​About the Event

​Kittu Kolluri has sat on both sides of the table more times than almost anyone in the Valley. He started as an engineer at Silicon Graphics, co-founded Healtheon (which became WebMD), then founded and ran Neoteris until NetScreen acquired it, and later led Juniper’s security business. He spent the next eleven years as a General Partner at NEA, where he was an early backer of Box, Robinhood, and The Climate Corporation.

​In 2017 he left NEA to start Neotribe Ventures, a much smaller, earlier-stage firm that he describes as next generation but old fashioned. Neotribe backs founders working on hard technical problems in applied AI, security, energy, and the life sciences, and stays with them well past the first check through its Ignite growth fund.

​Murali Chirala of FalconX Ventures will lead the conversation. Expect him to push on the questions founders actually want answered: how Kittu decides a technology is real before the market agrees, what made him double down on companies like BillionToOne all the way to its IPO, and what he’s seen kill otherwise promising startups from the inside.

​Featured Speakers

​Kittu Kolluri – Founder & Managing Director, Neotribe Ventures

​Kittu founded Neotribe Ventures in 2017 to invest in breakthrough technologies at the seed and Series A stage. The firm has since raised multiple funds, including a $216 million second fund and the $90 million Ignite Fund, which follows on into portfolio companies at Series B and beyond. Its portfolio includes BillionToOne, Energy Vault, Fortanix, ThirdAI, and Hakimo.

​Before Neotribe, Kittu spent eleven years as a General Partner at NEA, backing more than four dozen companies and serving on many of their boards. Earlier, he was EVP and GM of the Security Products Group at Juniper Networks, a role that followed NetScreen’s acquisition of Neoteris, the company he founded and led as CEO. He was also a co-founder of Healtheon/WebMD and began his career as an engineer at Silicon Graphics. He trained as a mechanical engineer at IIT Madras before moving into computer science at SUNY Buffalo.

​Murali Chirala – Managing Partner, FalconX Ventures

​Murali invests in early-stage companies and works closely with founders on growth and fundraising. He was the founding architect of India’s Aadhaar financial inclusion and payments platform, one of the largest fintech systems ever deployed, and now backs startups working on payments, fraud, compliance, security, and enterprise infrastructure. At Venture Dock he helps founders figure out what actually builds investor conviction and what just sounds good in a deck.

​Agenda

​2:00 – 2:30 PM Doors open, coffee & networking
2:30 – 3:15 PM Fireside chat: Kittu Kolluri with Murali Chirala
3:15 – 3:30 PM Open Q&A
3:30 – 4:00 PM Members-only small group session with Kittu (by invitation)

​About Build From The Dock

​Build From The Dock is Venture Dock’s weekly founder experience, designed to create real connections between ambitious builders, investors, operators, and ecosystem leaders.

​Unlike traditional networking events, BFTD focuses on high-value conversations where founders can engage directly with speakers and each other.

​Whether you’re building an AI startup, scaling a company, raising capital, or exploring what’s next in technology, this is a space designed for meaningful relationships and actionable insights.

​What Venture Dock Offers Founders

​Beyond weekly sessions like this one, Venture Dock is built to be a real part of how founders operate day to day:

• ​Investor introductions

• ​Curated programming: roundtables, fireside chats, and working sessions with operators who’ve built and scaled before

• ​Peer network: direct access to other founders building alongside you, for the honest conversations you can’t have with investors

• ​Visibility with visiting delegations: opportunities to meet founders and ecosystem leaders coming through Silicon Valley from other markets

• ​Ecosystem support: hiring, fundraising, and go-to-market help pulled from the community itself, not a generic playbook

​What is Venture Dock

​Venture Dock is a founder-first community and fund connecting startups with investors, operators, mentors, and strategic partners. Members get access to sessions like the one closing out this afternoon, where a smaller group sits down with the speaker after the main event.

​If you’ve been coming to events and want deeper access, you can apply to join the community here: https://venturedock.fillout.com/t/gHcUcf7Tz8usAbout