What Makes a Company Hard to Kill? Building for Resilience

Technology stopped being a moat and nobody's written the replacement playbook

What makes a company hard to kill when the technology behind it keeps changing? And how do you know if what you're building will survive the next twelve months?
🔹The old playbook doesn't work anymore. The honest answer is that it depends on what you build.
🔹In every market: hardware, software or other, durability comes from something different.
🔹Most founders are taught a version of the game that was built for someone else. Without enough market cycles to draw from, it is hard to know which old rules still hold or where they break down.

Speakers:
Ryan Eppley: CEO of Root Access
Jeni Chang: Managing Director, Founder Institute; Investor, New Energy Financials
Linda Hong Cheng: Founder of Abstract Atomic
Aaron Edsinger - CEO of Hello Robot
Daniel Theobald: Founder, Vecna Robotics; Co-founder, MassRobotics; Founder, Mekable

Agenda:
6:00 — Welcome!
6:30–7:30 — Panel
7:30–8:00 — Networking with the speakers and the room

About us: Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland
AI rewrote the rules of company building. The playbook has changed. Skills are no longer the barrier. Direction is.
At Founder Institute, we’ve merged our structured programs with AI agents that help founders do the work, not just learn how to do it. Learn More: https://fi.co/aifounder
Interested in our program? Meet the Team: Jeni & Lucas - come say "hi" 🌞
➡️ Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 18th https://fi.co/san-francisco

Additional Resources: Find more Startup Events, explore AI Tools for Startup Ideation and Validation to test what you hear tonight, or take the Entrepreneur DNA test.

Partner & Co-Host: Founder's Guild
A global community of entrepreneurs building companies on their own terms and reshaping startup culture in the process. Rooted in Silicon Valley but open to everyone, we connect founders who recognize that entrepreneurship is both a craft and a responsibility.
Improving financial outcomes and quality of life for founders worldwide.