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SF IRL - Nov 24th, 2025

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

Author

Jonathan Chang
November 24, 2025

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 #171.

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!

Day ZeroMeeting the top folks in tech, find your next cofounder, and your next role

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6-8pm

What: Product is changing faster than the job descriptions that used to define it. Designers are shipping end-to-end, engineers are talking to customers, and AI tools are collapsing entire workflows. So what does great product design look like now?

Lightfield is hosting an intimate fireside chat with Jonathan Arena, co-founder of New Generation - the startup building AI-powered storefronts that put “a brain behind every pixel on the web.” Jonathan previously led Consumer Product Design at Patreon, designed core photo + community experiences at Facebook used by billions, led design for the Portal AI hardware OS, and managed design for Cruise’s driverless rider experience.

He’ll be sharing lessons from building beloved consumer products, how AI is reshaping interface design, and what it means to craft products that feel magical in an AI-native world.

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

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-8:30pm

What: ​AIE CODE is in NYC but if you couldnt make it out dont worry! swyx will be back and we'll replay greatest hits/learnings + have a couple more speakers (ping swyx to volunteer)

Location: Mountain View

Time: 6-8:30pm

What: ​Join ASIMOV founder Arto Bendiken for a hands-on developer workshop introducing ASIMOV Platform 25.0 — the open-source environment for building verifiable, privacy-first AI.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 12-3pm

What: Sticking around SF for Thanksgiving? Same.

​So to celebrate the launch of Syft, we’re turning Homebrew into an alt-Thanksgiving meetup for founders, hackers, and anyone spending the holiday week in the city. With coffee, snacks, and an open mic, we’ll have three hours of rapid-fire demos, unfiltered hot takes, rogue pitches, and the kind of networking that doesn’t feel like networking.

Nov 27th, 2025 - Thanksgiving Turkey Trot & Rave - Open Registration

Location: San Francisco

Time: 11am-3pm

What: ​Meet in front of Frontier Tower at 11am to participate in a massive social turkey experience. There will be a turkey rave, food, and other festivities. $100 for the best outfit. $100 if you can scarf down a massive pie fastest.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 1-2pm

What: We’re diving into The Nature of Code, Daniel Shiffman's (the Coding Train) guide to teaching computers how to simulate the real world.

​Over 11 weeks, we’ll study how simple rules create complex behavior — from vectors, forces, and oscillation to particle systems, fractals, and neural networks. Each session pairs reading and discussion with hands-on coding or creative interpretation. Whether you’re a generative artist, creative coder, or just curious about how systems evolve, this series breaks open the core mechanics behind life-like digital motion and intelligence.

Dec 1st, 2025 - River Computer Salon

Location: San Francisco

Time: 7:30-9:30pm

What: Join us for an evening with River Computer, an RND studio for the advancement of eco-technical interfaces.

​This salon is a gathering for those curious about emerging / ancestral theory and practices for computing with living systems. What might it mean to design technical systems that think with the world rather than about it?

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

What: What We'll Explore:

  • ​How AI's massive energy hunger is changing communities and infrastructure

  • ​How AI is creating an energy revolution on the demand side

  • ​AI and it's use within the energy industry - the ways in which innovative software and machine learning can unlock new sources of energy and capabilities for energy companies

  • ​Real stories from the trenches: where is energy now? where is energy going? What will it be like in 15 years?

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6-8pm

What: Product is changing faster than the job descriptions that used to define it. Designers are shipping end-to-end, engineers are talking to customers, and AI tools are collapsing entire workflows. So what does great product design look like now?

Lightfield is hosting an intimate fireside chat with Jonathan Arena, co-founder of New Generation - the startup building AI-powered storefronts that put “a brain behind every pixel on the web.” Jonathan previously led Consumer Product Design at Patreon, designed core photo + community experiences at Facebook used by billions, led design for the Portal AI hardware OS, and managed design for Cruise’s driverless rider experience.

He’ll be sharing lessons from building beloved consumer products, how AI is reshaping interface design, and what it means to craft products that feel magical in an AI-native world.

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