Event Registration | This Weekend: AI Startup Talks in Silicon Valley

Last week we announced that Bolt members will be hosting a meetup at Stanford University this weekend, and we've received quite a few sign-ups — thank you all for the interest.

Over the past six months of intensive work at Bolt, we've come to deeply appreciate how vital and meaningful exchange and discussion are when something new is emerging. Many remarkable ideas and creative breakthroughs are born from collision — which is precisely why we keep organizing these events.

To help you better understand Bolt, the themes we'll be discussing, and to facilitate richer conversations on-site, we're sharing more details here about Bolt itself, our portfolio companies, our guest speakers, and the discussion topics we've prepared.

About Bolt:

To quickly embrace the generative AI wave, in early 2024 we established Linear Bolt, a dedicated investment program for early-stage, globally-oriented AI applications. We focus on applications and the builders behind them, committing to be lighter, faster, and more flexible in our pace and approach — becoming the first echo for AI founders.

Portfolio Companies:

• AI life-logging product: XinGuang
• Native AI tool for job seekers: Final Round
• Copilot for overseas university students: Xbuddy
• AI-powered language teaching platform: Cathoven
• AI interactive story creation platform: Midreal

Discussion Topics:

• An Engineer's AI Investment Practice, by Can Zheng
• After All These Years Investing in AI, Is Today Any Different? by Zeren Bai
• Dropping Out to Build a Startup: How to Reach a Million Users in Eight Months, by Michael Guan

⏰ Time: July 7, 3:00–6:00 PM PT (Sunday)

🏫 Location: Stanford campus; specific venue shared upon registration

📷 Registration QR Code:

Speaker Bios:

Can Zheng

Director at Linear Capital, leading investments in applied technology. He led Linear Capital's investments in FlashIntel, Yrobot, Mindverse, and other projects.

Before joining Linear Capital, Zheng spent ten years in research, engineering, and business across technology. He was among the earliest members of Morgan Stanley China's technology team, building post-trade platforms across multiple Asian countries. He was also a member of the inaugural TCS Accelerated Leadership Program, providing social media data analytics and consulting for banking and telecom clients in Silicon Valley. Zheng graduated from the Chu Kochen Honors College at Zhejiang University, earned his master's in computer science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and his MBA from the University of Chicago. He has been recognized as one of "The 20 Most Visionary Tech Investors" by Jazzyear.

Zeren Bai

With an algorithms background, Zeren focuses on computation-driven next-generation applications, currently concentrating on AGI investments. He has led Linear Capital's investments in multiple AI application projects, including AI packaging design platform Pacdora, text-to-image application Tiamat, AI-native recruiting tool Final Round, sales intelligence search tool Encred, and AI industrial design application Orthogonal.

Before joining Linear Capital, Zeren worked at Tencent on cutting-edge AI research and application deployment. He has extensive project experience in computer vision, natural language processing, big data, and the intersection of machine learning with multiple industries. Zeren holds a bachelor's in engineering from Tongji University and a master's in science from Columbia University. He was a champion of the IBM Smart Business Analytics Competition.

Michael Guan

Founder of Final Round, a native AI tool helping job seekers. Final Round is the fastest-growing AI application company in the North American recruiting space, having reached a million users and positive cash flow in a short period. The team brings together talent from Meta, AMD, Pinterest, and other leading companies.

Michael graduated from UIUC and is participating in Yale's MBA program as a Silver Scholar. Before founding Final Round, he had substantial entrepreneurial experience — his previous company, Sweetgum Labs, was successfully acquired.

P.S.: The cover image was generated by ChatGPT.