​It's time to 
go beyond the deck and see the best live tech
 from New York's emerging startups. 

​Welcome to a pitch event with a twist. We skip the fluff and focus on what matters: 
a live look at real products.

​This pitch & demo showcase gives you a first look at new technology from startups that are actively building and shipping product — 
sometimes even before VCs have seen them!

​The format is fast-paced and interactive. After each demo, the floor is open for questions, ideas, and honest feedback from the community.

​We welcome investors who want an unfiltered look at new technology and early-stage teams. 

​📅 Date: Thursday, June 18th
​🕓 Time: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
​📍 Venue: The Yard: Herald Square
​🎫 Tickets: Only $5 (
includes happy hour refreshments)
​📑 Founders: 
Sign up here
 to apply to pitch at an upcoming event

​WHO SHOULD ATTEND
​Startups ready to demo a real product and get honest feedback
​Engineers, PMs, and designers who love seeing new tech in action
​Investors looking for a ground-floor, early look at local startups
​Anyone in the NYC tech scene who wants to connect with and support the people building things

​
AGENDA
​5:30 PM: Doors Open & Networking
​6:00 PM: Startup Pitches & Demos with Audience Q&A
​7:00 PM: Meet the Presenting Startups

​PITCH FORMAT
​Pitch & Demo - 6 minutes
​Audience Q&A - 4 minutes
​Pitch deck AND product demo are required

University of North Texas

Startup Grind

Managing Director 

​It's time to&nbsp;go beyond the deck and see the best live tech&nbsp;from New York's emerging startups.&nbsp; ​Welcome to a pitch event with a twist. We skip the fluff and focus on what matters:&nbsp;a live look at real products. ​This pitch &amp; demo showcase gives you a first look at new technology from startups that are actively building and shipping product&nbsp;—&nbsp;sometimes even before VCs have seen them! ​The format is fast-paced and interactive. After each demo, the floor is open for questions, ideas, and honest feedback from the community. ​We welcome investors who want an unfiltered look at new technology and early-stage teams.&nbsp; <ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​📅 Date: Thursday, June 18th</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​🕓 Time: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​📍 Venue: The Yard: Herald Square</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​🎫 Tickets: Only $5 (includes happy hour refreshments)</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​📑 Founders:&nbsp;<a href="https://forms.gle/A7LsswmLwwrQi3Jh7?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(243, 26, 124);">Sign up here</a>&nbsp;to apply to pitch at an upcoming event</li></ul> ​WHO SHOULD ATTEND<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Startups ready to demo a real product and get honest feedback</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Engineers, PMs, and designers who love seeing new tech in action</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Investors looking for a ground-floor, early look at local startups</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Anyone in the NYC tech scene who wants to connect with and support the people building things</li></ul> ​AGENDA<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​5:30 PM:&nbsp;Doors Open &amp; Networking</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​6:00 PM:&nbsp;Startup Pitches &amp; Demos with Audience Q&amp;A</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​7:00 PM: Meet the Presenting Startups</li></ul> ​PITCH FORMAT<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Pitch &amp; Demo - 6 minutes</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Audience Q&amp;A - 4 minutes</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Pitch deck AND product demo are required</li></ul>

General Admission

The Startup Pitch: Demo Showcase

The Yard: Herald Square Coworking Office Space Manhattan

​Four Ugly Talk alumni. Each with a you-cannot-make-this-up story that changed the way they build. The miss. The mess. The call that looked right until it absolutely was not. These are the stories that come out after the third drink. The ones with enough detail to be true and enough embarrassment to be useful.
​You sit back. You laugh. Maybe even wince. Then you catch yourself nodding, and you don't even know when you started.
​Somewhere in between, the strangers stopped being strangers. By the time the mixer starts, your go-to networking dance doesn't work here anymore. You're just catching up with old friends.
​
​🎯 Why You Should Attend
​Hear the version founders do not post, polish, or save for the panel circuit.
​Get the lesson without paying full tuition for the mistake.
​Feel the room loosen up in real time. Once one person tells the truth, everybody else can stop auditioning.
​Stay for a mixer that actually works, because the small talk is already dead by then.
​Enjoy drinks and light refreshment while you network
​
​🙋 Who You’ll Meet
​Founders who are actively building. Not circling the idea. Not talking about someday.
​People at an inflection point. Ready to make a move, make a decision, or change something real.
​Builders who believe collaboration still matters, and that the best shortcut is someone telling the truth.
​Founders who are open-handed with what they have learned and curious enough to learn from someone else.
​
​Run of Show
​30 minutes, Check-in
​Arrive, grab a drink, and settle into the room
​45 minutes, Ugly Talk Solo
​Four alumni stories, 7 minutes each
​Short audience Q&A between stories
​15 minutes, Transition
​Let the room reset before the mixer kicks in
​60 minutes, Mixer
​The real conversations start once the stories land
​
​🤝 Who's Backing This
​
Unified Infotech
 - At Unified Infotech we believe that true innovation stems from a deep understanding of the people behind the technology and the processes that guide it. Our mission is simple: to solve the toughest technical challenges by putting people and processes at the core of everything we do.
​
​
Resident Company Club
 - Resident is what the modern office should be: a curated place where the right environment drives your company's values, culture, and performance. While others sell desks and Wi-Fi, we build communities. While others focus on amenities, we focus on the people who matter most: your peers, collaborators, and the connections that will define your company's future.
​
​
GREY Journal
 – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News).
​
​⭐ About Ugly Talk:
​Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
​With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
​Official Website: 
UglyTalk.com

discover GREY

Business

Director

​Four Ugly Talk alumni. Each with a you-cannot-make-this-up story that changed the way they build. The miss. The mess. The call that looked right until it absolutely was not. These are the stories that come out after the third drink. The ones with enough detail to be true and enough embarrassment to be useful.​You sit back. You laugh. Maybe even wince. Then you catch yourself nodding, and you don't even know when you started.​Somewhere in between, the strangers stopped being strangers. By the time the mixer starts, your go-to networking dance doesn't work here anymore. You're just catching up with old friends.​<h4>​🎯 Why You Should Attend</h4><ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Hear the version founders do not post, polish, or save for the panel circuit.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Get the lesson without paying full tuition for the mistake.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Feel the room loosen up in real time. Once one person tells the truth, everybody else can stop auditioning.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Stay for a mixer that actually works, because the small talk is already dead by then.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Enjoy drinks and light refreshment while you network</li></ul>​<h4>​🙋 Who You’ll Meet</h4><ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Founders who are actively building. Not circling the idea. Not talking about someday.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​People at an inflection point. Ready to make a move, make a decision, or change something real.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Builders who believe collaboration still matters, and that the best shortcut is someone telling the truth.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Founders who are open-handed with what they have learned and curious enough to learn from someone else.</li></ul>​​Run of Show<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​30 minutes, Check-in</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;" class="ql-indent-1">​Arrive, grab a drink, and settle into the room</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​45 minutes, Ugly Talk Solo</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;" class="ql-indent-1">​Four alumni stories, 7 minutes each</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;" class="ql-indent-1">​Short audience Q&amp;A between stories</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​15 minutes, Transition</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;" class="ql-indent-1">​Let the room reset before the mixer kicks in</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​60 minutes, Mixer</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;" class="ql-indent-1">​The real conversations start once the stories land</li></ul>​<h4>​🤝 Who's Backing This</h4><img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=800/uploads/h5/86883827-357e-471b-b5f4-f70ca879836a.jpeg" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://www.unifiedinfotech.net/?utm_source=uglytalknyc&amp;utm_medium=uglytalkevent&amp;utm_campaign=Ugly+Talk+NY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(80, 151, 197);">Unified Infotech</a> - At Unified Infotech we believe that true innovation stems from a deep understanding of the people behind the technology and the processes that guide it. Our mission is simple: to solve the toughest technical challenges by putting people and processes at the core of everything we do.​<img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=137.77526821005083/editor-images/7a/9214d1eb-d36f-4d82-9e39-f9c7398fb16a.png" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://residentcompanyclub.com/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(80, 151, 197);">Resident Company Club</a> - Resident is what the modern office should be: a curated place where the right environment drives your company's values, culture, and performance. While others sell desks and Wi-Fi, we build communities. While others focus on amenities, we focus on the people who matter most: your peers, collaborators, and the connections that will define your company's future.​<img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/editor-images/ck/0efcca4d-e6bd-4b4c-abb3-0fbee9a23085.png" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://greyjournal.net/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(80, 151, 197);">GREY Journal</a> – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News).​<h4>​⭐ About Ugly Talk:</h4>​Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.​With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.​Official Website: <a href="https://uglytalk.com/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(80, 151, 197);">UglyTalk.com</a>

B2B / SaaS Founders

B2B / SaaS Founders Early Bird

Ugly Talk: B2B Founder Open Mic + Mixer

To be shared on approval

Join us for an exclusive book launch celebration with Charlie O'Donnell, Founder of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and author of 
Founder Unfriendly: What Investors Won't Tell You About Getting Funded
 (Wiley).

Charlie will be in conversation with our 2026 NYC VC Internship Program cohort and the broader Supermomos founder and tech community for an honest, unfiltered look at what investors are really thinking — and what most founders never get told about raising money.

Join us for the 
book launch
 — a conversation and Q&A with Charlie — followed by open networking and mingling until 5pm.
Whether you're a founder in the fundraising trenches, an investor, or an operator curious about what really happens behind closed doors, this is a rare chance to hear from one of NYC's most candid voices in venture.

Food and drinks will be provided. Open to the broader Supermomos community.

Baruch College

Supermomos

Strategic Programs Lead

You are the cheerleader who believes in everyone’s potential, celebrating every milestone with genuine excitement

The Nurturer/Cheerleader

National University of Singapore

Assistant General Manager, New York

You are the social spark who knows everyone, everywhere, and loves connecting people like pieces of a puzzle

The Connector/Social Butterfly

The Wharton School

Co-Founder & CEO

Join us for an exclusive book launch celebration with Charlie O'Donnell, Founder of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and author of Founder Unfriendly: What Investors Won't Tell You About Getting Funded (Wiley). Charlie will be in conversation with our 2026 NYC VC Internship Program cohort and the broader Supermomos founder and tech community for an honest, unfiltered look at what investors are really thinking — and what most founders never get told about raising money. Join us for the book launch — a conversation and Q&amp;A with Charlie — followed by open networking and mingling until 5pm.Whether you're a founder in the fundraising trenches, an investor, or an operator curious about what really happens behind closed doors, this is a rare chance to hear from one of NYC's most candid voices in venture. Food and drinks will be provided. Open to the broader Supermomos community.

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures (BBV) is an early-stage VC firm founded in 2012 by Charlie O'Donnell — the first venture fund based in Brooklyn. Managing $23 million across two funds, BBV focused on pre-seed and seed investments in NYC startups, typically investing $350,000 to $400,000 per company. Over its lifetime, BBV backed over 118 companies across B2B SaaS, eCommerce, Fintech, and Healthcare — including Hungryroot, Brigit, and Yuvo Health — with a strong commitment to diversity: 40% of portfolio companies were female-founded and 30% have a BIPOC founder. Though BBV ceased new investments in 2023, it continues to support its existing portfolio.

Founder and General Partner

Founder Unfriendly: Book Launch with Charlie O'Donnell

The AI Briefing is a recurring 
AI deep-dive for decision-makers.

Each month, we select one high-signal industry report, circulate it in advance, and meet to cut through the noise.

📜 This Month’s Source: 
Anthropic Economic Index report: Learning curves
 (
Anthropic – Mar 2026
)

AI adoption is no longer just about access or first use.

Anthropic’s latest report shows 
a more important enterprise story
: as users gain experience, they become more effective at choosing the right model, tackling higher-value work, 
and getting better outcomes 
from the same tools.

That makes the real question for enterprises less about “should we adopt AI?” and more about 
how quickly teams build repeatable capability
 that turns usage into durable performance gains.

The report also suggests 
a widening gap between organizations
 that use AI as a thin productivity layer and those redesigning workflows, automating parts of the operating model, 
and building internal learning curves.

🏔️ The Mission: 
Turning AI adoption into enterprise capability
This session goes beyond generic “AI adoption” hype to examine 
how value compounds 
when teams move from first use to consistent, high-leverage workflows.
We will dig into what the report suggests about skill-building, model selection, workflow design, 
and why adoption speed alone is not the same as enterprise scale.

📊 The Format:
10-Minute Executive Download:
 A fast walkthrough of Anthropic’s findings on learning-by-doing, task complexity, model choice, and why more experienced users achieve better results.
Operational Reality Check – From Pilot to Operating System:
 How organizations move beyond scattered copilots and experiments toward repeatable workflow redesign, stronger internal capability, and measurable business impact.
Cross-Pollinated Debate: 
Builders share where AI already compresses hours of drafting, analysis, and decision support into minutes; executives and operators unpack why capability still stalls when governance, incentives, and process ownership are not aligned.

🤝 Who Should Attend:
Enterprise Executives:
 Clarify why AI initiatives often show broad usage but limited transformation, and how to structure the org so learning compounds into real value.
Founders & Builders: 
Identify where AI-native workflows are becoming durable buying priorities, and what enterprise customers need to move from experimentation to scale.
Product, Data, and Operations Leads: 
Compare notes on enablement, workflow integration, and measurement: how others are turning usage into repeatable performance gains, and where human-in-the-loop design still matters.

📬 The Prep: 
This is a working session, not a lecture. Review the report 
here
. Bring your perspective. 

The AI Briefing is a recurring AI deep-dive for decision-makers. Each month, we select one high-signal industry report, circulate it in advance, and meet to cut through the noise. 📜 This Month’s Source: <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-march-2026-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 41, 69); background-color: transparent;">Anthropic Economic Index report: Learning curves</a> (Anthropic – Mar 2026) AI adoption is no longer just about access or first use. Anthropic’s latest report shows a more important enterprise story: as users gain experience, they become more effective at choosing the right model, tackling higher-value work, and getting better outcomes from the same tools. That makes the real question for enterprises less about “should we adopt AI?” and more about how quickly teams build repeatable capability that turns usage into durable performance gains. The report also suggests a widening gap between organizations that use AI as a thin productivity layer and those redesigning workflows, automating parts of the operating model, and building internal learning curves. 🏔️ The Mission: Turning AI adoption into enterprise capability<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">This session goes beyond generic “AI adoption” hype to examine how value compounds when teams move from first use to consistent, high-leverage workflows.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">We will dig into what the report suggests about skill-building, model selection, workflow design, and why adoption speed alone is not the same as enterprise scale.</li></ul> 📊 The Format:<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">10-Minute Executive Download: A fast walkthrough of Anthropic’s findings on learning-by-doing, task complexity, model choice, and why more experienced users achieve better results.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Operational Reality Check – From Pilot to Operating System: How organizations move beyond scattered copilots and experiments toward repeatable workflow redesign, stronger internal capability, and measurable business impact.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Cross-Pollinated Debate: Builders share where AI already compresses hours of drafting, analysis, and decision support into minutes; executives and operators unpack why capability still stalls when governance, incentives, and process ownership are not aligned.</li></ul> 🤝 Who Should Attend:<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Enterprise Executives: Clarify why AI initiatives often show broad usage but limited transformation, and how to structure the org so learning compounds into real value.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Founders &amp; Builders: Identify where AI-native workflows are becoming durable buying priorities, and what enterprise customers need to move from experimentation to scale.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Product, Data, and Operations Leads: Compare notes on enablement, workflow integration, and measurement: how others are turning usage into repeatable performance gains, and where human-in-the-loop design still matters.</li></ul> 📬 The Prep: This is a working session, not a lecture. Review the report <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-march-2026-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 41, 69); background-color: transparent;">here</a>. Bring your perspective.&nbsp;

The AI Briefing by Startup Grind - Enterprise AI Adoption

Civic Hall

Asia Society and Hanuman Editions present a conversation between the poet and translator 
Vivek Narayanan 
and the writer and translator 
Anton Hur 
on translation and its practices in world literature. Narayanan and Hur will discuss notions of scale in translation, from the poetic epic to the novel, as well as relationships between temporalities of the ancient and the highly contemporary, as they shape passages of language and place in today’s literature.

Both authors have contributed to the press’ publication of new writings from the international vanguard: Hur in the form of a modern Korean ghost story (
Bora Chung
's 
Grocery List
) and Narayanan with a lyrical interpretation of classical Tamil literature (Vivek Narayanan’s 
The Kuruntokai and Its Mirror
). 

This continues a series of dialogues which form a roving transnational salon within the Hanuman Editions catalogue. 

About Hanuman Editions
An independent press launched in 2023, Hanuman Editions publishes critical works of avant-garde literature, with an emphasis on translation. Responding to the importance of the compact in contemporary culture, with both physical economy and a capacious regard for language and ideas, their books serve as portals to a new and globally situated vanguard. Founded by writer and art historian 
Shruti Belliappa
, the project orients from the legacy of Hanuman Books, the legendary series published between southern India and the Chelsea Hotel in New York City during the 1980s and early 1990s. Hanuman publications were printed and handbound at Kalakshetra Press in Chennai, channeling the 
Hanuman Chalisa
, miniature prayer books circulated widely in India as talismans for spiritual protection. Alighting on these lineages, across a polyphonic register of fiction, poetry, art and visual culture, the books serve as secret documents or samizdat of ideas and expressions, for a world as it is now, and may yet become.

Speakers
Anton Hur
 was born in Stockholm and currently resides in Seoul. Hur’s deft, sometimes deadpan translations of Korean literature often focus on mental and social disaffection in hi-tech urban environments, as in Kyung-Sook Shin’s 
Violets 
(2022) , Baek Sehee’s 
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki 
(2018), and for Hanuman Editions, Bora Chung's 
Grocery List 
(2024). Hur received a PEN/Heim grant for his translation of Chung’s 
Cursed Bunny
, the latter of which was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize; his translation of Sang Young Park’s 
Love in the Big City 
was longlisted for the same prize that year. Also a writer, Hur’s novel, 
Toward Eternity
, a speculative treatment of a transhumanist future, debuted with HarperVia in summer 2024. 

Born in India and raised in Zambia, the poet 
Vivek Narayanan 
works between inventory and invention in writing shaped by a sense of scholarly scope and the fragmentations of the contemporary. His texts are crafted with a precision optics of atmospheric romance and jagged allusion; they flirt with history—its forms, its tropes—only to leap wholly into presence. Narayanan’s collection, 
After 
(2022), published by the 
New York Review of Books
, was lauded for its lucent animation of the Ramayana’s foundational epic, just as 
The Kuruntokai and Its Mirror
, his volume for Hanuman Editions, approaches classical Sangam lyric. Narayanan was the co-editor of 
Almost Island
, an India-based literary journal, from 2007 to 2019 and his essays, criticism, and poetry have appeared widely in publications including 
Granta
, 
The Paris Review 
and 
Caravan
. Narayanan received a 2026 NEA Translation Fellowship and was recently named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow. He teaches in the MFA program at George Mason University in Virginia.

Asia Society

Assistant Director

Asia Society and Hanuman Editions present a conversation between the poet and translator Vivek Narayanan and the writer and translator Anton Hur on translation and its practices in world literature. Narayanan and Hur will discuss notions of scale in translation, from the poetic epic to the novel, as well as relationships between temporalities of the ancient and the highly contemporary, as they shape passages of language and place in today’s literature. Both authors have contributed to the press’ publication of new writings from the international vanguard: Hur in the form of a modern Korean ghost story (Bora Chung's Grocery List) and Narayanan with a lyrical interpretation of classical Tamil literature (Vivek Narayanan’s The Kuruntokai and Its Mirror).&nbsp; This continues a series of dialogues which form a roving transnational salon within the Hanuman Editions catalogue.&nbsp; <a href="https://hanumaneditions.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">About Hanuman Editions</a>An independent press launched in 2023, Hanuman Editions publishes critical works of avant-garde literature, with an emphasis on translation. Responding to the importance of the compact in contemporary culture, with both physical economy and a capacious regard for language and ideas, their books serve as portals to a new and globally situated vanguard. Founded by writer and art historian Shruti Belliappa, the project orients from the legacy of Hanuman Books, the legendary series published between southern India and the Chelsea Hotel in New York City during the 1980s and early 1990s. Hanuman publications were printed and handbound at Kalakshetra Press in Chennai, channeling the Hanuman Chalisa, miniature prayer books circulated widely in India as talismans for spiritual protection. Alighting on these lineages, across a polyphonic register of fiction, poetry, art and visual culture, the books serve as secret documents or samizdat of ideas and expressions, for a world as it is now, and may yet become. SpeakersAnton Hur was born in Stockholm and currently resides in Seoul. Hur’s deft, sometimes deadpan translations of Korean literature often focus on mental and social disaffection in hi-tech urban environments, as in Kyung-Sook Shin’s Violets (2022) , Baek Sehee’s I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki (2018), and for Hanuman Editions, Bora Chung's Grocery List (2024). Hur received a PEN/Heim grant for his translation of Chung’s Cursed Bunny, the latter of which was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize; his translation of Sang Young Park’s Love in the Big City was longlisted for the same prize that year. Also a writer, Hur’s novel, Toward Eternity, a speculative treatment of a transhumanist future, debuted with HarperVia in summer 2024.&nbsp; Born in India and raised in Zambia, the poet Vivek Narayanan works between inventory and invention in writing shaped by a sense of scholarly scope and the fragmentations of the contemporary. His texts are crafted with a precision optics of atmospheric romance and jagged allusion; they flirt with history—its forms, its tropes—only to leap wholly into presence. Narayanan’s collection, After (2022), published by the New York Review of Books, was lauded for its lucent animation of the Ramayana’s foundational epic, just as The Kuruntokai and Its Mirror, his volume for Hanuman Editions, approaches classical Sangam lyric. Narayanan was the co-editor of Almost Island, an India-based literary journal, from 2007 to 2019 and his essays, criticism, and poetry have appeared widely in publications including Granta, The Paris Review and Caravan. Narayanan received a 2026 NEA Translation Fellowship and was recently named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow. He teaches in the MFA program at George Mason University in Virginia.

Translating Ideas in Literature: Vivek Narayanan & Anton Hur

Asia Society and Museum

Film screening and Discussion

Join us for a special screening of 
Lost Land 
on the eve of World Refugee Day, an international day designated by the United Nations to honor the strength, resilience, and courage of people forced to flee their countries due to conflict or persecution. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Writer and Director 
Akio Fujimoto
 and Consulting Producer 
Eric Nyari
 to deepen understanding, foster empathy, and engage in meaningful dialogue about the global refugee experience -- highlighting the importance of safety, opportunity, and dignity for all refugees.

The film follows four-year-old Shafi and his nine-year-old sister Somira, Rohingya refugees who embark on a perilous journey from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to Malaysia in hopes of reuniting with their scattered family. Their story reflects the harsh realities faced by millions of refugees worldwide as they flee violence, persecution, and instability while seeking safety and rebuilding their lives in unfamiliar places.

LOST LAND (HARÀ WATAN)
Akio Fujimoto, 2025, 99 minutes.
Rohingya and Malay with English subtitles.

Akio Fujimoto
 (Writer / Director / Editor) is a Japanese filmmaker known for his intimate, socially engaged cinema. Born in Osaka in 1988, he trained in film at the city’s Visual Arts Academy. His debut feature, 
Passage of Life 
(2017), a Japan-Myanmar co-production, received international acclaim, winning the Best Feature and the Spirit of Asia Best Director awards of the Asian Future section at the Tokyo International Film Festival. He continued exploring migration and identity in 
Along the Sea 
(2020), presented at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Drawing on personal and cultural experiences, his work blends fiction and documentary with a restrained, humanistic approach, often focusing on the lives of those at the margins.
Filmography:
Passage of Life
 - 2017 Japan / Myanmar (Tokyo IFF 2017 – Best Feature Film / Best Director), 
Along the Sea 
- 2020 Japan / Vietnam (San Sebastián – New Directors; Tokyo IFF – World Focus), 
Bleached Bones Avenue 
- 2020 Japan / Myanmar short film 


Based in Tokyo and New York, 
Eric Nyari
 is a two-time Oscar and BAFTA nominated, and Peabody-winning film producer. He is active across narrative, documentary, and restoration projects. He has managed 4K restorations of classic Japanese films such as Kenji Mizoguchi’s 
UGETSU
, 
SANSHO THE BAILIFF
, and 
A STORY FROM CHIKAMATSU 
with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation, as well as Hiroshi Inagaki’s 
THE RICKSHAW MAN
, Yasujiro Ozu’s 
LATE SPRING
, and Kon Ichikawa 
FIRES ON THE PLAIN
. He has produced numerous films in Japan, including Amir Naderi's 
CUT
, Yoshifumi Tsubota’s 
THE SHELL COLLECTOR
, Stephen Nomura Schible's 
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA
, Yoichiro Okutani's 
ODORIKO
; Takeshi Fukunaga’s 
AINU MOSIR 
and 
MOUNTAIN WOMAN
, Ema Ryan Yamazaki's 
KOSHIEN: JAPAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS 
and 
THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE
, Neo Sora's 
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS
, and Tetsuichiro Tsuta's 
BLACK OX
. He has also served as an Executive Producer and Consulting Producer on films such as Danial Raim's 
THE OZU DIARIES 
and Akio Fujimoto's 
LOST LAND
.

In 2024, Sora's narrative feature debut, 
HAPPYEND
, premiered at Venice and won awards around the world. In 2025, Shiori Ito’s 
BLACK BOX DIARIES 
and Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s 
INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART 
were nominated for the Oscars, a historic first for Japanese films in both the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short categories. He became the first person in over 30 years to be nominated for Best Doc Feature and Best Doc Short in the same year.

Film screening and Discussion Join us for a special screening of Lost Land on the eve of World Refugee Day, an international day designated by the United Nations to honor the strength, resilience, and courage of people forced to flee their countries due to conflict or persecution. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Writer and Director Akio Fujimoto and Consulting Producer Eric Nyari to deepen understanding, foster empathy, and engage in meaningful dialogue about the global refugee experience -- highlighting the importance of safety, opportunity, and dignity for all refugees. The film follows four-year-old Shafi and his nine-year-old sister Somira, Rohingya refugees who embark on a perilous journey from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to Malaysia in hopes of reuniting with their scattered family. Their story reflects the harsh realities faced by millions of refugees worldwide as they flee violence, persecution, and instability while seeking safety and rebuilding their lives in unfamiliar places. LOST LAND (HARÀ WATAN)Akio Fujimoto, 2025, 99 minutes.Rohingya and Malay with English subtitles. Akio Fujimoto (Writer / Director / Editor) is a Japanese filmmaker known for his intimate, socially engaged cinema. Born in Osaka in 1988, he trained in film at the city’s Visual Arts Academy. His debut feature, Passage of Life (2017), a Japan-Myanmar co-production, received international acclaim, winning the Best Feature and the Spirit of Asia Best Director awards of the Asian Future section at the Tokyo International Film Festival. He continued exploring migration and identity in Along the Sea (2020), presented at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Drawing on personal and cultural experiences, his work blends fiction and documentary with a restrained, humanistic approach, often focusing on the lives of those at the margins.Filmography:Passage of Life - 2017 Japan / Myanmar (Tokyo IFF 2017 – Best Feature Film / Best Director), Along the Sea - 2020 Japan / Vietnam (San Sebastián – New Directors; Tokyo IFF – World Focus), Bleached Bones Avenue - 2020 Japan / Myanmar short film&nbsp; Based in Tokyo and New York, Eric Nyari is a two-time Oscar and BAFTA nominated, and Peabody-winning film producer. He is active across narrative, documentary, and restoration projects. He has managed 4K restorations of classic Japanese films such as Kenji Mizoguchi’s UGETSU, SANSHO THE BAILIFF, and A STORY FROM CHIKAMATSU with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation, as well as Hiroshi Inagaki’s THE RICKSHAW MAN, Yasujiro Ozu’s LATE SPRING, and Kon Ichikawa FIRES ON THE PLAIN. He has produced numerous films in Japan, including Amir Naderi's CUT, Yoshifumi Tsubota’s THE SHELL COLLECTOR, Stephen Nomura Schible's RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA, Yoichiro Okutani's ODORIKO; Takeshi Fukunaga’s AINU MOSIR and MOUNTAIN WOMAN, Ema Ryan Yamazaki's KOSHIEN: JAPAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS and THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE, Neo Sora's RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS, and Tetsuichiro Tsuta's BLACK OX.&nbsp;He has also served as an Executive Producer and Consulting Producer on films such as Danial Raim's THE OZU DIARIES and Akio Fujimoto's LOST LAND. In 2024, Sora's narrative feature debut, HAPPYEND, premiered at Venice and won awards around the world. In 2025, Shiori Ito’s BLACK BOX DIARIES and Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART were nominated for the Oscars, a historic first for Japanese films in both the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short categories. He became the first person in over 30 years to be nominated for Best Doc Feature and Best Doc Short in the same year.

LOST LANDS (HARÀ WATAN)

Join us as we kick off the inaugural 
NYC VC Internship Program
 with a dynamic launch event bringing together leaders across the venture capital ecosystem, including LPs, VCs, and city & ecosystem partners.

The evening will begin with a special 
LP/GP AMA & mixer
 at 5PM featuring 
leaders at a $1.5B+ single family office, growth equity fund founded by Shake Shack's Danny Meyer, and a VC fund-of-funds focused on underrepresented managers
.

This will be followed by an official welcome to the program and opening remarks from key partners such as 
NYCEDC (Interim President & CEO, Jeanny Pak)
,
 Everywhere Ventures (Co-Founder & GP, Jenny Fielding)
, and 
CUNY IAR
, followed by a celebration of the students, VC host firms, LPs, GPs, city stakeholders, and partners making this initiative possible.

There will be ample time to connect, celebrate, and learn more about this first-of-its-kind initiative in NYC! Food and drinks will be provided.

About the 
NYC VC Internship Program
: The NYC VC Internship Program connects NYC-based venture capital firms with pre-screened and pre-trained students from CUNY and other NYC schools for 10-week work experiences. The 2026 program will place approximately 30 students in internships across VC host firms. Our mission is to create a more inclusive and thriving startup and venture capital ecosystem in NYC, by empowering the next generation of diverse young talent. Check out our Forbes piece 
here

*Invite and approval only

Join us as we kick off the inaugural NYC VC Internship Program with a dynamic launch event bringing together leaders across the venture capital ecosystem, including LPs, VCs, and city &amp; ecosystem partners. The evening will begin with a special LP/GP AMA &amp; mixer&nbsp;at 5PM featuring leaders at a $1.5B+ single family office, growth equity fund founded by Shake Shack's Danny Meyer, and a VC fund-of-funds focused on underrepresented managers. This will be followed by an official welcome to the program and opening remarks from key partners such as NYCEDC (Interim President &amp; CEO, Jeanny Pak), Everywhere Ventures (Co-Founder &amp; GP, Jenny Fielding), and CUNY IAR, followed by a celebration of the students, VC host firms, LPs, GPs, city stakeholders, and partners making this initiative possible. There will be ample time to connect, celebrate, and learn more about this first-of-its-kind initiative in NYC! Food and drinks will be provided. About the <a href="https://edc.nyc/program/nyc-vc-internship-program" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NYC VC Internship Program</a>:&nbsp;The NYC VC Internship Program connects NYC-based venture capital firms with pre-screened and pre-trained students from CUNY and other NYC schools for 10-week work experiences. The 2026 program will place approximately 30 students in internships across VC host firms. Our mission is to create a more inclusive and thriving startup and venture capital ecosystem in NYC, by empowering the next generation of diverse young talent. Check out our Forbes piece <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenkaufman/2025/04/01/american-cities-can-help-propel-the-us-tech-industry-forward/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> *Invite and approval only

NYC VC Launch Party

​Healthtech GTM is its own beast. The buyer is not the user. Regulations shape every channel. Pilots drag for months before you kNow if anything is working.
​Founders burn 18 months chasing a hospital system that was never going to sign. They pour budget into a payer pilot that stalls in legal. They confuse a signed LOI with revenue.
​The honest version of healthtech GTM does not look like a SaaS playbook. It looks like figuring out which procurement contact actually has budget. Killing a pilot at month 4 instead of month 12. Picking one buyer and refusing to spread thin across all of them.
​
​🎯 Why You Should Attend
​Hear what actually moved the needle across provider, payer, and employer channels
​Get a real read on how long to run a pilot before calling it
​Learn the GTM mistakes founders wish they had caught 12 months earlier
​Meet healthtech operators who will tell you what worked and what broke
​Leave with a sharper view of which buyer to chase first and why
​
​🙋 Who's Getting In This Room
​Healthtech founders, pre-seed to Series A
​GTM and operators inside healthtech companies
​Healthtech investors who read GTM motion as a signal
​Builders deciding between provider, payer, and employer as their first buyer
​
​🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage
​
Kanika Agarwal 
- Founder
 of 
MindPeers
​Kanika is the Founder of MindPeers ( Series A backed, global company with four offices) and a leading voice at the intersection of mental health and AI. She has built a predictive intelligence system used by 600,000+ individuals and brings both lived experience and data-backed insight into how people perform under pressure. A serial entrepreneur, she scaled her first business to a multimillion in Singapore by age of 26 and sold to America’s biggest advertising firm. She has been recently recognized for getting on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Companies, winning a four-shark deal with double investment in Shark Tank and a Forbes Impact Leader.
​Her special note on – Leading While Breaking, challenges the myth of resilience—showing how today’s leaders can grow even while navigating internal chaos. Known for her grounded yet powerful storytelling, she equips organisations to build leaders who don’t just cope—but compound strength.

Osama U.
 - Founder & CEO of Salubrum
Osama Usmani is the Founder and CEO of Salubrum, a healthcare AI company building the patient-intent layer for healthcare. Salubrum helps providers and healthcare brands identify when patients are approaching important care decisions and reach them earlier through privacy-safe data, predictive audience intelligence, and campaign activation infrastructure.
Before founding Salubrum, Osama built across medical tourism, provider access, patient acquisition, and healthcare commercialization. He is a NEXT36 founder, Forum Ventures alum, DraperU founder, and contributor to MedCity News, Swaay.Health, and HIT Consultant on the future of consumer-driven healthcare. Salubrum has been backed by Forum Ventures, NEXT Canada, Coeus Collective Ventures, DraperU/Draper House Americas, and strategic angels including former NBA Champion, Metta World Peace.

​
​Moderator:
​
Aman Desai
 - CEO of Scalpels & Spreadsheets
​Aman Desai is the founder of Scalpels & Spreadsheets, a global healthtech community that brings together founders, investors, and operators through curated events and content. His work focuses on building high-impact ecosystems that accelerate innovation across healthcare and technology.
​Aman began his career as a physician, later advising private equity firms and large pharmaceutical companies on M&A in North America, Europe and Asia.
​He is currently also the founder and CEO of Dossier Health, and an active angel investor in emerging healthtech and biotech companies.
​
​💬 What's 
on the table
​How to pick the right buyer when the user is not the buyer
​When to pivot channels and when to keep digging
​How long to run a pilot before killing it
​The GTM mistakes founders wish they had caught earlier
​What changes when regulations shape every channel you touch
​Where founders waste 18 months chasing the wrong customer
​What a signed LOI is actually worth, and what it is not
​
​🤝 Who's Backing This
​Scalpels and Spreadsheets
​Scalpels & Spreadsheets is a health media organization that brings together the world’s healthtech and life sciences founders, investors, operators, and experts through engaging events, content, and podcasts.
​Now with over 5000+ members and events being hosted in 7+ cities, Scalpels & Spreadsheets is the go to spot for partnerships and collaboration.
​
​
GREY Journal
 – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News).
​
​⭐ About Ugly Talk:
​Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
​With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
​Official Website: 
UglyTalk.com

​Healthtech GTM is its own beast. The buyer is not the user. Regulations shape every channel. Pilots drag for months before you kNow if anything is working.​Founders burn 18 months chasing a hospital system that was never going to sign. They pour budget into a payer pilot that stalls in legal. They confuse a signed LOI with revenue.​The honest version of healthtech GTM does not look like a SaaS playbook. It looks like figuring out which procurement contact actually has budget. Killing a pilot at month 4 instead of month 12. Picking one buyer and refusing to spread thin across all of them.​<h4>​🎯 Why You Should Attend</h4><ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Hear what actually moved the needle across provider, payer, and employer channels</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Get a real read on how long to run a pilot before calling it</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Learn the GTM mistakes founders wish they had caught 12 months earlier</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Meet healthtech operators who will tell you what worked and what broke</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Leave with a sharper view of which buyer to chase first and why</li></ul>​<h4>​🙋 Who's Getting In This Room</h4><ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Healthtech founders, pre-seed to Series A</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​GTM and operators inside healthtech companies</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Healthtech investors who read GTM motion as a signal</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Builders deciding between provider, payer, and employer as their first buyer</li></ul>​<h4>​🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage</h4><img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=800/uploads/b9/6bceba82-862f-4a8a-a415-9c510f075af2.jpeg" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanikaagarwaltech/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(108, 149, 176);">Kanika Agarwal </a>- Founder of MindPeers​Kanika is the Founder of MindPeers ( Series A backed, global company with four offices) and a leading voice at the intersection of mental health and AI. She has built a predictive intelligence system used by 600,000+ individuals and brings both lived experience and data-backed insight into how people perform under pressure. A serial entrepreneur, she scaled her first business to a multimillion in Singapore by age of 26 and sold to America’s biggest advertising firm. She has been recently recognized for getting on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Companies, winning a four-shark deal with double investment in Shark Tank and a Forbes Impact Leader.​Her special note on – Leading While Breaking, challenges the myth of resilience—showing how today’s leaders can grow even while navigating internal chaos. Known for her grounded yet powerful storytelling, she equips organisations to build leaders who don’t just cope—but compound strength. <img src="https://greyjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Bonnie-3-300x300.jpg" alt="Osama U." style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/osamau/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Osama U.</a> - Founder &amp; CEO of SalubrumOsama Usmani is the Founder and CEO of Salubrum, a healthcare AI company building the patient-intent layer for healthcare. Salubrum helps providers and healthcare brands identify when patients are approaching important care decisions and reach them earlier through privacy-safe data, predictive audience intelligence, and campaign activation infrastructure.Before founding Salubrum, Osama built across medical tourism, provider access, patient acquisition, and healthcare commercialization. He is a NEXT36 founder, Forum Ventures alum, DraperU founder, and contributor to MedCity News, Swaay.Health, and HIT Consultant on the future of consumer-driven healthcare. Salubrum has been backed by Forum Ventures, NEXT Canada, Coeus Collective Ventures, DraperU/Draper House Americas, and strategic angels including former NBA Champion, Metta World Peace. ​​Moderator:<img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=800/uploads/mc/dabad0c2-ca7c-4170-84b4-0e9777ebb86a.jpeg" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidesai/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(108, 149, 176);">Aman Desai</a> - CEO of Scalpels &amp; Spreadsheets​Aman Desai is the founder of Scalpels &amp; Spreadsheets, a global healthtech community that brings together founders, investors, and operators through curated events and content. His work focuses on building high-impact ecosystems that accelerate innovation across healthcare and technology.​Aman began his career as a physician, later advising private equity firms and large pharmaceutical companies on M&amp;A in North America, Europe and Asia.​He is currently also the founder and CEO of Dossier Health, and an active angel investor in emerging healthtech and biotech companies.​<h4>​💬 What's on the table</h4><ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​How to pick the right buyer when the user is not the buyer</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​When to pivot channels and when to keep digging</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​How long to run a pilot before killing it</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​The GTM mistakes founders wish they had caught earlier</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​What changes when regulations shape every channel you touch</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​Where founders waste 18 months chasing the wrong customer</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​What a signed LOI is actually worth, and what it is not</li></ul>​<h4>​🤝 Who's Backing This</h4><img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=338.6666666666667/uploads/58/401970f9-f138-4dc4-a88e-bd4288eb07cb.png" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​Scalpels and Spreadsheets​Scalpels &amp; Spreadsheets is a health media organization that brings together the world’s healthtech and life sciences founders, investors, operators, and experts through engaging events, content, and podcasts.​Now with over 5000+ members and events being hosted in 7+ cities, Scalpels &amp; Spreadsheets is the go to spot for partnerships and collaboration.​<img src="https://images.lumacdn.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=cover,dpr=2,quality=75,width=800,height=240/editor-images/wr/6ed2991d-11e1-498b-9880-80b61f77949b.png" alt="User Uploaded Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;">​<a href="https://greyjournal.net/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(108, 149, 176);">GREY Journal</a> – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News).​<h4>​⭐ About Ugly Talk:</h4>​Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.​With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.​Official Website: <a href="https://uglytalk.com/?utm_source=luma" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(108, 149, 176);">UglyTalk.com</a>

Ugly Talk: What Healthtech Founders Break on the Way to Revenue

Most startup advice is for the start. 
This isn't that.

If you're past the existential founder stage and are deep in the execution grind, then this is your room.

🕴️Who This Is For
You've crossed the Rubicon. You've moved beyond product-market fit. Now you're worry about whether that technical debt will collapse the system, or whether you can trust what's being reported up to you.

🫷 Hard Requirements
$15M+ ARR
 (
or equivalent GMV/run rate for marketplace/transactional models
)
OR $15M+
 raised from institutional investors
You manage managers
. Not just direct reports.
Full-time commitment.
 This is your career, not an experiment.

If you're still founder-led selling, pivoting your core value prop, or managing everyone directly, you're not there yet. 
That's not a judgment.
 It's just a different phase with different problems.

🏨 What This Actually Is
No panels. No pitches. No sales speeches.

24 experienced founders in a closed room at the 
National Arts Club
, a 126-year-old private members club on Gramercy Park where real conversations happen behind closed doors. 

The kind of place where you can admit you have no idea
 how to compensate a sales team, or that you're about to fire the co-founder who got you here.

Together, 
we'll solve your operational bottlenecks
 through direct experience-sharing, brutal honesty about what failed, and introductions to people who've been through it.

📈 Stage Homogeneity, Industry Heterogeneity
The group is
 stage-specific
 (
Series A/B, scaling phase
) but 
sector-agnostic
 (
Fintech, SaaS, Proptech, D2C... doesn't matter
).

You need peers who are feeling the same structural breaks right now. Not people ahead of you giving theoretical advice. Not people behind you asking you for help.

🏆 What You Walk Away With
Specific solutions to your current bottlenecks (
or the people who can provide it
)
A network of founders who understand the isolation of scaling. New peers that you can text when you're about to make a terrible hiring decision
Permission to reject the standard 
Manager Mode
 advice and build something that actually works

🕰️ Details
Date:
 Friday, June 5th, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
Location:
 The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park, Manhattan
Size:
 24 seats (
strict cap
)
Cost:
 $100 (
includes lunch and bar
)
Dress:
 Business casual (
it's a members club, but we're not trying that hard
)

📝 Application Required
We're vetting for stage alignment and operational reality.

If you're reading this and thinking "
I'm not sure I qualify,
" then you probably don't yet... and that's okay. You will soon.

But if you're reading this and thinking "
Finally, someone gets it!
" then apply now.

📲 Know someone who fits?
 Forward this. The value of the room increases with the quality of the people in it.

Most startup advice is for the start. This isn't that. If you're past the existential founder stage and are deep in the execution grind, then this is your room. 🕴️Who This Is ForYou've crossed the Rubicon. You've moved beyond product-market fit. Now you're worry about whether that technical debt will collapse the system, or whether you can trust what's being reported up to you. 🫷 Hard Requirements<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">$15M+ ARR (or equivalent GMV/run rate for marketplace/transactional models)</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">OR $15M+ raised from institutional investors</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">You manage managers. Not just direct reports.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Full-time commitment. This is your career, not an experiment.</li></ul> If you're still founder-led selling, pivoting your core value prop, or managing everyone directly, you're not there yet. That's not a judgment. It's just a different phase with different problems. 🏨 What This Actually IsNo panels. No pitches. No sales speeches. 24 experienced founders in a closed room at the <a href="https://www.nacnyc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Arts Club</a>, a 126-year-old private members club on Gramercy Park where real conversations happen behind closed doors.&nbsp; The kind of place where you can admit you have no idea how to compensate a sales team, or that you're about to fire the co-founder who got you here. Together, we'll solve your operational bottlenecks through direct experience-sharing, brutal honesty about what failed, and introductions to people who've been through it. 📈 Stage Homogeneity, Industry HeterogeneityThe group is stage-specific (Series A/B, scaling phase) but sector-agnostic (Fintech, SaaS, Proptech, D2C... doesn't matter). You need peers who are feeling the same structural breaks right now. Not people ahead of you giving theoretical advice. Not people behind you asking you for help. 🏆 What You Walk Away With<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Specific solutions to your current bottlenecks (or the people who can provide it)</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">A network of founders who understand the isolation of scaling. New peers that you can text when you're about to make a terrible hiring decision</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Permission to reject the standard Manager Mode advice and build something that actually works</li></ul> 🕰️ Details<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Date: Friday, June 5th, 12:00 - 2:00 PM</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Location:&nbsp;The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park, Manhattan</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Size: 24 seats (strict cap)</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Cost: $100 (includes lunch and bar)</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Dress: Business casual (it's a members club, but we're not trying that hard)</li></ul> 📝 Application RequiredWe're vetting for stage alignment and operational reality. If you're reading this and thinking "I'm not sure I qualify," then you probably don't yet... and that's okay. You will soon. But if you're reading this and thinking "Finally, someone gets it!" then apply now. 📲 Know someone who fits? Forward this. The value of the room increases with the quality of the people in it.

Advanced Founder Roundtable Lunch: Series A+ and Scaling

Forget the AI vision decks. We’re handing over 
the Git-Rich Playbook
 of six high-impact AI builds you can clone, fork, and deploy today.

​For NYC Tech Week, we’ve stripped away the slides to focus on raw execution. We’ve invited some of NYC’s sharpest practitioners to screenshare the internal wiring of their production systems.

​This is a 60-minute deep dive into the logic, sequences, and agentic loops that are actually moving the needle in the real world.

​What’s inside the Playbook:
​🎯 6 Live Sprints: 10 minutes each. No slides. Just code, terminal outputs, and orchestration logic.
​🎯 Proven Patterns: See the unconventional setups for autonomous research loops, technical triage, and high-volume content distribution.
​🎯 Direct Access: Stay after the builds to swap prompts and troubleshoot with the builders who actually shipped them.

​Who this is for:
 If you live in the terminal and are tired of high-level AI discourse, this is your room. We assume you know your way around an API key and a Python script.

​Leave theory at the door. Come grab the playbook.

Forget the AI vision decks. We’re handing over the&nbsp;Git-Rich Playbook&nbsp;of six high-impact AI builds you can clone, fork, and deploy today. ​For NYC Tech Week, we’ve stripped away the slides to focus on raw execution. We’ve invited some of NYC’s sharpest practitioners to screenshare the internal wiring of their production systems. ​This is a 60-minute deep dive into the logic, sequences, and agentic loops that are actually moving the needle in the real world. ​What’s inside the Playbook:<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​🎯&nbsp;6 Live Sprints:&nbsp;10 minutes each. No slides. Just code, terminal outputs, and orchestration logic.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​🎯&nbsp;Proven Patterns:&nbsp;See the unconventional setups for autonomous research loops, technical triage, and high-volume content distribution.</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">​🎯&nbsp;Direct Access:&nbsp;Stay after the builds to swap prompts and troubleshoot with the builders who actually shipped them.</li></ul> ​Who this is for:&nbsp;If you live in the terminal and are tired of high-level AI discourse, this is your room. We assume you know your way around an API key and a Python script. ​Leave theory at the door. Come grab the playbook.

No Forking Way: AI Builds You Can Clone Today

Join industry leaders for an exclusive panel on the future of Voice AI in the enterprise. 

Featuring insights from top innovators on scaling voice technology, implementation challenges, and next-gen applications.



Join industry leaders for an exclusive panel on the future of Voice AI in the enterprise. Featuring insights from top innovators on scaling voice technology, implementation challenges, and next-gen applications.

Ugly Talk: The Future of Voice AI

Invite & Approval only: CISOs, SVPs, and senior security executives (VPs and above) at Fortune 1000 companies & enterprises

The attackers have AI. Your board has questions. This is where CISOs compare notes.
The threat surface didn't just expand. It shape-shifted. AI-generated phishing that clears every filter. Deepfake audio that passes voice authentication. Sensitive data sprawling across tools your team didn't approve and can't fully see.
You've been managing this in real time — often without a playbook, and rarely in a room where you can speak freely.

This private, off-the-record dinner brings together 12-16 CISOs and senior security leaders from Fortune 1000 companies for the conversation that doesn't happen at RSA or in vendor briefings.

You'll hear directly from peers who are:
Rethinking human risk strategy as AI-generated threats outpace traditional security awareness programs
Building board-ready frameworks to quantify cyber risk in language that drives real investment decisions
Getting ahead of sensitive data exposure across a sprawling, AI-augmented tool stack before it becomes a liability

No panels. No pitches. Expect great peer learning, and high-trust conversations hosted in a 2-Michelin-starred private dining room. We'll have a private room to ourselves with AI-powered individually assigned seating. There's also a mid-dinner seat change and plenty of time to mingle before and after, so you'll leave knowing everyone in the room.

Assistant General Manager

Head of Startup and VC Partnerships

You are the independent soul who values solitude yet leaves a lasting impact on those lucky enough to connect with you

The Lone Wolf

Nanyang Technological University

Co-Founder & CTO

Invite &amp; Approval only: CISOs, SVPs, and senior security executives (VPs and above) at Fortune 1000 companies &amp; enterprises The attackers have AI. Your board has questions. This is where CISOs compare notes.The threat surface didn't just expand. It shape-shifted. AI-generated phishing that clears every filter. Deepfake audio that passes voice authentication. Sensitive data sprawling across tools your team didn't approve and can't fully see.You've been managing this in real time — often without a playbook, and rarely in a room where you can speak freely. This private, off-the-record dinner brings together 12-16 CISOs and senior security leaders from Fortune 1000 companies for the conversation that doesn't happen at RSA or in vendor briefings. You'll hear directly from peers who are:<ul style="margin: 0px;"><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Rethinking human risk strategy as AI-generated threats outpace traditional security awareness programs</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Building board-ready frameworks to quantify cyber risk in language that drives real investment decisions</li><li style="padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Getting ahead of sensitive data exposure across a sprawling, AI-augmented tool stack before it becomes a liability</li></ul> No panels. No pitches. Expect great peer learning, and high-trust conversations&nbsp;hosted in a 2-Michelin-starred private dining room. We'll have a private room to ourselves with AI-powered individually assigned seating. There's also a mid-dinner seat change and plenty of time to mingle before and after, so you'll leave knowing everyone in the room.

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