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.
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 formatsAbout 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.
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
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.
OCT 25
SF
Dell x NVIDIA AI Hackathon, San Francisco
Dell x NVIDIA AI Hackathon, San Francisco for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
NYC
Sunday Brunch With Scientist and Architect - forgot machine 002
Sunday Brunch With Scientist and Architect - forgot machine 002 for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Bay Area AI+car hackathon
Bay Area AI+car hackathon for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
NewKid, Growing up in the Age of AI : an event for families
NewKid, Growing up in the Age of AI : an event for families for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
NYC
Ship Your Interpreters · Kiran Gopinathan
Ship Your Interpreters · Kiran Gopinathan for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
NYC
NYU - Bentley Workshop
NYU - Bentley Workshop for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Builders in Valley #1｜Vibe Coding Demo
Builders in Valley #1｜Vibe Coding Demo for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Agentic Engineering Guild of San Francisco: October Edition
Agentic Engineering Guild of San Francisco: October Edition for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Rooftop Podcast | w Chronos
Rooftop Podcast | w Chronos for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
SF AI->SI Code And Coffee Sunday October 25th!
SF AI->SI Code And Coffee Sunday October 25th! for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Sundae Robotics 10: Scaling Robot Dexterity and Agility from Human Demonstrations
Sundae Robotics 10: Scaling Robot Dexterity and Agility from Human Demonstrations for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
NYC
Future Reality AI Film Festival (NYC)-Film × Advertising × Creative Technology Screenings · Awards · Industry Leaders Networking
Future Reality AI Film Festival (NYC)-Film × Advertising × Creative Technology Screenings · Awards · Industry Leaders Networking for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 25
SF
Physical AI for Science Demos @ Studio 45
Physical AI for Science Demos @ Studio 45 for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
SF
Builder's Day - AI Developer Conference
Builder's Day - AI Developer Conference for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
Safer AI Agents, Fewer Surprises: What Scala Gets Right
Safer AI Agents, Fewer Surprises: What Scala Gets Right for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
Spacefast Build and Hack Night
Spacefast Build and Hack Night for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
US - India Fintech & Banking Leadership Forum
US - India Fintech & Banking Leadership Forum for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
Build Your Content System: AI + Personal Brand Workshop (with Wispr Flow & Stanley)
Build Your Content System: AI + Personal Brand Workshop (with Wispr Flow & Stanley) for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
Agent Builder Mixer w/ 1Password x Dust
Agent Builder Mixer w/ 1Password x Dust for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
BTQ Stack Mixer: An Evening of Quantum Insight
BTQ Stack Mixer: An Evening of Quantum Insight for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
Lumara Film Festival World Premiere
Lumara Film Festival World Premiere for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
NYC
ControlAI NYC Action Group Kick Off Meeting
ControlAI NYC Action Group Kick Off Meeting for the NYC builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
SF
Accelerating Frontier AI: The Compute Crisis is a Reinforcement Learning Problem
Accelerating Frontier AI: The Compute Crisis is a Reinforcement Learning Problem for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
OCT 26
SF
Building Reliable AI Systems: Tech Talk, Panel, Book Launch and Mixer
Building Reliable AI Systems: Tech Talk, Panel, Book Launch and Mixer for the SF builder network with curated in-person attendance.
No upcoming events yet.
Related Products
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 DareBuildEvent 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.