Los Angeles Startup Founder 101

You have the idea. What you don't have is the money to hire a team, and no investor will write a check until you show traction. Join Adeo Ressi, Chairman of the Founder Institute, to learn how solo founders run a squad of AI agents in place of their first five hires, what investors look for in AI-native companies in 2026, and how FI companies get funded, from Founder Capital's $25K first checks to the FI Venture Network and local demo days. Register now and bring your questions for Adeo.

❯ What You'll Learn:

• How a squad of AI agents can cover the work of your first five hires, from market research to sales outreach;
• What investors look for in AI-native companies in 2026, and which signals get you a first meeting;
• What a fundable AI-native company needs to show before it gets its first check;
• How FI companies get funded, including Founder Capital's $25K first checks, the FI Venture Network and local demo days;
• How to put questions about your own company directly to Adeo, who has launched 14 venture capital funds.

Featured Speaker:

• Adeo Ressi - Chairman @ Founder Institute - Adeo Ressi is the Chairman of the Founder Institute, the World's Largest AI-Native Company Builder, and CEO of Decile Group. He has founded 11 startups, launched 14 venture capital funds and generated nearly $2 billion in exits before the age of 30. He is also the inventor of the SAFE note, and through Decile Group he backs emerging venture capital managers around the world.

❯ Who Should Attend:

• Solo founders who already have an idea and want to turn it into a fundable company;
• Founders already building with AI tools who want to know what investors expect next;
• Professionals planning to leave their job and start a company in the next year;
• Aspiring founders considering the next Founder Institute cohort.

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❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/405478/meetup to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!

❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405381/meetup to get your link and join us live!

❯ Featured Speaker:
Jonathan Grover — Founder & Fractional Chief Product Officer, Supergrover

• Jonathan Grover is a product, AI, and go-to-market leader who helps founders and executives turn a built product into real market traction. A former Fortune 50 executive, he has managed billions of dollars of product roadmap and shipped AI products that scaled to $100M+ ARR across 180+ countries. He has structured go-to-market deals worth more than $150M, holds patents in AI, and across 60+ early-stage ventures has helped raise $500M+ in funding and taken part in multiple exits. Today he runs Supergrover, advising CXOs and product teams on product strategy, go-to-market, and AI transformation.

❯ What You'll Learn:

• How to turn your ideal customer into a synthetic buyer persona you can interrogate with AI
• How to pressure-test your pitch against that AI buyer and surface objections before real buyers do
• What separates positioning that converts from features that fall flat
• How to spot and close the "traction gap" between building a product and selling it
• A reusable Claude skill you can take home to sharpen future pitches

❯ Who Should Attend:

• Founders whose product works but isn't converting buyers yet
• Early-stage founders refining their positioning, pitch, or messaging
• Technical founders who need to sell to non-technical buyers
• Anyone who wants to use AI to sharpen how they go to market trends.

. ❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405381/meetup to get your link and join us live!

You have a first version of your product. Now you need people who will pay for it, and there is no sales team, no budget and no brand behind you yet. In this session, Jonathan Greechan, Co-Founder and CIO of the Founder Institute, shows how solo founders use AI to find the right prospects, write outreach that gets replies and run the follow-up a sales team used to handle. You will leave with a plan for reaching your first 10 paying customers. Register now and bring the product you want to sell.

❯ What You'll Learn:

• Where to find the first people likely to pay for what you built;
• How to use AI to research prospects and write outreach that gets replies;
• How to run follow-ups and track conversations without a sales team;
• What to say in a first sales call when you are the only person in the company;
• How to turn your first paying customers into referrals.

❯ Featured Speaker:

• Jonathan Greechan - Co-Founder & CIO @ Founder Institute: Jonathan Greechan is the Co-Founder, Chief Innovation Officer, and former CEO of the Founder Institute, the world's largest agentic company builder. Since 2009, he has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and over 100 countries, which have produced over 9,000 portfolio companies with nearly $2BN with an estimated value of $20BN. He also serves as an Advisor to Oxford Entrepreneurs (Oxford University), Horasis, and the USC Incubator (University of Southern California).

❯ Who Should Attend:

• Solo founders with a product or prototype and no customers yet;
• Early founders without a sales or marketing background;
• Aspiring founders who want to know what happens after the MVP;
• Professionals planning to sell an AI product on their own.

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❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/405967/meetup to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!