Third year running, Cake took over a rooftop for LA Tech Week, and I mean, come on, this one was our best yet. On the second night of #LATechWeek, we teamed up with Voice Capital to host founders, investors, engineers and creatives at Kassi, on top of Hotel Erwin.
We couldn't have picked a better spot, and for one evening it became a meeting point for people building everything from software to robotics to spacecraft. About 250 founders, investors, engineers and creatives joined us up there.
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The Engineering of Imagination
We were honoured to welcome Tanya Bennett, Australia's Consul General in Los Angeles, as our guest of honour. Then came our panel, which tried to answer one big question:
Is imagination still leading technology, or has technology surpassed the stories?
And what a lineup. Our panellists came at it from very different directions:
- Brian Lim, Chief Technologist at NASA JPL, spoke about building hardware that has to work a very long way from home, from a helicopter flying on Mars to a spacecraft meeting an asteroid.
- Chris Boshuizen, astronaut and partner at Interplanetary Capital, shared what it's like to see Earth from space, and how that perspective shapes the way he backs bold ideas and turns them into real companies.
- Nikkole-Charlene Wilkerson of THE BR-DGE talked about the new wave of space startups taking root in El Segundo.
- Nadine Nicole, known to many from The Expanse, asked the question that stayed with the room: will we carry our flaws into space, or fix them first?
- Jason Fielding of Voice Capital moderated, and closed with a look at the growing US-Australia space corridor.
Sunset, mezedes and a party that wouldn't end
Then sunset, Greek mezedes, and a party that went on WAY longer than it was supposed to. No complaints here.
The best part was the mix. When you put scientists, technologists, investors, entertainers and executives in one space, the conversations get a lot more interesting, and so many guests told me it was the best event they'd been to; which truly made me proud that Cake is curating spaces that the ecosystem can really benefit from.
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Thank you to our partners
Nights like this only come together with great people behind them. A huge thank you to our co-host Voice Capital, and to Pilot, Fenwick & West, Betterment at Work, Invest Gold Coast, Persona, SimpleClosure and the Australian Consulate-General in Los Angeles.
Why we keep doing this
Cake helps companies manage equity, but the work has always been about people: the founders, investors, employees and advisors who share in what a company builds. Bringing that community together in person, alongside the scientists and storytellers who stretch what we think is possible, is part of how we show up in the US.
It turned out so well. Thank you to everyone who came up, stayed late and made it what it was.
G
Grow with Cake
With Pulley’s closure, this week has been a reminder of how fast the landscape moves. Not every company makes it through the changes, and the ones that last tend to have something steady underneath them: a community around them and a mission they believe in. That’s a big part of why we bring people together like this.
If you’re affected by Pulley’s closure, consider joining and growing with Cake. We have all the features Pulley teams rely on, and more. Read our CEO Kim Hansen's thoughts about where Cake stands and how we're building for the long haul.
We also offer managed migrations for Pulley switchers, and here’s how it works.
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