Curated AI events in NYC and SF.

For Students, Developers, and Funded Founders

I run two calibrated tracks: Students / Developers and Funded Founders. We host high-quality hackathons, founder dinners, and premium PMF conversations in NYC and SF.

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2 Cities

2 Tracks

4M+ PMF Dinner Baseline

Daily Frequency

Design Principles

Built like a real team: curation, context, and execution discipline.

Room Quality First

Attendee quality beats vanity metrics. The right room creates compounding outcomes.

Context by Track

Students/developers and funded founders get separate, purpose-built experiences.

Operator-Led Formats

Events are run with production-level planning, not community chaos.

Real Follow-Through

Dinners, intros, and post-event workflows are built to move relationships forward.

Ecosystem

Trusted by leading organizations

Mission

From discovery to PMF: events that match founder stage and technical depth.

We blend flagship hackathons with intimate founder rooms. Early builders get momentum, while funded teams get high-context peer networks and PMF-level strategy conversations.

See founder dinner formats

NYC + SF Core operating cities

Hackathons Student/developer growth engine

Founder Dinners YC, Speedrun, Techstars communities

PMF Room Typically $4M+ raised founders

About James Steinberg

AI researcher, serial entrepreneur, and host of high-signal builder rooms.

Background, operator context, and founder outcomes are documented below. These references explain why these events are run with a tighter standard than generic meetups.

Two Tracks

One network, two intentionally different experiences.

Developer systems session with technical audience

Students / Developers

Execution-heavy programs for technical builders shipping projects and meeting mentors.

Hackathons with clear build milestones
Hands-on workshops and technical talks
Demo-focused events with real feedback loops

Founder dinner with operators in a private setting

Funded Founders

Private founder rooms optimized for tactical growth and high-trust relationship building.

Curated dinners across NYC and SF
Operator and investor-adjacent conversation
Selective PMF conversations and peer exchange

Event Formats

Programmed with card-level precision and strong attendance intent.

APR 18 NYC

AI Builders Hackathon

Weekend sprint for students and developers shipping prototypes with mentor review.

Students / Developers In Person

APR 25 SF

Developer Systems Night

Short talks and practical demos on AI infra, product shipping, and technical GTM.

Developer Track Evening

MAY 01 NYC

Founder Dinner: YC / Speedrun / Techstars

Invitation-only dinner with funded founders in curated, high-context small groups.

Funded Founders Private Table

MAY 09 SF

PMF Dinner (High-Signal)

Reserved for founders who have typically raised at least $4M and show early PMF signals.

PMF Focus Curated Access

Tools that support ticketing, invites, and demo shipping.

WithFriends.events

Make money from your ticketed events

Event discovery and organizer visibility for filling rooms and driving paid attendance.

Visit WithFriends

DarePhone.com

Automate Invitations

Calls, SMS, email, and website chat in one shared workflow for faster event coordination.

Visit DarePhone

DareBuild.com

Help participants build demos

Build Python apps in minutes and ship for weeks with a frictionless browser-based platform.

Visit DareBuild

Event Examples

Real rooms. Real builders. Real follow-through.

Founder Dinner Series

Funded Founder Rooms

We host intimate dinners across NYC and SF with founders from ecosystems like Y Combinator, Speedrun, and Techstars.

PMF Track

Product-Market-Fit Dinner

More selective than standard founder dinners, this room is generally reserved for teams that have raised $4M+ and are beginning to show PMF.

Contact

Want your next event room to feel this sharp?

If you are building in AI and care about room quality, we should talk.

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