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  • SF IRL - Jan 29th, 2024

SF IRL - Jan 29th, 2024

A curated newsletter showcasing the top tech & startup events in San Francisco

Author

Jonathan Chang
January 29, 2024

Hi SF IRL! There's a ton of vibrance and energy coming back into the city and at SF IRL, we are excited to be a part of it. Excited to come with you all with some great events for Issue #71.

If you didn’t know, I’m excited to announce the launch of inreallife.tech. SF IRL is now part of the inreallife.tech family & we’re expanding with LA IRL & NYC IRL to showcase the top tech, startup and venture events in those cities as well and you can subscribe in the link above.

I'm Jonathan, the creator of SF IRL. I've been a Bay Area resident all my life and moved into San Francisco about 3 years ago. My full-time job is at Brex as an XIR where I meet founders and VCs while trying to create a community in the city. My vision for SF IRL is simple. Showcase the best tech + startup events in SF and to connect all of our builders and investors together. We are a growing community having over 5100+ subscribers. As we keep growing, if you enjoy reading these, please share this with your friends so we can hit 6,000 readers. As always, SF IRL is one of my many side projects. If you like to be involved in helping, please shoot me an email!

Events Coming Up 🎉

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Jan 29th, 2024 - AI User Conference

Time: 7am-5pm

What: ​Unlock your potential at the AI User Conference 2024, a three-day conference in San Francisco from January 29th to 31st. Whether you're a Marketer, Designer, Developer, or simply passionate about advancing your career in Generative AI, this conference is designed for you. Attend one day or all three—it's your choice! We're offering practical workshops, interactive sessions, and the latest updates on cutting-edge AI tools. Network with top executive speakers from industry leaders like Adobe, Notion, Canva, Github, Hugging Face, IBM, and more. Whether you aim to streamline processes, amplify your creative potential, or explore uncharted horizons, this event has something for you. Don't get left behind in Generative AI – supercharge your AI journey and shape your future at the biggest AI conference in San Francisco – Sign up today! 

Location: San Rafael

Time: 5:30-8pm

What: ​​We are thrilled to invite you to the first ever AI-focused Meetup in Marin - a unique "Unconference" designed to spark discussion and innovation as we foster a vibrant AI community in our wonderful county.

Jan 30th, 2024 - Contrary SF Tech Talk

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-9pm

What: ​Contrary is excited to host our first SF-based Tech Talk on Tuesday, January 30th — an evening built by and for the most talented engineers in the Bay.

​Join our VP of Product Jen Yang-Wong alongside founders and senior leaders from Figma, Stytch, Linear, Replit, and Hex as they demo the latest from their startups in front of an audience of top engineers.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6-8pm

What: Come hang out at GitHub HQ with ~100 builders to see some of the coolest AI applications people are working on in SF.

+ food, drinks, and a good time 🍕🍻

Spots filled up so fast for our last event (300+ signups 🤯) - we're excited to meet more of you! And, to get your perspective on what will be possible with AI in 2024.

Jan 30th, 2024 - Embed Info Session

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-8:30pm

What: ​come learn more about the second batch of our program Embed

​we'll host a live QA session with the Conviction team, which will also be live streamed (link to come)

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9am-1:30pm

What: To kick-off the new year, we're inviting entrepreneurs, leaders, and people managers to join us at our first Leaders' Wellness Summit—a half-day event focused on well-being and fostering workplace culture.

​Date: Tuesday, January 30
Location: WeWork 2 Embarcadero Center

​Program includes:

​9:00 AM Snacks & networking (including sips from Boisson)
10:00 AM Panel conversation on Leadership Styles for a Thriving Workplace Culture (see speakers below!)
11:00 AM Yoga & meditation, led by CorePower Yoga
12:00 PM Lunch from Avotoasty and sips from Athletic Brewing
12:30 PM Inspirational talk from Janine Yancey, Founder & CEO of Emtrain
1:30 PM Complimentary co-working at WeWork

Jan 30th, 2024 - Contrary SF Tech Talk

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-9pm

What: Contrary is excited to host our first SF-based Tech Talk on Tuesday, January 30th — an evening built by and for the most talented engineers in the Bay.

​Join our VP of Product Jen Yang-Wong alongside founders and senior leaders from Figma, Stytch, Linear, Replit, and Hex as they demo the latest from their startups in front of an audience of top engineers.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 1-7:30pm

What: ​Longevity SF is kicking off the new year with afternoon co-working at the beautiful Savills space followed by lightning pitches and networking over drinks and food. Bring your laptop and co-work with friends from 1-5pm and then pitch what you are working on or hoping to work on. Come to one or both parts of the event.

Jan 31st, 2024 - Women Tech Meetup + Panel

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-8pm

What: San Francisco!! Let's kick off this year with a Women Tech Meetup co-hosted by Codi & Forbes 30 Under 30 Community — an incredible gathering of women in tech that will not leave you unsatisfied! Enjoy complimentary drinks and bites, meaningful conversations, networking, and a beautiful venue.

​Moreover, we will have a panel discussion around the importance of financial literacy for founders, entering the fintech industry, potential exit strategies, and so much more!

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-9pm

What: Join us for an insightful panel discussion and fireside chat on the intersection of AI and Finance, featuring industry-leading experts and innovators. This exclusive event will explore the latest breakthroughs and future trends in AI applications within the financial sector.

​Our fireside chat will delve into practical and real-world applications of AI in finance. Expect enlightening conversations on a range of topics such as the role of AI-powered financial analyst agents, the application of AI for interpreting complex financial documents, and the utilization of advanced algorithms for forecasting financial time-series. 

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-8pm

What: Nominations for Sigma Squared are officially open. The SF chapter would love to meet the most ambitious & mission-driven founders under 26 in the Bay Area.

​​Sigma Squared is an international community of the most ambitious mission-driven founders under 26 (~850 fellows present in 25 countries & 4 continents).

Feb 1st, 2024 - GTM For AI/ML Startups

Location: San Francisco

Time: 4-7pm

What: Building a GTM motion in an AI/ML startup is easier when you have experts to show you the way! Submit your interest to join us for this unique opportunity to dive in IRL on GTM.

Feb 1st, 2024 - SF CoS Summit

Location: San Francisco

Time: 11am-5pm

What: Are you a Chief of Staff that is looking to level-up, solve business challenges, and develop real relationships?

​​​​Come join 25+ CoS for our proven Chief of Staff Summit in SF!

​​​​​Timing: 11-5PM PST on Thursday February 1st! Doors open at 10:45.

​​​​​Tentative agenda (PST):

  • ​​​​​​11:00 - 11:30: kick-off and quick intros

  • ​​​​​​11:30 - 12:00: small group discussion on your biggest win

  • ​​​12:00 - 12:45: CoS mini TED Talks with Olivia Leavengood, Sandy Naidu, and Aarti Bhatnagar

  • ​​​​​12:45 - 1:30: hot seats / mini mastermind for work

  • ​1:30 - 1:45: Break

  • ​​​1:45 - 2:15: Learn from Kendall Wallace about offsites

  • ​​​​​​2:30 - 3:00: Lunch

  • ​​​3:00 - 3:30: Learn from Lawrence Coburn at Ambient

  • ​​​​​​3:30 - 4:30: hot seats / mini mastermind for you personally

  • ​​​​​​4:15 - 5:00: mingling, debrief, asks from the group, etc

Feb 1st, 2024 - Idea to IPO Venture Capital Summit

Location: San Francisco

Time: 2-10:30pm

What: Multiple panels of distinguished venture capitalists will discuss investment and innovation in the Silicon Valley startup system and beyond.

Feb 1st, 2024 - 111th Hardware Meetup @ Studio 45

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-9:30pm

What: ​Join us at Studio 45 for our first speaker style meetup of the year!This event is a unique opportunity to delve into the intersection of AI and new interfaces.

​We'll have food and drink and there will be a chance for an open mic. All demos are welcome.

Feb 1st, 2024 - AI Symposium

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-9pm

What: MindsDB and AI Product Creators present the AI Symposium, an exclusive gathering tailored for professionals and enthusiasts in the fields of FinTech, Consumer, and Healthcare. This symposium brings together thought leaders, innovators, and industry experts to explore the dynamic landscape of artificial intelligence within these pivotal sectors.

​Featured Speaker:

Feb 1st, 2024 - Pear Studio SF Grand Opening

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-8pm

What: Join the Pear Team as we officially open the doors to Pear Studio SF! With 30,000 square feet of space, we're excited to begin to fill the space with founders and entrepreneurs. Come by for a drink, food, and a first look at our bright new Pear Studio space. We hope to see you there!

​Please note, our office is in the second brick building, past the parking structure on Owens Street, on the 8th floor. We will have greeters who can assist upon your arrival.

Feb 2nd, 2024 - CV 20/20 Vision

Location: San Francisco

Time: 8pm-12am

What: We're bringing out the Vision Pros on stage for release day. Cerebral Valley will be on the decks as DJ MoE. Bring your Vision Pros and come celebrate with Shack15 and Cerebral Valley.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-9:30pm

What: ​​Women in AI Club fosters a vibrant community dedicated to empowering, connecting, and elevating women in artificial intelligence. We envision an industry where women are at the forefront of AI innovation, leading groundbreaking discovery and implementation. #WIA

​Join Women in AI Club for our biggest event of the year for Lunar New Year, celebrating diversity and women empowerment in the AI space. Enjoy dimsum, open bar, female founder demos, trivia game, gift giveaways, and more!

​The evening includes:

  • ​Reception (5:30-6:30 pm)

  • ​Start-up Demo & Trivia (6:30-7:30 pm)

  • ​Social and Dancing (7:30-8:30 pm)

  • ​Demo&Trivia Winner Announcement (8:30 pm-9 pm)

Location: San Francisco

Time: 10am-3pm

What: Are you excited about data? Are you looking for ways to deal with messy real-world data that maybe isn't as clean as what you get from a classroom or kaggle competition? Or perhaps you want to learn how to prepare data to be used by the latest AI tool. Then this workshop is for you!

This FREE WiDS workshop (limited to 50 participants) consists of three hands-on data wrangling sessions in Python and R.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 4:30-6:30pm

What: Join Furqan Rydhan and Casey Caruso for a fireside chat on decentralized AI and the future of openness and innovation. Topics will include crowdsourced compute, on-chain apps, self-sovereign data, and token incentives, among others.

Feb 7th, 2024 - SWE Speed Networking

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

What: Join us for an evening of dynamic conversations, quick-fire introductions, and the opportunity to expand your network in record time. Come to meet new people, exchange ideas, build meaningful connections, and open doors to new opportunities. Be prepared to elevate your networking game at the Speed Networking event as you connect with people in the blink of an eye!

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6-8pm

What: Join us on February 7th for our Founders and Funders AI event live in San Francisco with Jeff Huber. The discussion will be moderated by Pilot’s CEO and Co-Founder, Waseem Daher. 

We'll deep dive into Chroma's rise to 1M users, just 9 months after launch. Learn the latest in open-source vector databases, developer productivity, and maybe even a little philosophy. The discussion will be followed by an AMA session with our speakers. Drinks and pizza will be provided. Priority admittance will be given to active AI founders.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-8pm

What: ​We’re excited to host our first community event of 2024 – an evening of networking and sharing best practices with the most talented developer relations professionals in SF. 

​We’ll share how Replit can 10x your DevRel efforts, but mostly, we’ll get to know each other over food and drinks. Here's what to expect:

  • ​5:00 - 5:30 pm - Arrivals and check-in

  • ​5:30 - 6:00 pm - Workshops

  • ​6:00 - 8:00 pm - Networking and dinner

Feb 8th, 2024 - LLM Meetup SF

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-6pm

What: ​Join us for an exciting event to discuss the latest advancements in large language models (LLMs) and how they are being used to power real-world applications. We will be focusing on Cresta's new Ocean-1 model, which has been shown to beat GPT-4 in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) while being 100x more cost-effective.

​During the event, we will cover:

  • ​The challenges of using LLMs in real-time voice applications

  • ​How Cresta uses RAG to power its knowledge assist feature

  • ​How Ocean-1 was trained on synthetic and customer-specific data

  • ​The results of a benchmark comparing Ocean-1 to GPT-4

  • ​How Cresta is using LoRA and Axolotl to improve its models continuously

  • ​How Fireworks AI is helping Cresta scale its models to thousands of customers

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-7pm

What: ​If you are a woman in recruiting or a woman in Bay Area tech, join us for an evening of connection and insights as we moderate a fireside chat about AI in Recruiting.

​Event Highlights:

​5:00 - 6:00 PM: Networking

​6:00 - 7:00 PM: "AI in Recruiting" Discussion

​7:00 - 8:00 PM: Networking with Refreshments, Drinks, and Snacks

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6:30-9pm

What: As the dawn of AGI approaches, we invite thinkers, dreamers, builders, and skeptics alike to engage in an evening dedicated to unraveling the mysteries and potentials of AGI. This isn't just a meetup; it's a platform for sharing, learning, and connecting with the minds shaping the future of AI.

​Whether you're deep into developing advanced AI systems, philosophizing about AI's impact on humanity, or simply curious about what the future holds, join the community and let your ideas find their voice! 😄

Feb 9th, 2024 - Female Founder Walk

Location: San Francisco

Time: 3-5pm

What: Back by popular demand after the great turnout for this event at the end of 2023!

​Grow your network of other women founders and woman-identifying founders, detox/destress, breathe in that autumn air, and maybe even pick up a couple free legal tips!  No agenda other than to meet up and connect (outside the usual, noisy bar atmosphere) with like-minded women in the startup ecosystem. 

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