Startup Grind NYC

Silicon Valley obsesses over AI agents for office workflows. But 70% of the U.S. workforce doesn't sit at a desk.

While most AI startups build LLM wrappers, Rachael Nemeth architected an AI-native engine for the most underserved segment of the economy: frontline workers.

Before that, Rachael spent 13 years in NYC hospitality (including Union Square Hospitality Group) before writing a single line of code.

Now, as Co-founder and CEO of Opus Training, she's using Agentic AI to solve the $100B+ training problem for workers juggling three jobs, subway commutes, and zero corporate email.

Complete your RSVP here:
https://www.startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-new-york-city-presents-agentic-ai-in-the-trenches-scaling-intelligence-for-the-real-world/

This is a masterclass in usable architecture and a high-stakes pivot that captured 50,000 users in a few weeks during the global pandemic.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• The Agentic Shift: How the Opus AI assistant delivers operational answers in 9 seconds.
• Neural Translation at Scale: Automating content localization into 100+ languages with 99% accuracy.
• Closing the Feedback Loop: Converting complaints into targeted training triggers that reduce issues by 60% in 30 days.
• When to Burn the Boats: Why Rachael walked away from a growing business in March 2020 to build a venture-scale AI powerhouse.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Engineering Leads: Design AI-native systems for thin clients in zero-Wi-Fi, high-churn environments.
• Product Managers: Move beyond theoretical AI to see real-time user data integrated into automated training loops.
• Early-Stage Founders: Navigate pivots and build defensible moats from deep domain expertise.
• Investors: Understand why the hidden 70% of the workforce is the next multi-billion dollar AI frontier.

Tickets for this event include food and drinks, as well as exclusive access to this founder who will show you how to build a defensible, high-growth business by solving the gritty operational problems that standard tech often misses.

You'll also meet dozens of other high-performing entrepreneurs who are creating their next big thing. Seriously, it's some of the best founder networking in the city.

Getting a ticket guarantees admission. No waitlisting.

AGENDA

• 6:00 PM: Networking, Food & Drinks
• 7:00 PM: Fireside Chat with Rachael Nemeth
• 8:00 PM: Meet the Speaker

And don't miss our other monthly tech events. They are great opportunities for builders, founders, and operators to network with each other to share best practices and find new resources to grow your startup the right way.

Complete your RSVP here:
https://www.startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-new-york-city-presents-agentic-ai-in-the-trenches-scaling-intelligence-for-the-real-world/

We're at the brand new Time Out Market at Union Square. It features a selection of the city's best food and drink together under one roof, offering a wide variety of excellent options to choose from throughout the event.

Look for Startup Grind table signs toward the back near the outdoor patio.

👉 NO RSVP ON MEETUP. Complete your RSVP here in order to be considered for attendance.

Most startup advice is for the start. This isn't that.

If you're past the existential founder stage and are deep in the execution grind, then this is your room.

🕴️Who This Is For
You've crossed the Rubicon. You've moved beyond product-market fit. Now you're worry about whether that technical debt will collapse the system, or whether you can trust what's being reported up to you.

🫷 Hard Requirements

• $3M+ ARR (or equivalent GMV/run rate for marketplace/transactional models)
• OR $10M+ raised from institutional investors
• You manage managers. Not just direct reports.
• Full-time commitment. This is your career, not an experiment.

You MUST complete your RSVP here in order to be considered for attendance.

If you're still founder-led selling, pivoting your core value prop, or managing everyone directly, you're not there yet. That's not a judgment. It's just a different phase with different problems.

🏨 What This Actually Is
No panels. No pitches. No sales speeches.

24 experienced founders in a closed room at the National Arts Club, a 126-year-old private members club on Gramercy Park where real conversations happen behind closed doors.

The kind of place where you can admit you have no idea how to compensate a sales team, or that you're about to fire the co-founder who got you here.

Together, we'll solve your operational bottlenecks through direct experience-sharing, brutal honesty about what failed, and introductions to people who've been through it.

📈 Stage Homogeneity, Industry Heterogeneity
The group is stage-specific (Series A/B, scaling phase) but sector-agnostic (Fintech, SaaS, Proptech, D2C... doesn't matter).

You need peers who are feeling the same structural breaks right now. Not people ahead of you giving theoretical advice. Not people behind you asking you for help.

🏆 What You Walk Away With

• Specific solutions to your current bottlenecks (or the people who can provide it)
• A network of founders who understand the isolation of scaling. New peers that you can text when you're about to make a terrible hiring decision
• Permission to reject the standard Manager Mode advice and build something that actually works

You MUST complete your RSVP here in order to be considered for attendance.

🕰️ Details

• Date: Friday, February 6th, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
• Location: The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park, Manhattan
• Size: 24 seats (strict cap)
• Cost: $100 (includes lunch and bar)
• Dress: Business casual (it's a members club, but we're not trying that hard)

📝 Application Required
We're vetting for stage alignment and operational reality.

If you're reading this and thinking "I'm not sure I qualify," then you probably don't yet... and that's okay.

But if you're reading this and thinking "Finally, someone gets it!" then apply now.

📲 Know someone who fits? Forward this. The value of the room increases with the quality of the people in it.

You MUST complete your RSVP here in order to be considered for attendance.