Smart Venture Media Leadership Summit 2026

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast

​

9:00 – 9:15 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

MC: Anarghya Vardhana, Venture Partner, Maveron

​

9:05 – 9:10 AM — Partner Spotlight: SVB

​

9:10 – 9:15 AM — Partner Spotlight: Sequoia

​

9:15 – 10:05 AM — Panel: The New Rules of Fundraising: What VCs Actually Fund in 2026

Kenan Saleh, Partner, a16z Speedrun

Lauri Moore, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Aaron Jacobson, Partner, NEA

Andrew Brackin, Partner, Gradient Ventures

Brent Murri, Partner, M13

David Kwon, Partner, Abstract Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

​

10:05 – 10:35 AM — Fireside Chat: Zero to Category: How to Build a Defining AI Company from Scratch

Justin Osofsky, VP of Meta, former COO of Instagram

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

10:45 – 11:15 AM — Panel: Cracking the Enterprise: Selling AI to CIOs and CISOs

Patti Degnan, Partner, a16z

Kevin Smith, CIO, Lyft

Deepa Gopinath, CIO, MongoDB

Parul Saini, former Head of IT, Uber

Moderator: Yousuf Khan, Venture Partner, Ridge Ventures

11:20 – 11:45 AM — The Agentic Bet: Where Smart Money Is Going in AI Agents

Sonali Singh, Partner, Sequoia

Alan Du, Partner, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Joseph Ros, Partner, Entrepreneur First

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Radhika Malik, Principal, Dell Technologies Capital

Daniel Suh, Partner, Gold House Ventures

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Demo

Div Garg, Co-founder & CEO, AGI Inc

.

12:00 – 1:00 PM — Lunch & Networking

MC: Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Sierra Ventures

1:00 – 1:40 PM — The Billion-Dollar Blueprint: Patterns Behind the Fastest-Scaling AI Companies

Alexander Mashrabov, CEO & Co-founder, Higgsfield AI

Jake Stauch, Co-founder & CEO, Serval

Samir Menon, Founder & CEO, Dexterity Inc.

Dan O'Connell, CEO, Front

Boris Sofman, Co-founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

Matan Grinberg, Co-founder & CEO, Factory

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

1:55 – 2:40 PM — Fireside Chat: Distribution is the Product: GTM Lessons from Founders Who've Done It

Marc Boroditsky, CRO, Nebius

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

2:45 – 3:15 PM — Panel: AI GTM Trends: What's Working Right Now and What's Next

Dan Tobin, VP Startups, Databricks

Lauren Schwartz, Head of Strategic Sales, Anthropic

Darren Moffett, GTM Lead, LangChain

Jeff Settle, GTM Leader, Databricks

Moderator: Jules Gsell, Strategic Advisor, IVP; former VP of Databricks

3:25 – 3:55 PM — Panel: Scaling the Machine: GTM Infrastructure, Hiring & Ops for AI Companies at Growth Stage

Anand Chandrasekaran, Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

Caroline Duffy, Partner, Cowboy Ventures

Elizabeth Weil, Founder & General Partner, Scribble Ventures

Namrata Ram, VP of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Together AI

Mark Goldberger, VP, Metaview; former Head of Enterprise Sales, Ramp

Ashish Uchil, Global BD & Partnerships, ElevenLabs; former VP of Brex

Rong Yan, CTO, HeyGen

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:00 – 4:50 PM — Panel: From Adoption to Expansion: How Product and Customer Success Drive AI Revenue

Olivia Nottebohm, COO, Box

Scott Holden, CMO, Vanta

Rashida Hodge, CVP, Microsoft

Raghavan Anand, CPO, Snorkel AI

Anupam Singh, VP, Roblox

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

4:55 – 5:15 PM — Fireside Chat: Own the Layer, Own the Market: AI Infrastructure as a GTM Strategy

Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder & CEO, Crusoe

Moderator: Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

5:15 – 5:20 PM — Closing Remarks

Grace Gong, Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media

6:00 PM — Cocktail Reception & Speaker Dinner 

(Invite Only)