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  • SF IRL - Oct 6th, 2025: SF Tech Week Edition

SF IRL - Oct 6th, 2025: SF Tech Week Edition

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

Author

Jonathan Chang
October 06, 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 #166. Happy SF Tech Week for all who celebrate. There are 1000+ events this week all across the Bay Area. Excited to be sharing some highlights of some of the top ones this week and hope to see you around.

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

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6-9pm

What: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​An evening of networking and conversations with Pylon+ Brex + Exa during #SFTechWeek.

October 9 · San Francisco

Growth is messy. AI is moving fast. And most events just add to the noise.

ApolloNEXT is different. Picture 1,000+ founders and operators who've actually scaled through this transition, sharing what's working right now.

Get hands-on with Apollo's AI GTM platform, hear real plays from teams at Anthropic, Glean, and Apollo who went from $10M → $150M ARR in just 4 years.

Plus Corporate Bro (Ross Pomerantz) is hosting, so at least it won't be boring.

October 9 · San Francisco

50 founders. One room. Real conversations.

We're hosting something we've never done before during SF Tech Week.

Picture this: mini-chats with Apollo CEO Tim Zheng and execs who scaled us from $10M → $150M ARR. No stage. No panels. You sitting close enough to ask the questions that actually matter.

  • Frameworks that broke through every revenue ceiling

  • Pivots & mistakes that cost us months (so you don't repeat them)

Growth is messy as hell. AI is moving fast.

We want to be in the trenches with you, trading what's actually working.

For Seed+ to Series A founders in growth mode.

This is how we're building our founder community at Apollo. Here’s how to get your spot:

  • Step 1: Register for ApolloNEXT

  • Step 2: Apply here for the lunch

  • Step 3: Keep an eye on your inbox for updates

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

Oct 7th, 2025 - Beyond the Algorithm: Women Leading in AI #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-8pm

What: Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving—and women are shaping the future. Join us for an evening of conversation, connection, and collaboration as leaders in AI share their perspectives on the next frontier: agentic AI systems.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 8:15-9:15am

What: Kick off SF Tech Week with a Barry's class with fellow finance and ops leaders!

Oct 7th, 2025 - Anthropic AI Founder Salon #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 2-6pm

What: Join the Anthropic team and co-founder Ben Mann for an exclusive Tech Week gathering bringing together technical decision-makers and AI builders scaling their companies.

Oct 7th, 2025 - Descript Workshop: Make Content, Not Excuses #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9am-12pm

What: You know you need better video content. Your advisors keep saying "build in public." But coordinating photographers and learning video editing keeps getting pushed to next quarter.

Here's a different approach: spend Tuesday morning at Descript's office. Leave with professional headshots and pitch videos you'd actually post. Plus you'll know how to make more content on your own time—no more scheduling videographers or figuring out complex software.

Oct 7th, 2025 - AI Lunch Bytes with Bigspin.ai & Bessemer - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 11-12:15pm

What: As part of SF Tech week, Bigspin.ai and Bessemer Venture Partners are hosting a lunch and learn for AI founders on how to go beyond vanilla GPT to build differentiated AI. This session will begin with a mini lecture + demo led by Moritz Sudhof (CEO & Co-founder @ Bigspin) and Chris Potts (​Professor of Linguistics & Computer Science @ Stanford University, ​Co-Founder & Chief Scientist @ Bigspin) followed by a networking lunch.

Oct 7th, 2025 - AI and the Future of Jobs - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 4:30-6:30pm

What: The Future Of Jobs In An AI-Driven World

Join the Indeed Investment and Okta Ventures teams on Tuesday, October 7th to connect with founders and executives shaping the future of work at the intersection of AI and Robotics. The evening features thought leadership, live demos from leading Agentic AI and Robotics startups, and insights from Indeed's Chief Economist, Svenja Gudell, on AI’s impact on jobs and the labor market.

Oct 7th, 2025 - Google Cloud & Sequoia at The Stadium #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5pm

What: Join us for a panel discussion: “From Prototype to Powerhouse: Scaling Startups in the AI Era”, featuring top technical leaders: Matt Moore, CTO at Chainguard, Ryan Cox, Sr. Director, Infrastructure & Security at Temporal, and Eno Reyes, CTO at Factory AI.

Oct 7th, 2025 - Building Replit Agent 3 #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5pm

What: In partnership with Y Combinator, join this fireside chat with Replit engineers to learn how Replit Agent was built.

Oct 8th, 2025 - Pickup Basketball - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 7am

What: Casual ball run @ USF indoor courts. Open to all skill levels - whether you played in college or haven't hooped since middle school PE. Running 5 on 5 full court if we have the numbers (and the cardio). Watch your ankles!

Oct 8th, 2025 - Partner2Partner - VC Breakfast with 8VC & Alpha Partners #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 8:30am

What: ​​The VC Partner2Partner Breakfast Series, a partner-only networking event without agenda or commercial sponsor, lets VC partners connect with each other without distraction.

Oct 8th, 2025 - The New Front Door to Healthcare: AI & Access - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9-11am

What: Join Tusk Ventures and Cooley LLP for a compelling conversation at the intersection of AI, access, and the American healthcare crisis. As millions turn to AI for answers, a new front door is opening — one where machine intelligence complements clinical care, and patients are finally seen.

Oct 8th, 2025 - Growing Beyond Early Stage - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30pm

What: Scaling a startup isn’t just about surviving the early days—it’s about building the foundation to grow, adapt, and thrive.

Join us as we share actionable steps to break through the early stage and uncover which aspects of growth matter most—from the founders’ perspective, to sales, partnerships, and beyond—with:

- Sasha Orloff – Co-founder & CEO, Puzzle

- Elliot Goldwater – SVP, Sales & Partnerships

- Tobin South – Head of AI, WorkOS

Oct 8th, 2025 - AI Gatherings @ SF TechWeek w/ Google DeepMind & AGI House - #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 3-8pm

What: Join our SF TechWeek AI Gatherings event with Google DeepMind and AGI House!

We'll connect with top AI startups and Developers and discuss the latest in AI w/ 2 events in 1.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-8pm

What: ​Dual-Use Advantage: Winning Capital & Contracts in Defense

Meet us at #SFTechWeek!
Tech Week (presented by a16z) brings together the startup and VC ecosystem with events across the city. As part of SF Tech Week (Oct 6–12), we’re hosting Dual-Use Advantage: Winning Capital & Contracts in Defense.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5-8pm

What: The AI revolution is being shaped at two levels: the infrastructure that powers it and the applications that bring it to life. This panel brings together serial founders, technical pioneers, and researchers who’ve scaled unicorns, built transformative AI products, and advanced the science behind them.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 10am

What: On October 8 (10AM–6PM), 200 founders, investors, and operators will gather in San Francisco for a full day of panels, curated networking, a live pitch competition, and wellness mixer.

Powered by partners including Stripe, Brex, Middesk, Kroolo, Goodfin, Rosy Finch Method & Co; J.P. Morgan, and Fiat Growth.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-9:30pm

What: NVIDIA and Vercel are teaming up and taking the World’s Shortest Hackathon to SF Tech Week!

We’re throwing a full hackathon in two hours, limited to 50 teams of 2. Leave the sleeping bag at home and come equipped with your best prompts and most powerful AI—and let it rip!

Location: San Francisco

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

What: a16z Infra "Women in AI" Happy Hour hosted at Convex

Join us for an evening of connection and conversation at the a16z Women in AI, a casual mixer bringing together founders, builders, researchers, and product leaders (no VCs) shaping the future of infrastructure.

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9:30-11:30am

What: Come spend a few hours with early stage VCs and angel investors discussing the fundamentals of strong startup culture and teams.

Oct 10th, 2025 - SFTW Warehouse Rave #SFTechWeek

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9pm

What: YOOO Clout Kitchen + Pally are teaming up to bring you the hottest party of SF Tech Week 👀

We've got a huge warehouse, a stacked lineup of international touring DJs, an open bar with free flowing soju cocktails, and hundreds of top founders + investors pulling thru 🙌

Location: San Francisco

Time: 6pm

What: ​Founders, investors, LPs — the Spice King summons you. During Techweek, every night Sunday through Saturday, I’m hosting a private poker/founders lounge inside the sleek offices of AngelList. Yes, you read that right: poker in the house that built modern startup investing.

Oct 13th, 2025 - Overnight Success: Notion

Location: San Francisco

Time: 9:30-6:30pm

What: ​Ivan Zhao and Simon Last spent a year in Kyoto coding 18 hours a day and eating instant noodles. They were starting from scratch, borrowed $150,000 from Ivan's mom, and moved to Japan because they couldn't afford San Francisco anymore.

​Three years into building Notion, they had to face the truth: nobody wanted their app-building tool. The whole thing was built on Google's Web Components, which turned out to be a disaster. It crashed constantly.

​Today Notion has 100 million users and is worth $10 billion. But back then they were just two guys who didn't speak Japanese, living in a tiny house with a paper screen between their bedrooms.

​Ivan and Simon will share:

  • ​Why they thought everyone wanted to build their own apps (they didn't)

  • ​The day they decided to let go of their friends and start over

  • ​What it was actually like coding in Kyoto for a year straight

  • ​How they went from 1,000 users to 100 million

  • ​Why they turned down investors even when they were broke

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