I hosted a Founder Meetup in Hollywood

Yesterday, I co-hosted a meetup in Hollywood with Andres & Hiram — both incredible entrepreneurs who share an interest in bringing people together.

Here’s a recap, including some themes I noticed after spending 5 hours talking to countless founders & investors…

About 300 founders, investors, and builders signed up for the event.

Around 200 showed up - not bad for Thursday evening in LA.

They represented different industries from e-commerce to SaaS to AI to Crypto and even defense tech.

One guy worked as a developer for an energy company by day and at night, was working on his own app “Maguey All Day” that helps people discover mezcal in their local area. So dope.

Another guy recently sold his photography app that is now making $1M a month and decided he wanted to do something completely different, so he’s now working on his own unisex perfume. What a pivot.

Another person said they were an investor in SpaceX’s seed round.

One guy had sold his newsletter business and was now working on different startups.

Someone else was working on a cool defense tech startup.

Another person was building niche AI agents.

And just before the event ended, one person told me they landed a follow-up meeting with an investor for their startup.

I share all of this to show the range of people who attended, but also to highlight some of the commonalities I noticed:

1) Distribution is the Moat

About half of the founders I met all said that their biggest problem was going to be acquiring users.

I asked them what their plan was and got a mixed bag of responses including “We’re going to run paid ads”, “We’re raising money to solve marking”, and “We have a great, working app, but need cash to partner with influencers so that we can tap into their audiences”.

Now, if you follow me online or have been a long-time reader of the newsletter, you already know my POV.

As AI makes software products easier and easier to make, one of the only ways you’ll be able to stand out is by owning your distribution and building a brand for yourself.

This means building communities, growing a social following, having an email list, and developing partnerships way before you need them.

More thoughts on this here:

Also worth checking out my current thesis:

2) Don’t be a Thirsty Founder

Thirsty = Desperate

When talking to the investors at the event, they kept telling me how they wish more founders took a long-term approach to building relationships vs short-term, transactional pitches.

I was mid-convo with one investor, and a founder literally came up, interrupted, and said “hey you’re an investor right? Can I tell you about what I’m building?”

The same investor told me afterwards how it happens all the time and how he tries to hear people out, but how at early stages, he’s usually investing in the person, not necessarily the idea (since they tend to be pre-product). And how it’s tough to get to know the person, their character, and track record, when the first thing founders do is go straight into a hard pitch without even getting to know each other.

My response was “Oh, it’s kinda like dating. Girls never want the thirsty guy. They want the dude that is maybe a bit mysterious, doesn't overshare, doesn’t try to force the conversation, and actually takes the time to get to know them.”

His response: “Exactly.”

3) We need more of this in LA

Almost everyone I spoke to drove at least 45 mins to attend the event. One guy said he drove 2 hours in traffic to make it.

When I asked why they made the push, they all said something like..

“We don’t have much of this in LA…

SF has these events all the time and NYC has pockets if you know the right people, but LA events are usually focused on the party, have a different vibe, or aren’t curated with the right people.”

They are right.

And because LA is so huge, it can be hard to commit to driving 60-120 mins (one way) for an event that might not be worth your time (especially if you’re a builder who is limited on time/energy to begin with).

So… I’ll be doing this again soon.

If you want to attend the next one, then stay tuned - I will share more details via LinkedIn.

If you’d like to support as a partner, then just reply to this email, and we will get in touch.

Thank you to those who came out.

🫡

-Ish

p.s. you know I had to end the night with an LA Street dog from Carney’s

a burger, fries, plus a side of ranch was a must too