#StartX San Diego Meetup #1: Storytelling in the Era of AI: Those Who Miss This Change Will Miss the Future
First StartX San Diego Meetup & Chapter Kickoff
What is StartX?
StartX—the premier community for Stanford founders—is a trusted, founder-led community built on deep collaboration, shared experience, and long-term support. It takes no equity and charge no fees. Instead, they invest in the potential of people and their ideas.
Here’s a sense of its impact:
$120B+ in total valuation among member companies
$42M+ raised on average per company
Over 2,700 founders supported, including 20 unicorns and 140+ companies valued over $100M
StartX’s mission? To champion visionary entrepreneurs and help them build transformative businesses—drawing strength from community and mutual.
We’re thrilled to launch the very first StartX San Diego event—a gathering for our local founder community, celebrating the StartX mission, and officially kicking off the San Diego chapter.
Join us for an unfiltered panel featuring four creative leaders and Demian Borba (CEO of Pactto, StartX S25) as we dive into:
Storytelling in the Era of AI. We’ll cover the tools, the workflows, and the mindset shifts that will define the next chapter of creativity — and share the hard-earned secrets these pros have learned, so you don’t have to suffer and struggle through the same challenges.
Creative work in 2025 is in full transformation:
83% of content creators already use AI in their workflows
88% of marketers say AI helps them move faster and make smarter decisions
Entire video projects now wrap in days, not weeks
The truth? Old tools and slow processes no longer cut it. Speed and experimentation rule—and those who don’t adapt will get left behind.
Agenda
5:30 PM – Doors open (pizza & drinks)
6:00 PM – Networking + Welcome to StartX San Diego & Chapter Kickoff
7:00 PM – Panel + Q&A
Seats are limited—and the conversations will be game-changing.
Panelists
Steven Dow
Professor of Cognitive Science and Design, UC San Diego
Steven Dow’s research focuses on human-computer interaction, social computing, collective intelligence, and creativity. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2015 for advancing collective innovation. His projects have been supported by NSF, Google, Stanford’s Postdoctoral Award, and Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Grant. He holds an MS-HCI and PhD from Georgia Tech and a BS in Industrial Engineering from University of Iowa.
Zach Perkins
AI Creative Technologist – Firefly Enterprise, Adobe
Zach brings the perfect blend of front-end technical fluency and creative vision. Working with global agencies, he leverages Adobe Firefly and Creative Cloud to fill workflow gaps, scale content production, and drive GenAI adoption across campaigns. He co-develops solutions that streamline execution, elevate quality, and deliver impact across channels and geographies.
Scott Robinson
Founder & CEO, FreshForm
As the leader of San Diego–based FreshForm, Scott Robinson has spent 25+ years at the intersection of design, tech, and business. Working with Fortune 500s and startups, he helps build the future of digital products and experiences. He’s also the creator of Hybrid-Centered Design™, a design framework for our era of human-machine convergence.
Nathan Firth
Founder & CEO, Awsm
Nathan is the founder and CEO of Awsm LLC and the former CEO of NewRocket, a San Diego–based consulting firm specializing in digital workplace experience within the ServiceNow ecosystem. With 25+ years of experience designing and architecting web applications, he has led and scaled SaaS and technology services businesses, building high-impact, scalable digital solutions for enterprise clients around the globe. Originally from Örebro, Sweden, Nathan now lives in San Marcos, California, with his wife and three children
Demian Borba
Founder & CEO, Pactto | StartX S25 | Adobe CC Expert
Demian built Pactto, an AI-first meeting platform designed for new creative workflows. Before that, he was a Principal PM at Intuit and an early PM for Adobe XD. He brings nearly 20 years in tech, design, community, and leadership—spanning Intuit, PayPal, BlackBerry, UCSD (where he taught programming and design), LinkedIn Learning, and numerous agencies. He’s also a proud StartX Summer 2025 alum.