Hey — it's 86° in Santa Monica, which means half of LA tech is 'working from the beach' this week. The other half is at these seven events. Be the other half.
Here’s What’s Up.
- Jay
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⛅ Weather Tue ☀️ 86°/72° Wed ☀️ 84°/70° Thu ☀️ 83°/69°
1. LA Tech Happy Hour — Echo Park
What’s on: Nerdstage’s recurring LA tech mixer moves east for the night. Free RSVP, no approval.
📆 When: Tue Oct 6 · 6:00–8:00 PM PT
📍 Where: The Semi-Tropic · 1412 Glendale Blvd, Echo Park
💬 Why: Same crew that runs the Venice/Marina happy hour and LA Tech Events. It's the easiest free room this week to compare Tech Week plans.
2. Santa Monica Investors & Innovators
What’s on: Black Dog Venture Partners’ mixer for PE firms, family offices, VCs, angels and founders, with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Free, but you need approval, and the venue is shared once you're approved.
📆 When: Tue Oct 6 · 6:00–9:00 PM PT
📍 Where: Santa Monica (exact venue revealed on approval)
💬 Why: The only investor-facing room on the Westside tonight. Show up with your one-liner ready.
3. Product.ai Golden Hour 008: Show Your Work
What’s on: AI show-and-tell in small groups of eight, each led by someone from Product.ai. Then a fireside with Amanda Lasnik and Tess Fenn. Free. The rooms are recorded for a write-up afterward.
📆 When: Wed Oct 7 · 5:00–8:00 PM PT (groups start at 5 sharp)
📍 Where: Product.ai HQ · 12100 Wilshire Blvd #950, West LA (Bundy & Wilshire)
💬 Why: Built for people who’ve shipped something and want to compare notes, not get pitched. It doubles as Product.ai's kickoff for LA Tech Week.
4. Claude Code Meetup Los Angeles
What’s on: Local builders show how they actually use Claude Code in their day-to-day work. Free, host approval required, and it's nearly full.
📆 When: Wed Oct 7 · 6:00–8:30 PM PT
📍 Where: O’Briens Irish Pub · 2226 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica
💬 Why: 150+ builders registered for a Santa Monica pub, the biggest AI-coding crowd on the Westside this week. Request a spot this morning.
5. Startup Valley Pitch Night — Native Son LA
What’s on: Founders give 5-minute pitches with investor Q&A, and there's networking before and after. Standard ticket $22 · pitch ticket $99.99 · investors free with approval.
📆 When: Wed Oct 7 · 7:00–10:00 PM PT
📍 Where: Native Son LA · 832 S Olive St, Downtown Los Angeles
💬 Why: We flagged it last week, and it's this week now. It's the only live founder-pitch stage on this week’s list.
6. AI Tinkerers LA — GTM Engineering Track Launch
What’s on: Code-first lightning demos, 5 minutes each, on AI-powered sales and growth systems: lead routing, sales/support agents, RAG over CRM data. You apply with your GitHub, LinkedIn or X, and the venue is shared once you're accepted.
📆 When: Thu Oct 8 · 6:00–8:00 PM PT (doors 5:30)
📍 Where: Los Angeles · hosted by Stubbs Alderton & Markiles (address on acceptance)
💬 Why: The same screened, code-over-slides crowd as last week’s Venice night, now focused on growth. If you run go-to-market at a small startup, this is your room.
7. Space Beach: Long Beach’s Next Frontier — CSULB Fireside
What’s on: CSULB Alumni and the Hung Family College of Engineering host a panel on Long Beach’s growing aerospace and space-tech economy. Panelists are Dr. Candace Givens, Shelly Bruemmer, Juancarlos Mariano and Dr. Mahdi Yoozbashizadeh, and Bo Martinez, the City of Long Beach’s Economic Development Director, moderates. Free RSVP, no approval.
📆 When: Thu Oct 8 · 5:00–7:00 PM PT
📍 Where: Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center, CSULB · 1250 N Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach
💬 Why: If you’re building in space, defense or hardware, this puts you in a room with the city’s economic development lead and the CSULB engineering network behind “Space Beach.”
Special mentions
Founders Playbook with Samy Kamkar (Openpath, $297M exit) · Wed Oct 7 · 2:00–3:45 PM PT · The KINN, 150 Horizon Ave, Venice · Free. A daytime fireside on founding with a hacker's mindset, and on security in the age of AI. More Info here —>
Pitch & Run LA · Thu Oct 8 · 7:00–8:30 AM PT · Beverly Gardens Park, 9439 Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills · Free. About 3 easy miles with founders and VCs, then coffee. More Info here —>
Next week: LA Tech Week (Oct 12–18). Hundreds of events across the city. Issue #3 will help you pick the ones worth your nights. More Info here —>
Online (from your couch)
MCP, Agents & Skills — LA Computer Vision Meetup · Thu Oct 8 · 9:00–11:00 AM PT · Zoom · Free Meetup RSVP. Four talks on multi-agent design patterns, MCP and agent skills. More Info here —>
Santa Monica New Tech — Virtual Open Coffee Club · Sun Oct 11 · 10:00 AM–12:00 PM PT · Zoom (camera on, doors close at 10:10). Founder intros, then themed breakout rooms. More Info here —>
That’s the list. Seven good rooms before Tech Week gets loud.
— Jay at WhatsupLA
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