██████╗ ██╗   ██╗███████╗██████╗ ███╗   ██╗██╗ ██████╗ ██╗  ██╗████████╗
██╔═══██╗██║   ██║██╔════╝██╔══██╗████╗  ██║██║██╔════╝ ██║  ██║╚══██╔══╝
██║   ██║██║   ██║█████╗  ██████╔╝██╔██╗ ██║██║██║  ███╗███████║   ██║   
██║   ██║╚██╗ ██╔╝██╔══╝  ██╔══██╗██║╚██╗██║██║██║   ██║██╔══██║   ██║   
╚██████╔╝ ╚████╔╝ ███████╗██║  ██║██║ ╚████║██║╚██████╔╝██║  ██║   ██║   
 ╚═════╝   ╚═══╝  ╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝  ╚═══╝╚═╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝   ╚═╝   
       ███████╗██╗   ██╗ ██████╗ ██████╗███████╗███████╗███████╗           
       ██╔════╝██║   ██║██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔════╝           
       ███████╗██║   ██║██║     ██║     █████╗  ███████╗███████╗           
       ╚════██║██║   ██║██║     ██║     ██╔══╝  ╚════██║╚════██║           
       ███████║╚██████╔╝╚██████╗╚██████╗███████╗███████║███████║           
       ╚══════╝ ╚═════╝  ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝

a founder's point of view

Real founder stories. Years in the making.

Join intimate conversations with founders who built category-defining companies. Hear what really happened during those quiet years before anyone noticed.

Format: 60-min fireside chats
Audience: 30-50 founders

Upcoming Conversations

Click any event to join the waitlist

Anil and Sunil Varanasi
Anil & Sunil Varanasi
Meter
"We spent years building infrastructure before anyone understood what we were doing"
Sept 11 • 5:00 PM Waitlist Open
Michael Grinich
Michael Grinich
WorkOS
"We built in stealth for years, iterating until we found product-market fit"
Oct 2 • 5:00 PM Waitlist Open
Ivan Zhao and Simon Last
Ivan Zhao & Simon Last
Notion
"Three years of building before we got any real traction"
Oct 13 • 5:00 PM Waitlist Open
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla
Khosla Ventures
"Decades of pattern recognition from watching founders struggle and succeed"
Oct 24 • 5:00 PM Waitlist Open
Mel Perkins and Cliff Obrecht
Mel Perkins & Cliff Obrecht
Canva
"100+ rejections from investors before we found believers"
Date TBD Waitlist Open
+
Nominate a Speaker
Suggest a founder
Know a founder with an incredible story? Nominate them to speak
Submit Nomination Open
?
More speakers coming
TBA
Join the waitlist to be notified of new speakers
Coming Soon

Event Format

Intimate, honest conversations with founders who've been through it

Who Should Attend
Early-stage founders building ambitious companies
Duration
60 minutes (40-min conversation + 20-min Q&A)
Location
Speaker's company offices in SF/NYC
Cost
Free for founders (limited capacity)
Recording
IRL-only for now, may record select sessions
Hosted By
FPV Ventures - backing non-obvious founders

Ready to hear the real story?

Join fellow founders for candid conversations about the long, uncertain path to building something meaningful.