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- SF IRL - May 19th, 2025
SF IRL - May 19th, 2025
A curated newsletter showcasing the top tech & startup events in San Francisco
Jonathan Chang
May 19, 2025
In partnership with
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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 #145.
I'm Jonathan, the creator of SF IRL. I've been a Bay Area resident all my life and moved into San Francisco about 4 years ago. My full-time job is at Brex 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 9000+ subscribers. As we keep growing, if you enjoy reading these, please share this with your friends so we can hit 10,000 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!
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Location: San Francisco
Time: 6:30pm
What: For fintech founders, Brex & Cervin Ventures are cohosting an intimate dinner with Brex CFO Ben Gammell.
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 Jonathan’s People You Should Meet here - coming soon.
Events Coming Up
May 21st, 2025 - Open Graph Gathering 2025
Location: San Francisco
Time: 3-8pm
What: Graph Gathering is an innovative mini-conference on Graph-powered AI Agents, Knowledge Graphs, GraphRAG, and all ways where graphs underpin the modern GenAI stack. Brought to you by Neo4j, the category-defining graph database, we’ll review key use cases for graphs and bring together the leading graph experts.
May 21st, 2025 - AI in Action: Lesson from the Frontlines with Insight Partners
Location: Burlingame
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
What: AI in Action: Lessons from the Frontlines
What it really takes to build and scale AI inside software companies today.
AI is reshaping the software landscape—but behind the headlines and hype, what does successful implementation actually look like?
Join us for an inside look at how seasoned technology leaders are navigating the real-world challenges of building with AI. Ganesh Bell, investor and former operator, and Kaj van de Loo, longtime product and engineering executive, will share their perspectives on what’s working, what’s not, and how to drive meaningful adoption across teams.
May 21st, 2025 - Graph Exchange May 2025: AI Agents & Knowledge Graphs
Location: San Francisco
Time: 4-9pm
What: Graph Exchange is an innovative mini-conference on Graph-powered AI Agents, Knowledge Graphs, GraphRAG, and all ways where graphs underpin the modern GenAI stack. Brought to you by Neo4j, the category-defining graph database, we’ll review key use cases for graphs and bring together the leading graph experts.
May 22nd, 2025 - SF Founder’s Table: Scaling Growth
Location: San Francisco
Time: 7-9pm
What: Join a group of standout founders for an evening focused on scaling smartly — from fundraising strategy and operational efficiency to the real tactics driving growth right now.
Over dinner, you'll connect with other experienced builders who are in the thick of it, sharing what’s working, what’s breaking, and how they're navigating the path ahead.
May 22nd, 2025 - Fireside Chat: AI Agent + Growth
Location: Palo Alto
Time: 6-9m
What: Join us for an exclusive evening with founders who have successfully scaled AI agent consumer products from zero to millions in ARR.
May 22nd, 2025 - 122nd SF Hardware Meeting
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
What: Join for our next meetup to discuss all things metal 🤘. Well, metal for scaling AI infra.
🤖 There will be a chance for an open mic. All demos and standup pitches welcome.
May 22nd, 2025 - GenAI Collective AI Startup Growth
Location: Palo Alto
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
What: Building an AI product while juggling design, product, growth, marketing and education? You’re not alone—and you don’t have to figure it all out in isolation.
This session is designed for AI founders navigating the messy middle: onboarding flows, pricing experiments, retention hurdles, and user education.
We’ll kick things off with a short presentation, then open up the floor for honest, founder-to-founder discussion. Share what you’ve tried, what’s worked, what flopped, and what you’re still stuck on.
Come for the insights—stay for the real talk, tactical ideas, and support from others in the same boat.
May 22nd, 2025 - Build Your Own Deep Research @ Groq
Location: Mountain View
Time: 6-8:30pm
What: Learn how to build your own Deep Research product — like Perplexity or OpenAI's Deep Research — that can both search the web and run code.
Watch demos & learn how others have built Deep Research into their products — from a WhatsApp Group Chat integration to full-on, well-researched report generation.
May 22nd, 2025 - GenAI Collective AI Startup Growth
Location: Palo Alto
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
What: Simplifying Growth for AI Founders
Building an AI product while juggling design, product, growth, marketing and education? You’re not alone—and you don’t have to figure it all out in isolation.
This session is designed for AI founders navigating the messy middle: onboarding flows, pricing experiments, retention hurdles, and user education.
May 28th, 2025 - SF Demo Night
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-9pm
What: Every month, we raise the bar – and in May, we’re taking it even higher. The top founders, engineers, and product obsessives will gather under one roof to experience the next wave of game-changing innovation. The room will be packed, the stakes will be high, and the spotlight will be on 10 elite pre-Series A teams ready to steal the show
May 29th, 2025 - LeanAI Leaderboard Founders & Builders Happy Hour
Location: San Francisco
Time: 6-9pm
What: 🎉 Congrats to all the founders building Lean AI-Native companies that are scaling extremely quickly!
To celebrate this movement and the Lean AI Leaderboard, Notable Capital ($5B AUM) and Henry Shi ($150MM annual revenue with 200 people) are hosting an exclusive happy hour for founders and builders like you, who are pioneering the new wave of efficient, profitable Lean AI-Native Startups.
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