Resources · Past Events Summary

    The founder journeys behind every StartupA2Z event.

    Honest stories about how founders started, what tested them, how they moved forward, and what others can learn from the journey.

    Event archive

    Founder stories from the room

    StartupA2Z founders, speakers, and community members together after the September 22 event at Hacker Dojo
    Completed event

    September 22 at Hacker Dojo: The Wiz Story and Product Pitches

    September 22, 2026Hacker Dojo, Mountain View

    StartupA2Z’s September 22 event opened with a Founder Spotlight from MeetStream AI co-founder and CEO Sidhdharth Sivasubramanian, followed by Daniel Slayton and Andy on the Wiz story. Bogdan Barchuk then presented Insomnia, Sharan introduced an automotive-industry product, and Michael closed the speaker sequence. The photographs capture each session, the engaged audience, and the community that stayed through the closing group photo.

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    The September 15 masterclass speaker presenting beside an introductory slide at Hacker Dojo
    Completed event

    September 15 at Hacker Dojo: From Startup Story to Business Fundamentals

    September 15, 2026Hacker Dojo, Mountain View

    What Raises Your Seed Round Will Sink Your Series C was the premise of Vivek Somani’s September 15 masterclass. Through Business Lifecycle Economics and audience questions, he explored how a company’s story, operating metrics, funding choices, and leadership must evolve together. The session focused on fundamentals rather than founder pitches.

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    Collage of the StartupA2Z September 1 GTM workshop, including the community, Raj Badarinath presenting, and small-group discussions
    Completed event

    September 1 at Hacker Dojo: A Hands-On GTM Workshop for Founders

    September 1, 2026Hacker Dojo, Mountain View

    The most valuable part of the workshop was not a new sales tactic, marketing tool, or growth hack. It was learning to diagnose why go-to-market efforts fail before trying to scale them. Raj Badarinath guided founders through the decisions that must connect before more GTM activity can produce repeatable revenue.

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    Collage of the StartupA2Z founder presentations and audience pitches at Hacker Dojo on August 25, 2026
    Completed event

    August 25 at Hacker Dojo: Freight AI, Vachi, and Quantum Security

    August 25, 2026Hacker Dojo, Mountain View

    StartupA2Z's August 25 Founders Pitch & Mix brought Bay Area builders together for founder stories, live product demonstrations, direct feedback, and networking. Neil Fernandes explained how EnrouteAI moved operations-research thinking into a practical freight-pricing workflow. Achal Pandey shared the harder lesson behind Vachi: traction can be real and still not justify continuing on the same path. Ridham Bhagat demonstrated how Quip Network adds post-quantum protection to an existing blockchain wallet workflow.

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    StartupA2Z founder gathering at Hacker Dojo on August 12, 2026
    Completed event

    August 12 at Hacker Dojo: The First StartupA2Z Founder Gathering

    August 12, 2026Hacker Dojo, Mountain View

    StartupA2Z's first Hacker Dojo Founder Pitch & Mix brought builders together for practical startup fundamentals, founder demonstrations, direct feedback, and community conversation. Four presentations stood out: affordable hands-on computing, easier FPGA deployment for machine-learning teams, continuous application security, and more consistent AI-video production.

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