We did it! Photos: Llama Lounge 26 was hosted last week. We were graciously hosted by Microsoft in the heart of Silicon Valley in their newly renovated, state-of-the-art theatre.
We packed the house with 300+ attendees, and in fact hit capacity and had to turn people away. That included about 220 founders, dozens of investors, and dozens of corporate AI buyers who purchase technologies from founders, I try to assemble an ecosystem of leaders.
I kicked things off with a lightning talk on “How startups can win in AI when code is free”. I emphasized that business strategy and access to proprietary data and community are critical.
We then had a panel with our hosts, moderated by me, featuring the Microsoft for Startups team, including Patrick Cook, Zain Gulamali, and Shaloo Garg to hear how they help early-stage, midsize, and enterprise-class companies.
The key aspect of Llama Lounge is the AI pitches on stage by top founders emceed by Silicon Valerie Bertele ?. We featured 11 early-stage startups, some of which we’ve invested in, and many others introduced to us by investor friends.
And yes, I kick off each event by sounding the ceremonial conch shell, which brings good luck to all scaling startups.
?Startup Pitch Emcee: Valerie Bertele, AI & Startups Growth @Microsoft
?AI Startups to Pitch and Demo:
- ?AIX Global: Adaptive execution intelligence for AI & quantum
- ?Chimeboard: Simulate audience behavior for consumer marketing
- ?Entrapeer: Strategic decision-making engine for enterprises
- ?Founding.Dev: Replace expensive SaaS subscriptions with your own tools (Antler)
- ?Gofer AI: Data infrastructure for humanoid robot manipulation (Breakthrough Ventures)
- ?Orbitax: Agentic AI for international tax compliance
- ?Oway: The coordination OS for the physical economy (YC)
- ?Pageform AI: Agentic data room for diligence & deals
- ?Sante: AI infrastructure for biological risk intelligence (Breakthrough Ventures)
- ?Sun: The future of audio content (Blitzscaling Ventures)
- ?Wrnt: Infrastructure for stock warrants, equity’s third channel
Photos by Erick Davidson
