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- SF IRL - Mar 30th, 2026
SF IRL - Mar 30th, 2026
A curated newsletter showcasing the top tech & startup events in San Francisco
Jonathan Chang
March 30, 2026
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 #188.
I'm Jonathan, the creator of SF IRL. I've been a Bay Area resident all my life and moved into San Francisco about 5 years ago. 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 10000+ subscribers. As we keep growing, if you enjoy reading these, please share this with your friends so we can hit 11,000 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!
Lightfield is an AI-native CRM that remembers everything, then acts on it. It automatically captures and organizes every customer conversation across email, meetings, and notes, creating your team’s collective customer memory. Try Lightfield free today.
Excited to say SF IRL has partnered with ElevenLabs to give founders 33 million in ElevenLabs credits or equivalent to $4k to build voice AI agents.
Check Out the ElevenLabs Startup Grant & use code 11SFIRL723 for expedited review. We believe voice is the most natural way to communicate, and the future of human-AI interaction depends on making those conversations feel real. The ElevenLabs Grants Program exists to give early-stage startups and small teams the tools they need to build the future of AI audio with the best tools available, without cost being a blocker. ElevenLabs is the complete conversational agents platform, so whether a startup is creating an AI tutor, support assistant, or the next generation of voice-powered game characters, the grant will provide them with 12 months and 33 million characters of free access to ElevenLabs' cutting-edge AI audio, equivalent to over 600 hours of audio.
Sponsored
Apr 9th, 2026 - Go-to-Market AI in 2026
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-8:30pm
What: Lightfield is hosting an operator-focused happy hour and panel on AI in go-to-market.
There’s no shortage of AI advice online, but much of it comes from people who aren’t actively selling or operating day to day. This event is designed to be different.
We’re bringing together operators building and scaling AI-driven go-to-market motions for an evening of conversation, connection, and practical insight. The night will start with a happy hour, followed by a panel discussion focused on how teams are actually using AI to improve how they sell and market — without requiring new tools or complex workflows.
You’ll hear from leaders at some of the fastest-growing companies in AI GTM, including Matt Serna (Lightfield), Jack Brethauer (Rox), and Justin Parnell.
No product demos. No pitches. Just practical insights and meaningful conversations with peers.
Lightfield is an AI-native CRM that remembers everything, then acts on it. It automatically captures and organizes every customer conversation across email, meetings, and notes, creating your team’s collective customer memory. Try Lightfield free today.
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-8pm
What: Founder Skybar Social @HumanX:
Join Intercom, Elevenlabs, Brex, Render, and Newmark for a founder social above the clouds. We're bringing together an intentional group to foster meaningful connections with low ego.
We'll provide drinks, food, and an exceptional environment. You provide the conversations and networks to help each other succeed.
Space is limited, RSVP early. RSVPs are non-transferable. No plus ones.
Jun 2nd-3rd, 2026 - Microsoft Build - San Francisco
Location: Keynotes (Palace of Fine Arts); Sessions and Expo (Fort Mason)
What: This hands-on, no-fluff event is for professional developers and engineers to immerse in the latest advancements across Azure, GitHub, and AI development. After 10 long years we are coming back to San Francisco for 2 days of building together. Learn more and register now. (#MicrosoftPartner)
I’ve made a form to connect the best founders raising with my list of VCs. If you are a founder raising your next round and want to potentially be featured to investors in the SF IRL network, please fill out this form.
I’m launching a newsletter that will feature the top founders looking to hire, founders looking for their cofounder, and operators that are looking for their next role. If you are interested in being featured, fill this form here.
You can subscribe to Day Zero here.
Events Coming Up
Mar 31st, 2026 - -1 to Replit with Amjad & Haya
Location: San Francisco
Time: 3:30-5:00pm
What: South Park Commons is delighted to host Amjad Masad & Haya Odeh as part of our -1 to Now Series!
Event Details
3:30pm: Doors Open
4:00-5:00pm: Fireside Chat
Mar 31st, 2026 - afore portfolio spring showcase
Location: San Francisco
Time: 5-9pm
What: friends of afore - we're delighted to invite you to get a first look at some afore's portfolio companies and founders-in-residence
many of these founders may raise in the next six months, not all will be raising now, but we wanted to let them share what they're working on and meet some friends of afore
you can rsvp above for the showcase, happy hour, both, virtual attendance, or just to get the list of companies presenting
schedule:
5-7pm pt: presentations
7-9pm pt: happy hour
Mar 31st, 2026 - The Future of Engineering Leadership in the AI Era
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-9pm
What: Network with fellow engineering executives over food & cocktails, then hear from a panel of engineering leaders sharing practical advice on AI's impact on team structures, how hiring strategies are changing, the evolving role of tech leaders and integrating AI into workflows. The panel includes:
Anant Gupta, CTO at Mixpanel (Moderator)
Bhavin Surela, Sr. Director of Engineering at Twilio
Seng Lin Shee, AVP of Architecture at GM Financial
Swapnil Patel, Head of Engineering at Yahoo
Mayuresh Bakshi, Sr. Director (AI Security) at Proofpoint
Pari Ambatkar, Head of Enterprise AI and Platforms at Marvell Technology
Mar 31st, 2026 - Arena Jeopardy [AI Developers & Founders Trivia Night]
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-8pm
What: Think you know AI? Prove it. Arena Jeopardy puts AI developers, founders, and guests head to head in a fast paced trivia showdown spanning machine learning, crypto, pop culture, and everything in between. It’s the ultimate test of who’s been paying attention and who’s just been vibing. If you’re building in AI and love a little friendly competition, this one’s for you. Buzzers ready.
Location: Menlo Park
Time: 9:30am-4:30pm
What: A one-day convergent forum that explores how enterprise systems, healthcare practice and education intersect — practical pilots, student research and cross-disciplinary approaches to deployable AI.
This session is part of the TechEquity Ai Monthly Forum Series, combining strategic insights and real-world use cases from industry leaders, alongside technical workshops and live demonstrations.
Mar 31st, 2026 - AI Agents for RevOps: Territory Analysis in Google Opal
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6:30-9pm
What: Build your first (or next) agent in Google Opal.
Google Opal is a no code, agentic workflow builder, share able as web applications by Google Labs.
Mar 31st, 2026 - A Case for the Boring AI Company, hosted by theAgentic
Location: San Francisco
Time: 5-8pm
What: “Move fast and break things” worked when you were shipping a photo app.
It doesn't work when you're shipping systems that write code, handle sensitive data, or make decisions at scale. ⚙️
We're bringing together founders and researchers building systems that need to work in production, not just in demos. Especially those who’ve learned that the hard way.
If you're building something you'd trust with your own infrastructure - you should be here.
Apr 1st, 2026 - SF Coffee Club | Early Stage B2B Tech Founders & Funders
Location: San Francisco
Time: 10am-1pm
What: Calling all early-stage B2B founders and funders!
👋 Hi! We’re Dave Coen, Sruthi Sivanandan and Deirdre Clute from the Forum Ventures team. We're hosting a casual, no-pressure meetup designed to bring together founders & investors in the Bay Area over coffee.
Whether you're based in SF or just visiting, it’s an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow founders, AI enthusiasts and VCs in a relaxed and welcoming setting.
Apr 2nd, 2026 - Founder Bowling
Location: San Francisco
Time: 5:30-7:30pm
What: Join us for a highly curated evening designed for AI founders (Seed+)
Priority goes to founders building in B2B SaaS, enterprise software and AI.
This isn’t just a bowling night. Every founder in the lanes is hand-picked who building at similar stages.
Apr 2nd, 2026 - Inference Engineering Ice Cream Social 🍦 (Baseten x Humphry Slocombe)
Location: San Francisco
Time: 2-4pm
What: Stop by Humphy Slocombe's Ferry Building location.
Celebrate the launch of Inference Engineering — the new book by Philip Kiely — with two free scoops from Humphry Slocombe.
We even made a flavor for the occasion: Strawberry Matcha White Chocolate — strawberry ice cream swirled with house-made matcha white chocolate caramel. Try it, or grab whatever calls to you.
Apr 3rd, 2026 - Vibe-coding HACathon | Building AI for Finance
Location: San Francisco
Time: 10am-5pm
What: Building AI for Finance with Lovable x n8n x MiniMax
Build AI tools for the workflows that power finance.
Join us for the first-ever HACathon hosted by Hanwha AI Center (HAC) — a one-day build sprint focused on how AI can improve real-world financial workflows.
From fintech, payments, and banking to financial planning, insurance, venture capital, private equity, investment research, compliance, and financial operations, we’re interested in the tools, systems, and copilots that can help financial work move faster, smarter, and with less friction.
Apr 9th, 2026 - Lightyear Residency Demo Day
Location: San Francisco
Time: 4-6pm
What: Join us for Lightyear Residency's Demo Day.
Lightyear is a one-month founder residency based out of a historic mansion in Pacific Heights. Lightyear is the residency for the most ambitious founders doing a year’s worth of work in one month.
Schedule:
4pm: Light Refreshments
429pm: Doors Close
430pm: Demos Begin
5pm: Founder Meet & Greet
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