeekNY by Pulse NYC -- a community-led festival celebrating innovation across the AI ecosystem. More at https://pulse.nyc/ai-week/