TechCrunch · AI · 2 ч назад
AI, athletes, and Keith Rabois: StrictlyVC is back in New York on September 10
A boutique StrictlyVC evening returns to New York's West Village on September 10 with Keith Rabois, Craig Shapiro, Jason Levien, Tristan Walker, Brynn Putnam, and Deven Parekh — covering AI, sports investing, community-building, venture economics, and politics, with cocktails, food, and networking throughout the night.
Подробности
Mark your calendars: on Thursday night, September 10, StrictlyVC — TechCrunch’s boutique evening series — is heading to New York’s West Village (the real one — brownstones, cobblestones, and all — not the Mission Bay stretch of San Francisco that’s earned the nickname “ Vest Village ” for all the Patagonia-clad VCs roaming around).
It’s our first New York event in two years, and after a run of great nights this year in San Francisco, L.A., and Athens, we couldn’t be more excited to be back — with a stacked lineup to match. What’s in store:
Keith Rabois . We’re kicking off the night with the inimitable Keith Rabois, who recently relocated East from Silicon Valley and, true to form, seems intent on shaking things up wherever he lands. Rabois has never been shy about what he thinks is working in venture and what isn’t — he’s backed Ramp four times and invested as often in State Affairs, a company using AI and local journalists to track statehouse-level news and policy data across all 50 states. He’ll share his strong opinions on founders who raise more capital than they actually need, just because they can. And we’ll get him talking about Khosla Ventures’ boldest AI bet yet: its early $50 million check into OpenAI back in 2019 when the outfit had no clear business model — plus what he makes of the narrative that OpenAI is facing more headwinds right now than its rivals.
Craig Shapiro and Jason Levien . After our sit-down with Keith, stick around for a conversation you won’t find anywhere else. Craig Shapiro’s venture firm, Collaborative Fund, is generously co-hosting the evening with us, and we’ll sit down with Shapiro and Jason Levien, CEO of D.C. United, to talk sports organizations as business investments — and the increasingly tangled intersection of sports, fandom, commerce, and community.
Tristan Walker . Staying on the theme of community, we’ll dig into a conversation with two founders building for a world where AI does more — but also takes something away. Tristan Walker, who sold his last company, Walker & Company Brands (maker of Bevel), to Procter & Gamble in 2018, is back with Heirloom Craft, a startup focused on reshoring American fine craftsmanship — training a new generation of artisans and rebuilding the supply chains behind them.