San Francisco Tech Week has no shortage of startup events. Here are 10 hosted by recognizable tech companies, from Adobe and Google to Stripe, Atlassian, Descript, Vercel, and Deel.
San Francisco Tech Week is full of startup mixers, founder dinners, investor events, and happy hours.
Then there are the events hosted by companies you already know: Adobe. Stripe. Google. Atlassian. Descript. Vercel. Deel.
These events tend to come with something beyond a room full of people wearing startup merch. You might get access to product demos, senior operators, practical workshops, founder conversations, or a closer look at what these companies are building.
And since San Francisco Tech Week runs October 5–11, 2026, there is plenty to choose from.
So if you want to spend your Tech Week hours around recognizable tech companies and the people building with them, start here
1. Adobe for Startups: Scaling From Self-Service to Enterprise GTM
Adobe for Startups: Scaling From Self-Service to Enterprise GTM
Every startup hits a point where the motion that got them to their first few million stops working.
This Adobe event is built around that exact shift: moving from self-service growth into enterprise go-to-market.
The main event is a panel featuring:
Tina Randhawa, VP, Global Digital GTM at Adobe
Eric Yang, CEO of Topaz Labs
Ken Lawshe, CRO at Synthesia
The conversation focuses on what changes when you're selling into larger organizations and building an enterprise GTM motion.
Attendees also get hands-on access to four Adobe activations built for early-stage teams, plus a first look at the new Adobe for Startups offer.
Best for: Founders and GTM leaders thinking about enterprise sales.
Why go: You're getting both the strategic conversation and hands-on time with Adobe's startup-focused tools.
Good to know: Space is limited, so RSVP early.
2. Stripe × a16z B2B AI Supper Club
Stripe × a16z B2B AI Supper Club
AI is changing what a software product is worth.
When an agent starts using your product instead of a human employee, charging per seat gets a little more complicated.
That's the question Stripe and a16z are bringing to the table at this intimate dinner for venture-backed B2B AI founders:
Should you charge per seat, based on usage, or use a mix of both?
The evening includes a panel and Q&A followed by dinner and networking.
Hosts include:
James da Costa, Partner at a16z
Sam Lee, Head of Global Pricing at Stripe
Joey Malysz, AI Platforms GTM at a16z
Pranav Ashok, VC Partnerships at Stripe
The format is deliberately small. The goal is a candid conversation between founders, investors, and people who work on monetization.
Best for: Venture-backed B2B AI founders.
Why go: If you're figuring out AI pricing and monetization, this is a much more specific conversation than a generic founder happy hour.
Good to know: Invitation only and space is limited.
3. Google for Startups Hub
Google for Startups is turning its hub into a Tech Week headquarters for founders.
The idea is simple: give builders a place to learn, work, meet other founders, and get closer to Google's startup ecosystem.
The morning lineup includes Dr. Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, and Derek Andersen of Bevy and Startup Grind discussing the tension between ambitious ideas and the practical reality of building.
Later, Paige Bailey of Google DeepMind leads a conversation with Teresa Nguyen of Pupper and Andrew Mauboussin of Surge AI about using Google's frontier models to bring AI into the physical world.
And the stage isn't the only reason to go. The experience also includes:
Live demos
A founder lounge
An Expert Lounge with Google engineers
Architecture feedback
Coffee and light bites
Access to Google startup resources
The official Tech Week calendar also lists Google for Startups sessions covering engineering, production-ready AI, and a Google DeepMind AI panel and demo session.
Best for: AI founders, technical founders, and startups building with Google technology.
Why go: It's less “sit in a room and listen” and more “spend a few hours inside the ecosystem.”
Good to know: Acceptance for the timeslot gives you flexibility to move between sessions, demos, and the lounge.
4. Pioneer: A Summit for CX Leaders
Pioneer: A Summit for CX Leaders
Customer experience is changing quickly with AI.
Pioneer brings CX leaders from companies including Anthropic, Clay, Kalshi, Gamma, AppFolio, Teachable, and Nuuly together for a full day focused on where the function is going next.
One of the headline conversations features Eoghan McCabe, Founder and CEO of Fin, and Aaron Levie, Founder and CEO of Box.
Other speakers include leaders from Anthropic, Kalshi, Clay, Nuuly, Gamma, and Teachable.
So this isn't your typical startup networking event.
It's aimed at people already thinking about how AI changes customer support, customer success, and the broader customer experience.
Best for: CX, customer success, support, and operations leaders.
Why go: You'll hear directly from people working inside companies already dealing with AI-driven changes in customer experience.
Good to know: The event has a curated format and focuses heavily on peer conversations.
5. Fin, Vanta, Fireworks, Linear, Dust & District Take Over Harlan Records
Not every company-hosted event needs a panel.
Fin, Vanta, Fireworks, Linear, Dust, and District are taking over Harlan Records for a night built around doing something people might actually remember.
There's a hi-fi music setup, five analog activations built by the participating teams, food, drinks, and around 200 founders and builders.
The pitch is basically: Stop collecting contacts. Meet people you'll remember.
That makes this one a little different from the typical Tech Week event where you spend 90 minutes listening to a panel before exchanging LinkedIn profiles with the person beside you.
Best for: Founders, builders, and operators who want a more social Tech Week experience.
Why go: Six recognizable tech companies are putting their names behind one room, with the experience itself as the main event.
Good to know: Capacity is limited.
6. Vibe Coding Demo Night With Lovable & Atlassian
Vibe Coding Demo Night with Lovable & Atlassian
Want to see what people are actually building with AI-powered development tools?
Lovable and Atlassian are hosting a demo night featuring builders, product demos, networking, food, and drinks.
The event is designed around people showing what they've made rather than sitting through another round of startup pitches.
There's also an open call for attendees who want to demo their own work, with preference given to people building with Lovable and/or Atlassian tools.
Best for: Developers, founders, product people, and builders experimenting with AI coding tools.
Why go: You get to see actual products and workflows instead of another presentation about what AI might change.
Good to know: If you have something worth showing, there is an opportunity to apply for a demo slot.
7. AI Agent Build vs. Buy: Governance, Security & Production
AI Tool Evaluations: Build vs. Buy and Governance
AI agents are moving from demos into real businesses.
That raises a less glamorous question:
Should you build the system yourself or buy one?
This event focuses on the practical side of that decision.
The agenda covers:
AI purchasing frameworks
Benchmarks and evaluation criteria
Moving AI agents from demo to production
Compliance standards
Governance
Secure agent and MCP infrastructure
The keynote comes from Priti, CTO of NativeAds.ai, who will demonstrate how she approaches governed AI agentic systems while keeping engineering teams moving quickly.
The executive panel features Ravi Madabhushi, Co-founder and CTO of Scalekit, and Adam Seligman, CTO of Workato.
Best for: CTOs, technical founders, engineering leaders, and executives responsible for AI adoption.
Why go: Building an AI demo is one thing. Deciding whether it belongs in production is another.
8. Descript: Make Content, Not Excuses
Descript: Make Content, Not Excuses
Everyone tells founders to build in public.
Nobody tells you where to find the time to make the actual content.
Descript is taking a more hands-on approach.
You'll write something worth publishing, record it in a real studio setup, and use AI to handle the editing work like cuts, filler words, and captions.
The goal is to leave with an actual finished video on your phone before lunch.
What you get:
A short video ready to publish
Hands-on time with Descript's newest features
A repeatable content workflow
Help from people who make this kind of content professionally
Coffee and breakfast
Free Descript access for attendees
The session is opened by Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, with the creator community helping run the stations.
Best for: Founders, creators, marketers, and anyone who keeps saying they need to make more content.
Why go: You don't leave with notes about content. You leave with content.
9. Vercel × Benchmark AI Dinner
AI evaluation and benchmarking has become its own category.
Vercel and Benchmark are bringing founders and experts working in that space together for an intimate dinner.
The event features Guillermo Rauch of Vercel and Jack Altman in conversation over dinner.
Best for: AI founders, researchers, engineers, and people working on AI evaluations and benchmarking.
Why go: If AI evals are part of your work, this puts you in a much more focused room than a general AI meetup.
Good to know: You need to apply to attend.
10. Deel After Dark
And then there's Deel: No workshop. No technical demo. No investor pitch.
Just an invitation-only gala for founders, executives, investors, and other people shaping the tech ecosystem.
Deel is keeping much of the night under wraps, but the event promises:
A headline artist
Immersive activations
Food and cocktails
Music
A curated guest list
A conversation about what's coming next
A few surprises
Best for: Founders, executives, investors, operators, and anyone looking for a more social Tech Week night.
Why go: Sometimes the value of an event is the people you meet when nobody is standing at a registration table with a name badge.
Good to know: Attendance is limited and invitation-based.
Don't Spend Tech Week at Every Happy Hour
San Francisco Tech Week gives you hundreds of ways to fill your calendar.
That doesn't mean you should.
The useful question isn't: “What events are happening?” It's: “What do I want to get out of this week?”
If you're trying to figure out enterprise GTM, Adobe has a room for that.
If you're working through AI monetization, Stripe and a16z are talking about it over dinner.
If you're building with Google technology, Google for Startups has a whole hub built around it.
If you want to see what other builders are actually making, check out Lovable and Atlassian.
If your problem is content, Descript is giving you a reason to stop talking about making videos and actually make one.
And if you want to meet people outside the usual conference format, there are a few parties worth leaving the laptop for.
You don't need a Tech Week calendar with 25 events highlighted.
Pick the rooms that match what you're building, what you're learning, or who you need to meet.
Then leave enough space between them to have an actual conversation.
Planning your own event? Mingloft helps you manage the people, budgets, tickets, tasks, and everything happening behind the scenes.
Try Mingloft free at mingloft.com.
Mingloft Team
Event planning insights and platform updates from the Mingloft team.
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